[Unknown Target]

What's the best way to start off campaigns? With action, boring patrolling but lots of story advancement, or somewhere in between. Or maybe something else...

[Knight Templar]

Like an interactive book.

Start off easy, the escalate to the main plot giving deatial sna clues all the while. Make the middle of the campaign almost as exciting as the climax.


my 2 cents..

[ZylonBane]

Originally posted by Knight Templar
deatial sna

[Sesquipedalian]

"details and", I think.

[Knight Templar]

And the little boy screamed "typo!" but he'd lied to them so much that nobody believed him anymore.. and the typo swalloed him whole..

[Nuclear1]

Want to know a good way of starting off a camp? Play Derelict.

Generally, if its a "Shivans Return" style campaign, start off by fighting pirates or mercs.

See "The Regulus Campaign" for good NTF campaigns.

For a little bitta chaos, add in another enemy with the main one (ex. Morgan Tech in Derelict).

[Eishtmo]

Start with a story.  Get out a piece of paper and write a simple outline of the plot.  Don't worry about where it starts, just start.  When you finish, then you can decide where and how to start a campaign.  Trust yourself first, then go from there and all will be well.

[karajorma]

My advice is to look at films. I can think of two main routes for action films. Either you start with a quick burst of action before the titles and then calm things down after them for a bit to build intensity or you start off with a slow start right from the beginning.

I think that applies pretty well to campaigns. If you start with an action filled mission that's okay but it's probably not a good idea  to keep the action at that level for too long (maybe a mission or two) before you calm things down and let the player assimilate the plotline. If you start ratcheting the tension up too high to quickly the player gets a feeling that he's somehow missed the start of the campaign.

These are only basic guidelines though. There are a few examples of stories that can keep the tension high all the way through and not suffer for it. If your story is one of them don`t let me sway you

[Su-tehp]

Originally posted by Eishtmo
Start with a story.  Get out a piece of paper and write a simple outline of the plot.  Don't worry about where it starts, just start.  When you finish, then you can decide where and how to start a campaign.  Trust yourself first, then go from there and all will be well.

Listen to this man. He knows what he's talking about. Write the story first, THEN worry about FREDing and other campaign stuff.

[Killfrenzy]

*SPOILER*

The Swarm War is *planned* to open (depending which faction you play as) with a mini-campaign where you're dealing with a particularly troublesome pirate band in an insignificant sector of space. It's one warship, (either a battleship, battlecruiser, or more likely a heavy cruiser) and the fighters it carries. There may be a couple of support frigates and destroyers, but generally you're very much a cog in a much larger wheel.

After the final destruction of the pirates, your next mission is to fly patrol during the Factional Alliance Regatta...............

*END SPOILER*

To summarise: The Swarm War will start off 'sort-of' slow, with quite frankly not much happening. Intelligence doesn't know of the Swarm's existence. Nobody does. When they show up, they appear from nowhere and all hell breaks loose!

And no, the Swarm DO NOT appear during the regatta. Something else happens!