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Yup. I finally finished it. With great excitement and nervousness, I present to HLP a six-mission demo campaign, Resurgence. I've thrown just over a month of work at it, and as my first campaign, I'm fairly satisfied with how it turned out.
With the Battle of Capella over, the GTVA tries to regroup and figure out where to settle a system's worth of refugees. The fleet is crippled, but the fighting is over - Until the Shivans appear days after in the Mirfak system. Within hours, the Shivans have massacred thousands upon thousands of people. Within the day, Mirfak is a fully infested Shivan system. Another day passes, and another system falls. Epsilon Pegasi fall under Shivan control while GTVA fleets frantically try to reach Regulus.
By the time the GTVA's first ship makes it there, they're met by hordes of Shivans. The war of attrition starts. Though the GTVA manages to pull off record-breaking kill/death ratio, it simply isn't enough to beat back the armada. Just as if things couldn't get worse, the Shivans launch a massive offensive on Sirius, splitting the GTVA in half - One headed into the dark corner of space of Altair, and the other into the heart of GTVA space.
The Shivans split up to eliminate the separated fleets, buying what's left of the GTVA some much needed time, but for those on the Altair end of space, the situation looks bleak. No communications, and virtually no supplies. Despite having been severed from the majority of the fleet, the survivors do everything they can to kill as many Shivans as they can before they go down.
As for the rest of the fleet, they're faced with defending well-over a dozen systems - A task near-impossible in their condition. The survivors on the Altair end assume the worst.
This campaign takes place near the end of the nightmare of the Third Shivan Incursion.
REQUIREMENTS
- Mediavps 3.6.12
- FSO 3.6.14 (I tested with RC2)
- Drop and extract the teeny campaign files into your main FS2 directory, and it should work
http://www.mediafire.com/?c0bxtcqkv9ae9so - Version 1.05
http://www.mediafire.com/?fdjsurd8lhhioqf - Version 1.051 -> Download this one if you find freighters in the third mission committing suicide
http://www.mediafire.com/?912uindgcizmgnh - Version 1.052 -> Contains fix for final mission and anti-freighter suicide
There are however A few things I'm aware of that might need work - > Check the spoilers -> Don't read'em unless you've finished the campaign or don't intend on doing so.
First Mission : Yeah, it's an escort mission. From what I've read, most of you don't like it when people start off campaigns like that, but hey, I didn't have the skillset to do anything else. :p
Second Mission : I get the feeling that the mission might be a little long because the objectives are spaced out a bit, but I had to do that, or decrease the amount of Shivan spam that was attacking the convoy in order to give the player a sense of urgency.
Third Mission : This mission was a little trickier for me to design. Up until this point, I hadn't really worked with warship VS warship stuff, so I wasn?t really sure what to expect. For the first few builds, the Sefaron kept obliterating everything that stepped out of the node, so I ended up having to find an excuse for turning off its beams. The outcomes from what I observed were pretty controllable by the player, though I?m not so sure, as I only had one person available to test it. BoE-ish too much? I'm really just afraid that people will end up being helpless against the sheer amount of numbers that are put out there.
Fourth Mission L My tester complained like no other that this mission was difficult, which I admit, was part of the intention of this mission and the campaign overall. Still, he managed to beat it after a few tries. The juggernaut?s flak guns are fairly durable, making them a hindrance to have to get rid of, and the freighters are, Fragile to say the least. Took me forever to get the last sequence of it done, so hope that was worth it. I swear this mission had nothing to do with the thread that was recently created regarding the strategy that was used here. Pure coincidence! :hopping:
Fifth Mission : This was a pretty straightforward mission. I didn't find anything that could have been maddeningly difficult, so if there?s a problem, please call me out on it. Only problem there *might* be is with the Nihilanth blowing up the Marauder. It happens on occasion, but if the player keeps the bombers away, it should be pretty beatable.
Sixth Mission : This was quite simply a recreation of the FS2's Apocalypse mission. I was initially planning on making more convoys, but after I ran a test, the mission ended up already being over 10 minutes in length, so I decided against it. I have serious concerns for this mission?s difficulty. Yell at me if it is.
Characters : You guys have no idea how nervous I am about my characters. I've done stories before, but characters , I just suck at them! I tried, I really did, but if they're lousy, I?m sorry. They stick out in their own ways, but I'm just not sure if they feel, Human.
Mission Length : Most of the missions range around ten minutes, so I can imagine people not liking that.
Spam - Yeah, I know. There's a motherload of Shivans in this campaign. They're there for a reason though. I didn't like how FS2 used so few Shivans, so I tried to make a more... Realistic feel of how they would use their numbers.
On a complete different note, there are also a number of references to other games. I'm curious to see how many of you catch on to them. ;)
Credits - Everyone that helped me on my FRED questions topic. This campaign probably would've ended with me ragequitting without it. Much thanks. :yes:
- Singh - Backgrounds
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Ok. :doubt:.... where is the download link!! :hopping:
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There's an attachment. I didn't feel justified putting a download link to a file less than 1mb in size. :blah:
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You might actually want to, though; attachments are occasionally purged, so at some point, you'll lose that link.
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You're not supposed to include the settings file or the data folder with the mod if you're using a vp
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Alright, the campaign has been mediafired and has had the settings file removed. Thanks for pointing that out Legate Damar.
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Of course, glad to be of service. I downloaded and started playing this, but I have noticed several issues:
In the first mission, the entire convoy is on the same plane. This isn't really a major problem but a bit more use of the y-axis might be a good idea. Also the message saying the convoy was 3km away from the node was repeated for some reason.
I succeeded in the secondary objective of protecting the entire convoy even though one of the Lambda transports was lost.'
The briefing for the second mission said the year was 2037 or something? FS2 takes place in 2367.
This Derek character reminds me of your average Klingon.
In the same briefing you referred to kilometers as "clicks", when I believe the proper term is "kliks". In addition there were several other grammar errors, such as "energy powerful energy" and "not after getting a scan" instead of "not before". The briefing itself was also entirely too long IMO.
When I destroyed the comm node by taking out the core and making it self-destruct, both the directive and objective of destroying it read as failed. After destroying the cargo depot I got a message to scan the comm node, even though I had already done so and the comm node had been destroyed at that point. Also I later got a message to jump at the node, but my jump drives would not activate no matter where in or near the node I went, so I eventually had to quit the mission.
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Updated the mediafire link to remedy the showstopper. Kudos to Legate Damar for making me look dumb. ;P
- First mission was my first mission ever, so I was more excited to see the mission working than to see it aesthetically appealing
- Fixed the objective trigger bug - Me and my lousy understanding of triggers at that time cost me that one
- Wow. That's embarrassing - Got the date wrong - Probably mistyped it - I swear I know my FS chronology! :banghead:
- Not sure if that should be taken as compliment, but glad to see you can connect to the character in some way
- Bleah. My fault for not actually ever seeing the term written out
- Not sure if this might have been a problem, but you were supposed to take out the cargo, then scan/destroy the comm node, then kill the freighters in that order
- Seeing that last part about not being able to jump out MADE MY HEART STOP - Thanks for catching it early (I knew I shouldn't have added the breakjump/allowjump at the last second and hoped it worked) :nono [\spoiler]
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You should have allowances for the player doing things out of order.
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Or consequences ;P I'll keep this one in mind, I'm really not sure why I had the mission set in such a linear fashion. Hopefully it's not *too* much of a hindrance.
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I was just pointing it out. I will play the updated version later.
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Not bad, I had some fun kicking shivan asses.. plus I got to test the new Rakshasa! :D
The first and second missions remind me of the original FS2, kudos.
Although, you might want to check the departure condition for Alpha 1 on the second one.
I got stuck on there, think I was supposed to jump at the node but I was unable to.
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Not bad, I had some fun kicking shivan asses.. plus I got to test the new Rakshasa! :D
The first and second missions remind me of the original FS2, kudos.
Although, you might want to check the departure condition for Alpha 1 on the second one.
I got stuck on there, think I was supposed to jump at the node but I was unable to.
Yay! My first missions aren't complete failures! :D
As for the problem you're encountering, you're probably suffering from one of my last minute changes wtf was I thinking mistakes. I updated the mediafire link last night and ran through it myself - Should be able to jump out on the second mission now. Sorry about that.
Addendum: Another wild bug appeared. Squished it. Hopefully nobody has gotten to the last mission yet, because that's where it is. Re-download (again). I know, I suck at this. :sigh:
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The GTD Serafon(spelling?) appears in mission 6 even though it was destroyed by the Sath in mission 4.
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The GTD Serafon(spelling?) appears in mission 6 even though it was destroyed by the Sath in mission 4.
:wtf: The Sath wasn't supposed to be able to destroy the Sefaron, and didn't the dozens of times I tested it.
From my experience, the Meson bombs act inconsistently with their damage, sometimes leaving the Sath at 40 hull integrity rather than the intended 20. Happens about 50% of the time. Not sure what's causing it. I'll mess around with the mission again. But even when it did get left with 40%, the Sathanas decided never to fire and instead tried to fly circles around the Sefaron.
Soooooooooo until I manage to fix that one, pretend :banghead: that it survived.
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The GTD Serafon(spelling?) appears in mission 6 even though it was destroyed by the Sath in mission 4.
:wtf: The Sath wasn't supposed to be able to destroy the Sefaron, and didn't the dozens of times I tested it.
From my experience, the Meson bombs act inconsistently with their damage, sometimes leaving the Sath at 40 hull integrity rather than the intended 20. Happens about 50% of the time. Not sure what's causing it. I'll mess around with the mission again. But even when it did get left with 40%, the Sathanas decided never to fire and instead tried to fly circles around the Sefaron.
Soooooooooo until I manage to fix that one, pretend :banghead: that it survived.
It destroyed it in my playthrough too. Also the bombs left it at 17% integrity but it still finished off the Orion a few seconds before blowing up.
Anyway I finally played the whole thing. Some issues I noticed:
Using F11 to target the comm node does not seem to work.
Destroying the Antida gives a message that the Cain class cruisers have been destroyed, but the Antida is a Rakshasa.
The debriefing of the blockade mission indicates the Nihilanth was destroyed even though it wasn't (and it later appears in the campaign so I'm guessing you should just reword the debriefing).
The date is given as 2357. As I pointed out before, FS2 takes place in 2367.
I noticed a typo of "Aldebaren" for "Aldebaran", and the use of the word "treat" instead of "retreat". Another sentence in one of the briefings was rather awkward, using the name "Nazara" 3 times.
The cargo the freighters retrieved from the station was empty - makes no sense. You should list it as carrying supplies, ship and fighter parts, weapons, etc.
One of the briefings says "hear from u" instead of "hear from us". In addition one part says "Shivan bombers not afraid" instead of "are not afraid".
In the briefing for the last mission, the icon for convoy 3 is a Hecate destroyer, which is not only wrong but kind of spoils the arrival of the Hecate later in the mission. Also, the Shivan fleet in the last mission doesn't pursue or head towards the node, and once you realize this it kind of makes it seem a lot less threatening. In addition, the Avalon doesn't jump out.
Overall I enjoyed this, it portrayed the Shivans as I feel they're meant to be: Ruthless, inexorable, overpowering, and unstoppable. The missions were fun with a lot of massive battles that were very enjoyable. I look forward to the continuation (assuming you're making one).
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- I just spend three hours trying to figure out what went wrong, but to no avail. Sorry that happened, I need to ask around to see wtf is going on
- I overlooked the hotkey on this one, accidentally binding it to F9 - Fixed
- The Antida was originally a Cain, which is why that was triggered - I switched it to a Rakshasa fairly late into the mission's development because I felt that using three Cains was... Bland - Fixed
- The debriefing states that the Nihilanth was likely to be destroyed, perhaps I should've been clearer
- My lousy keyboarding skills are to blame for mistyping 2367 as 2357
- I should've taken a closer look at the pixelated nodemap I was looking at to catch Aldebaran's correct spelling
- I have a bad habit for repetition - Sucks that my tester isn't the most skilled in Language Arts
- Bleah, bad design overlook - Fixed
- The 'Shivans not afraid of anything' was intentional. Was trying to make it sound a little more humorous - Unless you're telling me it failed
- I probably accidentally selected the Sheridan as well, and the briefing ended up using it as the convoy picture - Fixed
- Good to hear you enjoyed it (Through this bug-ridden campaign) - From what you've said, it looks like I've successfully projected the Shivans the way I wanted to - Thanks for the feedback :D
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- The 'Shivans not afraid of anything' was intentional. Was trying to make it sound a little more humorous - Unless you're telling me it failed
If you were going that route, you should have wrote "doesn't afraid of anything" instead. Then it would be obvious.
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Alright, I've done it. After a few hours of complete and utter frustration, I've finally squashed the fourth mission's bug! :D Outcome regarding the primary objective should be consistent on the assumption the player does what they're supposed to do.
I think this is the last patch - Legate Damar managed to help exterminate the bug population, so this should be it.
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ive tested with fs2_open3.6.14 rc6
its working fine
i like your campaign
i hope in full version will be more missions
if you need tester i can help you
i can test it for you
my xfire username or windows live messenger
my windows live email is: [email protected]
my xfire username is: wssmits
if you accept you can choose abouut two thing
xfire or windows live messenger
you may choose
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Last mission seems kind of bugged - The three freighters will inevitably fire at each other with their flak cannons, so no matter how well I do, they take themselves -- and me, of course -- out. Other than the last mission, a pretty solid demo! I do wonder why my wing was constantly equipped with prometheus weapons when Keysers were available in the loadout, though.
Edit: I made it somehow this time - Chose the ares, then camped in the cover of the cruisers with two maxim guns, taking out the engines one by one, then smashing the fighterbay. Not sure if that last part did anything, but that was my only plan.
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Good to hear people enjoyed the demo. :D Feels great to know my work (mostly) paid off.
The many times I ran through the last mission I never had a problem with the freighters committing suicide like that. :wtf: I guess this is an example of the retail FS2 AI shooting their targeting cursors no matter what's in the way. Guess I'll turret-lock them.
As for concern regarding their armaments, I usually stuck a Prometheus S in due to the cannon's 1500 meter range as opposed to the 975 meter. Most missions denied access to faster fighters, where closing distance wouldn't be a problem, so I felt that attaching a Prometheus would be able to compensate for that. Kayser bolts also have a lower velocity than those of the Prometheus, so even at maximum range, there was a good chance that an enemy could have evaded shots.
ive tested with fs2_open3.6.14 rc6
its working fine
i like your campaign
i hope in full version will be more missions
if you need tester i can help you
i can test it for you
my xfire username or windows live messenger
my windows live email is: [email protected]
my xfire username is: wssmits
if you accept you can choose abouut two thing
xfire or windows live messenger
you may choose
The offer is appreciated and has been noted. Thanks!
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thanks for an accept
you accept me
ok
pm me when ready
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Does it seem that most bugs have been quashed? I'd like to get this on fsmods, but I'd like to have a fairly complete product. :)
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I'll sweep through everything one more time to be sure, then I'll attach a V1.05 to signify it's ready. Sorta satisfying that this is going to be eternalized on FSMods. :D
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Final patch released. ;)
- Fixed majority of grammatical/spelling errors
- Turret-locked freighters in final mission to prevent suicide
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Just clarifying something - I thought the sathanas ambush was the final one, that was the one I was referring to. I don't know about the actual last mission yet... I hope I haven't confused too much... :S
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:wtf: If that's the problem, then that further bewilders me. That mission took me forever to test, and of the dozens if time I did, I never came across suicides. Oh well.
I guess I'll fix it, though I'm fearful that it may cause balancing issues and make the mission more difficult than it already is. Attached as V1.051.
Swantz, if you decide to put it up, I think it'd be safer to use V1.05.
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:wtf: If that's the problem, then that further bewilders me. That mission took me forever to test, and of the dozens if time I did, I never came across suicides. Oh well.
I guess I'll fix it, though I'm fearful that it may cause balancing issues and make the mission more difficult than it already is. Attached as V1.051.
Swantz, if you decide to put it up, I think it'd be safer to use V1.05.
Do you think that will be your last stable release? I just hate getting caught making updates constantly. :p
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Sorry for late reply. This'll be the last update I'll be releasing. Nothing special, just contains an extra departure cue. Won't break anything.
http://www.mediafire.com/?912uindgcizmgnh - V1.052
Now that this little campaign is out of the way, I can get back to getting a full release done. :p