[CT27]

Also, unless Herkie decides to add more missions...The Aftermath II:  The Blue Guardian will have 30 missions.

[herkie423]

Uhhh... That's like two to three months from now. I find it hard to believe that two FREDders are able to make a good campaign with about 30 missions (Is it going to be that many?) even if working full time on it. And then you need to have some more time for beta tests.
And I don't want to force my ideas and/or opinions onto your work, but I've got a slight suggestion. The Aftermath Reboot suffered immensely from some issues, mainly very uninteresting escort/defence missions with most of the action being slapping enemy fighter wings and some other ones where you threw hundred after hundred of fighters at the player without any actual reason to... Among other things (have I told you already that the United Pirate Coalition is dumb?).
I just want to suggest to avoid these problematic solutions, even if your campaign developement is slowed down by this.

I have finished Act 1 (fully tested missions) and honestly, I overestimated myself. It will take more time than what I previously declared. Sorry guys. One reason is that I noticed my designs are more complicated now than what I did in the Reboot. The design accounts possible player actions like if the player does this or target that first, the mission will react to counter the player; if the player decides to use a bomber, the mission will deploy hostile interceptors, if the player delays, an event will happen--- something like that. Plus random events. I don't want to design a "tight" mission, forcing players to do the plot line so I build my missions with an "open" feel (but don't be too comfortable). Because of these design elements, my mission coding is indeed much more complicated.

Therefore, MitoPL is right. It will take more time.... Oh, I have not abandoned my tradition... You will still face a lot of fighters. 

[Nightmare]

The mission design thing sounds pretty interesting. Just take as much time as you need to implement that as long as you don't loose motivation in the meantime. BTW how long is Act 1?

[MitoPL]

Seems like a good decision to me. Better release a working and tested mod than whatever you could cobble up together before the first official release date.

And while I don't really have anything against lots of fighters, please make it... sensible. Large fighter battles, with lots of projectiles and particle effects, tank performance very much. And while many people question the amounts of Shivan fighters they face in The Aftermath: Reboot, I find it quite understandable. After all, it's Shivans we're fighting against. Plus it made missions a bit diverse from the Freespace standard, even if these were only escort missions.

[herkie423]

The mission design thing sounds pretty interesting. Just take as much time as you need to implement that as long as you don't loose motivation in the meantime. BTW how long is Act 1?

Very short. Just five missions. It is an introductory chapter to link The Aftermath to this sequel, The Blue Guardian which takes place around two years after Part 1's end credits. Act 2 will be my standard 10 mission length. This is where the real meat of the story will start.

[herkie423]

A Vasudan installation I modified, the image here with an Erebus destroyer for comparison. I made it bigger and added some structures. It was originally the Karnak. I altered it to suit the needs of the story plot.

[herkie423]

Seems like a good decision to me. Better release a working and tested mod than whatever you could cobble up together before the first official release date.

And while I don't really have anything against lots of fighters, please make it... sensible. Large fighter battles, with lots of projectiles and particle effects, tank performance very much. And while many people question the amounts of Shivan fighters they face in The Aftermath: Reboot, I find it quite understandable. After all, it's Shivans we're fighting against. Plus it made missions a bit diverse from the Freespace standard, even if these were only escort missions.

The hundreds of enemy fighters involve were just to present the feel of the situation, I call them "filler actors" and I design them in such a way that they don't impede the real mission or the player. Sure, you can engage them and they will fight back but you might  divert your attention from the actual mission and fail. I have implemented this in most of my missions. There hundreds of fighters and many capital ships in the Reboot like I had a "BOE" fever which I admit of having it. I like chaos. The BOE's were rampant in the Reboot because it should be. It was the Third Shivan War where the GTVA with all it's incredible might was tested against the entire Shivan armada. Now, the sequel is about the main character's personal struggle and a major political shakedown. So the BOE's will just be key missions. Later, the story will be centered around a single fleet facing a terrifying mysterious force that can bring an end to the GTVA.

Take note that having around a dozen corvettes or cruisers slugging each other with several squadrons is not a BOE by my standards. Oh, don't worry, computer performance is foremost in my mind. I am running an avarage PC so I will base the design on this specs. I will do my best to keep the missions running at least 35 FPS (the standard for Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3).