Descent 3 Sector

Basewars Help - Posted by Hunter - November 27th 2006

Remember, Basewars is a spinoff of Hyperspace but is NOT Hyperspace. It doesn't play like those levels, and takes time to learn. It's a space-strategy, and not just combat. Learning how to play can greatly benefit you later, and you'll get the rewards too. Even the playerships have a role, such as the "Isis (Magnum)" which is designed to be a base defender. To learn how to play, and learn other aspects of the level which might help you explore - Check out the Hyperspace section.

Basewars Release - Posted by Hunter - November 25th 2006

Basewars has been released! At last. Grab it right here, or, alternatively check out the trailer by clicking here or streaming here. Be sure to leave your feedback in our forums, PlanetDescent, or wherever you found out first!

Screenshots - Posted by Hunter - September 15th 2006

Check out some new screenshots from Basewars over at GameEdit.net - linky

Blog - Posted by Hunter - September 3rd 2006

I've started writing up the blog entries for the Basewars project. It basically just covers some information for the nerds out there. Check out the Blog page for more, and expect to see more posts made soon!

Descent Tribute - Posted by Hunter - September 2nd 2006

I can't believe it's September already. The year has gone so fast. It's also been a whole year since I announced the start of the Basewars project, which has certainly been the longest running project for me. When it comes down it, it's a matter of willpower and energy - Something which I tend to phase in and out of. Aside from being pretty sick for quite a few months earlier in the year, which subtracted a considerable amount of time from the project, it's nearly ready for full live BETA testing. The reason I'm doing it live is because Basewars is something of a dynamic, multiplayer only map that has a changing environment as you progress. If you want to be in on the BETA, please, register at the forums and post in the Descent section. In the meantime, check out Blackholes new music video, called "Descent Tribute" which takes a look at the cutscenes of the Descent and Freespace series. Find it in the videos section!

Basewars Trailer - Posted by Hunter - August 14th 2006

Check out the new Basewars trailer by going to the video section right here! Be sure to leave your feedback in the forums.

Tips & Tricks - Posted by Hunter - June 14th 2006

BlackHole & D3Jake have released a short "Tips and Tricks" video for Descent III. Check it out in the videos section! Want to be a Basewars tester? Get in early by registering on our forums and posting in the "Descent" section.

Improving - Posted by Hunter - May 14th 2006

Well, after over three months of feeling generally unwell - I'm finally improving. It's sure taking it's sweet time. The good news is, I'm feeling much more up to working on things and finally used D3EDIT today for the first time in ages! I plan to put a little amount of time in each day now, so the project is back on track and June looks like the likely testing month. In other news, I've added four Descent 3 music videos to our downloads section including "Flail & Fussilade" by Rake and "Hyperspace & Veins" by Blackhole.

Augh - Posted by Hunter - April 6th 2006

As some of you may know, I've been ill lately with stomach/chest problems. It's mainly a digestive disturbance of somekind, and I'm having to take a 4-6, maybe even 12 week course of medication to treat it. If it continues, obviously I'll need more hospital tests to get an accurate diagnosis as opposed to what Doctors believe it could be. Suffice to say, this is affecting my interest in doing any kind of level editing or modding, so things will stil be delayed. Although it doesn't exactly cripple me, I just don't feel in the mood right now to sit at this annoyingly uncomfortable chair and work on D3Edit. So until I can get used to using D3Edit on the laptop, I won't be doing any more work on my project for the time being. When I do resume it, I'll put in one or two hours every day until getting to the point where things are ready for testing. I always knew it would take a while to finish this, and I can't offer an accurate estimate atm. It could be May, June - But definitely will be sometime in Summer. Yes I know... You hate waiting... But I really can't spend time working on it simply because of my depression from this sickness.

Makeover - Posted by Hunter - April 3rd 2006

So for some reason I decided the website needed a make-over. I've done away with D3UK and just turned it into a general "Descent 3 Sector". That offers some room for expansion, and eventually I'll expand it a little bit. Expect some more updates soon in regards to Hyperspace: Basewars.

Definitely still here - Posted by Hunter - March 2nd 2006

For anyone who reads this page, give me a wave. Well actually - I'm just saying I'm still here, and have been working on my Descent III projects, just not so much due to various reasons. Suffice to say - Expect some news this month. Have I said that before? This time I mean it!

Still here - Posted by Hunter - September 16th 2005

No, I haven't forgotten about Basewars. The project is still underway, but at a significantly reduced pace. I don't expect much progress to be made yet, but the target date for this project is November for testing, and December for release at the very latest. You can follow the progress of the project by going to our forums or Planet Descent.

Here we go again! - Posted by Hunter - July 8th 2005

Well, although it's in early days of concept I've decided to start working on a Hyperspace spin-off level that will be set in the Hyperspace environment. After Apotheosis was completed, I designed a series of plans and sketches intended for a future project, something that was going to be "maybe" only. The goal was to create a level based on Hyperspace, but with more interactive and strategic implementation. It wouldn't just be "destroy", but there would be actual strategy involved in protecting your assets, and how to destroy the enemy. The result of this will be a level designed solely for Assault style play. There will be no CTF or other modes of play. The map will be layed out in multiple-systems (about five or six), connected through a small jumpgate network. I was very dubious that this could be done, but after some testing yesturday I was able to confirm it can be done with a trick.

Now with some details on the content. There will be two bases, like in previous levels, except they will be seperated by some distance. Also, the bases themselves will be setup differently. Everything will be destroyable (which means, you can actually destroy the base by firing at it). Think "Command and Conquer", except in space. Here is the planned structures:

Control Tower - The main base of operations from where players control their base.

Shield Generator - There will be a few shield generators, which will enable the Control Tower to be protected by a shield. The only way to destroy the tower is take down the generators.

Repair Dock - Players can refuel and repair their ships in these floating hangers. Despite being protected by the shield generators, these are destroyable hangers.

Silo - The silo is where player weapons and platforms can be found. Platforms are "sentry guns" that can be deployed by players, and they will be generated once every few minutes (depending on the platform type, for example a Cruise Platform could take up to ten minutes to generate due to it's high damage output).

Electronic Satellite - Essential for automated defenses tracking. Without these, the control towers turrets are rendered inert.

Stargate - Used to travel distances between systems or within system (for example, Red Teams base may in orbit above a planet, whereas Blue are in midspace, but the same system).

So, your probably now wondering why the need for multiple systems? Well, I'm going to add a bit of depth to the level by introducing pirates (in Apotheosis there is lone pirate in the asteroid field). These AI pirates will vary in ship class, from mere fighters to powerful battleships. They will have various weapons, based on the type of weapons the robots use in Hyperspace. They will hang around the systems, at either asteroid fields or their own little outposts. Also, they may not always be there ?They will sometimes be cloaked, or sometimes just not there until you get close to their assets. They will serve no purpose to the objectives, and will just be there for something to shoot at. But, they might drop a special weapon you can use when they die?Which gives you some incentive to shoot them. But don’t expect an easy fight.

At the moment, I can’t provide any details on robots, ships or weapons. Suffice to say I plan to include a rich amount of content, with a patchable feature this time ?So I can continue to update the level without the necessary uber-size download. In total, for the release level I plan to include three new player ships. One will be really fast and weak, the second will be inbetween, while the third will be slow with high amounts of shield ?The third ship will also be used to deploy Sentry Guns. Some new player weapons will also be included, but I have not done any design notes for weapons yet.

Expect more information as design progresses, and I cannot confirm any BETA testing date yet. I’d say at least one month.

Hyperspace - More? - Posted by Hunter - May 8th 2005

Yeah, you probably thought I'd quit - Well, I have. But there was a final Hyperspace level (and last Descent related project for that matter) in the works that was canned pretty early on due to real life problems and the fact that the Hyperspace playerbase is about 70% smaller than what it used to be. But, assuming I survive the next few weeks (lots of assignments), I MAY give everyone a treat by resuming that project. The general idea was to produce a Hyperspace based level, but with a twist - There would be multiple systems you could visit! It was a pipedream to have a level that you could spend hours just exploring by yourself. It may or may not happen. My next news post will have that answer.

Apotheosis CTF - Posted by Hunter - November 24th 2004

The CTF/Entropy compatible version of Hyperspace Apotheosis has been compiled, grab it on the levels page!

Hotfix - Posted by Hunter - November 17th 2004

Hyperspace Apotheosis had a major bug - It crashed on Dedicated servers, and generally was crash happy whenever you played it on a Dedi. So after many hours of pulling hair, I managed to fix it. You will need to download the level again, however, because the older version will be incompatible! Have fun!

Apotheosis - Posted by Hunter - November 15th 2004

Hyperspace Apotheosis has been released! Grab it from the levels page. I've also added a spiffy little database, which you can find by clicking on the Hyperspace page.

Beta - Posted by Hunter - November 4th 2004

Hyperspace: Apotheosis (Assault version) has finally reached the Beta Testing stage, and I've had a few people play it so far. I will doing more testing soon to ensure every bug is found, and then it will probably only a matter of days before a final release. The CTF version will follow shortly after.

Hmmm - Posted by Hunter - October 14th 2004

Zzzz. Things are going on. Just not where you can see them. Hopefully a playable Beta of Hyperspace Apotheosis will be around at the end of the month. As with all Hyperspace levels, it will be played online as opposed to being sent out. The thread on PD should keep you informed (check diary for link).

Updates - Posted by Hunter - August 25th 2004

Where do the months go? There are no new updates, really, except I have been making the odd Diary entry.

MP3s Removed - Posted by Hunter - May 30th 2004

Some of you may have noticed you can't download the MP3s anymore. Sadly this is due to problems with our bandwidth on one of the servers, so for the time being they will have to remain offline. Remind me to kick someones ass (IE the admin).

Level Released - Posted by Hunter - February 23rd 2004

Score has been released. Grab it here. Bet you didn't expect that one ;-)

Hello World - Posted by Hunter - January 15th 2004

Yes folks, I am still alive. So what's new? Nothing. At least, nothing to do with Descent 3. I have many projects aside from D3-Work's right at this moment, but I will return to Editing soon. I do still hope to build Hyperspace 3. When I started working on levels for D3, I designed about ten of them on paper beforehand. I have built about seven of those that I sketched out, so at some point I will get around to doing them. Ofcourse, if that isn't the case, then my last level will most certainly be the third and last installement in the Hyperspace levels, one which I want to make bigger and better - Hyperspace Divided improved upon it's predacessor vastly, whereas the update to Divided helped balance everything just the way people wanted it - I will be maintaining that approach for HS3, but with quality comes time - And I have a lot less of that than I had for the whole of last year. I guess we'll just have to wait and see, another issue is my "interest level", which ATM is out of the window when it comes to D3.

Hyperspace 1.1 Out - Posted by Hunter - November 29th 2003

Over the past two days I've been working on balancing out the Hyperspace weaponry somewhat. You can now play it in CTF without the extreme amount of power that each weapon had. Everything has been changed, including some eye-candy and sound balancing to prevent crashing. If it works or not I'm not sure, but the crashes have definitely been reduced.

Another level done! - Posted by Hunter - November 2nd 2003

Another level has been finished, titled "Aquilae Hub". It's been tested successfully.
" Aquilae Hub is a sequel to my previous level Luminous. While taking the same "green dark theme", this level presents an entirely new layout with a freaky atmosphere. This map is small, simple, tight and fast - With a few strategic twists. "

All Done - Posted by Hunter - October 28th 2003

NYSA is finished ! The level won't be available for about 24 hours, there is still some verification checks to do. But after about twenty testers in five games, and a small tweak to the Grid-Room & Weapon loadout, it's been voted "just fine" :-)

Beta Testing - Posted by Hunter - October 25th 2003

Beta Testing of NYSA has almost been completed. Thanks to the NuB and RIP teams for providing players to do so! ;-) NYSA should be finished very soon.

Test - Posted by Hunter - October 20th 2003

Welcome to Descent 3 UK. This site hasn't really been completed yet. It was constructed with the "spur-of-the-moment" kinda method, loosely based on the old D3UK page from way back in 2000, so you know how that goes. Well, take a look :-). More stuff soon.