Actually i think that FS2's campaign is fine. I always liked that there are battles the player does not participate and that he is only one pilot of many others.
Nevertheless i actually work on a reimagination of Freespace since many years, even i do not think, that i will ever find the time to finish this completely. And because i knew that right at the beginning, i never made an annoucement for that.
But well, i think this Thread is a good place to give away some details and ideas about it.
Actually it is a trilogy, where the middle part is advanced at most.
Synopsis:
2335 - NovaIs a FreeSpace: The Great War reimagination which is more or less still at pre-alpha stage. The main difference so far... Shivans are using their FS2 stats. So all Shivan capital ships actually have beams and flak cannons. Also all Shivan ships have a shield system, even freighters and destroyers. But in the contrary, their hull is weaker, and no ship is invurnerable but it simply takes much effort to bring down Shivan shields on a Lucifer for example, especially with the 2335 tech the PVN and GTA have. Because both have only weak Anti-Shield weapons and also have to fight most of the War without their own shield system. This is only introduced near the end and is not so powerful as their Shivan counterpart aswell it only work with flaws (shield breakdowns in-mission etc.)
Have to say, that i never liked it, that the heavy advanced alien shivan technology was decoded so quickly by the PVN and GTA, so the development of effective weaponary and defense systems will take much longer in 2335. For the general course of the story there will not much difference however. Maybe some more missions here and there to deepen some plot points, but altogether not very different.
2335 - Nova: RebellionWell, a addon reimagination that centers about the Hades rebellion. Actually i think that this would be Silent Threat: Reborn with some changed stats and technologies. I think the experiments to reverse engineering shivan technology would have be a bigger focus here. But because even the 2335 main story was never really worked out so far, i never make big thoughts about the Hades Rebellion. Does not have any priority right now, because of:
2367 - SupernovaThe actual Freespace 2 reimagening i am working on and already have some (well at least 1/3 of it) finished missions for that. Of course, the course of the story would also be more or less the same, but it would be different in some points. I actually have a story that have 7 acts that are 5-10 mission each. So a 55-60 mission campaign.
Capital ships are by the way more durable, Shivan ships thanks to their shields, GTVA thanks to their hull. So battles takes much longer, even with Beams in 2367. In 2335 the GTA/PVN has much better Anti-Capital-Ships weapons than in the original FreeSpace universe, but they lack big Bomber and Fighter defenses because they did not have AAA and Flak.
In 2367 the GTVA has also its own reliable working shield system now at least. But it is still much weaker than the Shivan one. Also the Shivan weapons are still much more powerful, because the GTVA still not understand, how the Shivan can generate so much energy for that comparatively small ships, so they still try to understand and to adapt to the Shivan technology.
Act 1: Neo-Terran FrontThe fight against the NTF at the beginning of the game would take a few additional missions, where the NTF is actually able to gain some ground. The shivan appear at the end of this act like they do in FS2.
Act 2: Second Shivan IncursionThe Shivan are much more aggressive in this version and are actually able to get into Epsilon Pegasi and Vega aswell. They have to be driven back to Gamma Draconis where the Knossos is found.
Act 3: NebulaThis act is actually mostly about exploring and about testing of nebula warfare. Also there are more missions with EMP storms. This act actually ends with the appearance of the SD Ravana, which is a more powerful destroyer than the Demon here.
Act 4: EndgameThe SD Ravana with its fleet break through Gamma Draconis and pushes into Capella... worse, the NTF is also starting its Exodus into the Nebula with most of its fleet after some decisive victories by the GTVA in Deneb and Sirius. Only with the help of the initial engagement of the new GTVJ Colossus the Ravana can be stopped. Because of its size it is the first ship that actually can house an energy generator that is powerful enough to create a shield and weapon power that is at least comparable to the Shivan one, even it can not use both at the same time at full potential. The Colossus have to choose if it goes into a defensive or offensive mode (the big energy generator is the in-universe explanation why the GTVA built this oversized baseball bat in the first place. Even i actually do not have an explantion for the Hades so far). Unfortunately, because the GTVA is occupied with the Ravana fleet, the NTF is able to get into the Nebula nearly undisturbed. So the GTVA try to follow and to hunt down the NTF ships in the Nebula. So there are some more Nebula missions against NTF ships, also the Colossus is actually in the Nebula, because of the several other Ravana class destroyers that were detected. This act ends with the destruction of the (my beloved) GVD Psamtik by the
first SJ Sathanas.
Act 5: SathanasA series of missions with the main purpose of stopping the SJ Sathanas, but also some last NTF encounters. Actually in its idea it is not very different to many of the Sathanas 1 Missions in FS2. Except that the Sathanas is actually underestimated by the GTVA which becomes obvious only in the battle against the Colossus in the nebula. But because the Colossus emerges victorious, the GTVA still think, that they are on the road to victory with the Baseball Bat.
Act 6: Knossos 2After the destruction of the Sathanas, the GTVA is in the upper hand and find another Knossos Portal which they actually traverse and so get the view of some Shivan Installations. This act actually ends with a reconnaissance mission to an Unknown Jump Node (yep, no Knossos 3) where you get a glimpse to a SSJ Amritaya which is jumping out, but more importantly, there is a whole fleet of Sathanas' which are begin to swarming in this system. Causes a complete withdrawal of course.
Act 7: CapellaWell this acts focus on the withdrawal out of the Nebula, the failed blasting of Knossos 1 and the Capella evacuation which is identical to FS2's final missions. Well, the Aquitane gets destroyed, because of an engine breakdown in the nebula (like Argonautica, only with a Sath instead a Moloch), the Colossus sacrifice itself to hold the line at the Node out of the nebula and to give the units time to prepare the destruction of Knossos 1, which does not work of course. Well actually this whole Act resembles much of the third act of the original FS2.
Currently i have missions from all seven acts so far. But some missions are still only slightly edited ones from FS2 aswell Flames of War and Into the Depths of Hell to fit into the story. It is a project i work sometimes if i feel like, but i do not make much progress, because i actually like it more to edit and to improve existing missions as to create completely new ones (which is the reason why there are some edited FOW and ItDoH missions currently)
One mission is even partly voiced by me, my twin sister and my husband. She is speaking a Corvette that is named after me, i am speaking its sister ship which is named after her... and my husband speak one of the wingmen. Actually totally hillarious.
2399 - HypernovaWell, another 32 years for some kind of conclusion of the story. Also very pre-alpha stage except that this one is based upon Inferno tech and follow the established FreeSpace formula that there is a war against another Antagonist before the Shivans reappear. I can only say, that there is no Sol faction, because Humanity destroyed itself in Sol during the previous 64 years and Earth is nothing more than a clone of Vasuda Prime now
.
But well, apart from that and the consequences of a destroyed Earth (which is one of the reasons for the conflict at the beginning) there is not a very big worked out story so far, except for some SSJ Amritaya stuff, that i tease in 2367 as mentioned.
So, as i said in the beginning, i do not think that i will ever bring a whole trilogy to live. But maybe the 2367 part in a couple of years at least. But it is also possible that this one will never come to an end
.
