Hard Light Productions Forums
Modding, Mission Design, and Coding => The FRED Workshop => Topic started by: Lepanto on May 25, 2014, 04:51:59 pm
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(http://i.imgur.com/m6ZRHkZ.png)
Here are some snippets from the Sophrosyne Project, my own vision of the Post-Capellaverse. I've been designing multiple campaigns that will take place in this universe, but I've got a large backlog of FS and pony work to finish before I can put serious effort into these new, original campaigns. As I'm impatient, and want to get some feedback on my overall vision, I'll be posting various written pieces and screenshots from this universe. Read, enjoy, ask questions, critically dissect.
FYI, I'm aware that some people don't think that Command was incompetent during FS2, but it's the view I hold and will promote here, and I'd rather avoid a flamewar over that question.
The GTVA Since Capella
After the Second Shivan Incursion ended with the destruction of the Capella system, the battered-but-alive GTVA set about rebuilding and re-consolidating. With the Allied fleet in tatters and panic-stricken refugees bearing horrific tales streaming into Allied space, confidence in the government was at an all-time low. If it had not been for the looming Shivan threat, the General Assembly government would have likely lost control over some systems, or even collapsed altogether, like the GTA after the Great War. As it stood, though the GTVA had proved incapable of completely safeguarding its own people, most Terrans and Vasudans agreed that their races could not survive without the Alliance. Some Vasudans, though, saw a vindication of the age-old prophecy of the Destroyers in the fires of Capella, and many Terran and Vasudan analysts fear a renewed wave of Hammer of Light fanaticism.
In the meantime, the Terran and Vasudan races dragged themselves back to their feet. The Capellan refugees were dispersed throughout the Terran systems, to avoid the logistical and political problems caused by a massive refugee influx to any one planet or system. The Terran economy adapted to the loss of Capella, once known as the 'breadbasket of humanity'. Eventually, a combination of free-market initiative and targeted aid to critical sectors would restore some prosperity to the Terran economy. In late 2367, the General Assembly passed an Emergency Navy Law, a rushed naval construction program designed to return the crippled Terran and Vasudan fleets to 2/3 of pre-Incursion numbers over the next eight years. Already looking further ahead, the Security Council gathered the finest scientific, engineering, and military minds under the aegis of the Integrated Defense Grand Strategy, to devise a multi-faceted long-term defense plan to preserve the GTVA against future incursions. With the data from the Ancients' Knossos, and seven years of study and research, Admiral Solomon Petrarch's Sol Gate project to reconnect Sol and the GTVA systems started construction in 2374.
But tensions stirred under the surface in both the Terran and Vasudan populations. Polaris, Regulus, and Sirius, the former NTF systems, had been re-integrated into the GTVA only under the barrel of a gun. Though the NTF had been militarily defeated and was unlikely to arise again, pro-NTF sentiment was still widespread. Protests, violence, and cyber-terrorism plagued the GTVA military governments. Long-term soft-power re-education efforts had disappointing results. Terran jealousy and resentment towards Vasudans, which had originally caused the Rebellion, clearly persisted. The damage caused by the NTF Rebellion, which had largely been fought in Terran systems, and the loss of heavily-populated Capella to the Shivans, only served to deepen both the Terrans' longstanding economic slump and their anti-Vasudan resentment. By 2375, the General Assembly threw up its hands and dismissed the NTF systems' military government. Anti-Vasudan agitators immediately reoccupied their systems' re-instituted elected governments. Those three systems' representatives would remain a disruptive influence in the General Assembly for many years to come.
Most Vasudans were nothing if not extremely patient with their often-ungrateful Terran allies. The relatively-untouched Imperium, under the continued leadership of the dignified statesman Khonsu II, gave much-needed economic aid to Terran systems after the Capella disaster. This Vasudan aid stung many Terrans' pride, but the pro-Terran Khonsu knew that both species had to set their arrogance and feuds aside to keep the Alliance intact. Khonsu, who had ruled for nearly four decades, remained a beacon of hope for a brighter future for both Terran and Vasudan peoples. However, the Vasudans' clear position of economic superiority caused the Terran half of the GTVA to slide into the status of de facto junior partner in the Alliance. This only further rankled both Terran and Vasudan pride, and prevented the wounds of the NTF Rebellion from healing, as Khonsu would had wished.
And many Vasudans had begun to see Khonsu's vision of a prosperous and secure future as a delusional dream, exposed as a comforting lie by the Destroyers' terrifying might. Ever since Capella, mad prophets and fanatics have been spreading the Hammer of Light ideology to an all-too-receptive Vasudan populace, including a disturbingly large number of military personnel. For the first decade after Capella, despite some sporadic HoL-affiliated terrorist attacks, the Alliance has appeared to hold firm. Despite GTVI assistance in rooting out HoL cells and infiltrators, an unknown number of infiltrators remain at large throughout the Vasudan military and government.
The Integrated Defense Grand Strategy
The catastrophic defeat at Capella made it obvious that the GTVA needed to drastically re-consider its long-term grand defense strategy. The Reconstruction-era plan to meet and defeat the next Shivan incursion in open fleet battle had failed. Command's strategic missteps had cost hundreds of millions of lives, most of the GTVA fleet, the symbolic and expensive GTVA Colossus, and nearly the entire Terran and Vasudan races. A radical new defense strategy was needed, one which spared no expense to safeguard the Terran and Vasudan species.
The Integrated Defense Grand Strategy is the Security Council's long-range, post-Capella plan for a comprehensive defense of GTVA territories. Formally implemented in 2369, it aims to use the GTVA's available resources to pursue a number of integrated defense strategies. The IDGS is divided into six Initiatives, each covering a specific aspect of the GTVA's long-term self-preservation strategy.
Initiative I is the defense of GTVA political integrity against domestic threats, through calculated application of hard and soft power. The massive economic and political destabilization caused by the Second Incursion rocked the GTVA to its core, leading to widespread piracy, political terrorism, and even threats of succession. To preserve the GTVA from collapse, the Security Council embarked on a two-pronged initiative. First, the battered post-Capella fleet suppressed piracy and terrorism as best it could. Massive military patrols and confiscations of civilian armaments in the frontier and former NTF systems, while unpopular, succeeded in preserving a modicum of central authority. These efforts were supplemented by a number of symbolic initiatives to restore public confidence in the central government, including the Sol Gate project, and the massive 'In Capella's Memory' media campaign. Though the inital post-Capella turmoil has since subsided, Initiative I programs remain active in preserving the peace throughout Terran and Vasudan systems, against both NTF and HoL sympathizers.
Initiative II is the rebuilding and ongoing modernization of the Terran and Vasudan fleets, coordinated by the Yanhamu-Humphrey Navy Plan of 2368. For in-depth information, see the 'Yanhamu-Humphrey Navy Plan' article.
Initiative III is the complete fortification of all five nodes leading out of Terran-Vasudan space, and the construction of early-warning outposts in all systems two jumps out from GTVA territory. Initial fortification of the Dubhe, Altair, Regulus, Mirfak, and Adhara nodes was completed in 2370, and construction of early-warning outposts was completed by 2371. All five nodes are each guarded by 120 or more mobile sentry guns of various models, three battlegroups with full logistical support and first-priority selection of new equipment, and automated node-busters on 24-7 ten-minute standby. After Allied Command's failure to halt the Second Incursion at the easily-defensible Nebula-Capella axis, the Security Council is taking no chances with the defense of Allied systems.
Initiative IV is a series of long-range reconnaissance-in-force expeditions of systems far beyond GTVA borders. Initiative IV has three main objectives: detect and provide advance warning of any Shivan forces operating in nearby systems, identify resource-rich systems for possible colonization, and discover new potentially friendly or hostile spacefaring civilizations. These expeditions are mainly conducted by SOC stealth recon task forces, using the latest special-issue equipment, and ordered to avoid contact with Shivan or alien forces.
Initiative V is the Sol Gate Project, which uses Ancient subspace technology recovered from the Gamma Draconis Knossos to build a portal re-connecting Delta Serpentis and Sol. After numerous initial delays, Sol Gate construction is well underway, and the Gate is scheduled for completion in 2378. The Security Council has already begun diplomatic negotiations via radio with the Solar Commonwealth, Sol's reigning government, and hopes to negotiate a mutual-defense treaty or full political reunification once the Sol Gate is opened. The Solar Commonwealth is a military and industrial superpower, with a fleet larger than the entire GTVA's, according to our available data. If negotiations are successful, then the Commonwealth's massive fleet and its own technological advancements will reinforce the GTVA's defenses.
Initiative VI is the preservation of the Terran and Vasudan species and knowledge base, in the worst-case scenario of a successful Third Incursion and a complete collapse of the GTVA. As the Ancients flung a light into the future and gave us information crucial to surviving the Great War, so we will share our knowledge and memories with any species which might succeed us, thousands of years after our own fall. Several stasis facilities have been prepared, containing easily-translatable data cores which contain the GTVA's complete knowledge base, and stable breeding populations of Terrans and Vasudans in cryo-stasis. These facilities have been hidden in locations across and beyond GTVA space, and sent off into the interstellar void where even the Shivans cannot pursue.
Full implementation of the IDGS has required a massive peacetime defense budget, an average of 17% of GTVA yearly GTP. The Security Council's nigh-unsustainable post-Capella budgets have raised yearly inflation rates to nearly 8%, and nearly pushed the GTVA's economy to its breaking point. Only the looming threat of a Third Incursion has kept the General Assembly from revolting against the Security Council's proposed budgets. The Security Council hopes that reunification with Sol will open new trade opportunities, revitalizing the GTVA's economy, and enabling it to better support the expenses mandated by the IDGS
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Interesting article, I liked it.
Can we hear a little more about this "Yanhamu-Humphrey Navy Plan" though please? I'm interested in hearing what kinds of new ships would get built.
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Interesting article, I liked it.
Can we hear a little more about this "Yanhamu-Humphrey Navy Plan" though please? I'm interested in hearing what kinds of new ships would get built.
Thanks.
I'll be posting that article later.
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I like this very much already!
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Sounds like a solid base from which to build. I'm also interested to see which direction you want to go with regards to fleet building , so I'm keenly awaiting the next post. :nod:
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e: w/e just keep rocking
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Here's the juicy scoop on the post-Capella fleet, which at least two of you have been waiting for! Incoming WORDS signature, expodump configuration!
Yanhamu-Humphrey Navy Plan
The Yanhamu-Humphrey Navy Plan is the ongoing effort to modernize the Terran and Vasudan navies, to better defend the GTVA against threats foreign and domestic, as mandated by Initiative II of the Integrated Defense Grand Strategy.
In 2368, the Security Council established the Yanhamu-Humphrey Commission, a think tank tasked with evaluating the Allied militaries' performance during the Second Incursion, and offering across-the-board recommendations for overhauling the fleet. It was led by the Vasudan Admiral Yanhamu, a veteran of Capella, and Dr. Ezekiel Humphrey, chair of a prominent defense think-tank. The Commission, after reviewing battle reports and scrutinizing every aspect of the Second Incursion-era navy from multiple angles, concluded that the Second Incursion had exposed several crucial flaws in GTVA fleet strategy, tactics, and equipment.
In sum, the Commission concluded that the Capella-era Terran and Vasudan navies underperformed during the Second Incursion because they were built to re-fight the last war, that perennial failing of militaries since time immemorial. Both Reconstruction-era fleet design and Allied Command's wartime defense strategy, War Plan BLACK-IV, operated under the prevailing fundamental strategic assumptions of Reconstruction, which the Second Incursion proved to be inaccurate. Most important of these assumptions was that the Second Incursion fleet would be approximately equivalent in size to the Great War Lucifer fleet, and could be defeated by GTVA fleet units in a conventional pitched battle. To that extent, Allied fleets were efficiently deployed across Terran and Vasudan space for first response against any Shivan attack, but strategic thinking and equipment design neglected static fortifications and node denial. The GTSG Mjolnir sentry gun was only available in limited numbers by the time of the Second Incursion, even though large-scale Mjolnir deployment could have stopped the Second Incursion at the Knossos, or at the Gamma Draconis-Capella node, or so many military thinkers have concluded. When the Incursion fleet was overrunning Capella and threatening to break out into wider GTVA space, Allied Command's lack of purpose-built node-denial capability forced it to improvise by deploying the Bastion and Nereid, which barely survived Shivan attack for long enough to seal off Capella. Many resources which could have been used to broaden Allied defensive capabilities were instead allocated to the decade-late and heavily over-budget GTVA Colossus project. The Colossus had achieved its design goal of overwhelming supremacy against lesser
NTF and Shivan warships, but it was incapable of effectively engaging Sathanas-class juggernauts, and its swift destruction at Capella proved the futility of massive warship designs in a shock-jump-dominated tactical environment. Hindsight may be 20/20, and some modern historians defend the strategic decisions made by Allied Command, which had no knowledge of the Second Incursion fleet's full capabilities and threat during the opening phases of the war. Still, the Yanhamu-Humphrey Commission assigned considerable blame to Allied Command for its costly lack of strategic redundancy, caution, and foresight.
The Reconstruction fleet also suffered from tactical and technological weaknesses, especially on the Terran side. Terran capital ships were largely under-gunned, mounting under-performing beam cannon designs. Only the generation-old GTD Orion could effectively engage most Shivan warships in one-on-one tactical situations. Favoritism towards the capital fleet slowed Terran strikecraft development until near the end of the NTF Rebellion, forcing the loyalist Terran fleet to rely on the mediocre GTF Myrmidon, GTF Hercules II, and Great War-era designs for most of the Rebellion.
Most Terran and Vasudan capital ships, besides the GTC Aeolus, mounted weak AAA defensive batteries, rendering them vulnerable to Shivan bomber swarms. Some of the Terran fleet's weaknesses could be blamed on the long period of disunited Terran government and lack of defense development during Reconstruction, but some other weaknesses stemmed from the old Reconstruction-era assumptions, which the Commission proceeded to reevaluate in light of data from the Second Incursion.
With this information in mind, the Commission prepared its recommendations on rebuilding the gutted Capella-era fleet from the ground up. The new fleet would be a flexible, modernized fighting force, which incorporated the hard-earned lessons of the Second Incursion, and operated in concert with the other Initiatives of the conservative IDGS plan. These recommendations would be turned into the Yanhamu-Humphrey Navy Plan, a general framework for post-Capella naval construction, strategic deployment, and tactics. The Y-H Plan would be modified in future years by new technological and industrial developments, but its core principles still remain in effect.
First, the new navy had to remain strategically and tactically flexible. The Second Incursion had attacked the GTVA from an unexpected angle, and despite Initiative III having heavily fortified all known border nodes, the Commission was wary that future Shivan invasions might somehow bypass those well-defended chokepoints and strike at the heart of Allied space. To that end, the GTVA navy had to be capable of rapidly redeploying to meet threats from almost angle, and at least stalling Shivan fleets for long enough for static defenses and/or node-busters to cut off the Shivan line of advance. To that extent, the Terran fleet-based naval structure was rearranged to match the Vasudans' more flexible battlegroup model. The classical Terran fleet-based naval structure tied each fleet's logistics to its base system, which was efficient for peacetime operations and broad-front wars like the Terran-Vasudan war, but proved incapable of effectively supplying Terran fleets during the rapid strategic shifts of the late NTF Rebellion and Second Incursion. Under the battlegroup model, each battlegroup incorporated more organic logistical assets, enabling battlegroups to better support themselves in theaters with overtaxed or nonexistent static logistics.
In terms of shipbuilding and tactics, the Y-H Plan navy is centered around forward-firing shock-jump capabilities, which the Shivans had used to lethal effect during the Second Incursion, but has preserved tactical flexibility against unexpected threats.
Terran fleet development post-Capella combines the all-round flexibility characteristic of previous Terran shipbuilding with heavy beam cannon armament for shock-jump attacks. Modern Terran warships and strikecraft are generally more expensive than their Vasudan counterparts, but possess more varied weapons arrays and tactical capabilities, like heavy laser turrets and Universal Missile Launcher batteries. Many mid-size Terran warships, like the GTFg Menelaos strike frigate and the GTCa Phoenix carrier, carry small strikecraft complements, giving them organic air cover independent of vulnerable destroyers. Modern Terran beam weapons design is a far cry from the weak and inefficient Capella-era weapons designed during Reconstruction. Weapons like the GTBm Sunglare heavy beam cannon, mounted on the recent Icelus-class destroyers, can gut most known warships in one or two massed volleys, though they take longer to recharge than equivalent Vasudan beam weapons. A resurgence of railgun technology has resulted in meson-shell weapons like the GTRg Hammerhead-5 artillery railgun mounted on the GTCv Paris artillery corvette, and the GTW Sunder anti-hull subsystem-sniping cannon, which is still under development. The GTF Hector advanced multirole fighter, currently in limited OpEval testing in select battlegroups, is CR40 million more expensive than its Vasudan equivalent the GVF Inpu, but has a superior electronics suite and better weapons forward-compatibility.
Modern Vasudan shipbuilding, by contrast, emphasizes mass production of limited-role vessels, while maintaining their ships' characteristic high production quality. To apply a rough Earth historical analogy, the Terran Y-H Plan fleet exhibits the technology and flexibility of NATO, while the Vasudan fleet exemplifies the massed force and logistical redundancy of the Warsaw Pact. Many Vasudan warships, like the GVCv Petbe heavy strike corvette and the GVD Apophis beam artillery destroyer, are built around one or more heavy beam cannons, and mount fewer missile launchers and turrets than equivalent Terran vessels. This gives Vasudan warships devastating beam firepower on the attack, but leaves them vulnerable to flank jumps and bomber attacks. To this extent, the Vasudans have absorbed much of the Shivans' aggressive military ethos. Modern Vasudan beam weapons like the GVBm Pharaoh are also heavily based on recovered Second Incursion Shivan beam cannons, favoring rate of fire over single-shot punch. Vasudan strikecraft are designed for mass operations from larger carriers, like the inexpensive but single-role GVF Nhu superiority fighter.
All Y-H Plan warships and fighters benefit from a suite of new technologies, designed by Terran and Vasudan firms in close cooperation. Modern warships, Terran vessels especially, mount devastating defensive AAA batteries, allowing them to fight off small-scale bomber attacks without CAP support. The Universal Missile Launcher, mounted on most IDGS Terran warships, can fire anti-strikecraft missiles like the GTM Trebuchet, the GTTp Iris anti-capital torpedo, and the in-development GTTp Danaus subspace torpedo. Much new weaponry, like the GTM Onager multi-target swarm missile, is designed to counter Shivan numerical superiority with multi-target firepower. Electronics suites are receiving full overhauls. The Vasudan weapons industry, devastated by the fall of Vasuda Prime and largely limited to license-building Terran weaponry, has finally experienced a resurgence, and many Terran strikecraft and capital ships mount Vasudan-designed weaponry, like the GVAA Cartouche AAA beam. The GVW Grave pulse cannon is currently replacing the venerable HL-7 line as the standard primary weapon of Terran and Vasudan fighters.
More Y-H Plan technologies are still in development, though their specifics are highly classified. Beam flare technology, designed to defend Allied capital ships by redirecting Shivan beam fire, is almost ready for OpEval. Subspace missile technology is also in development, and once implemented, will give all UML-equipped ships cross-system engagement capabilities.
The Y-H fleet is entering deployment throughout the GTVA, though the battlegroups guarding the five gateway nodes to GTVA space have first priority for new equipment. Most Terran and Vasudan fleet units still field Capella-era equipment, though the Y-H Plan aims to equip all frontline fleet units with modern equipment by 2380. Attempts to refit Capella-era vessels with Y-H tech have encountered a host of major technical problems, and have been largely abandoned. Vasudan fleets, with their focus toward aggressive line combat, have largely been deployed on the frontiers of GTVA space, whereas the more flexible Terran battlegroups have been largely tasked with both internal fast-response duties and long-distance exploration.
All in all, the Y-H Plan fleet is designed to avoid the mistakes and incorporate the lessons of Capella, and defend the GTVA against future threats. The lack of large-scale conflict since the Second Incursion has left it largely untested by battle, though analysts are confident in its performance in future conflicts.
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Another great read, thanks for posting.
You said negotiations have already begun with Sol's government for reunification or at least a mutual defense treaty. How are things going so far?
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I guess I'm curious how much you're consciously drawing inspiration from Blue Planet, versus how much you're just walking a parallel road. I'm very interested in the places where your setting diverges, but a lot of beats are quite similar, from the sociopolitical turmoil to some of the specific political and strategic decisions—did they just feel like logical places to go?
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Another great read, thanks for posting.
You said negotiations have already begun with Sol's government for reunification or at least a mutual defense treaty. How are things going so far?
Thanks. :)
Given that the two sides are talking by radio, negotiations are going slowly. Both sides, being militaristic superpowers, are suspicious and reluctant to share technological information. I plan to explore the actual reunification of Sol and the GTVA in a later, short-ish campaign; not to spoil too much about it, but it will take a very different take on Sol than anything you've seen before.
I guess I'm curious how much you're consciously drawing inspiration from Blue Planet, versus how much you're just walking a parallel road. I'm very interested in the places where your setting diverges, but a lot of beats are quite similar, from the sociopolitical turmoil to some of the specific political and strategic decisions—did they just feel like logical places to go?
BP has given me a lot of inspiration on writing detailed, realistic-ish political and military settings. However, I didn't want to slavishly copy BP. A lot of the similiarities you see, like the shock-jump fleet tactics and the Sol Gate project, were things that just made logical in-universe sense. I didn't feel like changing them just for the sake of being different, and hadn't come up with any better ideas which I wanted to use. There's only so many ways to write a well-realized post-Capella setting without introducing radical new changes (though I do have some radical changes in mind, down the road. ;7)
Though the setting and my campaigns' gameplay are definitely BP-inspired, I hope the final product feels different and fresh. Narrative- and gameplay-wise, I have some ambitious plans, some of which I'm deliberately not revealing for spoilers' sake, which should result in a very different FS campaign experience.
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To that extent, is there anything else about my setting and gameplay model which you'd like to know about? Please, ask questions; I want constructive criticism and opportunities to better flesh-out my setting.
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To make sure I understand things a bit more:
1-Colossus type ships are now anathema to GTVA fleet policy?
2-I know you mentioned there will be a carrier (Phoenix) with a small fighter complement. Are light carriers as big as carriers will get or has the GTVA contemplated larger "fleet" carriers (like Wing Commander)?
I hope I'm not overdoing it with questions, I'll ease back after this for a while. :)
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To make sure I understand things a bit more:
1-Colossus type ships are now anathema to GTVA fleet policy?
2-I know you mentioned there will be a carrier (Phoenix) with a small fighter complement. Are light carriers as big as carriers will get or has the GTVA contemplated larger "fleet" carriers (like Wing Commander)?
I hope I'm not overdoing it with questions, I'll ease back after this for a while. :)
1: For right now. The development of beam flares, which protect GTVA warships against Sath shock jumps, will make big ships practical again down the line. ;7 I love huge ships, so you'll definitely be seeing some.
2: The Vasudans might have a huge fleet carrier, but it'd be a "carrier" similar to the INFR1 sense, mounting a LOL-huge beam cannon for Sath-busting. The Solar Commonwealth, operating on a different design ethos, will definitely have a fleet carrier.
Oh, please, more questions!
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2: The Vasudans might have a huge fleet carrier, but it'd be a "carrier" similar to the INFR1 sense, mounting a LOL-huge beam cannon for Sath-busting. The Solar Commonwealth, operating on a different design ethos, will definitely have a fleet carrier.
Oh, please, more questions!
Since you gave permission:
I'd be curious to hear more about the fleet design/policy of the Solar Commonwealth. Could we hear more about how their military is structured (if not now then at least down the line at some point)?
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2: The Vasudans might have a huge fleet carrier, but it'd be a "carrier" similar to the INFR1 sense, mounting a LOL-huge beam cannon for Sath-busting. The Solar Commonwealth, operating on a different design ethos, will definitely have a fleet carrier.
Oh, please, more questions!
Since you gave permission:
I'd be curious to hear more about the fleet design/policy of the Solar Commonwealth. Could we hear more about how their military is structured (if not now then at least down the line at some point)?
The Solar Commonwealth, which has designed its fleet mostly in isolation from the GTVA and its experiences with the Shivans, has followed a different design path. FYI, the SC's fleetpack will be mostly retextured Scooby_Doo Wing Commander ships. Their military is even more quantity-over-quality than the Vasudans, favoring mass production of mechanically-simple warships. Their technology is less sophisticated than the GTVA, but they make up for it with numbers and extensive fortifications in Sol.
The SC's military is built around fast, overwhelming response to an invasion of Sol. Like the UEF, their ships are short-range, logistically reliant on the massive network of fortifications in Sol, and unsuited for intersystem offensives. Its military is effective at in-system policing and at drowning the enemy in ships and firepower, but it's less flexible than the GTVA, and many of its admirals are unimaginative. The SC fleet is strong as a unified whole, but its individual elements are weak.
SC capships mount batteries of smaller beam cannons, based on the Lucifer's flux cannons, but they rely on powerful blob turrets for a lot of their anti-capital and anti-strikecraft firepower. They have their own anti-beam defense, anti-beam smoke. When enemy warships jump in beams a-blazing, SC warships pop smoke, which soaks up a lot of incoming beam damage. I don't know exactly how I'll represent it in-game; maybe a slow-moving, damage-able projectile with an armor type that's resistant to beams?
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Also, concerning the Solar Commonwealth, could you also loosely say what it's government structure is? I.e., is the chief executive a President or Prime Minister?
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Also, concerning the Solar Commonwealth, could you also loosely say what it's government structure is? I.e., is the chief executive a President or Prime Minister?
I'd rather not touch on the SC's government, because it might hint at future plot spoilers.
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No worries.
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I'd really love to see a post-Capella campaign that for once didn't involve a GTVA - Sol war, but cooperation, understanding and political ability to manage this coexistence in an efficient, peaceful, productive fashion. IDK, I just find the existent ones, especially the most clever, intelligent stories surrounding this particular war, as eggregiously pessimistic in this point.
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Problem is how to tell such a story using the framing devices given by FS gameplay. The reunification is an important event, the desire to show it instead of treating it as fait accompli in the backstory is strong.
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Problems exist to be solved!
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Then please solve the problem of how to show a process of reasonable negotiation between friendly parties using the gameplay formula and tropes of FS. I can't see a way to do it that would be actually interesting to play; can you?
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You can borrow the most used trope in FS, the "allies vs common enemy" trope. You can do so many different things. You can even have a conscious campaign that is luring you to think "this is gonna twist and go bonkers at one point and this alliance is ruined", but never does! You can have a campaign where you are actually a small rebel force in Sol, getting more and more support from distrusting factions to get the GTVA out of your systems (and have the local government purged from its seat for their treacherous act of allying themselves with the GTVA!), you can even make this rebel forces create a tension between sol and gtva to the point of breaking (but never really reaching it entirely), but nevertheless peace and cooperation makes it!
Man, that was just top of the head and I'm a lousy writer! Come on you are the writer I know you are capable of thinking about 10 like these in a moment's reflection.
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Which works as a tragedy, you and your band of brothers vs the force of history, but I believe that we're still not at a point where gaming (and gamers) can handle tragedy very well. We're so conditioned to playing through heroic stuff that we feel disempowered, disenfranchised when confronted with tragedy; how do you end a story like this in a way that is actually satisfying? When you know that, no matter what you do, you will not win the day, and that your death will just be a footnote in some history book?
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Well I would say that FSO modding can work a little bit around the margins of the AAA gaming tropes and traps. Sync is pretty much a disaster in the end, and everyone loves it, even despite the godawful gameplay. So yeah.
Even still, "winstate" can be redefined at any point in the story. First image that comes to mind is the ever present redefinition of "winstate" in Ian Banks' "Consider Phlebas", always going smaller and smaller (like the contrary of any epic game I know), to the point of meaninglessness. But it could vary quite a lot. It could even become a spy thriller, with the "rebel heroes" figuring out that the whole rebel movement is a false flag operation in order to get the Sol forces and GTVA working together towards one goal, forcing everyone to accept this alliance and so on. You can have both the hero accept this role or rebel against it. Gods, you can have so many variations!
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Not to spoil too much, but instead of waging full-scale war against Sol for REASONS, you'll be playing peacekeeper, trying to stop different factions in Sol from killing each other. It'll be hard to get FS players to buy into a gameplay style that's about killing as FEW things as possible, and I'll really have to sell the experience with a quality narrative, but I'll try to make it work.
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I actually think that's an excellent gameplay, shadows of that brilliant mission in WiH where you have to control yourself *not* to shoot. You could have several "failstates" that feel like winning where everyone just starts killingspree everything in sight if you are unable to control the situation with precision and rigor. Placing the pilot under a kind of ops unit where subtlety, manipulation, cunning, etc. are valued while killcounts are seen with derision would have the potential of creating an entirely different setting to what we are used to.
Brainstorming without permission sorry about that Lepanto. I like what you wrote so far, and it's annoyingly* very like one half-baked document I did recently about a campaign that "I would do" in a spare time that I had never the illusions I ever had, and it reads really really close to what you wrote here, down to the structure of GTVA's post-capella multi-threaded strategy (I can give you the google doc link if you think I'm bluffing here).
*annoyingly because you got there first, better and with an actual chance of delivering it!
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It'll be a challenge to see how far you can keep that kind of gameplay going, and have people still like it. But I want to set an honestly optimistic tone, where you're really trying to get everyone to stop fighting. No convenient rogue splinter factions or conspiracies that let you write a high-minded narrative about peace and understanding, while still having cool fight scenes and solving your problems by killing a bunch of bad guys. Though I love blowing up evil ships as much as the next guy, I want this particular campaign to be more like RL peacekeeping and diplomacy.
I'd like to see what you've written, if you don't mind. Yeah, it must be a bummer to come up with a kewl idea, and then find out that someone else independently came up with a similar idea.
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Problem is how to tell such a story using the framing devices given by FS gameplay.
Something that I feel has yet to be explored in regards to Terran unification is the effect this will have on the Vasudans. In most scenarios they are doing much better than the Terran militarily and economically. How will they react to becoming, almost overnight, a minority power within the alliance? Would the Vasudans want a reunited Terran race seen as this would put them at a massive disadvantage in the event of the Terrans becoming more Xenophobic (a strong possibility given recent history).
Some of my personal ideas have the voting block being split 3 ways between Earth, the Assembly and the Imperium but with special voting privileges being granted to the Vasudans as well as a priority given to finding worlds suited to Vasudan habitation in order to appease disgruntled the Terrans disgruntled Vasudans but this could also be a vehicle for introducing a conflict storyline in to reunification.
(sorry if this post is a mess but I am getting ready for work and had to type this quick)
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Problem is how to tell such a story using the framing devices given by FS gameplay.
Something that I feel has yet to be explored in regards to Terran unification is the effect this will have on the Vasudans. In most scenarios they are doing much better than the Terran militarily and economically. How will they react to becoming, almost overnight, a minority power within the alliance? Would the Vasudans want a reunited Terran race seen as this would put them at a massive disadvantage in the event of the Terrans becoming more Xenophobic (a strong possibility given recent history).
Some of my personal ideas have the voting block being split 3 ways between Earth, the Assembly and the Imperium but with special voting privileges being granted to the Vasudans as well as a priority given to finding worlds suited to Vasudan habitation in order to appease disgruntled the Terrans disgruntled Vasudans but this could also be a vehicle for introducing a conflict storyline in to reunification.
(sorry if this post is a mess but I am getting ready for work and had to type this quick)
Good points. Hadn't considered how the Vasudans would take this sudden shift in power. It's a dynamic worth at least mentioning.
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For anyone who cares, I'm making a 2-mission demo minicampaign, named
(http://i.imgur.com/9Ogm3I9.png)
-Follow the GTCa Phoenix, first of a new class of medium carriers, as it runs into unexpected trouble while passing through Deneb in 2374.
-Introduction to the Terran and Vasudan fleetpacks, including full techroom entries
-High-maneuverability combat with high speed, auto-aim, sliding, and gliding
-Awesome music
Release date: SOON, hopefully before month's end, but whatevs.
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Slow combat model? Say it ain't so. :(
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do you need a tester for your campagins add friend on Skype WouterSmits
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Looks like you have big colection of cool ships, good storyline and of course, a lot of good ideas. Your tech entries are awesome!
I want to see some eyecandy :D
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Looks like you have big colection of cool ships, good storyline and of course, a lot of good ideas. Your tech entries are awesome!
I want to see some eyecandy :D
Thanks! :)
Screenshots, and eventually the Phoenix demo, will be coming Soontm.
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Work on the demo has progressed slower than I'd hoped; motivation has been low, I'm working on other FS and non-FS projects, and building a detailed modpack is tedious. I still hope to release the demo by the end of the month, but no promises.
In the meantime, here's a little WiP model. The GTFl Horae is the first operational Beam Flare drone in the GTVA arsenal. Beam Flares screen allied capital ships from enemy beam fire by tanking incoming enemy beams. Beam flares will make shock-jumps much less deadly, draw out capship fights which would otherwise be over in a couple volleys from the new Terran and Vasudan beam cannons, and add a new level of tactical dynamism to missions as fighters try to strip enemy capships of their flare screens while preventing enemy fighters from doing the same to their own warships.
It looks better in Blender; take my word for it.
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Beam flare?
Interesting concept. :yes:
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I rather like this solution more than I do the beam jamming concept in BP. While BP definitely gives mission designers a little bit more leeway in tailoring an engagement, this is something that a player and strikewing can influence more easily than disabling or destroying an AWACS.
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They both have advantages and disadvantages. Beam jamming is much more flexible in implementation. BP already has an excess of flare shaped things spewing out of warships.
These would be better fluffed as decoys like AN/ALE.
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(physical objects in the mission space also need to be tracked and handled by your event logic, which is obnoxious if you are ship-creating them)
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As I'm currently planning them in-game, beam flares will be non-respawning wings of ships, deployed from beam flare racks attached to capships' docking points, or (eventually) warped in from offscreen carriers. They fly in FRED-managed formations, so they don't get between the enemy beam fire and the ship they're supposed to protect, which would (for obvious reasons) invalidate the point of their existence. Their beam redirection will be activated via SEXP on a per-mission basis, for easy FRED flexibility, and because I cannot into scripting.
Fluff-wise, they operate by physically attracting incoming plasma beams via plasma-physics space magic, so they're not a standard ECM decoy, FWIW.
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That's pretty much how the beam jamming in BP works too. 'Flare' sounds like a misnomer here, but whatever works.
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Very interested in the work you are doing Lepanto. If you want somebody to test it at all I would be honored to.
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Thanks; I'll keep you in mind.
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In lieu of a release, a couple WiP screenies.
The Terran fleet comes off worse in a beam exchange with the HoL.
(http://i.imgur.com/CiqTht2.jpg)
Three Newet-class cruisers blast an Erinyes with flak and AA beams.
(http://i.imgur.com/GMpxBKQ.jpg)
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Sorry but this terran fleet is horrible. Not the models itself, but texture scheme. Seriously man, old BP style is terrible! Blue lights from Typhon stretched all over the ship instead of normal windows? Plus it's already BP style. Be creative and make something new!
Ofc. it's your mod but I beg You! Icelus didn't deserve for such bad fate :(
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In that case, if other forum members think the tilemap textures desperately need revision, I can redo them at some point. I'm bad at texturing, and would rather focus on story/FREDding/non-graphical things, so don't expect any whiz-bang top-quality assets from this project.
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It's certainly not in my radar at all.
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Story before assets. You can always upgrade your campaign after release, and it'll be easier with help from others.
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Yeah, indeed. At the other hand, besides the texture scheme everything here looks cool and I can't wait to play it. It's just quite noticable for me, when every ship in the fleet has the same texture scheme. Fleets in both FS1 and FS2 are build of mostly different ships and I just would like to see this kept in Post-Capella mods. BP did a terrible thing ignoring it, but it doesn't matter right now. If you're not going to work fast, I will provide you remapped Icelus when it's done.