[darkmaster]

Hi, guys,

Currently Im making a mission named "Human-Narn first contact", based on JMS words. I really need your help to improve it.

If you just want to play something, please do not download it. It is still incomplete. Please be patient and wait for the final release. This file is for those who want to help polishing this mission.

This is the vp : http://www.etud.insa-toulouse.fr/~kmnguyen/EvsN.vp

What do I want from you ?

1> I want you to play test it and give feedback on the plot ? Just to make sure that the plot is OK. Please PM me or use spoiler tag.
2> This mission needs grammar correcting ! I am not an English native speaker, I have tried my best but I think it still need some polishing.
3> The current voice acting is TERRIBLE. In fact it is my voice and my computer's voice ( I used a voice generator ). Please let me know if you can help. 

That is all I need for now. Anyhelp will be very very appreciated.
Best regards,
KM

PS : Link fixed - no more warnings

[darkmaster]

Has anyone played it ? Please leave a comment here so that I can improve it. For the voice acting if no one is interested I am forced to use the voice generators on the whole thing, although they really suck.
Looking forward to your words !

[Daeron]

I got a ton of crazy warnings clicking that link, so decided not to download it...

[darkmaster]

Ok I'll try to upload it to another server. Anyways there is nothing dangerous here, just pass the warning and download it.

PS: Ok I got the point : I forgot to put www before my link. Link fixed - no more warnings - feel free to download it.
KM

[Daeron]

Let's see.. few things I know about the EA-Narn relations..

Spoiler:

First of all, the Centauri were the first race to contact the humans. Even with the first contact with the Minbari, the Earthers, already knew who they were facing. They had at least heard of them. I don't think it can be considered canon that the Earthers do not know who the Narn are.

The Centauri kept the closest ties with the Earthers up to the Earth-Minbari War. It's at that point that Narn and EA relations start to warm up with the Narns willing to sell high end weapontechnology, while the Centauri did not want to cross the Minbari. I do believe they gave some sort of support, which basically focussed on allowing some Earthers survive the war, but they did not trade weapons, which the Earthers wanted.

But before that, I imagine the Earthers were well warned by any race, because it's the period where the Narn were establishing themselves as a major power, a race of conquerors. They were actually pretty unpopular.

Other than that, there undoubtedly was a first contact between the two at some point. But under what circumstances? Where did they meet, Narn or EA territory?

On the Voice Acting. I think you should consider using no VA at all, if the alternative is the generated voice. Look at Fortune Hunters, it turned out great without a single piece of VA. If you do go for VA, I would first finish the campaign and make sure you proofread the dialogues and only then look for voice actors on the specific forum.

[darkmaster]

But JMS said that :

Spoiler:

In the first contact with the Narn there was a small conflict because the Narn thought that the human was Centaury and attack. That is what he said so I MUST do it that way !

[Daeron]

But JMS said that :

Spoiler:

In the first contact with the Narn there was a small conflict because the Narn thought that the human was Centaury and attack. That is what he said so I MUST do it that way !

Spoiler:

The Narn did attack the humans yes. But jms never said the humans didn't know who the Narn were. For all we know the Narn broke contact the second they got in a video message from the humans, saw a Centauri, broke contact and attacked.

[darkmaster]

I agree. But now we face another problem : the humans knew who the Narn were or they did not. JMS said nothing about this. Maybe some humans knew, and others did not.

Spoiler:

I have already thought about this before making the map. This is the reason why I did not give the EA ships the mission to make contact with the Narn, I just gave them an expedition mission and an accident (ion storm). I did not specify where they met either. So we can suppose that the crew of the EA ships did not know who the Narn were (but Earth dome knows - maybe). Or maybe the crew had heard about the Narn before, but never encountered them, so they did not know, and they also did not have the time to think - they got attacked right away. That also explain why the captain of the EAS Zeus was not surprised when the Narn guy said that he is from Narn force at the end of the battle. The situation is very different from the first contact with the Minbary, in the latter the Prometheus was sent to make contact with the alien.

We are talking about an event that has very little information on it, so I must use some imagination. As long as the thing is not opposed to what considered canon, it can be accepted , right ?     

[Daeron]

Spoiler:

Best website for quick referencing. They source everything.

http://www.chronology.org/b-five/

2113 - Centauri conquer Narn
2165 - Centauri contact EA
2209 - Narn drive of the Centauri (At this point, EA isn't much larger than Earth and the Mars colony)
2221 - Prostitution is legalized.  
2228 - Narn are starting to take over former Centuari colonies where Narn were held for slave labour and start to expand
2230 - The Dilgar war (EA and the Narn know of each other well enough at this point)

The Earth Alliance had established itself as a major power at the end of the Dilgar War. At that point the Narn were pretty much on the same level. But as you see, the first contact would probably have happened when the Narn were still only based on their homeworld. On many planets there would still be narn slaves.

So... yeah, I have to admit I need to revise my intial point. It's very possible the Narn were quite obscure in that period. Most of what we know takes shape in the 30 years after the Dilgar War.

JMS doesn't say it was a military expedition either, the Narn could have blown up an EA scientific expedition. So you have a lot of artistic license in filling it all in.

[darkmaster]

Spoiler:

Thanks for the link and for your feedback. I think I will make the story clear in the next mission : the same battle , but you will play the Narn part (do you notice an unused picture in the Interface folder of the vp - it is for that reason).

Something like ... 2 Narn ships were dispatched to investigate a rare phenomenon - an ion storm - just happened not far from Narn space. When they got to the site they detected a weird signal emitted from a planet blah blah blah so they decided to heat it up ect ....

That way we have 2 expedition ships vs 2 expedition ships in neutral territory. No need to fear about the force balancing. Does it sound ok ?

I think it is better not to specify a date for this event, what do you think ?
[\spoiler]

   

[Daeron]

Spoiler:

Yeah, agreed. Between 2209 and 2228 you pretty much have a blank canvas to fill in the events.

[darkmaster]

For others if you have played it please let me know what you think , tell me if this mission is ok or it really sucks. Or if you want to do VA or to correct a dialog please let me know. Before moving to the next mission I really want to make sure that the quality of this map is acceptable.
Best regards,
KM

[uh101]

I just installed the mission and I it's working fine for me, I am enjoying blowing up some narn

[darkmaster]

Thanks, so what is your opinion about the voice acting ? Are the voice generators Oks or should I remove all the voice ?

[uh101]

I found the voice acting to be good.

[Vidmaster]

I like it that you are back. And you have definitly improved your fredding.

[darkmaster]

Thanks, Vid. I am quite busy with my work for instant but I will try to complete this thing this weekend.