A lot of Post-Capella campaigns have been done where the GTVA has fully recovered (and then some in most cases). I've long had the idea to try and do a campaign that features the Reconstruction immediately after the end of Freespace 2. Well, the first prequel-ish chapter starts immediately after, parts 2 and 3 are respectively 3 and 5 years after (and there may be more chapters after that). I really wanted to explore how the GTVA might recover its strength enough to field the kind of ships we see in Inferno or Blue Planet (especially inferno, all those Carriers and super Destroyers, and the Sol Gate must had cost as much as several fleets). I'm still ironing out the plot, but basically with the Shivan threat over, the governments realize the Terran-Vasudan warmachine can't be pushed much further, and a revolutionary plan is started. All (or almost all) capital class ship production is halted, and many of the shipyards are converted as production shifts to government sponsored construction of civilian craft - miners, construction ships, freighters. Existing ships are still maintained along with recommissioning many older crafts to provide internal security. The resulting program results in an economic explosion, as the system feeds itself: it products facilitate the construction of more shipyards and more ships to be put to work at those shipyards.
However, the GTVA has hardly gone quiet even though there aren't massive fleets flying around the galaxy. After the Terran-Vasudan War, the Neo-Terran rebellion, and two wars with the shivans, Terran and Vasudan military thinkers alike know that some conflict is bound to occur. In anticipation the military institutes everything that can be done in preparation without the large scale use of the now very occupied shipyards. Pilot training intensifies, after realizing that the pilots of the GTVA were the deciding advantage held over the Shivans (someone realized the Alpha 1 factor?
). Even though there aren't yet ships for them to operate, countless reserve personnel are trained for operating military vessels. Scientists labor constantly on developing the next generation of military craft. The one military asset in current production are defensive equipment. Alastor turrets and even handfuls of Mjolnir Beam Turrets are pumped out to secure key positions. Since there is no significant fleet surviving, jump nodes leading to unknown space along with popular shipping routes are secured, using the freshly made defensive equipment. Several meson bomb-loaded capital ships sit on standby, and of the new systems discovered, two were sealed for undisclosed reasons. Public sentiment has tilted against the use of these ships except in dire emergencies, and there now exists very strong pressure against sealing off any further nodes. Political compromises eventually lodged the remaining meson-ships so deep within GTVA space, and so secured into depots, that it would be several months before one could be deployed.
Military analysts realize one key weakness however, in the event of a surprise hostile encounter, the limited current fleet assets will need to buy enough time for the shipyards to once again shift to military production. It will take an estimated five years for fleet strength to be rebuilt to full capacity, and in that time the safety of the Galactic Terran Vasudan Alliance will fall mostly on the shoulders of the brave pilots... Many refer to this plan as the "Five Year Plan."
One other problem already exists, the large number of vulnerable ships carrying valuable materials with reduced military forces has been a formula for piracy. Although node defenses stop pirates from operating on a multi-system level, there are still many individual operations in the major shipping areas.
So that's the general plot, to lay out the chapters I have more or less worked out (for now just chapter one):
Chapter 1:
You are Kappa 3, an ensign rank pilot in the GTVA. A handful of pilots and ships still surround you as the Battle of Capella rages on. The Capella star begins to go supernova, Alpha 1 orders all ships to make for the node as fast as possible and get out of the system. Luckily you actually make it, or this would be a very short campaign. Arriving on the other side of the node you join some very shaken up Capellan refugees. Command orders you to escort them given their state (nothing happens but some foreboding dialogue). The next few missions consist of the popular unrest (understandable after the events, and the millions of refugees that aren't exactly thinking rationally. Kappa wing is ordered to handle the situation with minimal loss of life. The chapter ends with an dialogue mission near some yet to be decided on shipyards, where a speach from such and such is transmitted over the radiowaves/subspace waves/whatever basically going into parts of the Reconstruction plan I talked about.
I'm learning how to Fred more or less, my first mission that I've been working on is going to be hopefully used in chapter 3 if this campaign actually happens. Beyond opinions on the story a couple things I was wondering if anyone could work out for me:
1) I need two new systems, one off of Polaris that preferably has planets or the possibility of planets, and one connect to that system. I tried to work this out myself but apparently I'm not that good at astrology :\
2) I don't want anyone to make this but was wondering if there's anything around that fits this bill: I need a cruiser, corvette, or small destroyer (perferably terran) with a fighterbay that could realistically hold 8-12 craft. Defensive capabilities fairly low, I want this thing just to be basically a tiny carrier to ferry around Kappa and maybe one or two other wings.
So, thoughts?
