First of all: for those of you who want to know about the Starforce mod: it's on hold. It may be on hold forever. How about I give you 90 ships designed for retail and tables designed for 3.5.5, and a species_defs table with six species that needs all the miscellaneous crap associated with species filled in, and tell you to bring it up to current standards? Does that sound like fun? No? It doesn't to me either.
Rather than trying to look almost two thousand years into FreeSpace's future, Twist of Fate goes into the past--or an altered version thereof. In this history, the Ancients defeated the Shivans 8,000 years ago--but at a terrible cost. They sacrificed many of their jump nodes and systems to stop the Shivan advance, and in systems formerly occupied by them, two new civilizations flourish, and go to war with one another.
Twist of Fate reveals an alternate path history could have taken, if the Terran-Vasudan war continued and the Ancients still existed. There will be no GTVA, no BETAC, none of Emperor Khonsu II's "new era of prosperity and harmony". This time, the Terrans and Vasudans are playing for keeps. And somewhere out there, the Ancients still prowl the stars, waiting for someone to let them back into the grand empire they once occupied. Somewhere in Gamma Draconis lies a portal that is the door to the Ancient empire. And the key is on the Terran side.
Twist of Fate takes place in a 15-year period between 2335 and 2350. Technology starts at early-mid FS1 level and ends at end-of-FS2 level, with beam cannons, corvettes and other goodies. Many of the FS2 ships have been removed or replaced, as I did not find them suitable in appearance for this mod. This mod is
not built on FSPort. It uses resources from FSPort, but it is designed to work with the mediavps.
Features listNumerous new ships for the Terrans, Vasudans, and Ancients, from fighters to juggernauts
Many new weapons, including those from FS1 and a few never seen before, such as the Phalanx, a 30mm rotary cannon available in the early part of the game (think Nukemod)
Full use of SCP features, including SCP-ified versions of FS1 weapons.
New thruster effects for early Terran ships (made by Nuke) for that primitive look. Later Terran ships use the original blue effects.
Many Vasudan weapons, including Vasudan variants of familiar weapons and some unique weapons such as a shotgun-like gun that fires a spread of plasma blasts.
Fight fast and deadly Ancient ships that outgun, outrun, and outfly anything in the Terran fleet.
Music and mainhalls imported from FS1 that will be used in addition to those in FS2.
StatusMods are nearly complete. I'm waiting on the release of Inferno Alliance for a couple of ships to fill in the gaps in the Terran fleet, there are a few more Vasudan weapons yet to finish, and I need to make table entries for the Ancient ships (and rip out the whole Shivan fleet), but that's about it.
I'm planning around 20 missions for this campaign. One is currently compled, a convoy escort mission in Antares. Once I organize my files into something that can be packaged up, anyone who wishes to help FRED for this is welcome (hint hint).
Screenshots
Nuke's new thruster effects for the Terrans. Said to be inspired by a cheap lighter.
Too close for comfort.
Phalanx cannon firing. This weapon actually fires 125 times per second, doing 0.15 damage per shot. It's a pretty lame weapon, but so is the ML-16 that is the only alternative at this point in the game.
The Phalanx left quite a lasting depression on this Anubis.
Nuke's thruster effects without particles. I'm interested in whether you guys think they look better with them or without.
