Hard Light Productions Forums
General FreeSpace => FreeSpace Discussion => Topic started by: Sutehp on December 28, 2019, 01:45:59 pm
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Yeah, I got my joystick detected and adjusted. Hot damn but I've been waiting years to play FS1 on the FS2 engine! Everything old is new again! ;) :D :pimp:
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After you've finished FS1 again, be sure to check out some of the other mods too. :D
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After you've finished FS1 again, be sure to check out some of the other mods too. :D
Yeah, I'm downloading Wings of Dawn now. It seems to have a Robotech/Space Opera Anime vibe that looks interesting. After that, the Wing Commander Saga mod will likely be my next download. (Holy Jeebus, Wing Commander on a Freespace engine? How can that not be awesome?) :cool: :D ;) :v:
One thing I'm most assuredly not getting is The Second Great War, Part II. Apparently from what I've gleaned from comments (located even in its own Details page!) about it is that it so utterly went past So Bad, It's Good and went all the way to So Bad, It's Terrible. Just blowing stuff up is boring after a while; it's the story of a video game that keeps me coming back. One of the reasons the Freespace games still have a special place in my heart is the story. Without that, a space sim is just an arcade game (though without the need to spend a bunch of quarters). :doubt:
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There are quite a few mods on Knossos with very good stories. You should be pleased. :)
You're not related to our other Su-tehp (https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?action=profile;u=387), are you?
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There are quite a few mods on Knossos with very good stories. You should be pleased. :)
You're not related to our other Su-tehp (https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?action=profile;u=387), are you?
Actually, I am him. ;) :p :D :cool:
It's just been over 15 years since I posted on these forums and...I, uh...forgot my old login...so I had to make another one....Oops.
TBH, at first when I posted yesterday after 15 years away, I wasn't sure if Su-tehp was really me, but that spelling with the hyphen is a username I've used plenty of times before over the years and I just reviewed some of "Su-tehp"'s old posts and they were definitely written by me. I even saw that old post when Sandwich and GalacticEmperor came to visit me in NYC back when I was in law school!
Gawds, sooooo much has changed since then....
But yeah, seeing a bunch of complete (or mostly complete) campaigns that I can easily access through Knossos is a humongous reward after so long away from HLP.
I just wish I could figure out why I can't get Wings of Dawn working right. :mad: :nono: :banghead:
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Actually, I am him. ;) :p :D :cool:
Welcome back! :D
:welcome:
That's crazy; the last time you posted on HLP we were still hosted by Gamespy and we didn't have the hard-light.net domain. And Silent Threat: Reborn hadn't been released yet! Make sure you play that and Scroll of Atankharzim. :cool:
Any chance of a DatDB renaissance? Or failing that, a mod dump, mission dump, or story dump?
It's just been over 15 years since I posted on these forums and...I, uh...forgot my old login...so I had to make another one....Oops.
I can reset your old login if you like, but I'll need some sort of proof that you're actually him.
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Some info regarding "The Devil and the deep blue" would certainly do... ;7
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Actually, I am him. ;) :p :D :cool:
Welcome back! :D
:welcome:
That's crazy; the last time you posted on HLP we were still hosted by Gamespy and we didn't have the hard-light.net domain. And Silent Threat: Reborn hadn't been released yet! Make sure you play that and Scroll of Atankharzim. :cool:
Any chance of a DatDB renaissance? Or failing that, a mod dump, mission dump, or story dump?
Some info regarding "The Devil and the Deep Blue" would certainly do... ;7
Good gawds, I don't even remember the name of the other guy I was working with...or even if I was working with someone else on DatDB. Details are hazy after 15 years. A couple of things I do remember, though, are these: DatDB would have had a years long time skip after FS2, but I didn't want to make it as long as 32 years like between FS1 and FS2, but I never made a hard decision on just exactly how many years would have passed. Another detail I still remember is that the GTVA would have sent an expeditionary force into Shivan space (though I don't remember exactly how the GTVA would have found Shivan space in order to mount an expedition, only that it would not have been an accidental fluke). Also, the expeditionary force would have encountered the Shivans' counterparts, who would have been called the "Eidolons" by the GTVA and their ships would have had a black-and-blue color scheme to their ships as a counterpart to the Shivans' black-and-red.
Basically, if the Shivans are the "Devil," then the Eidolons would have been the "Deep Blue" counterpart. The title of DatDB is a reference to the old saying about "being caught between the devil and the deep blue sea" when you're caught in a dilemma with no obvious solution. I never did manage to plot out the whole story, just the idea that the GTVA pulling an Enemy Mine with the Eidolons against the Shivans would turn out to have...unforeseen consequences. I didn't pull the name "eidolon" out of a hat, either: it means "an idealized thing" or "specter" or "phantom." Basically, the GTVA would have thought the alliance with the Eidolons was "ideal" to defeating the Shivans, but the alliance would eventually turn out to be as ephemeral as a ghost or a mirage. Would the alliance with the Eidolons have been an ideal image or an imaginary ideal? What if it turned out to be both?
Not that the Eidolons were "evil" per se (if even the Shivans can be called "evil" with their completely unknown motives), just that the Eidolons were almost as unscrutable as the Shivans (if in a different way) that they would turn out to be almost as dangerous. I remember that Volition said a long time ago that the Shivans "were part of a larger problem," and I wanted to keep that in mind with DatDB.
One other fun fact: Remember the models that were used for (at least a few of) the Aesdherians' ships in the Ancient-Shivan War mod? I think I recognized at least the Sword- and Crown-class ships as models I wanted to use in DatDB. Imagine them as black-and-blue instead of black-and-white and those would have been the Eidolons...or at least the Eidolons' ships. I don't have the slightest idea what an actual Eidolon itself would look like.
It's just been over 15 years since I posted on these forums and...I, uh...forgot my old login...so I had to make another one....Oops.
I can reset your old login if you like, but I'll need some sort of proof that you're actually him.
I can provide that easily enough. You can PM me with the details of whatever you need, right?
Oh, and I already downloaded Silent Threat: Reborn; I'll play that just after I finish playing the FS1 Port. (Up until a couple of days ago, I had been waiting literally 20 years to play FS1 on the FS2 engine!) I've also got Ancient-Shivan War lined up (man, I only just found out that Act 3 was never completed! :( ) as well as Fall of Epsilon Pegasi, Blue Planet, Procyon Insurgency, and Wings of Dawn...the last of which apparently uses a text font my computer can't see. The Flying Spaghetti Monster alone knows how (or if) I'll be able to fix that. (Posters provided a link when I asked but I'm still trying to grok the solution. A coder I ain't.) From what little I've seen of those mods so far (just by going into their menus and reading their first mission briefings but not playing the actual missions yet), they seem exceptionally well-crafted (if not completely flawless in the writing to a self-admitted grammar nazi like myself) for fan-made games. I'm looking foward to playing them.
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Absolutely play "Between the Ashes" no other mod adds so much depth to the Freespace universe. (well. . BP might but this is not a contest :p) It's fully voiced And it's rock solid in terms of gameplay.
You may want to wait for it to update first, hopefully it won't be too much longer before it's done.
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Good gawds, I don't even remember the name of the other guy I was working with...or even if I was working with someone else on DatDB. Details are hazy after 15 years. A couple of things I do remember, though, are these: DatDB would have had a years long time skip after FS2, but I didn't want to make it as long as 32 years like between FS1 and FS2, but I never made a hard decision on just exactly how many years would have passed. Another detail I still remember is that the GTVA would have sent an expeditionary force into Shivan space (though I don't remember exactly how the GTVA would have found Shivan space in order to mount an expedition, only that it would not have been an accidental fluke). Also, the expeditionary force would have encountered the Shivans' counterparts, who would have been called the "Eidolons" by the GTVA and their ships would have had a black-and-blue color scheme to their ships as a counterpart to the Shivans' black-and-red.
Basically, if the Shivans are the "Devil," then the Eidolons would have been the "Deep Blue" counterpart. The title of DatDB is a reference to the old saying about "being caught between the devil and the deep blue sea" when you're caught in a dilemma with no obvious solution. I never did manage to plot out the whole story, just the idea that the GTVA pulling an Enemy Mine with the Eidolons against the Shivans would turn out to have...unforeseen consequences. I didn't pull the name "eidolon" out of a hat, either: it means "an idealized thing" or "specter" or "phantom." Basically, the GTVA would have thought the alliance with the Eidolons was "ideal" to defeating the Shivans, but the alliance would eventually turn out to be as ephemeral as a ghost or a mirage. Would the alliance with the Eidolons have been an ideal image or an imaginary ideal? What if it turned out to be both?
Not that the Eidolons were "evil" per se (if even the Shivans can be called "evil" with their completely unknown motives), just that the Eidolons were almost as unscrutable as the Shivans (if in a different way) that they would turn out to be almost as dangerous. I remember that Volition said a long time ago that the Shivans "were part of a larger problem," and I wanted to keep that in mind with DatDB.
One other fun fact: Remember the models that were used for (at least a few of) the Aesdherians' ships in the Ancient-Shivan War mod? I think I recognized at least the Sword- and Crown-class ships as models I wanted to use in DatDB. Imagine them as black-and-blue instead of black-and-white and those would have been the Eidolons...or at least the Eidolons' ships. I don't have the slightest idea what an actual Eidolon itself would look like.
Very interesting! I like that idea; I don't think anything quite like it has been done in the FS mod community, even today.
Regarding the gaps in your memory, an archive of the DatDB site (https://web.archive.org/web/20040506154834/http://www.3dap.com/hlp/hosted/datdb/story.shtml) provides a story overview and a list of staff.
I can provide that easily enough. You can PM me with the details of whatever you need, right?
Yup. PM sent.
Oh, and I already downloaded Silent Threat: Reborn; I'll play that just after I finish playing the FS1 Port. (Up until a couple of days ago, I had been waiting literally 20 years to play FS1 on the FS2 engine!)
Ha! But the FreeSpace Port was first released in 2002; were you not able to play it back then?
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Hooray! I'm posting as my old self again! Or to put it another way:
I HAVE RETURNED. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3KVdbqYtXM)
Goober, I totally forgot about that website. I must have had at least one other person working with me because I've never created a website in my life. I totally forgot that I did calculate the timeskip from FS2 to DatDB to 18 years. I also forgot my plot device of the GTVA discovering a new node and/or Knossos gate to Shivan space.
As for the Eidolons and the rest of DatDB being a new idea in the Freespace/HLP community, I thought that the Vishnans mentioned in Blue Planet were a similar equivalent, which would make DatDB's plot a rehash of Blue Planet. But then, I've only heard of bits and pieces of Blue Planet's plot and still have to start and finish playing that mod. Hell, when I glanced at TV Tropes entry for Blue Planet, I deliberately avoided any of the spoilers because I want to find out for myself what BP's story is.
As for the FSPort being ready in 2002, I had no idea how to even get that working. All I can say is this: Knossos is a friggin' godsend for getting and playing all these Freespace mods, especially the FS1 Port.
And DefCyno, I'll take alook at "Between the Ashes." Is that the mod that's going to be updated sometime in 2020 for some 10 year anniversary?
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nah, Between the Ashes came out 3-ish years ago. It takes place in the time between FS1 and FS2.
MJN.Mixael was/is BtA's project lead.
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That the DatDB campaign story sounds pretty good! :yes:
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Holy jeebus, I totally forgot how many people (https://web.archive.org/web/20040506160506/http://www.3dap.com/hlp/hosted/datdb/staff.shtml) were involved with DatDB back in the day. I even forgot that we had this map (https://web.archive.org/web/20030202123756/http://3dap.com/hlp/hosted/datdb/pics/DatDBMap1.jpg) all set up for the campaign.
Now I'm feeling (slightly) tempted to go back to making DatDB except for the fact that I'd almost be starting from scratch. Not to mention I still have a few unanswered questions like: "How are subspace nodes discovered?" "What's the procedure for exploring uncharted jump nodes now that the Shivans are known to exist and could be at the end of any intersystem subspace jump?" "Shivans are suspected of being able to use unstable(!) jump nodes since they somehow outmaneuvered the GTA and PVN's jump node blockades during the Great War; could the GTVA discover this capability? If so, how? Would the GTVA even manage to be technologically capable of copying this? Wouldn't the Eidolons likely also have this capability? And if the Eidolons gave this ability to the GTVA as part of their alliance, would it turn out to be some sort of tainted fruit?"
And I'm no modder. The best I can do would be to write this story/campaign and give my notes/reference bible to someone who can get a suitable team together. I'd have to proofread all the dialogue because, let's face it, too many fan games (and not just in Freespace!) are absolute drek when it comes to grammar, mixed idioms and believable dialogue. :mad: :hopping: :banghead: :nono:
EDIT: Wow, I lol'ed after having re-read my old signature. It really has been a long time.
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Yeah I saw that giant nodemap, it's still probably the biggest until now.
I'm pretty sure there's some mechanism behind subspace node formation, but they don't necessary link to the most nearby star. Perhabs GTVA has figure out the basics behind that and sends Faustus ships to the area to scan them. I think near the end of FS2 it is stated that even tough the Shivans are capable of using unstable nodes or ones unknown to GTVA they can't just make them. My guess would be that the Lucifer just used one of the unknown ones; and rather than being strategicly brilliant just use their superior knowledge to take the straight way (apparently the nodes weren't found afterwards though).
I wouldn't think too much about GTVA exploring unknown jump nodes, bumping into Shivans and causing an invasion; I'm pretty sure the Shivans know pretty much anything about subspace and nodes - if they wanted to invade GTVA, they'd find their way in anyway. I sometimes see the sealing of Capella as a mistake by GTVA- for example if Capella has been turned into some long-range node to Shivan central systems, GTVA would not know what is going on there, while the Shivans could go to Gamma Draconis, the Nebula and further until they find one that links to GTVA. So in the end, GTVA would have a couple more pleasent nights of sleep before the Shivans roll over the unprepared ones; with the only change between Capella sealed/unsealed being that GTVA has no clue what is going on there.
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Yeah I saw that giant nodemap, it's still probably the biggest until now.
And the funny thing is, that nodemap is/was only going to be relevant for just the first few missions of the DatDB campaign, since the area of Shivan space that the expeditionary force was penetrating (A.K.A. "Known Shivan Grid 1") is where most of the campaign would take place. I never got around to designing Shivan Grid 1, but suffice it to say, it would have been a lot of red. Shivan Grid 1 could be millions of light-years away from GTVA space for all anyone knows. That means there's every possibility that DatDB could/would take place in an entirely different galaxy from the Milky Way. ("Admiral Petrarch, sir, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore...Hell, we're not even in Delaware....") One idea I had was to have the expeditionary force (and the player in a command briefing) have an Oh Crap moment when they realize just how far from home they were. They'd be way past the Andromeda Galaxy for sure and could even have left the Local Group.
I'm pretty sure there's some mechanism behind subspace node formation, but they don't necessarily link to the most nearby star. Perhaps GTVA has figure out the basics behind that and sends Faustus ships to the area to scan them. I think near the end of FS2 it is stated that even though the Shivans are capable of using unstable nodes or ones unknown to the GTVA, they can't just make them. My guess would be that the Lucifer just used one of the unknown ones; and rather than being strategically brilliant just use their superior knowledge to take the straight way (apparently the nodes weren't found afterwards though).
That makes sense; I do recall Admiral Petrarch saying in one of his briefings that "the Shivans are just as dependent on jump nodes as we are." And while the Shivans might not be able to create jump nodes, they're not beneath using the Knossos Gates the Ancients left behind. It seems just as likely that the Shivans don't even need to build their own equivalents of Knossos Gates since they can traverse unstable jump nodes that neither the Terrans, nor the Vasudans, nor even the Ancients could use. Building their own Knossos Gates would just have been a humongous waste of effort and resources for the Shivans when there are plenty of unstable (for everyone else but the Shivans) jump nodes.
Hmmm, does that mean the Shivans have the ability to predict where and when jump nodes will appear? Imagine the expeditionary force, while behind enemy lines in Shivan Grid 1, conducting operations to raid a Shivan installation simply to capture just one of these subspace node maps. Or even better, conducting raids to steal the Shivan capability of tracking and using unstable nodes. That sort of ability would be a godsend for the life expectancy of the expeditionary force, allowing them to stay just one step ahead of the Shivans even while trapped behind enemy lines.
I wouldn't think too much about GTVA exploring unknown jump nodes, bumping into Shivans and causing an invasion; I'm pretty sure the Shivans know pretty much anything about subspace and nodes - if they wanted to invade GTVA, they'd find their way in anyway. I sometimes see the sealing of Capella as a mistake by GTVA- for example if Capella has been turned into some long-range node to Shivan central systems, GTVA would not know what is going on there, while the Shivans could go to Gamma Draconis, the Nebula and further until they find one that links to GTVA space. So in the end, GTVA would have a couple more pleasant nights of sleep before the Shivans roll over the unprepared ones; with the only change between Capella sealed/unsealed being that the GTVA has no clue what is going on there.
Yeah, I agree with this idea that Capella was at most a reprieve for the GTVA. Then again, with an enemy as persistent and inscrutable as the Shivans, that's to be expected.
Tangental, but related topic: There's a sci-fi novel series I read a couple of years ago that is highly relevant to DatDB's idea of a space fleet operating behind enemy lines. It's called The Lost Fleet by John Campbell. The story takes place at least 1,000 years in the future and Humanity has settled several hundred colony worlds that are divided into 2 stellar empires: The Alliance (the good guys) and the Syndicate (the bad guys). The Syndicate start an unprovoked attack on the Alliance and a young Alliance captain, Jack Geary, loses his ship in the first skirmish of the war but manages to save his crew by staying behind on the bridge until the last moment while they get to the escape pods. Once his crew is safely away, Geary gets into the last escape pod, which puts him in suspended animation until he can be rescued. Unfortunately, the beacon on Geary's pod is damaged so his pod is never found and he remains in suspended animation for days, then weeks, then months, then years....
100 years later, the war between the Alliance and the Syndicate is still going on, which means that the economic base of both the Alliance and Syndicate are near collapse and attrition has so thoroughly depleted the officer ranks in both the Alliance and the Syndicate of people who understand space naval tactics because of the dire need to get people fighting on the front lines as quickly as possible. The Alliance launches the majority of their fleet as an expeditionary force (with the aid of a Syndicate traitor) in a desperate attempt to attack the Syndicate homeworld and win the war. On their way to Syndicate space, the expeditionary force finds Geary's pod by sheer chance and revive him. While Geary is recovering in the flagship's sick bay, the expeditionary force falls into a Syndicate trap (the Syndicate traitor turned out to be a double agent) and all the Alliance flag officers are captured during a parley and executed. Geary, despite being out of action for a century, nonetheless winds up becoming the most senior captain left in the Alliance fleet precisely because his date of commission in the Alliance fleet was 100 years ago. While he was asleep, the story of Geary's battle at the start of the war was made into a legend that continued to grow over the decades. Even though Geary was a bright officer, he never thought of himself as anything special (and he personally considered his battle a defeat because he lost his ship), but the people of the Alliance made him into a superhero.
So after a hundred year cryosleep, Geary wakes up to find that everyone he ever knew is long dead, he now has to deal with the hero worship from thousands of his fellow sailors which makes him extremely uncomfortable, he now finds himself in charge of a fleet that is trapped far behind enemy lines when his only previous command experience was captaining a single ship, and, oh yes, he has to rescue the entire Alliance from certain defeat in a century-long war when his only combat experience of the war resulted in the loss of his ship.
But Geary does have one advantage: he's expertly trained in space naval tactics in an interstellar war where everyone else only knows how to Zerg Rush.
There aren't any fightercraft in The Lost Fleet but they do use a faster-than-light system that basically mirrors the jump nodes in the Freespace universe. I highly recommend reading this series and the other spinoff series and media in the Gearyverse. There's lots of inspiration to be found for Freespace modders since The Lost Fleet parallels Freespace in many respects. Just for the record, though, I read The Lost Fleet years after I came up with DatDB, so the former did not inspire the latter. :P
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Hmmm, does that mean the Shivans have the ability to predict where and when jump nodes will appear? Imagine the expeditionary force, while behind enemy lines in Shivan Grid 1, conducting operations to raid a Shivan installation simply to capture just one of these subspace node maps. Or even better, conducting raids to steal the Shivan capability of tracking and using unstable nodes. That sort of ability would be a godsend for the life expectancy of the expeditionary force, allowing them to stay just one step ahead of the Shivans even while trapped behind enemy lines.
Some time ago there was a short and unfinsihed fanfiction which instead of just showing all nodes used some mega-scale version of ETAK to observe the movements of all Shivan units (or their comm) in a sector of the galaxy that far exceeded the GTVA nodemap. I personally like the idea of seeing not the nodes themselves, but the Shivans using them; in addition to make something useful out of Boschs madness.
There are 2 campaigns that take place outside of standard GTVA space, the first "Uncharted Territory" is about a small carrier stuck in Shivan territory before and during the Capella incident; the other one is "Exile" that tells the story of Sol falling to the Shivans and the flight of the survivors through a node grid. There were a couple other similar mods, but they all rolled into the grave; Over the Top and Paradigm Shift being the more prominent ones.
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Tangental, but related topic: There's a sci-fi novel series I read a couple of years ago that is highly relevant to DatDB's idea of a space fleet operating behind enemy lines. It's called The Lost Fleet by John Campbell. The story takes place at least 1,000 years in the future and Humanity has settled several hundred colony worlds that are divided into 2 stellar empires: The Alliance (the good guys) and the Syndicate (the bad guys). The Syndicate start an unprovoked attack on the Alliance and a young Alliance captain, Jack Geary, loses his ship in the first skirmish of the war but manages to save his crew by staying behind on the bridge until the last moment while they get to the escape pods. Once his crew is safely away, Geary gets into the last escape pod, which puts him in suspended animation until he can be rescued. Unfortunately, the beacon on Geary's pod is damaged so his pod is never found and he remains in suspended animation for days, then weeks, then months, then years....
100 years later, the war between the Alliance and the Syndicate is still going on, which means that the economic base of both the Alliance and Syndicate are near collapse and attrition has so thoroughly depleted the officer ranks in both the Alliance and the Syndicate of people who understand space naval tactics because of the dire need to get people fighting on the front lines as quickly as possible. The Alliance launches the majority of their fleet as an expeditionary force (with the aid of a Syndicate traitor) in a desperate attempt to attack the Syndicate homeworld and win the war. On their way to Syndicate space, the expeditionary force finds Geary's pod by sheer chance and revive him. While Geary is recovering in the flagship's sick bay, the expeditionary force falls into a Syndicate trap (the Syndicate traitor turned out to be a double agent) and all the Alliance flag officers are captured during a parley and executed. Geary, despite being out of action for a century, nonetheless winds up becoming the most senior captain left in the Alliance fleet precisely because his date of commission in the Alliance fleet was 100 years ago. While he was asleep, the story of Geary's battle at the start of the war was made into a legend that continued to grow over the decades. Even though Geary was a bright officer, he never thought of himself as anything special (and he personally considered his battle a defeat because he lost his ship), but the people of the Alliance made him into a superhero.
So after a hundred year cryosleep, Geary wakes up to find that everyone he ever knew is long dead, he now has to deal with the hero worship from thousands of his fellow sailors which makes him extremely uncomfortable, he now finds himself in charge of a fleet that is trapped far behind enemy lines when his only previous command experience was captaining a single ship, and, oh yes, he has to rescue the entire Alliance from certain defeat in a century-long war when his only combat experience of the war resulted in the loss of his ship.
But Geary does have one advantage: he's expertly trained in space naval tactics in an interstellar war where everyone else only knows how to Zerg Rush.
There aren't any fightercraft in The Lost Fleet but they do use a faster-than-light system that basically mirrors the jump nodes in the Freespace universe. I highly recommend reading this series and the other spinoff series and media in the Gearyverse. There's lots of inspiration to be found for Freespace modders since The Lost Fleet parallels Freespace in many respects. Just for the record, though, I read The Lost Fleet years after I came up with DatDB, so the former did not inspire the latter. :P
Oh wow...take out the frozen-in-time bit and this sounds remarkably similar to Legend of the Galactic Heroes, particularly the character Yang Wen-li.
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That frozen in time bit is classic andeomeda 👍
Also on that node map, why is siriua closer to SOL than alpha centauri 🙄
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FS nodemaps have always been like that.
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Also on that node map, why is siriua closer to SOL than alpha centauri 🙄
FS nodemaps have always been like that.
Indeed, the original FS1 and FS2 nodemaps are sometimes like that, especially when FS2 starting using the 3D version of the map in some of its cutscenes, where you see the angle change and the stars change perspective relative to each other. It's just that Sirius looks closer to Sol than Alpha Centauri from that particular angle.
And Volition didn't care about extremely nuanced stuff like real-life starmap accuracy when they made the Freespace games either. They had more important things to worry about, like making an awesome space sim. :p :lol: :nod: ;7
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That frozen in time bit is classic andeomeda 👍
Also on that node map, why is siriua closer to SOL than alpha centauri 🙄
Because maps.
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Personally I'd like to see some campaign that meshes FS FTL jumps with direct system-to-system jumps like in ST or SW, but I doubt it'd ever be done, leave alone in a likeable quality.
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Omfg it's one of the old guard, come back to haunt us! :eek:
Welcome back, Su-Tehp. I'm still here. Doing more parenting, architecture, and D&D than FreeSpace these days, but still here.
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Welcome back to HLP, Su-Tehp. We've never met, but I've seen your name appear sporadically in The Classics and have read some great things.
...that, and because your name is easily confused with Steak.
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That was Setekh but close.
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Just that Setekh doesn't even say "Happy BDay HLP" anymore.
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Omfg it's one of the old guard, come back to haunt us! :eek:
Welcome back, Su-Tehp. I'm still here. Doing more parenting, architecture, and D&D than FreeSpace these days, but still here.
My word, is that Galactic Emperor? How you been, man? And what are you doing with D&D? Pathfinder is where it's at, man. :p ;) :D :cool: (I just wish I could play more Pathfinder Society with my buddies; I had to miss out on a great session today because work needed me to come in on Sundays. :banghead: :nono: :hopping: :mad2: :mad: )
Welcome back to HLP, Su-Tehp. We've never met, but I've seen your name appear sporadically in The Classics and have read some great things.
Great things about me? I suspect HLP was performing that propaganda just to make themselves look good by association. :lol: ;7
...that, and because your name is easily confused with Steak.
Mmmmm, steak.... Too bad I gave up red meat (too much cholesterol). :doubt: Still, pork chops with the fat sliced off makes a decent substitute. I've been losing weight and I'm only a few pounds away from my target weight so I can't complain (much). :nod:
Just that Setekh doesn't even say "Happy BDay HLP" anymore.
I didn't know that "Happy BDay HLP" was even a thing. Man, I've really been away for a looooong time....
Now I wanna finish "Devil and the Deep Blue," but Writer's Block (to say nothing of the logistics of building an entire FS campaign from scratch) is hindering me. :o :sigh: :(
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Probably you should cut the story you want to tell into small acts that each tell their own (part of the) story. I think nobody's doing campaigns the scale DatB had from scratch these days (atleast, not in a way that they particular sting out in a brilliant way). You can also easier get feedback/motivation/suggestion that way. Of course you still need a modpack but there's so much stuff out there now that you can basically assemble what you want.
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My word, is that Galactic Emperor? How you been, man? And what are you doing with D&D? Pathfinder is where it's at, man. :p ;) :D :cool: (I just wish I could play more Pathfinder Society with my buddies; I had to miss out on a great session today because work needed me to come in on Sundays. :banghead: :nono: :hopping: :mad2: :mad: )
Yes, it's still me! A lot has changed over the years but I'm still here. You remember last time we met, I was in architecture school? Well I just got my license to practice! :D
I always wanted to DM but 3rd Edition/Pathfinder scares the bejeezus out of me. 4e was much more digestible, ran a group for several years from levels 1-24, and I'm starting my first session running for a new group this Friday in 5e.
Always some projects in the works, eh? I have a goal to finish Vasudan Imperium this year. We'll see how it goes!
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Remember me from ganespy days?
Mightve been as LOA--JK47 back then. I used to wind Aldo up all the time apparently and pester dark for modelling tips.
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Yes, it's still me! A lot has changed over the years but I'm still here. You remember last time we met, I was in architecture school? Well I just got my license to practice! :D
I always wanted to DM but 3rd Edition/Pathfinder scares the bejeezus out of me. 4e was much more digestible, ran a group for several years from levels 1-24, and I'm starting my first session running for a new group this Friday in 5e.
Always some projects in the works, eh? I have a goal to finish Vasudan Imperium this year. We'll see how it goes!
Yeah, I have to admit, before Pathfinder, I had only ever played RPGs from White Wolf/Onyx Path using the Storyteller system and the occasional game of D6 Star Wars, so I was completely unfamiliar with the d20 system. Still, it wasn't too bad to get into Pathfinder's 1e system, though I'm procrastinating about understanding Pathfinder 2e. I'm told that 2e is much more streamlined, but I have alot of time investing in my 1e characters and don't want to give them up and start 2e characters from scratch just yet.
I still have to get most of the FS2 mods working, my vid card is having issues with some of them. I just finished playing the FS1 Port and enjoyed it immensely. I started Ancient-Shivan War and like it alot, but I just wish Act 3 had been finished. I guess I'll just have to live with the cliffhanger.
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I always wanted to DM but 3rd Edition/Pathfinder scares the bejeezus out of me. 4e was much more digestible, ran a group for several years from levels 1-24, and I'm starting my first session running for a new group this Friday in 5e.
Ever since encountering more free-form systems like FATE or Dungeon World or Dusk City Outlaws, D&D and its derivatives have lost their appeal to me. They're fun in the narrow space between levels 5 and 12, where characters are resilient and competent, but not yet so complicated and overloaded with special rules that take an age and a half to resolve in your average combat turn.
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I always wanted to DM but 3rd Edition/Pathfinder scares the bejeezus out of me. 4e was much more digestible, ran a group for several years from levels 1-24, and I'm starting my first session running for a new group this Friday in 5e.
Ever since encountering more free-form systems like FATE or Dungeon World or Dusk City Outlaws, D&D and its derivatives have lost their appeal to me. They're fun in the narrow space between levels 5 and 12, where characters are resilient and competent, but not yet so complicated and overloaded with special rules that take an age and a half to resolve in your average combat turn.
There is that, I suppose. When Jim, my usual Pathfinder GM, runs high level games (12+), he always asks us to at least prep what each character is going to do when it's our turn in initiative. "Lisa, you're up; Christian, you're on deck. Preroll your dice if you have to." I can't complain about it, since it helps move things along. Jim tends to run modules that award whole levels after each game, rather than the shorter and simpler adventures, so it makes sense for him to want to streamline things so we don't have to meet more than once to get a session done.
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Remember me from gamespy days?
Mightve been as LOA--JK47 back then. I used to wind Aldo up all the time apparently and pester dark for modelling tips.
Gawds, I can barely remember Gamespy, I think that was all the way back in 2002, when I was at law school. 18 years is a long time. I wish I could remember Aldo and Dark.
Probably you should cut the story you want to tell into small acts that each tell their own (part of the) story. I think nobody's doing campaigns the scale DatB had from scratch these days (atleast, not in a way that they particular sting out in a brilliant way). You can also easier get feedback/motivation/suggestion that way. Of course you still need a modpack but there's so much stuff out there now that you can basically assemble what you want.
My FREDing skills are nonexistent, so I think I'd just delegate any actual modding to volunteers who knew what they were doing. Even before that, though, I'd have to write an outline of a script for the entire campaign. After replaying FS2 over the past couple of days, I want to do the same thing FS2 did: in each act (or mini-act as the case might be) of the story, the player will be transferred from different squadrons, each with their own specific role (space superiority, intercept, bombing, heavy assault, etc.). So I'm going to have to think up some new insignias and squadron names, which could be really fun if I use Real Life U.S. Navy and Air Force squadrons for inspirations (or even Shout Outs). Of course, that means I'll need to find someone who can make squadron animations (at the very least).
I guess I better get cracking writing that story, huh? I mentioned The Lost Fleet earlier as inspiration for DatDB. The GTVA expeditionary force won't be "trapped behind enemy lines" per se, but being that far from Terran-Vasudan space and having to stay one step ahead of the Shivans just to stay alive (especially when the Shivans have mostly outmaneuvered the Terrans and Vasudans with only 2 exceptions: destroying the Lucifer and sealing off Capella), the difference is academic. At least this gives me an excuse to reread the Lost Fleet books. :D :cool: :nod:
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My FREDing skills are nonexistent, so I think I'd just delegate any actual modding to volunteers who knew what they were doing. Even before that, though, I'd have to write an outline of a script for the entire campaign.
I'm afraid that's not going to work. The number of people actively FREDing isn't as big as it used to be, and most of them work on their own projects. Assembling a modpack isn't that difficult, and learning to use FRED isn't either. There have been 2 people (Strygon and Colt) that came to HLP and released good/very good stuff not long after. TBH, just saying "I do the writing, the rest has to be done by others" is probably not drawing people in; and it'll leave your campaign depending on voluntary work of others.
If your campaign is set 20 years after Capella you don't have to change much - use FS2 as base, remove all Great War era ships, add some ships/weapons and that's it.
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I never got around to designing Shivan Grid 1...
Not true! :p
Here're 2 things I once reclaimed from the Webarchive.
[attachment eaten by a Shivan]
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My FREDing skills are nonexistent, so I think I'd just delegate any actual modding to volunteers who knew what they were doing. Even before that, though, I'd have to write an outline of a script for the entire campaign.
I'm afraid that's not going to work. The number of people actively FREDing isn't as big as it used to be, and most of them work on their own projects. Assembling a modpack isn't that difficult, and learning to use FRED isn't either. There have been 2 people (Strygon and Colt) that came to HLP and released good/very good stuff not long after. TBH, just saying "I do the writing, the rest has to be done by others" is probably not drawing people in; and it'll leave your campaign depending on voluntary work of others.
If your campaign is set 20 years after Capella you don't have to change much - use FS2 as base, remove all Great War era ships, add some ships/weapons and that's it.
Judging from some of the pics of new ships I've seen since I got back, replacing the Great War stuff with the new stuff would be ideal, assuming I can pull it off. I have no idea how to create new animations or stuff like that; the mods that managed to make those and especially mods that managed to get voice acting done are truly impressive.
I never got around to designing Shivan Grid 1...
Not true! :p
Here're 2 things I once reclaimed from the Webarchive.
Holy crap! I really forgot about all this. Jesus, I don't even have a copy of Adobe Photoshop and didn't want to buy one. Now I think I might have to, if only to take a look at these squadron logos (even if half of them are from the original FS2). I don't know any other way to look at pcx. files, especially not any way to look at them without paying for a new program I don't really need (that much)....
EDIT: Just found a Microsoft Store special on Free File Viewers, so looks like I am getting it for free after all. I love serendipity!
Now that I think about it, that map of Shivan space is perhaps too small....
I totally forgot about that squadron list I made. Now I don't have to re-brainstorm a bunch of squadron names!
By the by, I just started re-reading the original Lost Fleet series for DatDB inspiration, although I have to get back to the sequel series (Lost Fleet: Frontier) because in that one, Geary has to deal with making first contact with three separate alien species, and only one of them is friendly. Looks like I'll be taking notes while I read both Lost Fleet series this time around. ;) :cool: :D
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Well here's the squadron list from the ReadMe of the logos:
This is a comprehensive list of all known squadrons mentioned in FS2, either in the main campaign through voice messages or animations, squads created for user campaigns, or squads created for use in PXO/SquadWar.
Most of these squads were either in the original FS2 campaign or were created by Sheepy and myself (Su-tehp) for use in the “Devil and the Deep Blue” campaign. A couple of these squads were created for user-made FS2 campaigns or flew in PXO/SquadWar; these have been noted where known.
Notes for logos: Vasudan squadrons and NTF squadrons did NOT have names in FS2; they were only referred to by number. Terran GTVA squads had both names and corresponding numbers. This list was made not only to give you a comprehensive list of all known squads, but also to help distinguish the squad logos also contained in this zipfile.
Terran squads (and their pcx file names and their squad function, if known):
1st Avenging Angels (1stavengingagels.pcx) (Elite Multi-role Squadron)
2nd Shattered Stars (2ndshatteredstars.pcx) (Bombing Squadron) (Flew in PXO/SquadWar, logo used with
permission)
13th Reapers (No pic available yet) (Heavy Assault Squadron)
17th Hellcats (17thhellcats.pcx) (Interceptor Squadron)
18th Grizzlies (Heavy Assault Squadron)
19th (No pic available yet) (Destroyed trying to protect 3rd Fleet HQ)
23rd Flying Panthers (No pic available yet) (Space Superiority)
25th Hands of God (25thhandsofgod.pcx) (Bombing Squadron)
26th White Tigers (26thwhitetigers.pcx) (Space Superiority)
28th Black Sheep (sheepsquad.pcx) (Reconnaissance Squadron)
33rd Jokers (No pic available yet) (Interceptor Squadron)
39th Scarlet Fangs (No pic available yet)
43rd Da-Bomb Squad (DaBombInsig.pcx) (Bombing Squadron)
47th CutThroats (No pic available yet)
49th Falcons (No pic available yet)
53rd Hammerheads (hammer1.pcx) (Space Superiority Squadron)
58th Wild Cards (No pic available yet) (Multi-role Squadron)
61st Bulldogs (61stbulldogs.pcx) (Bombing Squadron)
64th Raptors (raptors.pcx) (Bomber Squadron)
66th Black Knights (No pic available yet)
67th Desperados (desquad.pcx)
70th Blue Lions (lion1.pcx) (Elite Multi-role Squadron)
73rd Crazy Ivans (No pic available yet)
76th Yankees (No pic available yet)
77th Deadly Sevens (77th.pcx)
79th Predators (No pic available yet)
81st Screaming Weasels (No pic available yet)
83rd White Pumas (No pic available yet)
85th Guiding Stars (No pic available yet)
87th Space Cowboys (No pic available yet)
91st Evil Eyes (91stevileyes.pcx) (Reconnaissance Squadron)
92nd Lonestars (92Lonestars.pcx) (created for user campaign, was it Derelict?)
99th Skulls (jollyroger.pcx)AND(skullsquada.pcx) (Special Ops Squadron)
101st Aces (No pic available yet) (flew in PXO/SquadWar, logo is being redesigned for DatDB campaign)
103rd Flaming Skulls (103flamingskulls.pcx) (Space Superiority Squadron)
105th Gunslingers (105thgunslingers.pcx)
107th Ravens (ravens.pcx) (Heavy Assault Squadron)
108th Wraiths (No pic available yet) (Reconnaissance Squadron)
109th Black Panthers (109thblackpanthers.pcx)
110th Stalking Moons (No pic available yet)
116th Golden Eagles (116thgolderneagles.pcx)
134th Barracudas (barracudas.pcx) (Combat Evaluation Unit)
180th Mad Bombers (180thmadbombers.pcx)(Bomber Squadron)
204th Rattlers (204thrattlers.pcx)
212th Silver Scythes (212thsilverscythes.pcx)(Heavy Assault Squadron, created for Derelict, original logo
used)
223rd (not yet named) (No pic available yet)
242nd Suicide Kings (242suicide.pcx)(Interceptor Squadron)
301st Tsunamis (No pic available yet) (Space Superiority Squadron)
309th (No pic available yet) (Helps protect the Vega Node in original FS2 campaign)
332nd Black Mantas (No pic available yet) (Reconnaissance Squadron) (created for user campaign, was it
Derelict?)
636th Wolfpack (636thwolfpack.pcx)
666th Devil’s Disciples (No pic available yet) (Special Ops Squadron)
Vasudan squads, either created by players or mentioned in FS2:
92nd (Vasudan Squadron, created by Sheepy, I think)
228th (228th.pcx) (Vasudan Squadron, created by Sheepy; I made it a Vasudan Multi-Role Squadron for
DatDB)
33rd (Vasudan Squadron, mentioned in mission chatter in original FS2 campaign)
125th (Vasudan Squadron) (No pic available yet)
161st (Vasudan Squadron) (No pic available yet)
203rd (vasudan1.pcx) (Vasudan Squadron, player flew in this multi-role squad in original FS2 campaign as
an exchange pilot)
Known NTF squads:
185th (NTF squad that Alpha 1 and Snipes flew undercover in) (one of the scorpion-tail logos from original campaign)
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Judging from some of the pics of new ships I've seen since I got back, replacing the Great War stuff with the new stuff would be ideal, assuming I can pull it off. I have no idea how to create new animations or stuff like that; the mods that managed to make those and especially mods that managed to get voice acting done are truly impressive.
Self-promotion (outdated by a year or 2, but still the biggest collection, and easier than to DL everyting yourself):
Ships: https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=94364.0
Effects: https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=94951.0
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Holy crap, that's alot of effects stuff to download. Dunno if I'll need any of it, but it's nice to know that's there.
Ooh, more squad logos! :cool: :nod: ;7 :drevil: :lol: :pimp: :yes: :yes: :yes: :D :p ;)
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I think many of the squad logos are from DatDB though. :D
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I think many of the squad logos are from DatDB though. :D
No, I'm looking through them now and there are a bunch of them I've never seen before. Not only that, but all the png files are from BattleTech. As awesome as they are, I can't use those. Why? [nerd voice]Because they're not thematically appropriate.[/nerd voice] [lawyer voice]I will not have DatDB accused of plagarism, sir![/lawyer voice]
I recognize a few that I...appropriated...for use in DatDB, but I didn't make them. According to my notes in my squad logo list, Sheepy made a few of these logos either for me or for...someone else besides me because I dunno who. :P Hell, a few of these logos look like they were made for the Battlestar Galactica mod because they have outlines of Raptors and Vipers on them...or even the words "Raptor" or "Viper" on them. Hell, one or two of them look like they have drawings of the Hammerhead fighter from Space: Above and Beyond on them. I really would have liked the Screaming Weasels logo since the Screaming Weasels are a canon GTVA squadron, but the weasel is flying one of the afore-mentioned Hammerhead fighters, not something from the GTVA fleet. Again, not thematically appropriate. :(
A lot of them look really nice but they also have the letters "TFS" on them, whatever that's supposed to stand for, so I can't use them because they don't seem to be a GTVA prefix I've ever heard used. :confused:
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Well it's supposed to be a collection of everything that has ever been made for FS, so Diaspora should be included, I can take a look at the rest tomorrow.
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Well it's supposed to be a collection of everything that has ever been made for FS, so Diaspora should be included, I can take a look at the rest tomorrow.
Any help is appreciated, thank you.
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About 10% (21/215) are from DSA/Diaspora so it's not that much. I haven't been able to determine where the TFS squad logos come from; entering TFS in forum search directed only at some HomeWorld related stuff but nothing has ever been released there (also, the few logos are all older).
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New question: do we have any images of mobile shipyards mods? I'm trying to write DatDB so that fleet logistics, namely stuff like Repair/Replenishment and harvesting resources and creating supplies in a mobile fleet auxiliary ship (a sort of mobile shipyard that can manufacture parts and ammo for the fleet while on the move) will be more of an up-front story factor. To that end, I'll not only need non-combat logistical ships like the GTG Zephyrus (gas miner), the GTM Hippocrates (medical ship) and the GTA Charybdis (AWACS), but I need a fleet auxiliary ship mod to serve as a mobile repair and refueling facility for my taskforce. (In The Lost Fleet, Geary has a few small auxiliary ships as well as a really big one named Titan, and protecting Titan (and the other auxiliaries, but especially Titan) was a big plot point more than once. I need that for DatDB.
Has anyone ever made such a mod? Or anything close to it?
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=>Exile, it has a mobile ship yard too.
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=>Exile, it has a mobile ship yard too.
Very nice, is it the ORSh Qadesh-class Mobile Shipyard? I'm trying to find a pic of it but haven't yet.
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Wait till you see this page:
https://wiki.hard-light.net/index.php/User-made_Ships
You may be interested in the GTL Anemoi or the Modular Construction Kit.
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=>Exile, it has a mobile ship yard too.
Very nice, is it the ORSh Qadesh-class Mobile Shipyard? I'm trying to find a pic of it but haven't yet.
Here.
[attachment eaten by a Shivan]
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Wow, that looks fantastic.
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Wow, that looks fantastic.
Indeed, it looks exactly like what I need. Now I just to find out its scale in comparison with other capital ships.
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You can just go and play Exile; should give you both a scale estimate and some plot ideas as well. Scale doesn't matter that much anyway as PCS allows you to resize ships without converting them to a different format.
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Wait till you see this page:
https://wiki.hard-light.net/index.php/User-made_Ships
You may be interested in the GTL Anemoi or the Modular Construction Kit.
Yeah, I'm looking at the GTL Anemoi now and it looks like I could use a couple of Anemois as secondary auxiliaries with the Qadesh as the primary auxiliary. (I'm likely gonna rename the Qadesh because that's Hebrew, not Greek so it doesn't fit the traditional naming convention.) :nono: :nono: :nono:
Is the Qadesh anywhere in the list of user-made ships? I'm not finding it anywhere in that list.
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Probably not, the User-made shiplist is rarely up to date.
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Another ship from Exile worth mentioning that you may find useful are the Hephaestus-class ships which are essentially mobile factories. If I get time later I'll post a screenshot of it.
You can just go and play Exile; should give you both a scale estimate and some plot ideas as well. Scale doesn't matter that much anyway as PCS allows you to resize ships without converting them to a different format.
Or do this. :yes:
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You can just go and play Exile; should give you both a scale estimate and some plot ideas as well. Scale doesn't matter that much anyway as PCS allows you to resize ships without converting them to a different format.
Or do this. :yes:
Indeed. Do this :].
If you look for utility ships, Exile has quite a lot to offer.
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Ugh, if only there was a way to differentiate the Exile ships from the other user-made ships. And if only the database was updated because I'm not finding the Hephaestus either. And if only the Exile Release thread had pictures instead of tinypics error messages saying "sorry, your pics are in another database. (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle)" Ah, well.
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What exactly are you aiming for? Sure, broken pics and incomplete documentation are bad but you could just DL either the ShipsDB or Exile itself; if you're planing to use any of that you'd have to do so anyway. O'course I can just take screens for you but it's easier (and faster) to do that yourself. :)
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What exactly are you aiming for? Sure, broken pics and incomplete documentation are bad but you could just DL either the ShipsDB or Exile itself; if you're planing to use any of that you'd have to do so anyway. Of course I can just take screens for you but it's easier (and faster) to do that yourself. :)
I just installed Exile and played the first mission. Those Terran capital ships in the first mission look amazing, but those flash-to-white transitions are extremely annoying. I went into the Exile in-game database to at least get a look at all the other Exile cap ships, including the auxiliaries, but it doesn't have any of the new ships. In fact, it only has maybe a dozen of the Great War era fighters, containers and the Fenris and Leviathan cruisers and that's it. Where are all the new ships? For that matter, where are all the old ones like the GTD Orion and PVN Typhon? Wouldn't they also be included in the database? Do I have to progress further into Exile to even see the new ships? Or is the database busted somehow?
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Ships are unlocked as you play the campaign, in the same manner as FS1 and FS2 gradually added ships to the tech database.
If you want to look at all the ships and don't mind spoilers, press Ctrl-Shift-S. Alternatively, press F3 while in the main hall.
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Ships are unlocked as you play the campaign, in the same manner as FS1 and FS2 gradually added ships to the tech database.
If you want to look at all the ships and don't mind spoilers, press Ctrl-Shift-S. Alternatively, press F3 while in the main hall.
Thank you, kind sir. You are a scholar and a gentleman and, one day, people will sings songs of your exploits. :) ;) :D :cool: :pimp: :nod:
(And if they don't sing songs of you, then I will.) ;7 :drevil: :P
Damn, now I'm worried about spoilers for Exile.
EDIT: Just used the F3 option and I got a look-see at the ships without seeing their entries, so no spoilers, thankfully. Yeah, the Qadesh and the Hephaestus look very nice and a couple of the other support ships look suitable as well. Thanks again, Goober.
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You're welcome. :):yes:
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Gawds, due to circumstances entirely within my control (yes, within, so it's my own fault), I am now playing through 4 separate Freespace campaigns at once: Freespace 2 (a replay, of course; I just finished the first SOC loop and am starting Act 2), Ancient-Shivan War (about 5 missions in); Exile: Into the Dark Waters (1 mission in), and Silent Threat: Reborn (2 missions in).
Do you guys think my being scattered between 4 different campaigns at once says something bad about my character? :P :nervous: :shaking: :confused:
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The fact that Just Another Day 2.3, Between The Ashes, and Blue Planet are not on that list is the real crime here.
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The fact that Just Another Day 2.2, Between The Ashes, and Blue Planet are not on that list is the real crime here.
Playing JAD makes only sense when you played a number of other campaigns though, elseway you'll get spoilers instead of jokes.
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Gawds, due to circumstances entirely within my control (yes, within, so it's my own fault), I am now playing through 4 separate Freespace campaigns at once: Freespace 2 (a replay, of course; I just finished the first SOC loop and am starting Act 2), Ancient-Shivan War (about 5 missions in); Exile: Into the Dark Waters (1 mission in), and Silent Threat: Reborn (2 missions in).
Do you guys think my being scattered between 4 different campaigns at once says something bad about my character? :P :nervous: :shaking: :confused:
Your chance of completing a FS campagin with that management skill is = 0. :p
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The fact that Just Another Day 2.3, Between The Ashes, and Blue Planet are not on that list is the real crime here.
Not to worry, Def. Between the Ashes and Blue Planet (as well as Scroll of Antarhazimhoweverdafuqitsspelled and Procyon Insugency) are all on my to-do list. JAD can wait until I get my fill of the other stuff since it's not Freespace continuity. I'm interested in JAD and WoD, but the anime-themed stuff is a lower priority for me. :D :p :lol:
Gawds, due to circumstances entirely within my control (yes, within, so it's my own fault), I am now playing through 4 separate Freespace campaigns at once: Freespace 2 (a replay, of course; I just finished the first SOC loop and am starting Act 2), Ancient-Shivan War (about 5 missions in); Exile: Into the Dark Waters (1 mission in), and Silent Threat: Reborn (2 missions in).
Do you guys think my being scattered between 4 different campaigns at once says something bad about my character? :P :nervous: :shaking: :confused:
Your chance of completing a FS campagin with that management skill is = 0. :p
Hey now, I just finished FS1! (Which means that your chance of being correct in your prediction that I wouldn't finish a campaign is now officially zero.) :drevil: :lol: C'mon, I have to prioritize my campaigns, man! (I'm trying to do the campaigns, at least the canon ones in chronological order.) :p Not to mention rereading The Lost Fleet to get some inspiration for DatDB as well as working out the bugs in my system to get the MediaVPs working right. I'm making progress on both those fronts as we speak...er, type. :nervous:
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I meant DatDB actually~
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I meant DatDB actually~
Lol! Yeah, if DatDB ever gets done, it's years away. 17 years ago, I at least had a staff of chumps-- er, volunteers :nervous: --who had some FREDding skills and could make a few maps for me. Now I got nothing but my own imagination and The Lost Fleet sci-fi novels to serve as inspiration. Good thing a number of good Freespace mods have been made in the interim for me to play with.
I just wish Act 3 of Ancient-Shivan War hadn't been cancelled. That would have been epic. :( :sigh:
Is there going to be an Act 3 of Blue Planet: War in Heaven? I haven't caught up on that yet since I got back.
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ASW 3 assets have been released, just like the outline for the Acts III to V.
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ASW 3 assets have been released, just like the outline for the Acts III to V.
Ooh, outlines for Acts 3 to 5? I'll have to find those once I'm done playing Acts 1 and 2. Huh, ASW was planned to go to 5 acts? Huh, they're not following a Shakespearian plotline if the ASW writers had the Hope Spot happen at the end of Act 2 instead the end of Act 3. But then, none of us are Shakespeare. Hell, most of us aren't even English Theater students. :nervous: :confused:
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ASW 3 assets have been released, just like the outline for the Acts III to V.
Ooh, outlines for Acts 3 to 5? I'll have to find those once I'm done playing Acts 1 and 2. Huh, ASW was planned to go to 5 acts? Huh, they're not following a Shakespearian plotline if the ASW writers had the Hope Spot happen at the end of Act 2 instead the end of Act 3. But then, none of us are Shakespeare. Hell, most of us aren't even English Theater students. :nervous: :confused:
The idea was to follow the stages established by the Ancient monologs from FS1 or something like that.
Link to Act 3-5: https://sectorgame.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=4818
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ASW 3 assets have been released, just like the outline for the Acts III to V.
Ooh, outlines for Acts 3 to 5? I'll have to find those once I'm done playing Acts 1 and 2. Huh, ASW was planned to go to 5 acts? Huh, they're not following a Shakespearian plotline if the ASW writers had the Hope Spot happen at the end of Act 2 instead the end of Act 3. But then, none of us are Shakespeare. Hell, most of us aren't even English Theater students. :nervous: :confused:
The idea was to follow the stages established by the Ancient monologs from FS1 or something like that.
Link to Act 3-5: https://sectorgame.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=4818
Oh, I see. Yeah, that makes sense.
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So I'm still getting error messages when I play Silent Threat: Reborn. FWIW, I've got my latest debug log here (https://fsnebula.org/log/5e27b0c9cb0d330e638b7ed8).
Just finished The Wait (https://wiki.hard-light.net/index.php/The_Wait_(ST:R)) on Medium difficulty. Man, that mission was a pain in the a$$ to rerun and finish. Then after 4 tries, I finally finished the mission without dying...and then I found out I didn't get either Lilith kill, so no Distinguished Flying Cross medal. :banghead: :sigh: :(
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What error messages are you getting? According to that log, it looks like you played through the mission successfully. And I assume if you beat the mission you no longer have the problem with textures.
In any case, the log indicates you're still using Knossos. In order to play ST:R without MediaVPs, you will need to launch it through wxLauncher.
Regarding medals, you get the Distinguished Flying Cross if you complete all objectives. You get the Meritorious Unit if you do that plus get the kill for a Lilith.
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Yeah, I think I confused the Meritorious Unit and the Distinguished Flying Cross. I got the latter, but not the former because I didn't get the Lilith kill. Eh, no biggie.
On a more bemused note, while searching Freespace Wiki for information on which star systems belonged to the Terrans and which to the Vasudans, I stumbled across this (https://wiki.hard-light.net/index.php/FREDZone_Fleet_Organization). I had completely forgotten I had ever wrote anything like this. I especially forgot that I thought that during Reconstruction, the Terrans would possess and/or patrol more star systems than the Vasudans. In retrospect, I really should have known better than to think that the Terrans would control/populate 24 star systems while the Vasudans only possessed five star systems and thinking that the Terran-Vasudan War would still be so evenly matched as to result in a 14 year stalemate. :sigh: :o :doubt: :rolleyes:
Has anyone done a tally of which star systems belonged to the Terrans and which to the Vasudans after I published this?
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I especially forgot that I thought that during Reconstruction, the Terrans would possess and/or patrol more star systems than the Vasudans. In retrospect, I really should have known better than to think that the Terrans would control/populate 24 star systems while the Vasudans only possessed five star systems and thinking that the Terran-Vasudan War would still be so evenly matched as to result in a 14 year stalemate. :sigh: :o :doubt: :rolleyes:
It's not about how many systems you control, but how much population and industry you have in these systems. As such it doesn't matter how many systems you have - in the end the Vasudans probably "won" in a way, their 5 systems survived, while the 24 Terran systems fell apart into blocks. In the end, resources don't matter much, a single system that uses a (still rather tiny) share of its resources (~0.1%) would be able to bury the Sathanas armada in a day.
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Has anyone done a tally of which star systems belonged to the Terrans and which to the Vasudans after I published this?
No, not to that degree. That star system writeup has been accepted more or less as fanon. It has proven to be very useful, and campaigns still use it to determine which fleet is based in which system.
Any similar tallies have been smaller, and supplementary in nature. For example, in Scroll, Sesquipedalian decided that Antares, Beta Cygni, Ribos, Betelgeuse, and Ikeya were historically Vasudan systems that were occupied by Terrans during the later stages of the T-V War. These were returned to Vasudan control following BETAC.
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Any similar tallies have been smaller, and supplementary in nature. For example, in Scroll, Sesquipedalian decided that Antares, Beta Cygni, Ribos, Betelgeuse, and Ikeya were historically Vasudan systems that were occupied by Terrans during the later stages of the T-V War. These were returned to Vasudan control following BETAC.
In short, you can basically write what you want - in the case above, you could argue that there is a "Antares Federation" for a considerable amount of time which is listed as a Terran state, and both Beta Cygni and Ribos had Arcadias in them.
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Has anyone done a tally of which star systems belonged to the Terrans and which to the Vasudans after I published this?
No, not to that degree. That star system writeup has been accepted more or less as fanon. It has proven to be very useful, and campaigns still use it to determine which fleet is based in which system.
Multiple campaigns have referred to it and people even today still find it useful? Well, damn. Glad I could do something for the Freespace community. It's always nice to feel needed. :D :cool: :nod: Not to mention that it's a nice ego boost for me. ;7 :drevil: I find it very gratifying that I left something behind that people found useful during my 17 year absence. :pimp:
Any similar tallies have been smaller, and supplementary in nature. For example, in Scroll, Sesquipedalian decided that Antares, Beta Cygni, Ribos, Betelgeuse, and Ikeya were historically Vasudan systems that were occupied by Terrans during the later stages of the T-V War. These were returned to Vasudan control following BETAC.
That makes sense in-universe in that returning those planets to the Vasudans would go a long way to cementing the alliance and friendship between the Terrans and Vasudans as well as alienating the Terrans who might have invested in making homes in those systems and felt disgruntled enough to join the NTF. I hereby tip my hat to Sesquipedalian as well as anyone else who used my system tally as a plot point. :yes: :nod: :yes:
In short, you can basically write what you want - in the case above, you could argue that there is a "Antares Federation" for a considerable amount of time which is listed as a Terran state, and both Beta Cygni and Ribos had Arcadias in them.
I think I recall from reading the FS2 Intelligence/History database that after the Great War, the GTA was dissolved and several Terran systems balkanized into a few independent system-states before all joining the GTVA and the Antares Federation was one of these states, right? As for Beta Cygni and Ribos having Arcadias in them, that would also seem to point to the idea that they were Terran-occupied systems as well if they were indeed Vasudan systems originally.
It's not about how many systems you control, but how much population and industry you have in these systems. As such it doesn't matter how many systems you have - in the end the Vasudans probably "won" in a way, their 5 systems survived, while the 24 Terran systems fell apart into blocks. In the end, resources don't matter much, a single system that uses a (still rather tiny) share of its resources (~0.1%) would be able to bury the Sathanas armada in a day.
Yeah, this is actually a plot point in DatDB (and I think at least implied or perhaps mentioned explicitly elsewhere in other campaigns) that having Earth cut off from the rest of Terran space cut off a significant chunk of the Terrans' economic might (ranging from up to 50% of the economic strength of the whole GTA to more than the rest of the GTA combined). That makes sense since Earth is both the most heavily developed and most heavily populated planet in all of Terran space. With Vasuda Prime, I think it's been lampshaded that Vasuda Prime, being a desert world, wouldn't have very many economic resources to support a starfaring society. (At least not without help, which is why there are fan theories that the Ancients might have surreptitiously uplifted the Vasudans. If so, that's a nice Pet The Dog moment for a bunch of genocidal, scary dogmatic aliens like the Ancients.) Then again, Vasuda Prime was heavily populated by several billion Vasudans, so Vasuda Prime's economic base certainly wasn't nothing....
Yes, the destruction of Vasuda Prime cost billions of Vasudan lives, but it apparently wasn't as economically devastating to the Vasudans as the Terrans losing Earth, especially since it's canon that Khonsu II made economic reforms (as well as political reforms, see the dissolution of the Vasudan Parliament) that allowed the Vasudans to recover faster than the Terrans, which also fueled the resentment of the "Lost Generation." It certainly makes sense that it's not the number of planets you have under your control, it's the resources and population you have on the planets you possess. A few rich planets are (at least) as valuable as a large number of poor planets. When I wrote my post above about how it might have been silly in hindsight to have the Terrans posess four times the number of planets than the Vasudans, I was assuming that parity of resources between the two nations during the T-V War meant having the same number of planets. As Nightmare said, that might not have been the case at all.
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I think I recall from reading the FS2 Intelligence/History database that after the Great War, the GTA was dissolved and several Terran systems balkanized into a few independent system-states before all joining the GTVA and the Antares Federation was one of these states, right? As for Beta Cygni and Ribos having Arcadias in them, that would also seem to point to the idea that they were Terran-occupied systems as well if they were indeed Vasudan systems originally.
Actually the only link to these systems is through (Terran) Antares, also building an Arcadia is probably not that easy and certainly something more permanent than just occupying territory.
Yeah, this is actually a plot point in DatDB (and I think at least implied or perhaps mentioned explicitly elsewhere in other campaigns) that having Earth cut off from the rest of Terran space cut off a significant chunk of the Terrans' economic might (ranging from up to 50% of the economic strength of the whole GTA to more than the rest of the GTA combined). That makes sense since Earth is both the most heavily developed and most heavily populated planet in all of Terran space. With Vasuda Prime, I think it's been lampshaded that Vasuda Prime, being a desert world, wouldn't have very many economic resources to support a starfaring society. (At least not without help, which is why there are fan theories that the Ancients might have surreptitiously uplifted the Vasudans. If so, that's a nice Pet The Dog moment for a bunch of genocidal, scary dogmatic aliens like the Ancients.) Then again, Vasuda Prime was heavily populated by several billion Vasudans, so Vasuda Prime's economic base certainly wasn't nothing....
Yes, the destruction of Vasuda Prime cost billions of Vasudan lives, but it apparently wasn't as economically devastating to the Vasudans as the Terrans losing Earth, especially since it's canon that Khonsu II made economic reforms (as well as political reforms, see the dissolution of the Vasudan Parliament) that allowed the Vasudans to recover faster than the Terrans, which also fueled the resentment of the "Lost Generation."
My guess was that there was more industry in the Vasudan colonies too and being better developed overall. I think that most "economic miracles" have very solid reasons. Also, if you put a number of rather industrialized colonies next to a number of rather underdeveloped/only raw material extracting ones and have both trading with each other you can assume that there is some sort of imbalance in there.
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So I had a bit of a brainstorm today at work about the motives of the Shivans and Eidolons and wrote it down in my notes. I might actually have the glimmerings of a real plot for DatDB. (This is what a 17 year case of writer's block and/or neglect looks like: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :hopping:)
And no, I'm not going to offer spoilers this early in the (proverbial) game). :P
But yeah, people, remember: "...years away." For all I can determine, DatDB might just be me talking out of my Argentine-American attorney ass (with added alliterative appeal). At least coming up with the story first makes for a decent hobby while I slowly try to learn how to mod Freespace.
Which reminds me: is there a PDF or some other downloadable document that can teach me the basics of Freespace modding?
EDIT: Never mind, I just stopped being lazy and found this (https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=70249.0). Time to go to work...well, not work work. I just got home from work.
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Good luck with your project then! :yes:
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Good luck with your project then! :yes:
Thank you! :cool:
My main things in writing this story are to make the Eidolons as inscrutable as the Shivans and remember that the Shivans are "a symptom of a larger problem."
I really need to see how the Aesdherian capital ships look when they're reskinned black and dark blue, with blue beams. If anyone can reskin them and post screenshots of them, that would make my year. :nod: (Not to mention the fact that I'll also need a juggernaut equivalent as well.) :nervous:
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I can hand you the complete collection of Aldos' Nightmares and their HTL versions if you want that. :)
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I can hand you the complete collection of Aldos' Nightmares and their HTL versions if you want that. :)
Let me think about that for a min-- HELL FOOKIN' YES!!!!!
How can you get them to me?
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I just throw them on MediaFire~
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Here you go: http://www.mediafire.com/file/xreqqwp3q4no15y/Nightmares.7z/file
(should be complete)
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Here you go: http://www.mediafire.com/file/xreqqwp3q4no15y/Nightmares.7z/file
(should be complete)
Just downloaded it. I'll take a look at this. Good gawds, I vaguely remember that Aldos made these and that he named this species Nightmares. In fact, I think the Nightmares (or at least the idea of them when they were first announced) served as my first inspiration for DatDB and the Eidolons.
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I can send you a copy of Reciprocitys design docs if you want to; I bet even Aldo doesn't have them anymore :D
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By all means. I can't say no to more resources of inspiration. :pimp:
Well, actually I can, but it would be counterproductive. :P
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So I had a couple thoughts on this. First of all, DatDB sounds pretty cool to me in concept. 'Eidolons' is a good species name, too.
However -- and take this with a grain of salt, especially if others chime in to disagree -- I think 'Devil and the Deep Blue' is a little awkward-sounding as a title. If it were me, I'd extend it out a little: 'The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea'. That sounds much more natural, IMO.
But I have slightly odd title preferences, so.
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It's a reference to the expression "devil and the deep blue sea"
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AFAIK the campaign was originally named "Between a Rock and a Hard Place".
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It's a reference to the expression "devil and the deep blue sea"
"Between the devil and the deep blue sea." I'm aware of that, yes.
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Good good. 👌
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Yeah, my original working title was indeed "Between a Rock and a Hard Place" as everyone can see in the caption of the old node maps. I switched it to "Devil and the Deep Blue" when I contemplated what the Eidolon ships should look like and decided that a black-and-blue color scheme would contrast nicely with the black-and-red Shivan ships.
As for Kestrellius' comment about including the word "sea," he's right that it's purely subjective and a matter of personal preference. Truth be told, including the words "Between" and "sea" in the phrase "Between the devil and the deep blue sea" is the more common adage (AFAIK, anyway), but I do recall seeing the phrasing without the word "sea" in, of all places, in the novelization of the 1978 version of the Battlestar Galactica pilot (y'know, the version where Baltar actually gets executed by the Cylons after betraying the Colonies) (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RewardedAsATraitorDeserves). As I recall, Adama used that particular phrasing when discussing with Tigh the fleet's need to get away from the Cylons and their insectoid allies, the Orilons, during the climax of the pilot episode. So yeah, it's a preferential thing. :nod: Also, I noticed that most Freespace mods (and I think most video games) don't have very verbose titles, so I didn't want to go with the whole eight word title of "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea." That's just way too wordy for me for this project. :D
As for coming up with the name Eidolons, as I mentioned earlier in this thread, I wanted a word that would sounds benign at first but would seem more ambiguous upon reflection. Especially when you consider that the word has the exact two meanings I wanted to convey, it seemed perfectly apropos. :pimp:
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Had another brainstorm today on the DatDB plot, with inspiration while re-reading The Lost Fleet. I think I might actually have a coherent story after all. :drevil:
EDIT: Just found this old thing (https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=6158.0) and I'm wondering about it today: Are cruisers obsolete in the post-Capella period now that corvettes have been deployed and canonically mentioned in the Deimos' techroom description to be the new foundation of the GTVA fleet?
And if cruisers aren't obsolete, what are some cool-looking cruiser mods out there? ;7
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My personal opinion is that cruisers are pretty much useless. A corvette does the same things a cruiser can do, but it doesn't blow up that easily.
You can take a look at the user made ships list on the wiki.
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IMO cruisers would still have a place post-Capella. They could free up corvettes for smaller-scale operations (patrols, anti-piracy). User-made ships that I think look good for this period would include the GTC Cretheus (more like a gunship, but a great patrol cruiser) and the GVC Newet, which could complement the already-existing Aeolus and Mentu. Additionally, cruisers are presumably cheaper to produce, so these could be used to replace some of the losses sustained.
All in all, they could go for a heavy corvette-focused production eventually, but cruisers would be needed in the meantime.
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They could free up corvettes for smaller-scale operations (patrols, anti-piracy).
Well the Deimos can already travel at 35m/s; there's not really much space up to slow fighter speeds.
We never really get to see the civillian side of the GTVA, so there's some room for private stuuf but I fdon' know if they'd reach actual cruiser size.
I actually thought about the Vasudans attempting to built some sort of Zod-Lilith; but it was more a mixture of political project "we built some super-powerful cruiser" even though it worked out in the end (it was just stupidly expensive).
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Whatever happened to the range of custom terran cargo skins?
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Whatever happened to the range of custom terran cargo skins?
TC-TRIfied? I suspect that GTVA was trying to get rid of cargo depots.
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Might have been those.... I remember a multi layered template and some examples such as bosch beer, subach innes, akheton etc...
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Good thing I had it bookmarked!
TAC1 reskins:
http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=55076.0
This really should be used in a mod at some point, I've never seen it outside it's thread. . .
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Never seen before. Kinda late though, Nyx not only made a HTL Chronos but a new HTL TAC1 too, so the boxes are obsolete once a new MVP update is out...
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Surely if the source for the new textures was to, let's say... Fall off the back of a truck?
We coukd just texture replace in Fred, I don't thi knit would be that hard to upscale and shuffle stuff about. I think it might even be a fun project for those that want to contribute to the community.
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I certainly wouldn't mind that even though I have no personal use for that. PBR reskins are more difficult than normal ones however, and TBH I don't see how it fits to this thread actually.
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They could free up corvettes for smaller-scale operations (patrols, anti-piracy).
Well the Deimos can already travel at 35m/s; there's not really much space up to slow fighter speeds.
We never really get to see the civillian side of the GTVA, so there's some room for private stuuf but I fdon' know if they'd reach actual cruiser size.
I actually thought about the Vasudans attempting to built some sort of Zod-Lilith; but it was more a mixture of political project "we built some super-powerful cruiser" even though it worked out in the end (it was just stupidly expensive).
Concerning DatDB, there won't be a role for "civilian" ships per se, but I intend to emphasize the infrastructure needs of a fleet in enemy territory, so freighters and other support ships are still going to make appearances throughout DatDB.
As for cruisers becoming obsolete, there's canon confirmation in the Deimos' tech room description that cruisers are being phased out and that corvettes are becoming the new foundation of the GTVA fleet. I'll miss cruisers, but if bigger, tougher corvettes can do the same job with less chance of being destroyed, then it only makes sense to populate my fleet with more corvettes and exclude cruisers entirely.
Whatever happened to the range of custom terran cargo skins?
TC-TRIfied? I suspect that GTVA was trying to get rid of cargo depots.
Nightmare, is there a verifiable quote of this from the tech room database or elsewhere? If you have a source for this, I'd like to see it. It's pertinent to DatDB because the GTVA taskforce will have to adapt its infrastructure needs to be as mobile as possible since the taskforce has to stay on the move to avoid dangers while behind enemy lines. Freighters will still have to carry cargo modules for ship-to-ship REplenishment/REpair ops, but cargo depots themselves won't be making an appearance in DatDB, at least not for the Terrans and Vasudans. Shivan and Eidolon cargo depots, however....
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GTFr Triton tech desc: ( https://wiki.hard-light.net/index.php/GTFr_Triton )
The GTFr Triton hauls almost twice the tonnage of the Poseidon-class freighters that have served the Alliance since the Great War. The ability to distribute supplies and munitions is vital in any theater of operations. With the Triton, battle groups can keep their forces well-equipped, even if dispersed over multiple systems. The Triton not only has the ability to dock with and haul TAC units, but it also has an internal cargo bay for ship-to-ship transfers. The GTVA expects the Triton to reduce its reliance on deep-space depots, which are vulnerable to attack and sabotage.
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GTFr Triton tech desc: ( https://wiki.hard-light.net/index.php/GTFr_Triton )
The GTFr Triton hauls almost twice the tonnage of the Poseidon-class freighters that have served the Alliance since the Great War. The ability to distribute supplies and munitions is vital in any theater of operations. With the Triton, battle groups can keep their forces well-equipped, even if dispersed over multiple systems. The Triton not only has the ability to dock with and haul TAC units, but it also has an internal cargo bay for ship-to-ship transfers. The GTVA expects the Triton to reduce its reliance on deep-space depots, which are vulnerable to attack and sabotage.
Yes, of course! Now I remember. Having freighters that can do ship-to-ship transfers helps immensely with logistics issues. Thanks for reminding me of this, Nightmare.
But now the new issue I have is, DatDB is going to take place in 2410, rather than my original timestamp of 2385. After thinking about it last night, I came to the conclusion that a longer 43-year timeskip from FS2 rather than a relatively shorter 18-year timeskip made more sense for my story. Now I have to decide if the Triton will still be in service 43 years after FS2. Even if it is, I'll likely new at least one newer freighter mod that's designed with ship-to-ship transfers in mind.
Any suggestions?
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I'd certainly take a look at BPs Anemoi, which is some sort of mobile repair yard including internal spare part logistics (look for it on the wiki). I can check my Ships DB and also send you some of the tech descriptions I wrote for my campaign but that would have to wait until tomorrow.
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I also remembered that TrashMan made a HTL version of his Sizifus freighter, which looks fairly futuristic; should be on the asset release board.
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The Anemoi is already chosen to be one of my auxilliaries, the smaller of the two auxiliary classes, in fact. The other is the Qadesh from Exile, which is essentially a very nice-looking mobile shipyard/repair facility (an absolute must-have for fleet logistics). After all, a fleet cut off from home needs some way to replace spent ordinance and fuel cells. If the auxiliaries get destroyed, that's essentially a non-standard game over. :( :nervous: :(
I found TrashMan's Sizifus freighter as well in HLP's usermade ship database earlier today. Of all the usermade freighters in the HLP list, the Sizifus freighter looks better than the rest, though it's a bit meh IMHO. It's good, but not great looking. But then again, I don't know if the version on the HLP list is the same one you're referring to, so let me know where the version you mentioned is (meaning I have no idea what this "asset release board" thingie is). I'm hoping the version you mentioned might still be a worthy freighter candidate for my taskforce.
Anyway, I'm gonna keep looking in other mods ship databases for other worthy candidates. After all, it was looking at Exile's ships that found me the Qadesh and Anemoi so I'll continue looking for nice-looking ships.
As for your tech descriptions, I'm eager to look at them. You never know where the next bit of inspiration will come from. :nod: ;7 :drevil:
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Here's the link to the HTL Sizifus (was Nyx work, actually): https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=94790.0
I'll PM you the tech descriptions later.
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So, I just finished reading the original series of The Lost Fleet and have already started the sequel series The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier as part of my continuing "research" for DatDB.
I also just finished reading Yoseph's (A.K.A. Daniel Gibbs) Stand Firm, the Book 0 novella of his Echoes of War (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PP539NJ) sci-fi novel series. If the prequel novella is any indication, this looks like a damn fine set of books that any fan of Freespace should love. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series. Not to mention his upcoming Freespace total conversion of Echoes of War (https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=96270.msg1893043#msg1893043). If that ever gets off the ground, it's gonna be awesome! :yes:
Another project I'm working on: a project leader of one of the hosted mods here has granted me permission to do some grammar/reading comprehension editing for at least his techroom descriptions. After I finish playing through the mod and get a feel for the characterizations of the NPCs and the story's themes and moods, I'll have permission to edit dialogue scripts and pilot chatter to make them flow better. Needless to say, I won't be changing any story elements without the project leader's express permission, but I'll at least point out any plot holes to him and plug them up as best I can, subject to his approval, of course.
Which mod, do you ask? Can't say just yet. The project lead probably wouldn't be bothered if I said which mod I was editing, but in truth, it's not my place to say. I'd rather not jump the gun, but if he wants to post here and confirm which mod I'm editing, I'll PM him to let him know that he can do that.
In any case, this is a bit of a long term editing project so it might be a good while before the mod has its edits done and updated. I'm just mentioning this to satisfy my growing ego. :drevil:
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I'm just mentioning this to satisfy my growing ego. :drevil:
Yeah but even in the universe there's not infinite space y'know :D
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I'm a bit late here, but always good to see an old timer return. Remember that roster of ships and mission guidelines we made for the multiplayer side of FS2 (with Cetanu)? I recall we had set up a whole forum for that effort, and organized several multiplayer mission packs and got them validated by Volition.
With this virus scare keeping everyone at home, I'm also taking the time to play a lot of campaigns I never got around to before. As said earlier, Between the Ashes is outstanding and should probably be the first one on anyone's list today.
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I'm a bit late here, but always good to see an old timer return. Remember that roster of ships and mission guidelines we made for the multiplayer side of FS2 (with Cetanu)? I recall we had set up a whole forum for that effort, and organized several multiplayer mission packs and got them validated by Volition.
With this virus scare keeping everyone at home, I'm also taking the time to play a lot of campaigns I never got around to before. As said earlier, Between the Ashes is outstanding and should probably be the first one on anyone's list today.
Good to see you again, CP! :D
I don't remember those multiplayer mission guidelines we worked on, I wish I did. But then, that was almost 20 years ago, so I've forgotten a bunch of stuff from back then. Hell, I forgot about so much of my Devil and the Deep Blue campaign until people reminded me after I got back.
As for the coronavirus, Yeah, I'm trying to stay home as much as possible too, but at least my job at the supermarket is only 3 blocks away from my apartment, so I don't have to travel far. It seems like I'm busier than ever, what with everyone swarming my market with mass purchases hoarding meat, chicken and especially paper towels and toilet paper. FFS, for at least the past week, those two sections of the store have been cleaned out every day, get some of their stock replaced at 6am when the store opens and then get cleaned out again by 10am. It's a strange sight to see an entire supermarket lane completely empty for days on end. A sign of the times, I suppose. :ick:
I haven't had the time to play Freespace for at least a week, but then again Diablo 3's Season 20 just started and I had to get my season toons up to speed there. (Mundunugu Spirit Barrage Witch Doctor is AMAZING!) :cool: :drevil: :yes: :yes: :yes:
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We had a lot of discussion on what would make good multiplayer missions that fit into the canon storyline. I remember we were arguing with many other people submitting missions on that forum, on guidelines like having missions where you play as NTF not giving you advanced equipment like the Helios or Ares, and so on. The goal was to only submit missions to Volition that were Volition quality, and I think we pulled that off. :D The ship roster ultimately got incorporated into the FS wiki.
And yea, people are hammering the supermarkets here too, but most things seem to be in stock except for toilet paper and a few other items.
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Are you referring to these multiplayer guidelines, perchance?
http://fredzone.hard-light.net/su-tehp_ntf.shtml
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Exactly, that was it! FRED Zone had its own forum at one point where we hashed these things out.
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Are you referring to these multiplayer guidelines, perchance?
http://fredzone.hard-light.net/su-tehp_ntf.shtml
Holy crap, I had forgotten all about this. Damn, I was very snooty about canon back then, wasn't I?
That timeline could probably be improved with dates from Silent Threat: Reborn command briefings. I'll have to find a way to beat the "Forced Hand" mission as that's as far as I got in ST:R a couple of months ago when I got back to Freespace and HLP. I keep getting killed after taking so much damage from the Loki fighters while trying to disable the Repulse. :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :hopping: :ick: