[Arculis]

The FS universe seems like a pretty tight place without a lot of reference information that leaves it open for possibilities. Well, at least it seems that way. Looks like most campaign makers base their campaigns around different time periods or different races. At least, that's my take on it.

So I'd just like to know how those of you who have made campaigns came up with the storyline's you used? I'd like to gather up the motivation to learn FRED and build my own campaign, but I can't do it without coming up with some kind of story that I want to FRED my way through first. Suggestions?

[Fractux]

http://www.3dap.com/hlp/hosted/fsurp/

Oh yeah, and you can downlaod the Freespace [Fs1] reference bible from here :

http://www.3ddownloads.com/?file_id=113914

Check it out.

[karajorma]

A piece of advice Arculis. Be very sure you want to do this before starting a campaign. Campaigns take a large amount of time to finish and it's quite hard to recruite people to join with you.

If you're not sure you can finish a campaign single handed I would advise you to join up with an existing campaign instead. Many of the big campaigns need FREDders badly and it's quite a nice feeling to work with a team on a campaign.

If you do decide to make your own campaign Beware of feature creep! It's easy to expand a simple 5 mission mini-campaign into a huge 40 mission campaign with 20-30 mods.

[.::Tin Can::.]

Yeah, what he said...

And, if you want, you can use the campaign I made and just never got around to finishing.

[Noise]

My idea was simple.  No one saw the Capella supernova coming, so what did the all ships still in Capella do when they found themselves on the wrong side of a supernova.  Gamma Draconis, that or die, they decided to take their chances.

[Sheepy]

got blown into oblivion one would imagine

[Flipside]

Or you can do what TI did, and just admit the thing is going to be frikkin huge from the word go

As for the Capella thing, well, the final video does show that at least part of the fleet was destroyed by the supernova, It is possible some were near the node for Gamma Draconis, though personally I wouldn't have thought so. Still, if you want to say that there were, and it's a good campaign, I can deal with it

[Black Wolf]

Originally posted by Flipside
Or you can do what TI did, and just admit the thing is going to be frikkin huge from the word go

Do you even remember our original request list? A few new freighters, and a small selection of pirate stuff, give or take.

And if you're taking story suggestions, well, I suppose it depends on how well/whether you write. I've had so many ideas over the past few years, and they were all, IMO, really good - just never made. So, what I normally do is think up something cool, a germ of an idea basically, a phrase, a shi, a concept, sit down and write a "Summary of Events" - how long has it been since Capella and what has happened since. This will add to your story basis. The rest (ie. the details of it) can be told through individual mission summaries, or giant plot summaries.

Even if you never make a campaign, I find the writing a lot of fun, you possibly will too.

[Flipside]

Originally posted by Black Wolf


Do you even remember our original request list? A few new freighters, and a small selection of pirate stuff, give or take.

LOL That was your list hehehehehe

[Zarax]

Abandoned Campaigns rules... in theory...

[Arculis]

Part of the trouble I have in thinking up a story is trying to make sure it doesn't conflict with any of the other campaigns out there, because i hate that But that means I'd have to try and find aniche that none of the other campaigns have touched, and have my campaign leave no lasting effects that would interfere with anyone else's story.

[Zarax]

Not necessarily...
As long as they do not conflict with canon you are free to set your story as you wish.

[karajorma]

I agree but there is no point in him doing a campaign from the Shivan point of view cause Hidden Terror are already doing that. There's no point in doing a campaign where an outside force has been manipulating the events all along cause MindGames are doing that etc.

So I can understand why you want to find a niche that no one else is exploiting. It stops you putting yourself up against an already established campaign.

That said if you're going a long the stock route of "what happened after Capella" you can get away with being a little less original without stepping on a lot of toes.

[Unknown Target]

You could try something that hasn't been done much.
For instance, I don't believe there's ever been a crossover campaign (if you're into that sort of thing).

[Arculis]

What is it?

[Lightspeed]

Originally posted by karajorma
I agree but there is no point in him doing a campaign from the Shivan point of view cause Hidden Terror are already doing that.

Yes, but he could join HiddenTerror. Hehe:D

[Zarax]

Well, any campaign made from the civilian point of view has much more space for plot twists than the usual ones imho...

[karajorma]

The problem with civilian campaigns is that you need to explain where the enemies come from.

That said I don't think anyone has done a campaign where civilians fight back against a repressive GTVA. You'd have to limit the capships on the civilian side to next to nothing and part of the challange would be that enemy capships had to be taken down in every mission or you'd risk the GTVA tracking you back through subspace.

[Zarax]

Oh, well...
If i'll ever finish Rise of GCA i will be glad to prove that effective civilian campaigns can be made...
The post Capella GTVA status leaves plenty of excuses imho.

[karajorma]

Didn't say it was impossible. Just that it was a consideration You need to come up with a believable enemy who has enough force to make the game a challenge but not enough that you wonder why the military doesn't deal with them.

Of course you can do campaigns where the GTVA has become pretty much powerless and frontier law applies but then the civies are pretty much acting as the regions miliitary.