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Explorer campaign mission sketch
Indie
Moderator
EXPLORER CAMPAIGN SUMMARY (August, 2003)
[size=3]Plot outline:[/size]
Late, 2259. Earthforce and IPX are launching a joint exploration mission to the rim. The real purpose of the mission is to search and bring back an ancient shadow artifact. The true function of the artifact is still unknown, but IPX has acquired enough proof of it's existence to warrant a mission to the rim. Only the command staff and the IPX research crew are aware of the true purpose of the mission at first - the crew has been informed that this is a routine charting and exploration mission. The mission will involve an explorer class vessel [b]EAS Magellan[/b] and a single Omega class destroyer [b]EAS Leif Eriksson[/b][size=1]~rd[/size] as an escort. Furthermore an [url=http://www.b5tech.com/earthalliance/earthallianceshipsandvessels/earthotherships/icarus.html]Icarus Type Scout Ship[/url] will be on the EAS Magellan.[size=1]~rd[/size]
[size=3]Time:[/size]
The campaign will start late in 2259 and end sometime in mid/late 2260.
[size=3]Key characters:[/size]
Names yet to be determined.
player -
*An Earthforce loyalist at first. Gets to make some decision in the final missions regarding his loyalties.
Magellan captain -
*Lots of rivalry between IPX and the captain. A bit of a 'jarhead' military type.
Magellan first officer -
*Nightwatch person(?). Might help the player along in his career.
IPX research staff head -
*She is an extremely ambitious and resourceful person and won't get anyone get between getting "her" artifact. She is willing to take great risk and indeed risk other people's lives to get what she wants. She has been working on the artifact project for years and has more knownledge of it than anyone. Doesn't have much (any!) respect for the captain's authority and often does things on her own without asking for approval.
Centauri advisor - [b]Lowis Mollet[/b]
*He is concidered a key member in finding the artifact since he has some knownledge of it. He appears to be working for money yet in truth he is a centauri spy. If the mission shows sings of being succesful the centauri government will send warships to secure the artifact for themselves. See centauri betrayal mission.
PSI corps representative -
*PSI corps is your friend. A friendly and polite person on the surface yet has sinister motives within. The corps have a keen interest in acquiring the artifact if it indeed exists. The PSI corps rep is there to make sure this happens.
Wing leader - A 'fatherly' figure. A good leader. Gets killed at some point to make way for player becoming wing commander.
Wingman #1 -
Wingman #2 -
Omega captain -
Omega Squad Leader - [b]Ludwig Kanthall[/b]
Main Character of the Mission "Back To Babylon 5" (Mission Collection). Standard Earth Force Loyalist. Player plays this figure in the MC Mission. [size=1]~rd[/size]
[size=4]Explorer campaign sketch:[/size]
Missions:
1. Introduction
-takes place in EA space. Possibly at Babylon5 so we can use that cool model somewhere.
-fairly basic introduction mission. easy. no-one will fail this.
-introduction of characters.
-starts out with a little bit of harmless training followed by some more serious (albeit easy) action.
2. Outpost
-at some faraway outpost - possibly centauri space, possibly EA.
-we are here to pick up the centauri advisor - the problem is he's missing.
-search and rescue mission with some raiders thrown in.
-more introduction of characters (centauri advisor + possibly other characters who will join us here)
-this could be good spot to show the centauri cruiser we'll have to battle later on. It looks friendly & unsuspicious, of course.
3. - 5.
-Perhaps some generic exploration. We might give a hint here that IPX isn't really interested in generic exploration, but has a specific goal.
-To find the artifact, we need three key items: The map, a reference point, and an encryption key - each is in a different system.
6. Lost in Hyperspace
-A hyperspace puzzle mission of some sort.
-toying with hyperspace beacons.
-I keep getting this image of a critter that lives in hyperspace trapping ships.
-"Hyperspace spider" idea concidered in the chat.
7. Free roam?
-Somewhat ambitious mission where you get to fly around freely looking for something. The area is perhaps limited to one starsystem.
-Limited amount of time to accomplish your goal?
8. The new alien race mission.
-Featuring The Narn as 'gods'.
-the alien race has critical knownledge of the Artifact.
-starts with a first encounter situation - the natives decide to shoot first and ask questions later
-after the alien attack is stopped, some of their language is decrypted. Apparently we are violating holy ground.
-following the fleeing aliens leads us to a "shrine" in space defended by Narn auto-cannons
-at the centre of the shrine (made out of asteroids) is a Narn cruiser. Convince the Narn to hand over their info on the artifact. A good way to persuade them is to destroy the narn autoguns. Perhaps also take couple of pot-shots at the cruiser to convince them.
-at the end, the locals decide than neither us or the narns are the true gods and decide to remove the infidels. Time to butt out. We get the puzzle piece we wanted.
9. Centauri betrayal
-the centauri 'advisor' betrays us and a centauri cruiser is in the area waiting to pick him up.
-the cruiser attacks us to make us "disappear".
-Good old fashioned battle for the most part. Destroy the centauri cruiser before it creams the explorer.
-this mission might involve some trickery in taking down the cruiser since the explorer can't really go toe-to-toe with a centauri battlecruiser.
-In the chat it was concidered that the player should fly a nuclear charge to the cruiser to blow it up.
Interlude:
-> After that mission the Leif Eriksson is sent back - heading Babylon5 - to call for material to repair the EAS Magellan and to call some reinforcements. The rest of the convoy continues its missions.
Btw, the EAS Leif Erikkson will never come back b/c it is destroyed by some Centauri Cruisers in my MC-mission.
[size=1]~rd[/size]
10. Shadow Deathtrap
-this is the location of the final piece to the puzzle that will unlock the location of the artifact we are after.
-some sort of a shadow station/ automated defense system / asteroid base. Whatever it is, its seemingly empty.
-as we get closer (and possibly board the station) the trap is activated.
-puzzle mission, the player has limited time to figure out how to control the device and disable/ destroy it.
-we get the last piece of the puzzle. In a cool cutscene the pieces are combined creating a star chart with the location of The Artifact.
11. The hulk
-In the same system the artifact is located we find an ancient hulk.
-We'll return to this in the next mission.
12. The Artifact
-Whoa, we finally find The Artifact!
-too bad it results in the destruction of the explorer ship and most of the crew. Some survive - in shuttles or another ship perhaps. Or cargo containers.
-survival mission. Avoid / run like hell / hide... that sort of stuff.
-One possibility for this mission is to finish construction of a half-finished jumpgate and escape through it.
-we do get to keep the trinket tho.
-In the chat it was decided that the player and the survivors should hide in the hulk discovered earlier.
-Player has to salvage enough parts from the explorer wreckage to get the hulk engines up and running.
(13. Refugee fleet?)
-do something in exchange for a sanctuary aboard a refugee vessel... or a vessel of our own would be even better.
-after the addition of the hulk we no longer need a ship here. Get some vital parts from the refugees in exchange for our services?
(12+ Mission(s) with the refugees? Get involved in the Shadow war?)
14. "The Curse" (if joined refugee fleet)
-some refugees in the refugee fleet learn we have the most unholy item - "The curse of Droshalla" - with us and go nuts. Time to leave the refugees...
-with guns blazing.
15. Experiment? (dunno...)
-some egghead toys with the artifact.
-not a good idea. Traditionally messing with artifacts always results in something profoundly BAD.
15 - ?. blank.
-Is 20 missions our goal?
X. Finale
-Good ol' tough fight or something
-Player and at least the IPX staff head survive.
-Wrap things up (what happened to the player? did he survive? what happens to the artifact? leave some mystery for ominous athmosphere?)
-Player gets to make some decision that affect the outcome in the final mission.
-In the chat it was concidered that the final mission should be the Severed Dreams battle. Player could choose his side or the choice would be made according to the dialogue choices he made during the campaign.
[size=4]MISCELLANEOUS[/size]
IPX archeological department
Item: Alien artifact #21455
Age: Unknown. Estimated 10000 standard years.
Description: No reliable data available. The item is described to be 'black as night' in the drazi legends. Centauri tales have this trait in common.
Purpose: Unknown. Based on the legends, it is possible that the item is some sort of a weapon.
History: The first mention of this item is in drazi legends written approximately 1000 years ago. It has also been mentioned in Centauri folklore and in later drazi stories and fiction. According to some sources, the minbari also known of this item, although this cannot be confirmed. We do not have any sources close to the higher echelons of the minbari government. The drazi legens mention an existence of a map. There is apparently some truth to this story as our field investigators have stumbled upon real evidence of the existance of such item. In 2256 the item was classified as 'A'-level artifact by IPX board of directors and a total budget of 14 million credits approved for this project. Mr/Ms Lopez was assigned to as the head of search operations.
[b]'Ancient Drazi legend'[/b]
According to the legend, the item was forged by the dark god of war to be used by his servants in his eternal battle against the forces of light. The item was described as something that would strite terror into the hearts of the enemies of the war god. According to the legend, the war god hid the weapon when he foresaw his own death.
[b]'The curse of Droshalla'[/b]
In later Drazi mythology, the item is associated with the deity 'Droshalla'. Apparently the item was found by a drazi treasure hunter 300 years ago who brought it back to their planet. Later that year, a plague broke out on the planet killing many drazi. In the ensuing chaos, the item was lost again. It is said that it should be left alone and anyone disturbing the peace would face the wrath of Droshalla.
[b]'The whip of Horassa'[/b]
According to an old centauri folklore, the item was used by 'Horassa' - a imaginary figure that somewhat resembles Earth's Santa Claus - to punish children who don't obey their parents. The centauri stories only make a passing mention of the item, but there are enough similarities between drazi legends and centauri stories to indicate that this is in fact the same item.
[b]So what is it for real: (PSI amp idea)[/b]
At present, the artifact is small, portable size. It is a living creature of some sort, possibly black like shadow vessels. The creature has the ability to increase the PSI abilities of the user (Or host? It could be a parasite.).
Detail A: The Centauri mentions at some point, that the Drazi believe the artifact we are after is cursed and anyone who comes in contact with it will die a horrible death. The discovery of the artifact would spell certain doom to all civilization near it. And what do you know - the shadow war kicks in while we are bringing the artifact back. What if information of the "cursed artifact" gets spread around in the refugee fleet while shadows are blasting planets to pieces? Of course, you know how the drazi are... with their little eyes and. What do they know? ;) At the end, only a few, if any, crewmembers of the original expedition are still alive. Curses, schmurzes. :)
Detail B: Lets have a starchart (could be done with bink movies) with pieces missing from it. As we gather more clues it would get filled up more and more... Gives the player more sense of progress. In addition (or alternatively) have a small bink movie where the three chart pieces are combined and the final location is revealed. (E.g. A starmap is aligned and rotated so that it matches with a system of reference lines.)
Detail C: There will be a 'fasten-zip'-conversation during some particularily long transit flight. ;)
Regarding the primitive aliens: They don't have jump engines and use slug throwers as weapons. In every way they are inferior to earth tech, but there are a lot of them. They use a primitive fighter craft which are launched, or rather directly attached, to a primitive carrier vessel which is not much more than a flying fuel tank.
Regarding the hulk: This is a long abandoned ancient firstones freighter. It does not function initially. The shadows cannot scan through it's hull so it will serve as a good hiding place. It was part of an expedition sent out to destroy shadow breeding operation of the artifact.
[size=3]Quotes:[/size]
Nothing doth more hurt in a state than that cunning men pass for wise.
-Sir Francis Bacon
Of all virtues and dignities of the mind, goodness is the greatest, being the character of the Deity; and without it, man is a busy, mischievous, wretched thing.
-Sir Francis Bacon
People have discovered that they can fool the devil; but they can't fool the neighbors.
-Sir Francis Bacon
The root of all superstition is that men observe when a thing hits, but not when it misses.
-Sir Francis Bacon
The worst men often give the best advice.
-Sir Francis Bacon
They are ill discoverers that think there is no land, when they can see nothing but sea.
-Sir Francis Bacon
My trade and art is to live.
-Michel de Montaigne
No wind serves him who addresses his voyage to no certain port.
-Michel de Montaigne
Men willingly believe what they wish.
-Julius Caesar
Smile . . . tomorrow will be worse.
-The Murphy Philosophy
Matter will be damaged in direct proportion to its value
-Murphy's Constant
Murphy's Military Laws
1.Never share a foxhole with anyone braver than you are.
2.No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy.
3.Friendly fire ain't.
4.The most dangerous thing in the combat zone is an officer with a map.
5.The problem with taking the easy way out is that the enemy has already mined it.
6.The buddy system is essential to your survival; it gives the enemy somebody else to shoot at.
7.The further you are in advance of your own positions, the more likely your artillery will shoot short.
8.Incoming fire has the right of way.
9.If your advance is going well, you are walking into an ambush.
10.The quartermaster has only two sizes, too large and too small.
11.If you really need an officer in a hurry, take a nap.
12.The only time suppressive fire works is when it is used on abandoned positions.
13.The only thing more accurate than incoming enemy fire is incoming friendly fire.
14.There is nothing more satisfying that having someone take a shot at you, and miss.
15.Don't be conspicuous. In the combat zone, it draws fire. Out of the combat zone, it draws sergeants.
16.If your sergeant can see you, so can the enemy.
Tell a man there are 300 billion stars in the universe and he'll believe you. Tell him a bench has wet paint on it and he'll have to touch to be sure.
-Murpy's technology laws
When all else fails, read the instructions.
-Murpy's technology laws
If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong. Corollary: If there is a worse time for something to go wrong, it will happen then.
If anything simply cannot go wrong, it will anyway.
-Murphy's laws
[size=3]Plot outline:[/size]
Late, 2259. Earthforce and IPX are launching a joint exploration mission to the rim. The real purpose of the mission is to search and bring back an ancient shadow artifact. The true function of the artifact is still unknown, but IPX has acquired enough proof of it's existence to warrant a mission to the rim. Only the command staff and the IPX research crew are aware of the true purpose of the mission at first - the crew has been informed that this is a routine charting and exploration mission. The mission will involve an explorer class vessel [b]EAS Magellan[/b] and a single Omega class destroyer [b]EAS Leif Eriksson[/b][size=1]~rd[/size] as an escort. Furthermore an [url=http://www.b5tech.com/earthalliance/earthallianceshipsandvessels/earthotherships/icarus.html]Icarus Type Scout Ship[/url] will be on the EAS Magellan.[size=1]~rd[/size]
[size=3]Time:[/size]
The campaign will start late in 2259 and end sometime in mid/late 2260.
[size=3]Key characters:[/size]
Names yet to be determined.
player -
*An Earthforce loyalist at first. Gets to make some decision in the final missions regarding his loyalties.
Magellan captain -
*Lots of rivalry between IPX and the captain. A bit of a 'jarhead' military type.
Magellan first officer -
*Nightwatch person(?). Might help the player along in his career.
IPX research staff head -
*She is an extremely ambitious and resourceful person and won't get anyone get between getting "her" artifact. She is willing to take great risk and indeed risk other people's lives to get what she wants. She has been working on the artifact project for years and has more knownledge of it than anyone. Doesn't have much (any!) respect for the captain's authority and often does things on her own without asking for approval.
Centauri advisor - [b]Lowis Mollet[/b]
*He is concidered a key member in finding the artifact since he has some knownledge of it. He appears to be working for money yet in truth he is a centauri spy. If the mission shows sings of being succesful the centauri government will send warships to secure the artifact for themselves. See centauri betrayal mission.
PSI corps representative -
*PSI corps is your friend. A friendly and polite person on the surface yet has sinister motives within. The corps have a keen interest in acquiring the artifact if it indeed exists. The PSI corps rep is there to make sure this happens.
Wing leader - A 'fatherly' figure. A good leader. Gets killed at some point to make way for player becoming wing commander.
Wingman #1 -
Wingman #2 -
Omega captain -
Omega Squad Leader - [b]Ludwig Kanthall[/b]
Main Character of the Mission "Back To Babylon 5" (Mission Collection). Standard Earth Force Loyalist. Player plays this figure in the MC Mission. [size=1]~rd[/size]
[size=4]Explorer campaign sketch:[/size]
Missions:
1. Introduction
-takes place in EA space. Possibly at Babylon5 so we can use that cool model somewhere.
-fairly basic introduction mission. easy. no-one will fail this.
-introduction of characters.
-starts out with a little bit of harmless training followed by some more serious (albeit easy) action.
2. Outpost
-at some faraway outpost - possibly centauri space, possibly EA.
-we are here to pick up the centauri advisor - the problem is he's missing.
-search and rescue mission with some raiders thrown in.
-more introduction of characters (centauri advisor + possibly other characters who will join us here)
-this could be good spot to show the centauri cruiser we'll have to battle later on. It looks friendly & unsuspicious, of course.
3. - 5.
-Perhaps some generic exploration. We might give a hint here that IPX isn't really interested in generic exploration, but has a specific goal.
-To find the artifact, we need three key items: The map, a reference point, and an encryption key - each is in a different system.
6. Lost in Hyperspace
-A hyperspace puzzle mission of some sort.
-toying with hyperspace beacons.
-I keep getting this image of a critter that lives in hyperspace trapping ships.
-"Hyperspace spider" idea concidered in the chat.
7. Free roam?
-Somewhat ambitious mission where you get to fly around freely looking for something. The area is perhaps limited to one starsystem.
-Limited amount of time to accomplish your goal?
8. The new alien race mission.
-Featuring The Narn as 'gods'.
-the alien race has critical knownledge of the Artifact.
-starts with a first encounter situation - the natives decide to shoot first and ask questions later
-after the alien attack is stopped, some of their language is decrypted. Apparently we are violating holy ground.
-following the fleeing aliens leads us to a "shrine" in space defended by Narn auto-cannons
-at the centre of the shrine (made out of asteroids) is a Narn cruiser. Convince the Narn to hand over their info on the artifact. A good way to persuade them is to destroy the narn autoguns. Perhaps also take couple of pot-shots at the cruiser to convince them.
-at the end, the locals decide than neither us or the narns are the true gods and decide to remove the infidels. Time to butt out. We get the puzzle piece we wanted.
9. Centauri betrayal
-the centauri 'advisor' betrays us and a centauri cruiser is in the area waiting to pick him up.
-the cruiser attacks us to make us "disappear".
-Good old fashioned battle for the most part. Destroy the centauri cruiser before it creams the explorer.
-this mission might involve some trickery in taking down the cruiser since the explorer can't really go toe-to-toe with a centauri battlecruiser.
-In the chat it was concidered that the player should fly a nuclear charge to the cruiser to blow it up.
Interlude:
-> After that mission the Leif Eriksson is sent back - heading Babylon5 - to call for material to repair the EAS Magellan and to call some reinforcements. The rest of the convoy continues its missions.
Btw, the EAS Leif Erikkson will never come back b/c it is destroyed by some Centauri Cruisers in my MC-mission.
[size=1]~rd[/size]
10. Shadow Deathtrap
-this is the location of the final piece to the puzzle that will unlock the location of the artifact we are after.
-some sort of a shadow station/ automated defense system / asteroid base. Whatever it is, its seemingly empty.
-as we get closer (and possibly board the station) the trap is activated.
-puzzle mission, the player has limited time to figure out how to control the device and disable/ destroy it.
-we get the last piece of the puzzle. In a cool cutscene the pieces are combined creating a star chart with the location of The Artifact.
11. The hulk
-In the same system the artifact is located we find an ancient hulk.
-We'll return to this in the next mission.
12. The Artifact
-Whoa, we finally find The Artifact!
-too bad it results in the destruction of the explorer ship and most of the crew. Some survive - in shuttles or another ship perhaps. Or cargo containers.
-survival mission. Avoid / run like hell / hide... that sort of stuff.
-One possibility for this mission is to finish construction of a half-finished jumpgate and escape through it.
-we do get to keep the trinket tho.
-In the chat it was decided that the player and the survivors should hide in the hulk discovered earlier.
-Player has to salvage enough parts from the explorer wreckage to get the hulk engines up and running.
(13. Refugee fleet?)
-do something in exchange for a sanctuary aboard a refugee vessel... or a vessel of our own would be even better.
-after the addition of the hulk we no longer need a ship here. Get some vital parts from the refugees in exchange for our services?
(12+ Mission(s) with the refugees? Get involved in the Shadow war?)
14. "The Curse" (if joined refugee fleet)
-some refugees in the refugee fleet learn we have the most unholy item - "The curse of Droshalla" - with us and go nuts. Time to leave the refugees...
-with guns blazing.
15. Experiment? (dunno...)
-some egghead toys with the artifact.
-not a good idea. Traditionally messing with artifacts always results in something profoundly BAD.
15 - ?. blank.
-Is 20 missions our goal?
X. Finale
-Good ol' tough fight or something
-Player and at least the IPX staff head survive.
-Wrap things up (what happened to the player? did he survive? what happens to the artifact? leave some mystery for ominous athmosphere?)
-Player gets to make some decision that affect the outcome in the final mission.
-In the chat it was concidered that the final mission should be the Severed Dreams battle. Player could choose his side or the choice would be made according to the dialogue choices he made during the campaign.
[size=4]MISCELLANEOUS[/size]
IPX archeological department
Item: Alien artifact #21455
Age: Unknown. Estimated 10000 standard years.
Description: No reliable data available. The item is described to be 'black as night' in the drazi legends. Centauri tales have this trait in common.
Purpose: Unknown. Based on the legends, it is possible that the item is some sort of a weapon.
History: The first mention of this item is in drazi legends written approximately 1000 years ago. It has also been mentioned in Centauri folklore and in later drazi stories and fiction. According to some sources, the minbari also known of this item, although this cannot be confirmed. We do not have any sources close to the higher echelons of the minbari government. The drazi legens mention an existence of a map. There is apparently some truth to this story as our field investigators have stumbled upon real evidence of the existance of such item. In 2256 the item was classified as 'A'-level artifact by IPX board of directors and a total budget of 14 million credits approved for this project. Mr/Ms Lopez was assigned to as the head of search operations.
[b]'Ancient Drazi legend'[/b]
According to the legend, the item was forged by the dark god of war to be used by his servants in his eternal battle against the forces of light. The item was described as something that would strite terror into the hearts of the enemies of the war god. According to the legend, the war god hid the weapon when he foresaw his own death.
[b]'The curse of Droshalla'[/b]
In later Drazi mythology, the item is associated with the deity 'Droshalla'. Apparently the item was found by a drazi treasure hunter 300 years ago who brought it back to their planet. Later that year, a plague broke out on the planet killing many drazi. In the ensuing chaos, the item was lost again. It is said that it should be left alone and anyone disturbing the peace would face the wrath of Droshalla.
[b]'The whip of Horassa'[/b]
According to an old centauri folklore, the item was used by 'Horassa' - a imaginary figure that somewhat resembles Earth's Santa Claus - to punish children who don't obey their parents. The centauri stories only make a passing mention of the item, but there are enough similarities between drazi legends and centauri stories to indicate that this is in fact the same item.
[b]So what is it for real: (PSI amp idea)[/b]
At present, the artifact is small, portable size. It is a living creature of some sort, possibly black like shadow vessels. The creature has the ability to increase the PSI abilities of the user (Or host? It could be a parasite.).
Detail A: The Centauri mentions at some point, that the Drazi believe the artifact we are after is cursed and anyone who comes in contact with it will die a horrible death. The discovery of the artifact would spell certain doom to all civilization near it. And what do you know - the shadow war kicks in while we are bringing the artifact back. What if information of the "cursed artifact" gets spread around in the refugee fleet while shadows are blasting planets to pieces? Of course, you know how the drazi are... with their little eyes and. What do they know? ;) At the end, only a few, if any, crewmembers of the original expedition are still alive. Curses, schmurzes. :)
Detail B: Lets have a starchart (could be done with bink movies) with pieces missing from it. As we gather more clues it would get filled up more and more... Gives the player more sense of progress. In addition (or alternatively) have a small bink movie where the three chart pieces are combined and the final location is revealed. (E.g. A starmap is aligned and rotated so that it matches with a system of reference lines.)
Detail C: There will be a 'fasten-zip'-conversation during some particularily long transit flight. ;)
Regarding the primitive aliens: They don't have jump engines and use slug throwers as weapons. In every way they are inferior to earth tech, but there are a lot of them. They use a primitive fighter craft which are launched, or rather directly attached, to a primitive carrier vessel which is not much more than a flying fuel tank.
Regarding the hulk: This is a long abandoned ancient firstones freighter. It does not function initially. The shadows cannot scan through it's hull so it will serve as a good hiding place. It was part of an expedition sent out to destroy shadow breeding operation of the artifact.
[size=3]Quotes:[/size]
Nothing doth more hurt in a state than that cunning men pass for wise.
-Sir Francis Bacon
Of all virtues and dignities of the mind, goodness is the greatest, being the character of the Deity; and without it, man is a busy, mischievous, wretched thing.
-Sir Francis Bacon
People have discovered that they can fool the devil; but they can't fool the neighbors.
-Sir Francis Bacon
The root of all superstition is that men observe when a thing hits, but not when it misses.
-Sir Francis Bacon
The worst men often give the best advice.
-Sir Francis Bacon
They are ill discoverers that think there is no land, when they can see nothing but sea.
-Sir Francis Bacon
My trade and art is to live.
-Michel de Montaigne
No wind serves him who addresses his voyage to no certain port.
-Michel de Montaigne
Men willingly believe what they wish.
-Julius Caesar
Smile . . . tomorrow will be worse.
-The Murphy Philosophy
Matter will be damaged in direct proportion to its value
-Murphy's Constant
Murphy's Military Laws
1.Never share a foxhole with anyone braver than you are.
2.No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy.
3.Friendly fire ain't.
4.The most dangerous thing in the combat zone is an officer with a map.
5.The problem with taking the easy way out is that the enemy has already mined it.
6.The buddy system is essential to your survival; it gives the enemy somebody else to shoot at.
7.The further you are in advance of your own positions, the more likely your artillery will shoot short.
8.Incoming fire has the right of way.
9.If your advance is going well, you are walking into an ambush.
10.The quartermaster has only two sizes, too large and too small.
11.If you really need an officer in a hurry, take a nap.
12.The only time suppressive fire works is when it is used on abandoned positions.
13.The only thing more accurate than incoming enemy fire is incoming friendly fire.
14.There is nothing more satisfying that having someone take a shot at you, and miss.
15.Don't be conspicuous. In the combat zone, it draws fire. Out of the combat zone, it draws sergeants.
16.If your sergeant can see you, so can the enemy.
Tell a man there are 300 billion stars in the universe and he'll believe you. Tell him a bench has wet paint on it and he'll have to touch to be sure.
-Murpy's technology laws
When all else fails, read the instructions.
-Murpy's technology laws
If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong. Corollary: If there is a worse time for something to go wrong, it will happen then.
If anything simply cannot go wrong, it will anyway.
-Murphy's laws
Comments
3) rescue a disabled ship from drifting into an asteroid belt, during which your scanners pick up an asteroid that IPX want to investigate for resources (or similar). After this, one of the ppl you rescued tells you about a "bad" area of space.
4) Asteroid mission- you have to defend the team on the big asteroid from smaller asteroids, and then something goes wrong and you have to rescue them in some way (eg get a power pack to them, fly low so they can jump on your wings and do the can-can etc ;))
5) Investigate "Bad" area of space?
Also, how busy are you? Do you have time to work on the campaign interaface in the near future? Or should I start working on it?
-What if for that "bad" area of space, instead of the normal time distortion how about dimensional distortion- it catapults you into an alternate dimension where something major is different (eg: The Centauri did not invade Narn originaly, and instead has the same type of relation with them Earth does, the Centauri might have invaded Earth or maybe the Shadows won the last Great War.)
-For the hulk mission what would be really cool is have it in a nebula (well... fog). You could have the explorer send you out to check a sensor reading in there. I am saying this because I had a memory of how cool it was in Freespace 2 when something massive emerged out of the mists, and I reckon it would suit it well :)
But first we have to decide on name. You remember that XMas scenario's name is Buda5_SkGen. That's quite misleading. Since mod zip name is same as the package's name where ScenarioMain is which is our interface we have to decide what we call it. It's probably shortening from campaign name which is ?? It have to be decided now because it involves quite work to change it afterwards (you have to change function calls in every mission which are called from interface package).
Filename is Buda5_Explorer for now. :) Naturally the displayed mod name can be changed anytime.
My goal for now is to get the campaign GUI into a "working" state. That is, it works and only requires filling in the blanks, improving the look and, of course, scripting the missions.
anna sheridan's vouyage to zhadum sp ? ,...it was in one of
the books [ i got them all so i can help on some missions just
for reference to the books ] ......also, im my opinion the psy corp
seems kind of left out, besides your corp friend on the explorer.....
it would be cool if they had a bigger role....for example the psycop
could be the one to first touch the artifact, which would be
shadow tech, and then he goes crazy from the huge psy power
the artifact emits, then he turns on the crew etc etc
and all this activity could maybe catch the attention of a shadow
vessel....dunno
my 2 cents
One thing to remember: Avoid straightforward missions which are comparable to wing commander and other games. Try to put some sort of "catch" into any campaign missions you make. The campaign missions should be in the spirit of EOC and I-War original and it should require some quick thinking, precision flying, good use of wingmen etc. to beat a mission. Also note that the character development is still somewhat unfinished.
P3k: Yes, the psi corps' role should be expanded. There are still several unused missions in the latter half that could be used for this.
-Magellan jumps in to Dakota system where EA station Alpha 1 is
-Objectives are to pick up the centauri advisor(but he isn't there) and pick up some cargo
-ea alpha 1 station picks up a distress signal
-earth freighter is under attack by raiders and it's carrying the centauri advisor
-Magellan's alpha wing and maybe hyperion is sent to intercept the raiders and to rescue the freighter.i think this would be cool to make happen in hyperspace(?)
-When attacking raider wing is destoyed raider battlewagon and more raider fighters approach the freighter(?)
-Centauri cruiser comes to censor range and destroys the raider battlewagon(good spot to show centauri cruiser and to show it's friendly?)
Other information;
-Raiders want to take the centauri advisor to hostage
-Later comes out that somebody of the magellan crew has leaked the information about the centauri advisor to the raiders
That is all what I've planned so far but there is still a lot of holes that i want to fill and the main thing what i would like to know is does this fit in campaign?Also feedback would be nice too so i could improve things
EDIT:traffic around the station would be also pretty cool(?)
about the cargo, i think it would be a cool idea if that was the advisors cargo that has to be loaded on board......then...because hes missing, you scan the cargo looking for possible clues as to where he is....only to find out he has some interesting tools, communication devices etc etc....slighty suggesting that he is more than just an advisor, this will be a good intro to the character....and this little detail will remain in the mind of a player
as to his true nature
on the other hand tho, it might be too early to suggest hes a spy
just a wild thought :D
-p3k
[URL]mods.firstones.com/buda5/temp/Buda5_Explorer.zip[/URL]
Here is the campaign GUI I've worked on. You need to extract it into mods folder to make it work. It uses the same menu music that was used in mission collection, so I left it out. If you want the music, copy the audio from mission collection.
As stated in some previous thread, the save feature crashes the game but it does save it. Save/Load routines will be vastly improved once Roi's script is included.
It doesn't do much and most of the stuff within is placeholder graphics, text etc. It does have full functionality though, so you can play through two missions, save the game, reload it (after it has crashed...:D) and continue. Only two missions are active for now.
Hopefully I didn't leave out any vital components...
PS...
i got to thinking, why is it a frieghter again? can't we make it an inoperable warship? makes for a cooler design.
PPS..
where'd u get the explorer vid from?
start telling me what mission specific vids (breifing, etc...) you need and i can start rendering them. also, use the buda5 logo vid from ingame,the one u used is old and icky.. lol
PPPS...
looks good, i like the mr burns comment ;)
Inoperable warship: Mayhaps, but the idea isn't to give them a better ship once the explorer is gone. And who says freighters can't look good. Lets call it a combat transport then. :D
Explorer vid: I made it ages ago. Had to crop it down to 1/3 so it wouldn't take too much space. Fits perfectly for placeholder art, no? :) Still, I don't mind at all if you do a better one.
P3k: Yeah, that would be good as long as the hint wouldn't be too obvious. Perhaps it isn't even mentioned at all. If the player happens to go close enough to scan the crate then the information is displayed...
I writed today this conversation stuff the outpost mission. It has only the hyperspace battle part so far.
just tell me is it going as it should. fits in?once I know that I'm on the right track I can stop asking opinions on every matter
btw, Logic - in case you are on ICQ now: I don't have it installed now since I reinstalled windows. I'm trying to make it work now, but I'm not sure if I have my login & password and whatever else I need stored somewhere...
[B]do we want the ancient's freighter to be metallic based or dead organic based? [/B][/QUOTE]
IMHO dead organic based ... looks more menacing
[B]No we aren't. That one is just a test. I'm still making some adjustments to the system generation tool I've been working on. I have them uploaded, but I don't remember the url now. You can all make your own personal star systems if you want. Its fairly easy to use.[/B][/QUOTE]
don't have a much use to do own systems cause there is that test. I just need to know how that works, and how can i make ships jump to hyperspace and so on...can i make fighters jump capable?i know that these all are explained in SDK samples but there is AWFUL amount of text!