Author Topic: [RELEASE] First Contact War Demo  (Read 5001 times)

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Offline Strygon

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  • So long, and thanks for all the fish!
    • Steam
[RELEASE] First Contact War Demo
It's finally here!

The final mod? No....

But the demo is here!
-----------------------------------------------------------

3 missions worth of fairly simple but exciting action in the First Contact War universe, taking place just before the events of the main campaign.

You, an unnamed ensign in the USDF 6th Patrol Fleet have been put on what seems to be a boring patrol mission, when you and your carrier, the USCV Midway, stumble upon some troublemakers in hiding.

------------------------------------------------------------

This demo is mostly supposed to act as a bit of a taste tester for those of you who have been following development and are eager to know what the gameplay will be like. I do hope you will all enjoy the admittedly tiny campaign.

It still needs the MediaVPs and of course FS2 base to run.
IT IS IMPORTANT that you also run this with the latest nightlies. A good number of features need them to run.

Music was sourced from Ace Combat 3, Gundam Wing, Space Battleship Yamato, PATLABOR 2 and Airforce Delta Strike.
Many thanks to Lafiel for helping me with writing the HUD redflash script that makes the HUD flash red whenever damage is taken.

https://fsnebula.org/mod/firstcontactwar

Enjoy!
« Last Edit: December 23, 2020, 11:00:35 am by Strygon »
Makes missions sometimes.
Finished Projects: Operation: Cloak and Dagger

Current Projects: Scrolls Part 2 (FREDding), Dimensional Eclipse (Art),
The First Contact War, GTDr Amazon HTL

[23:22] strypolygon: andrew
[23:22] strypolygon: i have one favor to ask of you
[23:22] strypolygon: never try speaking german again
[23:23] Andrewofdoom: No.

[18:50] 島風改八百三: the duck has multipli
[18:50] 島風改八百三: many duck
[18:50] 島風改八百三: left side
[18:50] 島風改八百三: even side
[18:50] 島風改八百三: handle it

[21:34] MP-Ryan: Why on earth would you Google this
[21:34] The_E: why would you not

[06:46] Strigon: how big is a mini-campaign again?
[06:46] Asteroth: smaller than a campaign
[06:47 ]Strigon: thanks

[05:56] Strigon: If I had to take a shot for each time I randomly decided to change the UI sounds, I'd have died of alcohol poisoning by now

[17:36] qazwsxal: time to have some fun
[17:41] z64555: VC++5 is not my idea of fun

[EatThePath] do your missiles do anything absurd?
[Strigon] describe absurd
[Strigon] the entire mod is absurd

 

Offline Urbana

  • 24
    • Steam
Re: [RELEASE] First Contact War Demo
Ah **** here we go again!. Congrats dude on the release of your demo. Hopefully if i finish work early today i will get that installed today. The music selection that you chose looks so promising and will give that great 80s and 90s vibe to it....noice.
I have been away too long. The challenge has waned. They must learn anew the meaning of ph34r

 

Offline EatThePath

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  • Laser Lich
    • Twitter
Re: [RELEASE] First Contact War Demo
mod good, fun had, more better words after sleep and more play, definitely looking forward to the mod growing further
Name your damn turrets and sounds! Numbers alone aren't helpful!
"if disco is dead then I am the laser lich"
"...[Warmachine] keeps changing as fast as EatThePath can force the engine to do [her] dark bidding..."

 

Offline Strygon

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  • 28
  • So long, and thanks for all the fish!
    • Steam
Re: [RELEASE] First Contact War Demo
I did a handful of bug fixes and balance updates. They should be on Knossos too now. I am very sorry if any of these bugs have caused bad experiences while playing the demo.
Makes missions sometimes.
Finished Projects: Operation: Cloak and Dagger

Current Projects: Scrolls Part 2 (FREDding), Dimensional Eclipse (Art),
The First Contact War, GTDr Amazon HTL

[23:22] strypolygon: andrew
[23:22] strypolygon: i have one favor to ask of you
[23:22] strypolygon: never try speaking german again
[23:23] Andrewofdoom: No.

[18:50] 島風改八百三: the duck has multipli
[18:50] 島風改八百三: many duck
[18:50] 島風改八百三: left side
[18:50] 島風改八百三: even side
[18:50] 島風改八百三: handle it

[21:34] MP-Ryan: Why on earth would you Google this
[21:34] The_E: why would you not

[06:46] Strigon: how big is a mini-campaign again?
[06:46] Asteroth: smaller than a campaign
[06:47 ]Strigon: thanks

[05:56] Strigon: If I had to take a shot for each time I randomly decided to change the UI sounds, I'd have died of alcohol poisoning by now

[17:36] qazwsxal: time to have some fun
[17:41] z64555: VC++5 is not my idea of fun

[EatThePath] do your missiles do anything absurd?
[Strigon] describe absurd
[Strigon] the entire mod is absurd

 

Offline Strygon

  • Moderator
  • 28
  • So long, and thanks for all the fish!
    • Steam
Re: [RELEASE] First Contact War Demo
Speaking of bad experiences, turns out I somehow botched the Knossos upload and am currently uploading a (hopefully) functional version to Knossos as we speak. Once again, sorry for the delay.
Makes missions sometimes.
Finished Projects: Operation: Cloak and Dagger

Current Projects: Scrolls Part 2 (FREDding), Dimensional Eclipse (Art),
The First Contact War, GTDr Amazon HTL

[23:22] strypolygon: andrew
[23:22] strypolygon: i have one favor to ask of you
[23:22] strypolygon: never try speaking german again
[23:23] Andrewofdoom: No.

[18:50] 島風改八百三: the duck has multipli
[18:50] 島風改八百三: many duck
[18:50] 島風改八百三: left side
[18:50] 島風改八百三: even side
[18:50] 島風改八百三: handle it

[21:34] MP-Ryan: Why on earth would you Google this
[21:34] The_E: why would you not

[06:46] Strigon: how big is a mini-campaign again?
[06:46] Asteroth: smaller than a campaign
[06:47 ]Strigon: thanks

[05:56] Strigon: If I had to take a shot for each time I randomly decided to change the UI sounds, I'd have died of alcohol poisoning by now

[17:36] qazwsxal: time to have some fun
[17:41] z64555: VC++5 is not my idea of fun

[EatThePath] do your missiles do anything absurd?
[Strigon] describe absurd
[Strigon] the entire mod is absurd

 

Offline 5thAce

  • 26
Re: [RELEASE] First Contact War Demo
Is version 0.1.4 the latest update? Unfortunately when I try to install it on Knossos I get the following message

No dice with file verification or complete uninstall and reinstall.

 

[attachment deleted by admin]

 

Offline Strygon

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  • 28
  • So long, and thanks for all the fish!
    • Steam
Re: [RELEASE] First Contact War Demo
Oh you've got to be kidding me...


Okay, I don't know what's causing these Knossos issues at this point. I've tried every possible solution on my end and there is nothing I can do anymore. If the mod isn't downloading properly, please make a manual install by navigating to the mod folder, downloading any missing packages, creating a "data" folder, and extracting the "data" folders in the package files to the mod folder.

You can manually download the packages here.

https://fsnebula.org/mod/firstcontactwar
« Last Edit: December 26, 2020, 10:06:46 am by Strygon »
Makes missions sometimes.
Finished Projects: Operation: Cloak and Dagger

Current Projects: Scrolls Part 2 (FREDding), Dimensional Eclipse (Art),
The First Contact War, GTDr Amazon HTL

[23:22] strypolygon: andrew
[23:22] strypolygon: i have one favor to ask of you
[23:22] strypolygon: never try speaking german again
[23:23] Andrewofdoom: No.

[18:50] 島風改八百三: the duck has multipli
[18:50] 島風改八百三: many duck
[18:50] 島風改八百三: left side
[18:50] 島風改八百三: even side
[18:50] 島風改八百三: handle it

[21:34] MP-Ryan: Why on earth would you Google this
[21:34] The_E: why would you not

[06:46] Strigon: how big is a mini-campaign again?
[06:46] Asteroth: smaller than a campaign
[06:47 ]Strigon: thanks

[05:56] Strigon: If I had to take a shot for each time I randomly decided to change the UI sounds, I'd have died of alcohol poisoning by now

[17:36] qazwsxal: time to have some fun
[17:41] z64555: VC++5 is not my idea of fun

[EatThePath] do your missiles do anything absurd?
[Strigon] describe absurd
[Strigon] the entire mod is absurd

 

Offline General Battuta

  • Poe's Law In Action
  • 214
  • i wonder when my postcount will exceed my iq
Re: [RELEASE] First Contact War Demo
I am currently installing VERY SLOWLY I will let you know if I hit any errors

 

Offline Mobius

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    • The Lightblue Ribbon | Cultural Project
Re: [RELEASE] First Contact War Demo
I'm impressed, Strygon did a very nice job and I'm definitely looking forward to the full FCW release, When It's DoneTM. This has a lot of potential both in terms of gameplay and plot. Oh, and I officially admit the Spearhead has just become one of my favorite custom-made ships.  :pimp:

Spoiler:
Unfortunately, I've experienced a CTD without any sort of warning at the very end, as I landed on the Midway.
The Lightblue Ribbon

Inferno: Nostos - Alliance
Series Resurrecta: {{FS Wiki Portal}} -  Gehenna's Gate - The Spirit of Ptah - Serendipity (WIP) - <REDACTED> (WIP)
FreeSpace Campaign Restoration Project
A tribute to FreeSpace in my book: Riflessioni dall'Infinito

 

Offline Strygon

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  • 28
  • So long, and thanks for all the fish!
    • Steam
Re: [RELEASE] First Contact War Demo
This is the second time I've gotten reports of CTDs but this time in a completely different mission and situation.

This mod seems to be cursed with issues I can't even fix... *grumbles*

Glad to hear you like it, Mobious.
Makes missions sometimes.
Finished Projects: Operation: Cloak and Dagger

Current Projects: Scrolls Part 2 (FREDding), Dimensional Eclipse (Art),
The First Contact War, GTDr Amazon HTL

[23:22] strypolygon: andrew
[23:22] strypolygon: i have one favor to ask of you
[23:22] strypolygon: never try speaking german again
[23:23] Andrewofdoom: No.

[18:50] 島風改八百三: the duck has multipli
[18:50] 島風改八百三: many duck
[18:50] 島風改八百三: left side
[18:50] 島風改八百三: even side
[18:50] 島風改八百三: handle it

[21:34] MP-Ryan: Why on earth would you Google this
[21:34] The_E: why would you not

[06:46] Strigon: how big is a mini-campaign again?
[06:46] Asteroth: smaller than a campaign
[06:47 ]Strigon: thanks

[05:56] Strigon: If I had to take a shot for each time I randomly decided to change the UI sounds, I'd have died of alcohol poisoning by now

[17:36] qazwsxal: time to have some fun
[17:41] z64555: VC++5 is not my idea of fun

[EatThePath] do your missiles do anything absurd?
[Strigon] describe absurd
[Strigon] the entire mod is absurd

 

Offline Mobius

  • Back where he started
  • 213
  • Porto l'azzurro Dolce Stil Novo nella fantascienza
    • Skype
    • Twitter
    • The Lightblue Ribbon | Cultural Project
Re: [RELEASE] First Contact War Demo
Be confident, this is a proving ground that helps boosting the quality and stability of the final release.  ;)
The Lightblue Ribbon

Inferno: Nostos - Alliance
Series Resurrecta: {{FS Wiki Portal}} -  Gehenna's Gate - The Spirit of Ptah - Serendipity (WIP) - <REDACTED> (WIP)
FreeSpace Campaign Restoration Project
A tribute to FreeSpace in my book: Riflessioni dall'Infinito

 

Offline 5thAce

  • 26
Re: [RELEASE] First Contact War Demo
Really good so far, very enjoyable! Looking forward to the full release!

 

Offline Svedal

  • 23
Re: [RELEASE] First Contact War Demo
I say to much, I'm overly critical, I make bad assumptions, I'm scared to share, I enjoyed the Demo. Please take everything I say with a grain of salt. Okay, satisfied my anxiety, let's go.

It had a good concept and enjoyable elements, but it needs a lot of refinement. I'm hopeful for a great final product, but there's a lot of work before FCW gets there.

The media vps poke through in a lot of places, and it'd be worth the time to drop them as a dependency and include the subset you need in its own package. There's also a lot of low-effort options as a modder that you haven't leveraged to keep FS2 from poking through. Using FS2 briefing icons until you make in-setting icons, using MVPs weapon effects (even going forward!), and the like are entirely understandable. The FS2 elements in the splash screen, the loading screen, that FS2 is both still selectable and the mod's default campaign, and Admiral Petrarch informing me of my promotion at the end of mission 3 are an unwelcome intrusion as a player.

The models look great, and I appreciate the simplicity of textures and the future retro space navy feeling of the fleets. I appreciate the central placement of firepoints on the Remora, and your fleets so far have pretty clear profiles. Easy to spot and identify.

There's some messiness that doesn't look intentional: the Remora's dock path for support is borked, so the AI Remoras and support will spend a lot of time circling each other before docking. What appear to be multipart turrets on the Centurion don't really aim like multipart turrets, instead they just fire directly at their targets at a weird angle from the barrel. I didn't really understand what angles I could hit the Glisean carrier's engines from, so I spent a whole rack of subsystem missiles because I thought the shields were down and I had LOS.

Balance is pretty whack, and the niches for each weapon aren't very well conveyed through the tech displays (not that FS1 or FS2 did any better). It wasn't clear to me when I should one gun versus another, or the roles of many of the missiles. I also found myself sinking a lot of rounds into Arbalests, like ten seconds worth of crossbow bolts into the shield and the hull, to destroy it. I also felt the Remora was a lot harder to die in than I expected.

The variety of weapons is appreciated. I like having the variants of the crossbow, though the burst fire doesn't hit often enough the way I fly and the proton seems like the best choice for everything.

Mission design is enjoyable. The first mission was a good introduction to movement options and how FCW is like and unlike FreeSpace. It was a good idea of what to expect, if a little rough around the edges: the directives to destroy Thrasher and Hammer wings both check the same wing, the USB Piranha isn't tabled as a bomber so it can't be targetted with the same key as bombs. I liked the feeling of mystery and danger at the start of the second mission, though I still have no idea who the Gliseans are, why they had a carrier in the system, or what the war was about. I felt like the aggressor the whole time, and I wasn't sure if I should feel like I was in the right for attacking. They were fun to shoot. Nobody cares if you ignore your orders to check the trap fighter and burn off towards where enemies will jump in, maybe they should.

As a player, I was frustrated with mission 3.
Spoiler:
Mission 2 forcefully ends with a red alert without warning the player to rearm and repair. I had ordered a rearm, but support and Beta 1 were too busy dancing. I had no missiles going into a capship assault mission. I immediately activated cheats at mission start. A lot of the missiles I shot at the carrier's engines didn't land despite seeing the line of sight indicator on the hud and in the target box. I don't think it was the shields regenerating, because more of my missiles landed when I attacked from a wider angle. Because I was confident in my abilities to survive while disabling the carrier, and the Arbalests are tanky monsters, I did not try for space superiority before disabling the carrier.

Idk if the carrier keeps launching fighters after it's disabled, which would make trying for space superiority pointless, but I was annoyed when the transports immediately jumped into a battlefield full of gunships. I don't know if they ever actually came under enemy fire; I managed to pass the mission without keeping track of them until they escaped. I don't even remember what they look like, I was too busy with murking threats. I'm not sure if you intended that, because I don't think I got any directives on the HUD after completing "Disable the Seychelles." When the Midway jumped in, I was terrified. She wasn't on the escort list, and she didn't have a fighter screen--isn't she a carrier? Did she commit all her assets to this one strike and leave herself wide open?--I think I was still supposed to still be escorting the transports, but I forgot about them entirely and burned over alone as fast as I could and killed all the bombers alone. I'm not sure whose bombers they were, but they were all clustered at the Midway's ass--still not in the escort list, since I rebound that key somewhere and didn't feel like finding it. The frigate/battlecruiser that jumped in...I killed her beam and forgot about her because there were bombers and the AI could deal with her, and she also wasn't in the escort list. The AI did not deal with her, I'm sure they saved my ass when I wasn't looking but IDK what they were doing, I disabled the Centurion ended up being disabled as it collided harmlessly with the Midway--it looked funny bouncing, I started wondering if the ships were made of Styrofoam--so I shot its turrets off as something else, idk what, eventually killed it. Yay.

Area clear. Mission successful, I fly into the hangar. Sad music plays. Robert Loggia tells me I've been promoted. I'm afraid I failed the mission, but the text is overflowing with praise from Faceless Command Entity, which tells me I'm transferring to a new unit of good guys who fly well to capture more faceless aliens on the front lines. Uh. Okay. I guess I don't get to say goodbye to Snow Fox.

Snow Fox was the character in the demo with a personality. I couldn't tell if the Midway's comms officer (or whatever that is outside Star Trek) was speaking, or if it was the gestalt of unseen anime people, or if the carrier had a crew of one. I don't recall any notable USDF chatter from anyone except Snow Fox or the Midway. I already talked about how I didn't understand who or what the enemies were, and I couldn't say if pirates attack the Midway only in the first mission, or once in every mission. A command briefing before mission 1 could have gone a long way towards setting the scene.

The demo was enjoyable, and I look forward to the finished product.
« Last Edit: January 08, 2021, 08:26:43 am by Svedal »

 

Offline Strygon

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  • So long, and thanks for all the fish!
    • Steam
Re: [RELEASE] First Contact War Demo
I appreciate extensive and well detailed criticism and I'm happy that you overall enjoyed the demo, however I also have one hell of a bone to pick with some of what you wrote.

Please don't take this the wrong way. As much as taking criticism is difficult, giving it (constructively/helpfully) is just as difficult, and I appreciate that you still went through the effort.

However, during the first couple of paragraphs where you mentioned how unrefined the mod seemed because a lot of the MVP/FS2 assets are still in and weren't already replaced, have you perhaps considered that maybe, for the sake of delivering an early experience on what the overall gameplay and such is like, I decided to forgo work on these elements? Briefing icons, personae and all that other interface work is still a gigantic workload, and since I planned for making this a full standalone, I know I need to replace these elements sooner or later.

The line "There's a lot of work before FCW gets there" is very much just restating the obvious. I know there's a lot of work left to do, and I unfortunately don't have the time to just "do" all of that.

I kind of get where the expectation for refinenement may have come from, since "Demo" is often used as a shorthand for "A small bit of the game for early playing", but in my case the "Demo" is quite literally just gameplay demonstration. I should have probably specified it a bit more but I figured the disclaimers I gave were enough.

The plot, likewise, is a bit slapdash to give context to the missions you're flying in. That one's more on me for not planning this out so well though...

Your notes on the overall mission design (and the dockpath I somehow messed up for the Remora-F) are very helpful though, so thank you for compiling those as well.
Makes missions sometimes.
Finished Projects: Operation: Cloak and Dagger

Current Projects: Scrolls Part 2 (FREDding), Dimensional Eclipse (Art),
The First Contact War, GTDr Amazon HTL

[23:22] strypolygon: andrew
[23:22] strypolygon: i have one favor to ask of you
[23:22] strypolygon: never try speaking german again
[23:23] Andrewofdoom: No.

[18:50] 島風改八百三: the duck has multipli
[18:50] 島風改八百三: many duck
[18:50] 島風改八百三: left side
[18:50] 島風改八百三: even side
[18:50] 島風改八百三: handle it

[21:34] MP-Ryan: Why on earth would you Google this
[21:34] The_E: why would you not

[06:46] Strigon: how big is a mini-campaign again?
[06:46] Asteroth: smaller than a campaign
[06:47 ]Strigon: thanks

[05:56] Strigon: If I had to take a shot for each time I randomly decided to change the UI sounds, I'd have died of alcohol poisoning by now

[17:36] qazwsxal: time to have some fun
[17:41] z64555: VC++5 is not my idea of fun

[EatThePath] do your missiles do anything absurd?
[Strigon] describe absurd
[Strigon] the entire mod is absurd

 

Offline Svedal

  • 23
Re: [RELEASE] First Contact War Demo
Thank you. That's very helpful to me, though I apologize for giving you cause to say it. I'm glad I could be of some use.

 

Offline Strygon

  • Moderator
  • 28
  • So long, and thanks for all the fish!
    • Steam
Re: [RELEASE] First Contact War Demo
No worries, we're not omnipotent.  :D Better to politely talk it out than devolve into chaos from a series of neverending misunderstandings.
Makes missions sometimes.
Finished Projects: Operation: Cloak and Dagger

Current Projects: Scrolls Part 2 (FREDding), Dimensional Eclipse (Art),
The First Contact War, GTDr Amazon HTL

[23:22] strypolygon: andrew
[23:22] strypolygon: i have one favor to ask of you
[23:22] strypolygon: never try speaking german again
[23:23] Andrewofdoom: No.

[18:50] 島風改八百三: the duck has multipli
[18:50] 島風改八百三: many duck
[18:50] 島風改八百三: left side
[18:50] 島風改八百三: even side
[18:50] 島風改八百三: handle it

[21:34] MP-Ryan: Why on earth would you Google this
[21:34] The_E: why would you not

[06:46] Strigon: how big is a mini-campaign again?
[06:46] Asteroth: smaller than a campaign
[06:47 ]Strigon: thanks

[05:56] Strigon: If I had to take a shot for each time I randomly decided to change the UI sounds, I'd have died of alcohol poisoning by now

[17:36] qazwsxal: time to have some fun
[17:41] z64555: VC++5 is not my idea of fun

[EatThePath] do your missiles do anything absurd?
[Strigon] describe absurd
[Strigon] the entire mod is absurd