[Alikchi]

A quick question about the history of the Iceni, from someone who hasn't thought about it in a while.

From what I gather, the timeline goes like this

1) Under-construction, the Iceni seized in Freedom Shipyards in Polaris, and completed under Bosch's supervision to be his testbed for ETAK. Perhaps the original design was created by Bosch and laid down before the NTF rebellion, although it seems odd for the GTVA to sanction the creation of a single example of a new class of vessel, so I doubt this premise.

2) The ship shows up as the Boadicea in the Deneb system, roughly a year into the rebellion.

Here is my question - can we assume that the Iceni was fully operational and completed in Polaris, then brought to Deneb during the initial fighting and camouflaged in system? The GTVA betrays a large amount of surprise. Is this the first time they've engaged the Iceni? Has the NTF kept this ship's existence a secret before now?

I guess I'm saying that the Boadicea seems like a fairly elaborate, semi-permanent installation. Why expend so much effort if not to protect the existence of the Iceni as a ship (and ETAK)?

Thanks.

[Snail]

I doubt the Iceni was originally a GTVA design, I personally believe that the Iceni was create specifically for the ETAK project, and not for any GTVA needs.

BTW, welcome back,too. I posted the thread 'Liquidation' back a while ago, talking about what happens to dead project's assets (like NTV...). Will you begin to release what has not been released of NTV?

[Mobius]

I have a theory about the Iceni's shape. The engines are placed strangely, I assumed the main ETAK device is placed far from them. Maybe the temperature has influence on the ETAK device. Maybe the Iceni had to slow down every time it tried to communicate with the Shivans.

[vamitul]

how about this for a theory:
if the shivans are "born" from subspace, than maybe the engines are part of the comm system, sending out some vibes in subspace

[Snail]

About the strange head of the Iceni:

You read the Journey of the Forgotten recently? Remember the space battle at the beginning of the NTF? The Iceni fired part of the head of the Iceni into the Deimos, leaving that weird shape.

[Alikchi]

I doubt the Iceni was originally a GTVA design, I personally believe that the Iceni was create specifically for the ETAK project, and not for any GTVA needs.

BTW, welcome back,too. I posted the thread 'Liquidation' back a while ago, talking about what happens to dead project's assets (like NTV...). Will you begin to release what has not been released of NTV?

Probably you're right, but the Iceni must have been constructed ridiculously fast after the start of the NTF rebellion if it wasn't under construction beforehand.

I think the most intelligent thing for Bosch to do was to convince the GTVA that he was building an unarmed supply or command frigate - which they may well believe, since he probably didn't order weapons or reactors for the design. This would allow the Iceni to be finished to Bosch's design roughly immediately after the beginning of the rebellion. Either that, or Bosch managed to keep the construction of a corvette-sized ship a secret - difficult to imagine. But who knows - maybe it takes a shorter period of time to construct warships in FS2 than compared to, say, a WWII battleship (a year or two).

Honestly, I've gone through too many hard drives to have anything left of NTV, other than the demo.  If anyone has the VPs, it'd be Black Wolf, Adwight, or maybe Galemp.. I'm actually considering starting the project back up again - it's been about 4 years, so I'm interested again  - but I think I might just offer my FRED abilities to ST:Reborn.

[Mobius]

But who knows - maybe it takes a shorter period of time to construct warships in FS2 than compared to, say, a WWII battleship (a year or two).

Well, we all know that buildings are completed in a reletively short amount of time and money is limited by regional governments. In FS, ships should be completed in a short amount of time...there are advanced construction technologies...and there surely is more money.

Honestly, I've gone through too many hard drives to have anything left of NTV, other than the demo.  If anyone has the VPs, it'd be Black Wolf, Adwight, or maybe Galemp.. I'm actually considering starting the project back up again - it's been about 4 years, so I'm interested again  - but I think I might just offer my FRED abilities to ST:Reborn.

You FREDded for Inferno if I remember well....uhm...

Try to contact the other members of the project...

[Alikchi]

Yeah, I did a couple missions for Inferno, and one for BWO. I haven't talked to them in years - but I'm sure someone has some files laying around.

[Snail]

I still have a hope for NTV. Meeting the head of that dead project is interesting, I guess...

[Alikchi]

Well, I'm not making any promises, but I've been putting together mission scripts over the past few days..  If things go well, I'm going to build a ~16 mission campaign around a refurbished version of the 5-mission demo.

[Snail]

Can I play help?

[Alikchi]

Can I play help?

Either would be useful at this point. 

[Snail]

Play[[[testing ]]]?

[Alikchi]

Play[[[testing ]]]?

Once I have something worth playtesting, you'll be first on the list

Right now I really need someone willing to help me with the campaign script and mission ideas. I'm going to lay a groundwork before I launch into FRED.

Also, it's been about 4 years since I've used FRED.. so I'm probably a wee bit rusty. But that's okay!

[Snail]

I can FRED... Well enough.

For Neo-Terra!!! (actually I'm pretty partial to our fish wuvving nemesis, so...)

[Alikchi]

I can FRED... Well enough.

For Neo-Terra!!! (actually I'm pretty partial to our fish wuvving nemesis, so...)

Well, I'll tone down the slaughter then.

Actually the Vasudans might come out of NTV fairly well.. I'm definitely enjoying working on the plot right now.

[Snail]

Will we still see the NTF Hades?

[Alikchi]

Will we still see the NTF Hades?

Prooobably not, although it's a possibility. I actually need someone to hack together a couple of models for me..

Off to the boyfriend's - I'll PM everyone who used to work on NTV  later. Probably I can reassemble something from the scraps.