No, no, no... it isn't your normal 'newbie campaign'. My 'newbie campaign' died few years ago. Now I am serious.
At the start, I would like to thank Setekh for "Having an Identity Crisis?" image, as it made me rework the story, and now it is both better and creepier.
I have already made the story for Red Tide, and now I am on 'planning missions and doing scripts' stage. After that, I'll try to get someone to help me with FRED, models, interface etc, but this is going to take a while.
I plan to do something unusual for Red Tide: do a story that concentrate on characters, not a great war and how Alpha 1 kicked asses and taken names. See 'story' section later in this post for details. Generally, it will deal a lot with motives of the Shivans,
It will, of course, feature big-ass battles [I think that at least two mission in it would be a huge battles between hundreds of ships (including fighters), and possibly even not-so-linear action], as it IS a mod for space-sim, and fighting IS a important part of story, but it will not be the main point of it [after all, how many big battles we saw in campaigns already?]. It will also feature narrated cutscenes, but they will be made after the campaign itself, and downloadable as separate add-on [before that, you'll see 'narrated black screen']. Of course, you can not forget about Lucifer-style do-or-die situations and attack on hidden Battlestation... planet-sized one, I might add. As in, fly-inside-and-blow-up-the-reactor mission [don't worry, it will not be a total frame rate nightmare]. I think that THIS one is unique. And on the top of that, you'll see attack on ground targets [with tanks!]. As you see, it ALREADY looks interesting, but on the top of that, I'll try to implement realistic damage effects on ships [beam cannons tend to blow up holes in things...] and FRED simulation of gravity in near-planet missions.
And 2 sides that you can fight for, so the replayability factor will be significant. On the other hand, the campaign for the second one will be most likely released in update, to not delay the campaign too much.
And that's everything that I can recall now that are unusual enough to be worth mentioning.
End with features, time for the real meat: THE STORY! Of course, it contain spoilers, but it is kind of obvious.
The Red Tide happen few thousands years after the Capella incident. The GTVA grew big and strong: in fact, it is multi-galactic civilisation employing big-ass artifical jump node-emulating portals as means of long-range transportation, and having gargantuan fleet and military power, to not even mention far more advanced technology.
And here is the trouble: the fleet. GTVA, while its intent was noble, did not survived in its old form. When old leaders, still remembering the Shivans and the horrors they always caused, died, the new, power-hungry ones got to the power, and the GTVA started to change.
The GTVA leadership used Shivan-related propaganda to start a massive military build-up, and started to spread... and spread... all over the universe. And they did something that could not be forgiven by the Preservers...
They conquered and annihilated other races. Every race they encountered was smaller and less advanced than GTVA; so, to not waste time for starting diplomatic relations [and, when you include the translation problems, it would take some time], they just killed them off and captured their territory.
After 2 thousands years, entire galaxy was under GTVA control. And then, they still pushed on, to different galaxies, conquering them in the name of the Alliance.
And they did caught some unwanted attention from Great Preservers, who decided that it is time to move; they given the GTVA too many chances, and now it is time for xenocide and end this hopeless cause. The circle had closed; once again the race they preserved rise in power and started to eliminate nearby races in their expansion, causing them to appear on the list of races that must be stopped to preserve sentient life. They had risen on ruins of one of such monsters, and it was time to lay next layer of such ruins. And now, the Great Preservers aren’t going to be holding back.
But one of the fleet commanders sent to deal with GTVA learns about something… interesting. The GTVA may not be a completely lost cause. He discovers that not entire population is supporting it: it is just the fact that new government had taken over, something that Bosh was not able to tell them about. And there are rebels fighting against the GTVA government… If they would manage to annihilate GTVA government, the GTVA could be spared, after placing strict control on it to prevent such situation in the future. While it would be a unusual course of action, it would preserve a lot of sentient begins… and this is what the Great Preservers are wanting to do. Of course, any direct help for the Rebels would be impossible; they would never trust a Preserver. But helping them indirectly could be possible… eliminating the threats waiting for them, to give them the cleanest way possible to the government of GTVA located in Sol.
In meantime GTVA prepared their top-secret project: project Alpha. It was project to create perfect pilots: cloned in a secret facility, training from birth with all sorts of fighters and bombers, and sent on the frontlines at the age of 18. From the first bath of 100 clones only one survived long enough through conflict and first Preserver attacks; he was the best of the best, a true ace. The one who will change the future. His name: Alpha 1.
Serving on board the GTVA Battlestation Mars, he is now on route to the frontline. His mission: stop the new Shivan invasion, or die trying.
Now, you have two storylines you can take: as a loyal GTVA pilot, and stop advance of the Shivans, or switch sides and fight for Rebels, working to kill off the Command and end its reign of terror. And this isn’t as obvious choice as you may think… you will have to make few rather radical actions as a Rebel, an actions that aren’t as bright, shiny, fluffy and nice as you may suspect.
So, any thoughts?
