Hard Light Productions Forums
Modding, Mission Design, and Coding => The FRED Workshop => Topic started by: htnk on June 10, 2009, 01:13:15 am
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Hello everyone!
I have this idea for a reconstruction era campaign where player is playing as a pirate.
Basically, I already have two missions done and a third one on the way. But the question is : has it been done before? Are there already any campaigns like that ?
I searched Freespace Wiki and found nothing but anyway I need to ask and this seems like the best place to do so.
If I'm not being original on this one, I'll scrap this project and start something else.
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I don't think so. And it sounds as if it could be very interesting.
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I think there's one pirate campaign, or a few, on TBP but aside from that, can't think of any.
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There aren't many/any. Somebody released one in the FS1 era, or so I've been told, but it's now Lost Forever as far as I am aware.
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Yeah it sounds like a good idea :)
Just a note from myself to the newer members. You don't have to tell us your campaign ideas and ask for our opinions, if you have a good idea go for it (not saying you told us your whole plot, but just in response to a larger number of people posting threads asking about their campaign ideas). Nonetheless, go for it mate :yes:
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With the few pirate campaigns around, you've got a lot of room for originality and creativity. If it works out, your campaign has the potential to have a diverse plot.
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The only two that really come close is Derelict (Where to pretend to be a pirate) and Homesick (Where you're a mercenary)
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Don't forget Nukemod: Children Of Shiva hosted on Game Warden.
Though it's unreleased jet.
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The Reconstruction era has always interested me but as far as I know theres not that many campaigns which is a shame so go for it! :yes:
(This is when i get a huge list of campaigns that ARE based in the Reconstruction era :p)
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Thank you all for your replies.
You've encouraged me even more to continue working on this campaign :)
As for today, I'm planning a total of 15 missions, that will take place in Laramis, Luyten 726-8, Barnard's Star and neighboring systems.
This will be my second campaign. I decided not to release the first one to the public as it is ... well ... a bit substandard (although it served it's purpose as a fredding practice).
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:welcomesilver:
Welcome to the HLPBB!!! :D
According to your first post, you've already checked the Wiki - there are many interesting articles about FRED there,
like this one. (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Pirates_and_Campaign_Design) :)
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Your link nicely sums it up. :D
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Welcome to the HLPBB!!! :D
According to your first post, you've already checked the Wiki - there are many interesting articles about FRED there,
like this one. (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Pirates_and_Campaign_Design) :)
Thank you. I've already seen the article about pirates, and I will keep it in mind.
Basically, pirates in my campaign were never meant to be some mindless suicidal bandits ;) . They will be more of an organised crime group, few in numbers but rarely engaging in a 'fair fight' with the enemy. Pirates will often use elements of stealth, ambush and sabotage to archieve their goals.
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Your ideas are quite interesting... :yes:
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There was a FS-1 Campaign called Hellwolf that was a pirate based Campaign.
I posted it on freespacemods.net
http://www.freespacemods.net/download.php?view.557
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Should we upgrade it? :)
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Yes.
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Play it first, then decide. It was a pretty basic campaign.
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Perhaps then not "upgrade" but rather "reimagine"?
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Upgrade = FSCRP-ify it
EDIT: Looks like the wolfpack's squadron logo is missing... is it available?
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Yes, I know, but given how basic some FS1-era campaigns can be there might not be much to FSCRP-ify in the first place.
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It depends. This one is short, so I may be able to upgrade it all by myself providing that grammar-checking is not required. :)
EDIT: The upgrade has officially started... it's time to improve the Dicta Mobius... :cool:
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Looks like the wolfpack's squadron logo is missing...
Oh my... gotta change name of my campaign then...
I planned to name it exactly 'Wolfpack' and give pirates a wolf-like logo instead of the traditional Jolly Roger :P
btw. any chance of running this campaign on FS Port or sth? (My FS1 CDs won't work anymore :rolleyes:)
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There also was a Wolfpack squadron in Warzone, the 636th. :)
Yeah, you should be able to play the campaign with the FSPort. I've already played the first mission. :cool:
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According to your first post, you've already checked the Wiki - there are many interesting articles about FRED there,
like this one. (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Pirates_and_Campaign_Design) :)
tbh, that's a really crappy article on the subject. It isn't terribly in-depth and draws a number of strange conclusions.
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Well, I think it does make a few fair points - first, that pirates shouldn't have large numbers of vessels and wouldn't commit their precious resources to a risky attack, and second, that the mere act of doing damage can earn pirates some ransom just as well as boarding.
Which opens up possibilities for FREDders.
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Yeah, I mean it's alright to use Shivans as cannon-fodder, but Pirates... well, Pirates are human, they're not faceless, and seemingly strategy-less on a battlefield level (in FS1 the Shivans seemed to have more of an overarching campaign strategy while it wasn't too apparent in FS2, but let's not start with that). I mean you can get away with it, but Pirates aren't a military force, so therefore they have to be smart about the way they deploy.
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I don't get where this 'Shivans are aimless in FS2' meme is springing from (aside from Snail :p). They're on the defensive for a little while, picking off Allied assets, assessing and waiting, and then a decisive and overwhelming response coheres.
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I don't get where this 'Shivans are aimless in FS2' meme is springing from (aside from Snail :p).
Oi! It's not a meme! It be the truth! The word of God! The Shivans in FS1 are a lot more intimidating than they are in FS2! Fact! Because I'm right! And you're wrong!
Also as a Global Mod you shouldn't be derailing the topic! Bad! No! Bad! Bad Global Mod! You are a bad Global Mod! Bad!
:nervous:
Sorry, I couldn't help it...
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Snail, is that a joke? If it wasn't, I totally agree with you.
Back on topic, you need to define pirates. We don't know how pirates in space would behave, and we don't know how many ships they can muster.
"Pirates" might even be a term used to define a faction that is resisting to a more powerful entity. Resistance? Opposition? Remnants of the enemy faction? Calling them "pirates" is much more convenient.
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Oy, Mobius: those who live in glass houses... Try to act like a civilized forumite yourself for a few weeks before making snippy remarks about how I'm a 'bad Global mod.'
I wonder if 'pirates' is something of a creative failure. It seems like we could take some tips from BSG and come up with some more modern, precise terms for entities like this. 'Resistance elements', 'insurgents', 'dissident militia', 'surplus-equipped remnants of post-GTA splinter governments', so on. The more specific the writing is the more interesting the opponents are.
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Pirates are just generally people who rob or commit illegal violence at sea, (in this case, in space) according to the dictionary. Note however, that the phrase "illegal violence" can apply to many situations allowing FREDders a considerable amount of creativity.
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Well, my idea was (riffing off of Mobius' suggestion that the term 'pirate' should be applied more broadly) that the term 'pirate' is boring, generic, and deleterious to versimilitude, and therefore could be replaced by more specific and modern terms where applicable. I mean, we've all seen 'space pirates'. Space pirates don't have motivation or history. They're the kind of guys who send a lot of Lokis to attack that convoy in Derelict. Pirates are dull!
We need newer, sexier concepts.
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I wonder if 'pirates' is something of a creative failure. It seems like we could take some tips from BSG and come up with some more modern, precise terms for entities like this. 'Resistance elements', 'insurgents', 'dissident militia', 'surplus-equipped remnants of post-GTA splinter governments', so on. The more specific the writing is the more interesting the opponents are.
The difficulty is that in order to know why folks would be dissatisfied with the government--dissatisfied enough to go outside the law and blow stuff up for fun and profit--you have to know something about the government and society. What do we know about the GTVA? That there are humans and vasudans. Obvious angle: xenophobia! But, y'know, Volition already covered that. Twice. So aside from xenophobia, what do we have? Well, it's galactic, so maybe self-governance? Except AFAIK we have no idea how the governance of a system or station or whatever works. So we'd have to make that up.
What I'm getting at is that in order to come up with some modern, precise terms for entities like this, well, someone's first going to have to do a fair amount of world building. Unless they're willing to do a lot of hand waving and pay no attention stuff, anyway.
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There's enough to go off of in the techroom to do that easily enough. Post-GTA power blocs are interesting and largely unexplored, for instance.
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What I'm getting at is that in order to come up with some modern, precise terms for entities like this, well, someone's first going to have to do a fair amount of world building. Unless they're willing to do a lot of hand waving and pay no attention stuff, anyway.
That should not stop someone. At all.
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There's enough to go off of in the techroom to do that easily enough. Post-GTA power blocs are interesting and largely unexplored, for instance.
Exactly! I was thinking of making a Reconstruction era campaign about that sometime.
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Well my campaign story will include for instance the Luyten New Alliance which is by the time still independent from GTVA, but they will have nothing to do with pirates themselves.
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Just a heads up though, the regional blocs were only semi-autonomous. They weren't like the NTF.
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They might have had some influence on the future birth of the NTF, though. The GTVA was only 9-10 years old when the NTF rebellion started (if I remember well), meaning that it was quite possible to be the result of grudge towards the powers that pretended to take the place of the legitimate GTA authorities.
We know there are many ideals behind the creation of the NTF, but I wouldn't scrap those connected to politics.
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The might have had some influence on the future birth of the NTF, though. The GTVA was only 9-10 years old when the NTF rebellion started (if I remember well), meaning that it was quite possible to be the result of grudge towards the powers that pretended to take the place of the legitimate GTA authorities.
We know there are many ideals behind the creation of the NTF, but I wouldn't scrap those connected to politics.
Exactly. In fact, the GTVA was made the supreme power in 2358, only 9 years before the NTF rebellion (however, it had existed before that date as a trade framework with less power). I suspect the political turmoil in Polaris, Sirius and Regulus during Reconstruction caused the people in those systems to get pretty angered at the GTVA government and encouraged them to join Bosch's rebellion.
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Very good point. I agree.... :yes:
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Just a heads up though, the regional blocs were only semi-autonomous. They weren't like the NTF.
I only found canon information that Luyten Alliance was independent until eventually rejoining GTVA under BETAC. There was nothing about the level of independency.
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Well, after the collapse of the Sol jump node no one legitimately had the powers to replace the government of Sol. Under a military point of view, a temporary Terran Command had been established in Delta Serpentis. Something similar surely happened to politics and politicians, hence the creation of the independent factions.
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From the Reconstruction entry of intel:
...the Galactic Terran Alliance disintegrated into semi-autonomous regional blocs...
Though it's so vague you can do anything with it.
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IMO, they probably were semi-autonomous because none of them could virtually survive without the others. It's quite possible, IMO, that during the Reconstruction period the classic "I give you food, you give me weapons" helped a lot. Our info on canon planets are poor, so we don't know what kind of resources each system could rely on.
For example, the normal Prometheus became nearly impossible to produce after the collapse of the Sol jump node, so the GTVA came out with the Prometheus R. This means that, eventually, GTA systems other than Sol did not have a considerable number of exploitable gas giants.
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That doesn't make much sense...if I were trying to elucidate the loss of the Prometheus S, I think I'd want to come up with a more elaborate infrastructure. Something about the loss of a critical bit of know-how or technology. The loss of gas giants just doesn't make any sense, because gas giants are everywhere.
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This means that, eventually, GTA systems other than Sol did not have a considerable number of exploitable gas giants.
No gas giants with argon you mean.
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Oh right - I forgot that argon is needed to use the Prometheus.
Yet still, we have to assume that the gas giants outside Sol were different from Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune... or things wouldn't make sense...
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Oh right - I forgot that argon is needed to use the Prometheus.
Yet still, we have to assume that the gas giants outside Sol were different from Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune... or things wouldn't make sense...
The gas giants in the solar system have much lower argon contents that the earths atmosphere. there is no mention in the tech database that it is the gas giants that Argon was extracted from, so it is likely that the Earths atmosphere was still the main source of Argon for the GTA (we produce 700,000 tons a year of the stuff at the moment, although of course, most of that is returned to the atmosphere when it is lost).
Thinking about it, considering our current reliance on Argon, (the electronics industry to start with, plus some of the light alloy industry, as Titanium 'burns' in Nitrogen), the GTVA must have had to rethink many technologies with a loss of Argon. One possibility is that the Prometheus is one of the few technologies where the Argon cannot be directly replaced with Neon, which is easily extracted from cold gas giants (equivalent to Uranus and Neptune). Of course, the lack of Argon, suggests that there is a lack of planets in the GTVA with an earth-like atmosphere (the gravity and temperature which produce an oxygen-righ atmosphere also lead to an Argon-rich atmosphere), and this is a major limit to the possible population of the GTVA.
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Perhaps they use terraforming technology.