Stellar Assault: First Strike Operations

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Quanto
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Stellar Assault: First Strike Operations

Post by Quanto »

Part 1: What is Stellar Assault?
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Long ago, in the glorious year 1995, a game was created for a doomed video game console that no one bought. And the Game was Good.
That same year, that very console; the Sega 32x was finally put to rest. Toy stores around the world dropped its price dramatically to quickly clear the wretched stock. Then, a young teenager discovered that console in a local Toys 'R' Us, sold for only 30$, and each game for only 8$. The system and a total of 11 games were bought. One of which was the poor unfortunate soul of a game, Shadow Squadron, the US Localized version of the Japanese game "Stellar Assault".

Being a hardcore space combat fan, this game was the first to be played on this teen's brand new 32x. The game was great. Spectacular even. That teen was me, and to this day, not a single Space Sim has ever been released that matches Stellar Assault in pure fun. The game was actually really simple, and it could be beaten in less than 30 minutes if you knew all the weaknesses of the enemy ships. (I did). There really wasn't much of a story to it either, (just a blurb in the manual). But it had so many gameplay features that made it perfect. It was pure capital-ship busting, nothing but. Every mission got more and more challenging. The options menu was massive for a mid-90s console game, and provided the the player a load different ways to customize the game, you could change the colors of the ships, there was a 3D model view for every ship in the game (excluding the final level :( ), and even ways to adjust how the throttle to your fighters functioned. For a game released on the 32x just before it was canned, this sucker was awesome.

And Sega knew it was awesome. In 1998, they released a full remake on the Sega Saturn called "Stellar Assault: SS", which improved the game in every way possible, Texturemapped Spacecraft, atmospheric flight, massive particle effects and subterranian maps, this game was simply awesome (I have it on a Saturn Emulator, still haven't been able to beat it), the game even had fully voice acted characters, mission briefs and cut scenes, the only problem was, it was never translated or localized for the States and is ONLY available in Japan.

Since 1999, the Space Sim genre has effectively been dead. Not a single worthwhile space combat game has come out since that year. And if anyone mentions Freelancer, I hunt you down and scalp you. For a long time, I have wanted to remake Stellar Assault on PC. With all of it's simplicity intact, no complicated controls, no bizzare item hunting, no retarded "cargo scanning" missions, no crazy Full-Motion-Video between mission environments, and no long boring way-points to nowhere.

Part 2: What does this have to do with Vega-Strike?

For a while now, there have been more and more Open Source game engines popping up. But unfortunately there are only two Space Combat Sim Engines. Freespace Open, and this one; Vega Strike. Freespace Open is pure combat only. While Vega-Strike is built for the Space-Trader Sub-genre (a genre, I'll be honest, I'm not a fan of), I do think that Vega-Strike as an engine, has a lot more promise than Freespace. I've been reading the wiki's for both Engines for along time now, and I've downloaded and played both. While Graphically, Freespace is the better looking engine, I think Vega-Strike can look just as good, and Vega-Strike from my perspective, looks far more flexible. The problem with Freespace is that no matter how hard TC developers work on their mods, they always end up looking like a Freespace Expansion pack. In general I have become disillusioned with the FSO Engine, AND the community around it.

In terms of moving my ideas over to Vega-Strike I have a few things I would like to know, because the wiki is really jumbled and confusing, is it possible to:
  1. remove the "Trading" part of the VS Engine completely
  2. remove the open-ended "roam everywhere" portion of the game
  3. add "Computer Assisted Targeting" (along with a lead reticle)
  4. create a character driven game; styled almost like a Japanese Visual Novel between missions
Part 3: So what?

At this point, I'm still conceptualizing the main components of the game. I have the main gist of the plot figured out, and I'm currently modeling and UV Mapping the spacecraft along with designing the characters and the setting.

Links to Videos of the Original Game can be found below, there are a lot of good ones, for both the 32x and Saturn Versions. My own high opinion of the game is not Unique as many oldschool gamers agree that it was the only good game on the 32x. (Those who've heard of it at least, most people obsess about the 32x Doom, or Virtua Fighter, but Stellar Assault really makes both of those games look amateurish.)

Video Review of 32x Stellar Assault:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_9D_3IgeRg
Video of Stellar Assault's 32x Intro:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkNtFjx5gE8
Video of the Stellar Assault SS intro:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_4YTICDeeY
Video of Mission 4 Stellar Assault SS:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sug5jUR6f8I
Video of Mission 8 Stellar Assault SS:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9d6s1kMsxyI

Part 4: What I've done so far... (Pictures!)
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None of these models have been textured yet (Don't worry, they will be :D ).
I'm currently practicing up my UV Unwrapping skills and its been a slow process, but I am getting faster. There is not a large number of ships to model anyways, if manage to produce at least a model a week, I should have the entirety of them finished in under 4 months.

I have also produced an amount of concept work to go along with the models. Not all of it shown here simply because I don't immediately feel like scanning every page of my sketchbook.
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I know this is a lot to throw into a single post, but I got a lot to say, that and post counts don't matter much to me, so why not put it all in one place.
I'm not sure how active the community is over here, so please reply when you guys get the chance.
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Re: Stellar Assault: First Strike Operations

Post by Deus Siddis »

NIce meshes, though you could afford to make them much higher poly.

Do you know C++ and/or Python?
Quanto
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Re: Stellar Assault: First Strike Operations

Post by Quanto »

I did a limited amount of C++ back in high school, but that was 10 years ago.

Instead of programming I went the route of PC Graphic design, that in combination with my fine-arts background, I got really into it, and I've been designing characters and other things on both paper and the PC for a long time now.

In short, I have no programming skills. I was hoping to put together a team to work on this. Myself doing a majority of the graphical and literary work, while those who LOVE programming (as much as I love to draw), would get down to making the art function in the game.

I am not a total retard with computers however, I can do limited scripting for a few games, I've dabbled in some proprietary scripts for games like Total Annihilation and the full gamut of Paradox Games. Putting code together isn't too hard, but my lack of mathematical skills has resulted in a very limited patience in the craft.

The response over in the Freespace community has been mild at best (the idea of computer aided targeting REALLY put them off).

In regard to poly counts, I personally don't think its necessary. Good texturing will do more for the models than a few thousand polygons EVER could. That and the number of enemies in space would require a low poly count. I plan on having a lot more enemies on screen than in your typical space shooter.
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Re: Stellar Assault: First Strike Operations

Post by Deus Siddis »

Quanto wrote: In short, I have no programming skills. I was hoping to put together a team to work on this. Myself doing a majority of the graphical and literary work, while those who LOVE programming (as much as I love to draw), would get down to making the art function in the game.
My guess is that, given the recent shortage of coders associated with vega strike and the seeming obscurity of the game you are remaking, you'll have to get your hands dirty on the code side of things, ultimately. Fortunately it sounds like your project is simpler than most, on this front.
The response over in the Freespace community has been mild at best (the idea of computer aided targeting REALLY put them off).
That isn't a problem here, VS has auto-trackers upgrades, that actually train your forward guns for you, as long as your target is within so many degrees.
In regard to poly counts, I personally don't think its necessary. Good texturing will do more for the models than a few thousand polygons EVER could.
That way of thinking is a bit outdated to be honest.

Basically, all your really important texture detail will be in the normal map. That normal map can be 1024x1024 or even 2048x2048 pixels or maybe 2048x1024, per ship. But then you've probably hit your reasonable maximum, depending on how many different ships you'll have with different textures at a time. And done right this should make your ships look really good, except:

1) The silhouette of your ships will look unnecessarily faceted and primitive, at least in certain places and orientations.

2) Details will have no perspective (VS doesn't support parallax, which also looks terrible anyway), which will be most obvious on those capital ships you'll be busting.

3) Details will not show on the silhouette (even with parallax).

So if you skimp on the geometry now, you limit your final effect in ways that textures cannot overcome.
That and the number of enemies in space would require a low poly count. I plan on having a lot more enemies on screen than in your typical space shooter.
But as you said yourself, the last real space shooter was from 10 years ago, so computers have advanced a lot since then. Plus space shooter don't have terrain or interior structure to render. And the meshes don't have to be deformed like in infantry shooters.

On top of that, you make levels of detail, which act like mipmapping for geometry. Basically the game displays the many far away ships with low detail but displays the few close in ships with high detail.
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Re: Stellar Assault: First Strike Operations

Post by Quanto »

Alright, you've made a strong argument, and I'll meet you more than half way on a lot of pointss.
1) The silhouette of your ships will look unnecessarily faceted and primitive, at least in certain places and orientations.
I can see what you mean, there are a lot of hard edges and rectangles. I'll do what I can to round them out.
2) Details will have no perspective (VS doesn't support parallax, which also looks terrible anyway), which will be most obvious on those capital ships you'll be busting.
To be honest, I wasn't planning on adding too many "details". At least, not in the sense of greebles and odds 'n ends. This game takes place FAAARRR in the future. In the Sega Saturn Version, the Planet Venus was fully terraformed and was pretty much a tropical paradise. It would take a LONG time to do that to Venus, so as far as I can tell, the ships in Stellar Assault are lightyears more advanced than any ships that exist in many other Sci-Fi universes. (Including the VS Universe.)
3) Details will not show on the silhouette (even with parallax).
On that Note, I still want these fighters to have something of a militaristic appearance. Many details however, even if fully 3D modeled, would be so close the to hull that you would not see them very well in the silhouette anyways. In that regard, its easier just to texture them on than to model them. As you may have noticed in the messes anyways, these fighters have very gentle sweeping curves punctuated by sharp corners and edges. Many of these fighters retain an aircraft-like appearance because many do in fact, have a dual space/atmosphere capability. If you watch the Stellar Assault SS "Mission 8" Video, you will see what I am talking about.


Lastly, I have a few technical questions on the modeling side of things;
1. When making LoDs, do I have to create each level of detail manually? Or can this be done by some outside software.
2. The Fighters/Capships, can they have a multiple object hierarchy? Or does every element of a ship have to be a single 3D object within the model file? For example, my Feather 2 has over 10 separate objects. Will I need to merge them together as one geometric piece for the game?
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Re: Stellar Assault: First Strike Operations

Post by Deus Siddis »

Quanto wrote: I can see what you mean, there are a lot of hard edges and rectangles. I'll do what I can to round them out.
Use enough polygons to make what should be smooth curves look like smooth curves.

For areas with hard edges, you can use a fine bevel so that they don't look infinitely sharp. Done right, in the right situations, this can actually help bring out the angled look of a surface that should look faceted, without looking unrealistic.
To be honest, I wasn't planning on adding too many "details". At least, not in the sense of greebles and odds 'n ends.
I know, greebles probably don't fit your canon very well.

But take for example the engine pods on the ship in the SS cover. Notice the beveled edges on the still very angular engine pod.

Also notice those thick plates with the thick gaps in between them could be actually modeled geometry in your highest LoD model. This could be dealt with using the normal map of course, but it would still probably look better if modeled in close ups shots, which you reference videos seem to have some examples of. And then you also have folks with screens above 1600x1200 resolution, which magnifies detail visibility.
On that Note, I still want these fighters to have something of a militaristic appearance. Many details however, even if fully 3D modeled, would be so close the to hull that you would not see them very well in the silhouette anyways. In that regard, its easier just to texture them on than to model them.
It is a judgment call that you have to make.

One thing you could try is to pick one ship that looks especially good and represents this game's art style well and try to go all the way with it- fully and accurately modeled, normal mapped, diffuse and specular textures, etc., and then see how it looks in realtime in VS. And when you are really happy with it, then start work on the other models, knowing what they will look like and exactly how to make them look like that, using current generation graphics technology and techniques.
Lastly, I have a few technical questions on the modeling side of things;
1. When making LoDs, do I have to create each level of detail manually? Or can this be done by some outside software.
There is software that you can have do it for you, but the results aren't always exactly amazing. They might look worse for non-organic modeling too.

Doing it manually isn't that hard though, basically you just take the highest level of detail that you modeled first and remove detail in ways that preserves your UV mapping, so that they texture is still applied correctly. Basically your UVs are you main concern when creating lower LoDs if you don't want to do too much work. Certain methods and modifiers can be used for geometry reduction whilst not harming the UV map too much. You can also pin UVs to preserve their position.

And then you have the saving grace that if the texture is not applied totally accurately on lower LoDs, it might not show anyway since they are only displayed when an object is farther away from the view.
2. The Fighters/Capships, can they have a multiple object hierarchy? Or does every element of a ship have to be a single 3D object within the model file? For example, my Feather 2 has over 10 separate objects. Will I need to merge them together as one geometric piece for the game?
It depends on what you mean by 'merging' and 'one geometric piece'. If you mean do all of the vertexes have to be connected, then no, you don't have to do that. In fact wherever the mesh has edges that are close to or more than 90º, you don't want to have a single mesh or else you'll have shading artifacts that I find even normal mapping can't counter-act.

Anyway, if you don't have a problem with uploading a .obj version of your model, I can take a look at it more closely and see what you mean.
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Re: Stellar Assault: First Strike Operations

Post by Quanto »

Yeah, I can upload a few OBJs. Hold on. I'll send you the Feather 2, which has the most work done as far as UVs, just keep in mind, those current UVs are broken, and I'll have to make new ones. But meh.
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Re: Stellar Assault: First Strike Operations

Post by Deus Siddis »

Okay, got the model. To answer your original question precisely, I would join these different objects that make up this ship together into one object before export. Because even though it might not choke mesher or VS, it doesn't really help you in any way in-game to have all these separate objects.

At least not for fighters. For capships, going by your reference videos, it looks like they can be destroyed in pieces. In that case you probably you need to use VS' sub objects, which I believe can be independently destructible. But those have to be done a certain way from what I understand, perhaps from within mesher or unit converter or units.csv.
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Re: Stellar Assault: First Strike Operations

Post by Phlogios »

I actually discovered Shadow Squadron a few weeks ago and I liked it a lot. Best game for 32x by far.
Best of luck to you!
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Re: Stellar Assault: First Strike Operations

Post by esgaroth »

Hi Quanto !
I `ve had a bit of modding experience from our star trek mod, so I might give you a helping hand (if time allowes...).
1. remove the "Trading" part of the VS Engine completely
2. remove the open-ended "roam everywhere" portion of the game
3. add "Computer Assisted Targeting" (along with a lead reticle)
4. create a character driven game; styled almost like a Japanese Visual Novel between missions
Concerning your questions, 1 is very easy. I would just remove the trading screens from the bases, and la voila, no trading anymore. Alternatively, you can empty the trading goods part from the units.csv -> same result (you then could trade, but there is nothing to be bought or sold...).
Number 2 i dont know, but with a decent storyline/campaign, that should not be the problem.
3 as already told, is possible with the autotracking function,
and 4 is also possible with the campaigns (although you would need someone who knows python more than a bit).
So for setting up the basic stuff, I could help you if you want, for the candy you would need a python guy.
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Re: Stellar Assault: First Strike Operations

Post by Quanto »

Well, at the moment, the basic stuff is all i'm concerned with. Getting ships imported into the engine, making them work. Writing BASIC missions. That sort of thing, just to see the gameplay portion through.
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Re: Stellar Assault: First Strike Operations

Post by esgaroth »

Getting ships imported into the engine, making them work.
Well, thats something i have experience with. Not that much trouble to be expected with that portion of the work. Same with adding or removing factions. Adding the weapons you had in the original game needs a lot of infos and testing but i know how to do that. Should be the first thing to concentrate on - weapons and shields (cause importing ships is rather easy once they are modelled and textured).
Best would be to have a repo somewhere and then start to modify the basic surroundings, that is set up the universe (which factions, which ships for which factions etc.) Most difficult thing is to set up the campaign correctly cause that needs python knowledge.
So I would like to suggest that you register with sourceforge, start a new project and then lets think about which vegastrike version you would like to use as a starting point to mod. And then lets start to do it...
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Re: Stellar Assault: First Strike Operations

Post by Quanto »

Well shoot, if you really want to get hardcore into this, I'll start pushing myself to finish some UV Mapping. And I guess the weapons themselves would pose a bit of a challenge. As far as setting up the universe is concerned I already have a lot planned out, I haven't put it out in the open yet because I wasn't even sure if anyone was interested enough to get to know those parts.

I'll post a detailed overview of the Universe soon.
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Re: Stellar Assault: First Strike Operations

Post by Quanto »

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As has been mentioned throughout this thread, this game/mod/total-conversion is a remake of a game developed in Japan for the Sega 32x and Sega Saturn. Visually and Stylistically this game is going to be closely based off of the 32x version. Most of the remodels I have done have been strongly influenced by the Models found in the 32x Game. Gameplay will also take most of it's cues from the 32x Version.

However, nearly all PC Space Sims have a strong and heavily outlined story. The 32x game, did not. The entire story to the 32x game was told in three paragraphs in a black & white instruction manual. Not much to work with. To paraphrase; “Our old enemies have attacked us in our home system and have deployed a massive laser cannon in orbit around the sun. Fight your way to solar orbit and destroy the weapon!”
That was the gist of the original story. No lie. The game consisted of 6 Missions;

The first has you attacking two enemy frigates and 12 Fighters. You destroy them all.
The Second Mission has you attacking a gravitational acceleration gate which was just used to Launch an asteroid at the earth. You fly in, destroy the acceleration gate and its capital ship escorts (1 Frigate and 2 Destroyers).
The third mission had you flying into the asteroid belt and killing off the booster ships that were used to move the asteroids into the acceleration gate in the first place. These booster ships are of course guarded by a compliment of fighters and two light cruisers.
The 4th Mission has you taking on an entire fleet of ships. 4 Frigates, 3 Destroyers, 2 Light Cruisers, and a Battlecruiser.
The 5th Mission has you launching an attack upon a Carrier and its two BattleCruiser escorts, the Carrier is called the Ganazula and is a beast of a ship. (Re: Gigantic). You actually fly inside it and destroy it's main reactor to kill it. It is invincible otherwise.
The Final mission has you in close orbit around the sun (omg, blindness). Where you confront the big bad laser weapon. You destroy it and win the game.

Why did I bother explaining every mission? Well, there was only six, and you could beat the whole game in under 30 minutes if you were good at it.

The Japanese-only release of the Sega Saturn version expands on the original by creating a total of 14 missions and they are insanely hard. (I've only made it to mission 12 myself.) Unfortunately, whatever story was made for this game will never be known because ALL of the dialog is in Japanese and no one has bothered translating it. I would also like to point out that it had too much dialog to begin with, and that 55 – 65% of the time in every mission was spent in autopilot listening to the moonspeak between you, your wing mates and your nav-computer. So the Saturn version while an improvement, has its flaws.
My goals in this PC version made by westerners is that we take the good points of both the 32x game and the Saturn game, combine them, and leave out the bad parts. Many of the missions in the Saturn Version are based off of the 32x missions. You still need to destroy an acceleration gate, and fight in an asteroid belt. There is still a HUGE fleet battle halfway through and you blast your way through a lot of light cruisers.

However, there were several really cool missions original to the Sega Saturn version. Like flying inside the giant asteroid Ceres, and flying 3 missions in orbit around and in the atmosphere of a Terraformed Venus. The game did a great job immersing the player within its Universe, even if you don't understand Japanese.

So, while the story is a blank slate, one thing I heartily thank the Japanese developers for in this game, is the SOLID and SIMPLE gameplay, and absolutely beautiful ship designs, I mean, the ships in both games are completely gorgeous. Its my firm opinion that every ship designed by every Western Space Sim developer is completely fucking ugly compared to the ships and fighters found in these games. The mechanical designer who drew up these ships was one inspired dude. Every ship looks FAST, even when sitting still.

With all of this in mind, I think that with the combination of some damn beautiful ships, and a story written by a westerner, inspired by the combined missions of both games; a great game could be made legendary. The originals are just SO DAMN GOOD, that I want to relive them on modern hardware with modern graphics, and hopefully even great a great multiplayer game.

Thats right, I said it, a multiplayer game. First and foremost, the core gameplay will be ironed out, and a few multiplayer missions will be made. As a means to test out the game mechanics and perfect the gameplay before the single player game is finished. As a general rule, I intend to do for the Space Combat Genre what Soul Calibur, and Counter-Strike have done for the 3D Fighting Game, and First Person Shooter. I want to create a fun, noob friendly game that also Challenges and Enthralls veterans of the Genre. Hopefully bringing back a few more people to these games that I've grown up loving, and have spent the last ten years sorely missing. Maybe that would convince some commercial developers that there is still money in the Genre.
( I AM SO SICK OF FPS's, RTS's AND MMOs!!!)

Now here is the deal, I am an artist and writer, not a programmer. I can pull together a story, the artwork, and the 3D Models, but putting them into a usable engine is a road-block I am having difficulty crossing. I badly need programmers to help me pull this all together into the great game I imagine. I am fully willing take suggestions and criticism from potential team members so long as they at least take the time to play the 32x version of the game. (The Saturn version is ultra rare and insanely hard to acquire even on emulator. The going price on retro game resellers right now is $100 for the 32x cartridge and over $200 for an imported Saturn disc.) I can provide the 32x Rom for anyone interested (just pm me.)

This game will NOT be in closed development, as it is going to be based on an open source engine (either Freespace Open, or Vegastrike), anything discovered during the course of it's development will of course be shared with the community surrounding the respective engine. I still haven't decided on an engine that I want to use, the FSO in the title stands for “First Strike Operations”, not Freespace Open. Its just a convenient acronym. Just as the Saturn Version was called “Stellar Assault SS”, I'm keeping with a theme. Third game --> three letters in the acronym.

Alright, I've spent a lot of time talking about the ideas behind the game, and how much I love it, and that I want you to love it too. But what about this story written by a westerner that I keep promising?

Here we go...

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The setting is some time early in the 33rd Century. Mankind has not ventured very far outside the solar system, but we have developed highly advanced technology, and have colonized and terraformed all three Terrestrial planets worth terraforming. Venus, Earth, and Mars.
Wait, what? We terraformed Venus? How?
That is central to our story here believe it or not.

Venus is the same size and mass as the earth and orbits within the sun's “habitable zone”, however, there are several factors that lead to it being a hellish hothole.
First, there are a ton of volcanoes. So many that they created a massive greenhouse effect and forced the planet into having the hottest surface temperature in the solar system.
Second, the other factor to this super hot surface is the fact that the planet's day takes longer than it's year. So it spends a lot of time baking in the sun. This probably isn't helping things.
Third, the whole atmosphere isn't just hot, but acidic, so not only do things get baked, they get dissolved away at the same time. There is water on the planet, but it is just so damn hot, that all of the water stays evaporated in the upper atmosphere.

So how does Hellish Venus get turned into the paradise that was imagined during the Victorian Era?

During the 22nd Century, the world eventually unifies due to a heavily intertwined global economy and a general desire worldwide for peace. The UN forms global government and massive monetary and human resources are put into the rapid development of the Martian colonies, the planet is colonized by rapid industrialization with factories the pollute worse than 1950s factories. The greenhouse gases raise the Martian temperature and thicken the atmosphere and allow the planet's water to liquefy. Mars develops nicely and over a few hundred years, turns into a global Tundra/Siberian climate. To facilitate the rapid Martian colonization, the global government creates a corporate entity whose sole purpose is to develop, exploit, and colonize the solar system.

The Company is called “Synthesis” and anyone familiar with their 18th and 19th century history could label this company as a historical parallel to the British East India Company or the Dutch East India Company. Synthesis is the first to begin financing the full scale exploitation of the Solar Asteroid field and puts their Base of Operations buried inside the dwarf planet Ceres. Synthesis makes incredible profits from the mining operations throughout the asteroid belt and actually possess more funds than the United Earth Government.

Using this money, Synthesis proposes to the UEG the possibility of Terraforming Venus and creating a tropical paradise there. After a long deliberation, the UEG gives Synthesis the “Go-Ahead” and they begin building a fleet of mobile gravitational acceleration gates. Over 100 were built in total and they were all moved from the asteroid belt to the Kuiper Belt. 1 Gate in particular was large enough to move a KBO the size of Pluto. Booster Ships originally meant for moving asteroids around in the asteroid belt were now being used to shove whole Comets into the 100 Acceleration Gates. Each one carefully aimed on a crash course for Venus. Each comet was put on course to impact venus as just the right angle to give the planet a 24 hour rotation, instead of it's original 584 days. These impacts also served to implant water and oxygen into the planets atmosphere.

Finally, using the ultra gate, a large Pluto sized KBO was launched towards Venus with the careful trajectory to give the planet a moon so that it would have a stable rotational axis. (A smaller KBO was sent to Mars as well to stabilize the Martian axis. It took 300 years for the Venusian atmosphere to calm down and stablize. The water in the atmosphere, finally cooled off and began raining back down upon the surface. Oceans formed and it was soon found that Venus would have even less land cover than Mars. (The combination of water from the upper atmosphere combined with the water from the comets created a rather large ocean.) Synthesis genetically engineered tropical plants to survived on Venus just as they had Alpine plants for Mars. By the end of the 31st Century, Venus was fully habitable for mankind and the profits gained from Venusian habitation has earned Synthesis even more money than the combined mining operations system wide.

And so, it is now the early 33rd Century, Venus, Earth and Mars are ruled by a combined government called the United Solar Worlds. Synthesis, has begun projects outside the solar system, mostly in and around Alpha Centauri. However, profits have been limited in that area and life is difficult for the colonists. However, less than a decade ago, a probe returned from the Vega star system revealing a solar system ripe for colonization. No earthlike worlds, but several moons that were Terraformable by way of comet collision (as was done with Venus). Synthesis gathered 50 acceleration gates (25 completely brand new, and a lot larger.) And took course for Vega.

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At this point, it is important to mention the Military culture that has grown within Synthesis, much like the British East India Company, Synthesis has their own military that answers only to the board of directors. Known as the Sythesis Space Force (refered to as the SSF from now on). The SSF is a full blown military organization with its own fleet. It is also the SSF that protects and controls the Gravitational Acceleration Gates. When Synthesis sent their gates to Vega, they also sent more than half of their fleet.
2 Battle Carriers, 4 Escort Carriers, 18 Light Cruisers, and 66 Frigates.
The total military size for Synthesis consists of 3 Battle Carriers, 8 Escort Carriers, 26 Light Cruisers, and 108 Frigates. None have ever seen combat.

The Solar Government also has 3 large fleets. Mostly because many on Earth did not trust Synthesis as being the lone military force in the Solar System. (By this time, much of the population has grown to distrust Synthesis and wanted protection from unjust corporate policies.)

The Solar Government Navy consists of 5 Battle Carriers, 7 Escort Carriers, 44 Light Cruisers, and 130 Frigates. Military strategists and thinkers in both the SGN and SSF have long believed that combat in Space would consist of massive Carrier Engagements with Fighters to destroy the enemy Carrier. (Much like naval warfare in the 20th and 21st Centuries).

Fighters used by both the SSF and SGN are the Feather 1 Interceptor, Feather 2 Space Superiority Fighter, and the Feather 3 Torpedo Bomber. Most ships in the SSF have a Red/White/Graphite Color Scheme while ships in the SGN use a Blue/Off-Blue/Graphite Color Scheme.
Both the Feather 1 and Feather 2 have atmospheric flight capabilities.


Also, Here are some updates regarding the Artwork. I've remodeled the Feather 1, and a few other ships. Here is a picture of the new Feather 1. And also a Size Comparison chart for the fighters.
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snow_Cat
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Re: Stellar Assault: First Strike Operations

Post by snow_Cat »

multiple object hierarchy?

^ - -^ From what I've seen submeshes within a single model are used.
^- - ^ And 'subunits', can support other subunits with other subunits; though VS only really makes use of 1st level 'turret' subunits that only support a weapon or shield.
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Re: Stellar Assault: First Strike Operations

Post by Quanto »

So you are saying it IS possible to make the energy wings appear, disappear, and reappear during flight or idle?
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Re: Stellar Assault: First Strike Operations

Post by snow_Cat »

^- -^ I'm certain the engine supports 'subunits' with a static hiearchy; however I don't know if the scripting interface has the right handles to (swap) change units outside of the shipyard user interface.

^- - ^ It might be possible to make energy wings as a specail type of turret, then lobotomize the turret AI to rotate them in/out of position when needed.
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Re: Stellar Assault: First Strike Operations

Post by Quanto »

Any opinions on the story so far?
I know I haven't outlined the war itself yet. I'm still trying to figure out who and what the aliens are. Points to be revealed is that they do not breath Oxygen and that they are behind the human race technologically.
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Re: Stellar Assault: First Strike Operations

Post by snow_Cat »

^ - -^ Not much to comment, looks reasonible thus far.

^- - ^ I like the idea that these aliens might be in some way an offshoot of humanity, but twisted such that they thrive in an impossibly hostile environment for regular 'people'; losing spacefairing prowless as the process makes them increasingly dependant on their worlds. The change so dramatic that neither side recognises the inherent humanity of the other; Mostly because before that could happen terraforming probes (sent in advance of colonists) threaten to destroy them, and they have only one possible response for those who sent these machines to kill them -

^ - -^ Then again· I like furries too; so feel free to ignore that.
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Re: Stellar Assault: First Strike Operations

Post by Quanto »

snow_Cat wrote:^ - -^ Not much to comment, looks reasonible thus far.

^- - ^ I like the idea that these aliens might be in some way an offshoot of humanity, but twisted such that they thrive in an impossibly hostile environment for regular 'people'; losing spacefairing prowless as the process makes them increasingly dependant on their worlds. The change so dramatic that neither side recognises the inherent humanity of the other; Mostly because before that could happen terraforming probes (sent in advance of colonists) threaten to destroy them, and they have only one possible response for those who sent these machines to kill them -

^ - -^ Then again· I like furries too; so feel free to ignore that.
When I said that they were behind the human race technologically, I meant that they have less technology than us. Not that they INVENT us, lol. I should have worded it better. The main theme I am coming to is something along the same parallels of the "Evils" of Imperial Colonialism. And that by creating something like the British East India Company, only in Space would lead to the same atrocities and evils as had been experienced during the Victorian Era.

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Re: Stellar Assault: First Strike Operations

Post by Deus Siddis »

Quanto wrote:When I said that they were behind the human race technologically, I meant that they have less technology than us. Not that they INVENT us, lol. I should have worded it better. The main theme I am coming to is something along the same parallels of the "Evils" of Imperial Colonialism. And that by creating something like the British East India Company, only in Space would lead to the same atrocities and evils as had been experienced during the Victorian Era.
Just an opinion, but my gut reaction to that was "not this cliche again, please no!"

Especially if its the whole "you fight for the evil empire/corporation oppressing corny native inhabitants until sappy moral enlightenment turning point, then invert and repeat." It was so tired even ten years ago that out of spite for it I totally crushed the Scions in Battlezone 2, wanted to throw myself on a katana by the end of the last samurai and am working out plans for the time machine and two infiltration androids needed to terminate james cameron before he even conceived of avatar. :)

Plus (again IMHO) if you want to do a classic justice, try to stick to the canon however possible. If you can't get the story/dialogue translated, then maybe focus more on whatever elements are prevalent in the game. Like build the story to fit a universe that revolves heavily around terraforming and spacefighters for example.
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Re: Stellar Assault: First Strike Operations

Post by JsnMtth »

Getting rid of roam anywhere?

I don't think it would be TOO hard. I've never played the game your mentioning, but I'd gladly play your mod.

Suppose you create a system for each field you want play in. You could possibly have several missions happen in a single system. You remove ALL the jump points from the system. Then you get the engine to "jump" to another system on mission success (even on success of particular missions). Your capship is a big flying base, and it is in EVERY system. You leave from it and return to it.

I'm not a VS engine expert, but from what I've seen at most it would need minor modification. The rest would be mission scripting (python) and system building (xml), and art
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