[headdie]

I put this here because i cant think of anywhere else to put it.

Announcing the public launch of Stellar Frontiers Project my attempt at a total conversion for Freespace 2 but as with such a project it cant be done alone.

personally I am picking up tabling and mission creation well enough but I need help in the following areas

Modeling, I've created a number of models in blender that need a lot of work and I haven't the patience  to prepare, texture and convert them to .POF

Visuals, I am useless at this kind of stuff (hence no model textures)

Sounds, not only is there the voice acting side but not a clue on sound/music and could use a lot of help

if you are interested in joining the project or just want to keep up with it please go to http://sfmod.forumotion.com/index.htm

[The E]

Okaaaay, soooo, what's this about?

[Mongoose]

Bumped over to Modding.

[Snail]

Yeah. Before people join your project, they'd probably want to know a few things first. Like, what's this about, what do you aim to achieve, how far along it is, what work has already been done... And so on...


It may be surprising to you that a 'large' project like this pops up really every few months, and most of them are stillborn. Before you embark on this perilous task you should really get some practice first. Get a small campaign or a few missions and mods done, then aim higher.

Not to be discouraging or anything, just sayin'.

[headdie]

Thanks for the comments guys

As a result I have created a progress page under announcements and moved the what is SF page into there as well so it's easier to find.

keep the advice coming

[Getter Robo G]

"SF is a mod under development for the Freespace 2 engine which looks to reach the point of total conversion with many campaigns."

You never explained what SF actually is.

Is it a old commerical IP, or is this based off a totally original idea, and your using FS2 to flesh it out?

your FAQ section has nothing, aside from standard forum stuff.

[Dragon]

I think by Stellar Frontiers, he meant this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_Frontier .
It seems that he wants to do a FS2 TC for this.

[Snail]

Thanks for the comments guys

As a result I have created a progress page under announcements and moved the what is SF page into there as well so it's easier to find.

keep the advice coming

Uh. You haven't explained anything yet.

To be brutally honest, I don't think this is going anywhere soon. I've been wrong before of course.

[headdie]

I think by Stellar Frontiers, he meant this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_Frontier .
It seems that he wants to do a FS2 TC for this.

Thanks for that Dragon new name going onto the to-do list.

Thanks for the comments guys

As a result I have created a progress page under announcements and moved the what is SF page into there as well so it's easier to find.

keep the advice coming

Uh. You haven't explained anything yet.

To be brutally honest, I don't think this is going anywhere soon. I've been wrong before of course.

Your right its going to take time but that's life i suppose.

The game itself is an original idea of my own though it does borrow many established sci-fi ideas with strong influences from the wing commander series.  The back story is that the human race (now Terrans after a bloody Earth-Mars war pre-inter stellar travel) has been traveling between stars for around 400 years and have established their boundaries against several alien empires.  With unstable diplomatic relationships throughout the galactic arm, border skirmishes are the norm and can last from a few hours to a few years.  Recently the most notable of these skirmishes is 5 year war between the Terrans and the unsupported Marimara clan of the Terth species over one mineral rich system.

The mod begins when John Moore, Sara West and Michael Rubers join the Terran Republic Carrier Crusader an ancient Parry class strike carrier relegated to security patrols.  Though their training is complete the 3 pilots are assigned to the carrier to conduct their Acting Officer Trials, an initiative designed build operational experience in the pilots before being assigned their full ranks (very WCS prologue I know but I hope the storytelling and ending are different enough to prevent problems).

[Thaeris]

I might like to volunteer myself as a concept artist. If you can give some more sense of what's in this universe, I might produce some artwork.

[headdie]

from a ship design concept the Terran Republic which the player flies for is going through a "nostalgic" period of design so many fighters have an aerospace appearance notable exceptions being the Thunder Chief which my current concept has a FS Hercules vibe which I want to move away from but keep the big lump style and the Hammer series private production fighters which just looks bad, not sure if its a detail issue or start from scratch thing.

From a warship point of view the flying battleship is theme with exception to the really old ships such as the Parry Carriers and Sweeper / Ranger small warship hulls which follow a minimal production cost philosophy.  Many warships are capable of carrying a small number of fighters, typically 4 in light – mid sized warships and anything up to 8 in mid to large warships though some specialized ships can carry up to 2 squadrons)

Civilian ships and installations have a varied styling (depending on fashion and target market and era of construction) so there is room to go your own way with them

Weapons for the Terrans tend to be rail-gun style projectiles ranging from rapid fire fixed machine guns on fighters to massive artillery cannons mounted on WWII style warship turret housings.  The projectiles tend to glow in flight Terran navy systems usually have a white/orange effect.  There are other species that use the technology with a different effect but the first campaign doesn’t feature them.  Terrans also possess laser technology but in this universe lasers are ineffective on hulls but have a niche as shield breakers.  The Terran government won’t issue lasers to rank and file pilots because they are not believed to be effective enough but the criminals in Gamma Draconis amongst others do use them.  Missiles are depicted similar to modern missiles like a pointed tube with fins for better positioning of manoeuvring jets.

Navy Colour scheme is a grey base with green detailing with security patrols replacing the green with blue.  Private craft owners can have any look to their craft.

Background

The system has several green/blue nebulae nearby in the background, an orange gas cloud surrounding an orange/red planet, two blue/green planets, several barren rocky ones, no large moons, not decided about planetary rings and a blue sun.

When the player starts the game it is 5 years after the Terth’Marimara war I mentioned in an earlier post and the player finds themselves on the Terran Republic Carrier Crusader on patrol in the relatively "safe" Gamma Draconis system.  The system's chief exports are agricultural based due to a couple of nitrate rich planets and a good sun for space based hydroponics.  Normally the system would be a low security priority but due to the volume of fresh and processed foods exported the system is a major contributor towards supporting border and other systems which are not self sufficient meaning the Space Navy has a small presence in system in stead of relying forces from a Naval base in a neighbouring star system to respond to major incidents.  The ready availability and moment of food (a loosely regulated commodity) and its demand in other systems makes the systems a frequent target for low levels of extortion, piracy and plant based drug production which combines into a smuggling problem.  Direct harm to civilians and private operations have been low in system for many years which combined with the difficulty in locating illegal operations made organized crime a low priority which has allowed several organized syndicates to grow a fact that local security is vaguely aware of but not made obvious until the players first mission where they come across a debris field from a battle between the two largest factions in an escalating war over territory and prestige prompting the deployment of additional government warships.  After a few missions the scale becomes apparent as several old classes of fast cruisers (lighter mid-large sized general purpose warships) are spotted in criminal hands.  The navy and local security then start a campaign of securing jump points, heavily paroling trade routes through the system and where possible tracking down and destroying the illegally owned warships.

In terms of ship concepts http://sfmod.forumotion.com/models-and-textures-c2/ is where I have posted many of my concepts for several ships but non of these are set in stone so if you think you have a better idea let me know.

[Thaeris]

Sounds like some of the ship concepts are related to what I've seen of Wing Commander. I'll try and start working on this soon.

[headdie]

Wing commander is a strong influence for me and something I have tried to keep a lid on to make room for other ideas and avoid blatant copying.

It will be interesting to see what ideas you come up with

[Colonol Dekker]

How goods your FREDDAGE?


Not trying to dissuade you or anything. I'm just curious, any released stuff so far, missions or campaigns? If only to hook an audience.

[Thaeris]

I've been doing quite a bit of preliminary sketching. It's nothing too good yet (nothing I'd post on the HLP), but it's just to get things rolling. While doing that, I've come up with some vessel conventions. Whether or not they're used doesn't matter.

General Warship Conventions (Excludes Carriers) by Size:

"-Boats": < 250m. "Boat" is a suffix applied to a small craft designed to provide high-speed/mobility combat capabilities against larger vessels. Typically lightly armored but utilizing a highly specialized loadout in relation to their high speed makes these smaller vessels a credible threat. Gunboats, missile boats, and torpedo boats are the most common.

Frigates: 250 < x < 450m. A light combat and patrol vessel. The primary role of the frigate is to provide AA coverage to a convoy or battlegroup. The vessels also will tend to have light anti-vessel capabilities as well.

Destroyers: 450 < x < 750m. A larger combat vessel than a frigate, the destroyer is a potent mix between an AA vessel and an anti-vessel platform.

Corvettes: 250 < x <800m. A varied class of warship which often fills a niche between that of a frigate or destroyer. Corvettes however are biased towards speed, often sacrificing armament and armor. This makes them a typical offensive weapon.

Cruisers: 750 < x < 1100m. The typical fleet anti-vessel platform. Possessing powerful artillery and missile systems, the cruiser makes for a formidable foe.

Battlecruisers/Pocket Battleships: 900 < x < 1750m. HEAVILY armed and armored, both classes of vessel are a significantly more serious threat than a criuser. The difference is here: the battlecruiser is biased towards speed while the "pocket battleship," like its name implies, is a slower, more heavily armed and armored vessel than a cruiser.

Battleships: 1500 <  x < 2100m. Ususally the top of the cap-ship foodchain, the battleship brings down massive amounts of firefower upon any foe in its vicinity.

Monitors: 2000 < x < 3500m. "Hell on... wheels" would not be applicable, as this is space. Battleships are mighty, but also generally regarded as practical. A monitor possesses such armor and armament that its mass gives it so little forward acceleration in comparison to other warships that, were it not for the weapons and armor that made it that way, would be little more than a massive target in space. As such, they are limited in where they travel. A gravity well which may give a smaller vessel only little difficulty could spell the end of a poorly handled monitor.

Dreadnoughts: 3500 < x < 4500+m. Terror has never been so magnificently embodied by one of these ships. Much more impressive than the already devastating monitor-type vessels, the dreadnought is in many ways more viable. Though more heavily armed and armored than a monitor, the dreadnought also employs much more volume for engines and reactors, giving an edge in the power-to-weight ratio when compared to a monitor. Only one class of this vessel type has EVER been employed by the Terran Navy.

Juggernoughts: 4500 < x < [beyond]m. This is a designation reserved for the most unfathomable of space warships. This is a vessel which can enter a system with no fears of being stopped. It travels to its target and arrives. Destruction will ensue upon arrival.

Note: These figures are based around size only.

Well, how did I do? Missing a class of vessel you'd like to see? If so, post!

[Colonol Dekker]

I meant do you have a demo mission showing off some Fred talent?

[headdie]

Thaeris

Thats pretty much how i was thinking the scaling would work for the Terrans with them being a average species in technology and economy stop at the battleship though some neighboring empires going into the "monitor" scale and older races elsewhere in the galaxy getting up to Juggernaut.  there is a concept in star wars (amongst others) that I like and that is the World Ship.

In terms of the Boat concept the most common incarnations are gunboats specializing in fighter suppression and torpedo boats to compliment anti-capship operations

Colonol Dekker

My main task at the moment is to complete a 4 mission taster of the first missions and one of the Future missions using FS and fan ships, effects etc as placeholders so watch this space   

[headdie]

quick update for anyone interested

the address is now http://tcmod.forumotion.com/index.htm to take into account a name change to avoid references to an existing game called Stellar Frontiers so the game is now called Terran Chronicles.

on the suggested concept demonstration campaign full details are at http://tcmod.forumotion.com/development-history-f11/headdie-s-journey-t33.htm but the basic is I'm on mission 3 of the 3 core missions for the mini campaign with an additional mission in the works

[Thaeris]

I was looking through some of your fighter designs to date. Quite a bit different from what I was thinking...

I alomst had a pseudo-anime concept in mind for the fighters. Here's what I derived in more detail:

(a.) All terran fighters... at least the main faction... are atmospheric launch capable, and most (if not all) can recover in an atmosphere. Furthermore, most will be aerospace-type fighters, meaning that they operate with a rather good deal of efficiency in an atmosphere.

(b.) The style is retro in its own way: fighters will bear some physical semblances to advanced fighter projects of the late 80's and the 90's. This permits some organic design features, while also permitting sharp, cutting features to the spaceframes/airframes. Fuselage "chines" and lightly curved hull sections also serve to imply large spreads of plating/armor, giving a clean yet rugged/powerful look to terran small craft. Being human, would we have it any other way? 

(c.) Atmospheric combat is usually not a prime concern for Terran fighters. Thus wings are small... but still functional. The designs bear a feel of credibility while also being fanciful. Engines are not placed in rediculous positions which would render the ship actually unflyable in space (aka the moments being unbalanced), etc., etc. Furthermore, this does not interfere with those modular features we love so much.

(d.) "Pseudo-anime" is perhaps a dangerous term to use. This refers to the fact that some of the fighter designs to date I've contemplated had certain conventions, like short, canted vertical fins which were swept forward. If anything anime-ish was thought of, it might have been the VF-1, but not to a degree that it would inspire anything. Rest assured that the technology/story elements I try to draw out for this universe will be unique to themselves. 

If you like my thought process on this matter, just let me know.

[headdie]

The designs on the website are concepts that can be turned into the in game model but are far from final.  now i am a fan of the anime style and at one point did consider incorporating it into to mod so any ideas along that line are welcome.

most fighter designs are capable of launching and landing from planets but many of the larger bombers and designs like the thunder chief are only capable of making runs at planet surfaces i.e dive from outside the atmosphere make a single run at a target before dumping huge amounts of energy into their engines to escape the atmosphere

point b sounds good

points of technology
engines are Ion / generic thruster effects, I think they are a requirement in "early" human space travel, later on the good guys meet aliens packing a gravitational style drive system which inspires them to develop their own.

power plants are nuclear fusion based the byproduct of which is used in campaigns 2/3 for the ammo of a particle cannon more advanced systems exist but the good guys haven't developed them.

the good guys only use projectile based weapons in a coil gun style using a technology refereed to as hyper energy kinetic inducers for their primary weapons and can be used to produce rapid fire on small scales but due to charging times have a refire time in the the 1-2 seconds for the big guns of capital ships.

Laser weapons exist but hull materials used as standard are highly resistant to them but have a niche as shield breakers, the good guys don't believe them cost effective but many Terran private factions and many alien species do use them.

many energy weapon types do exist in universe but in alien hands

missiles look similar to modern systems retaining the fins for two reasons 1 is it allows them to be used in atmosphere and dense gas clouds, secondly they allow better placement of maneuvering jets for use in space.

most ships are equipped with some form of shields the tech base is a core that creates an ionizing field surrounding the fighter a few cm from the hull, surrounding the ion core is a plasma coil fitted with a magnetic regulation technology to create an inverted magnetic field repelling anything ionized to the correct polarity. so blue glows aplenty.

I am yet to decide on the warp effect, i do know it involves gravitational eddies at the edge which causes problems for small jump capable craft making for a rough ride over the threshold for craft in the 100 - 300 meter range straining the hulls on smaller knocking integrity off them.  Also about jumping although inter system travel is possible from the edge of most systems it is but this is expensive in reactor fuel and you risk damaging your ship from the gravity effects to improve on the situation most races (humans included) have crated gates at the edge of many systems which improve on the jump characteristics of a ship using them taking some of the energy load by using energy stored in the device to create a bigger and more stable rift than the employing craft could and improving the jump range