Hyperspace: Standoff was put together with little thought, and the same for Divided. Once Apotheosis came along, I decided to fine tune things a little more - Which resulted in a more balanced level. After Apotheosis, I never thought I'd do another level - Hyperspace was intended to be a three-level set only, and no more. But then I had this idea to create something beyond any of the previous levels. If you've never played the Hyperspace series, then you're going to love this level all the more.
Basewars is something of a spinoff, while it uses many of the ideas, content and weapons from the first three levels - it presents it in a whole new way. I had lots of fun thinking up all the wonderful ideas for this level, and in fact, I had so many ideas I was never able to fit them all in - So you'll be seeing a Single Player mission sometime this year (hopefully). It’ll be a variation of the multiplayer level, since multiplayer is considerably buggy!
The title of the multiplayer level is: Genesis
And the title of the single playe one is: Inversion
Briefing
To play Basewars, you'll have to Start a Multiplayer game. Find the level "Hyperspace: Genesis" and select "Basewars" as the Gametype. Genesis is not compatible with any other gametype (which may differ at release). Once the level loading sequence has finished, you'll be in the ship that replaces the one you've selected in your pilot setup.
There will be three playerships included, each having a specific role. There will be a fourth playership, but it's just a variation. There will also be standard weapons, modified weapons and pirate weapons. The standard weapons can be found in your base armory. The modified/pirate weapons will only drop from AI ships. The bigger the ship, the more likely it's a big toy your going to get. There will be twenty weapons in total, replacing all of the standard ones. Combat in Basewars will be different than previous incarnations of Hyperspace, there will be lots more strategy and careful executions of your decisions needed. That doesn't mean you can't have a good fight with fancy explosions! Playing Basewars does require some knowledge of how it works, so you can't just join in the middle of it! Reading this document is a good place to start. Let's talk about the playerships.
Horus
The first, the Horus interceptor, is the fastest of the bunch. It's weak, but still tougher than a Phoenix. It's the best choice for attack runs, since it gets there fast. It has 40% resistance to weapons fire, so it's still fairly tough. The Horus replaces the Phoenix.
Seth
The second is the Seth Assault Fighter, which essentialy does what it says in the title. It's a Fighter, and it Assaults things. It's the mid-range of the three ships, essentially a Pyro. You can use it for either defending the base or joining an attack run. The Seth has a strong 60% resistance to weapons fire.
Isis
The third is the Isis Bomber. Now this monster is a must for fans of flying bricks! It's got tons of shields, endless energy reserves and just totally whipes the floor with everything it comes across. The downside is, it's SLOW. Magnum slow? Nuh-uh, slower! Base defenders will pick this ship, since it's got the staying power needed to crush those annoying flyboys. The Isis has an unstoppable 90% resistance to weapons fire.
Merc
The final ship, replacing the Black Pyro, is a modified version of the Horus Interceptor - Also known as "Mercenary Horus".
Player Bases
Bases in Basewars... Ahem... Are quite small, not as large as previous versions of Hyperspace. This is mainly because I wanted them this way, since there won't be any combat taking place in *most* of these places.
Keycards
Players will start in their team Command Towers. The start rooms are important - Because each contains a keycard that team members have to collect. This key is actually invisible, so really you only have to fly out of the launch bay to obtian it. That keycard will enable them to access their base structures. Without the key, you can't teleport in. You only need to pick up the key for everytime you join the game, not after every death. That means that Red players won't be able to get into the Blue base, and vice versa. So how can you finish the level you ask, if you can't get inside? You'll have to destroy it from the outside! Since it's possible to exploit this, I may implement a weapons block for player bases, thus preventing any kind of exploting of the game rules.
Command Tower
Within the Command Tower there isn't much to do. There is no energy centre or repair bays, or anything that can really do much in the way of commanding. Not much of a Command Tower, I guess - But you can leave all the station personnel to do that job. You can grab all the standard Primary and Secondary weapons here though. It's only other purpose is to give players a safe haven if they feel like eating McDonalds in the cafeteria. That and, it's got the biggest amount of hitpoints and is totally indestructable until your whole base has been wiped out. At that point, it's pretty much a last ditch attempt to save your butt (and your fries) from going up in flames.
So what can be found when you venture out of the Command Tower. Well, assuming you can find the exit (the exit is in the main crossway hanger) you only need to fly toward it. And then your outside. Just like that. From there, you can witness your base in it's completed glory, shining and blinking in the starlight. At least, I hope it does! Let's walk you through the various elements of each base.
Storage Silo
So, we've done the Command Tower. That's the big chunk of metal you just flew out of. It's not hard to miss, since it's the largest of the structures. Your first stop should be to the Storage Silo. The silo is the place to go if your looking for portable Sentry guns. Essentially, countermeasures - You should deploy them within your base perimeter, since you need to protect it when your not around. Sentry guns come in four types - Small Blasters, Large Blasters, Pulse Beams and Missile Platforms. The storage silo only puts out a few of these though, and not all at once. You might have to wait some five minutes for that lovely Missile Platform to respawn. If your flying an Isis Carrier (the slow, flying brick) the Silo is the place to be. With that many shields, you'll want to stay alive long enough to deploy them. What good is it if you lose them, then have to wait ages to get more?
Maintenance Hanger
Next up is the Maitenance Hanger. This is the last base structure that you can actually fly into. Again, you need a base keycard onboard. Red players looking to fill up at Blue base... Forget it. The Maintenance Hanger will have an Energy Centre and Shield Repair unit. No hogging! It'll only repair you to 100 shields, however. Shields in Basewars will be a tad tougher though, so you won't get instantly popped by a missile.
Other Stuff
Then we have the Shield Generators and Tracking Satellite. There is a total of four shield generators, which provide shields for the Tower, Silo and Repair structures. If you want to destroy any of them, the generators have to be knocked out first. Ofcourse, don't do this right now. Your supposed to destroy the ENEMY base, not your own. The Tracking Satellite doesn't do much, and has no shields. It enables the Tower to shoot things, since the Tower itself has some limited weaponry. If you destroy the Tracking Satellite, the Tower can't shoot things anymore. At the moment, the Tower will only attack AI ships, and not players.
That about sums up the player bases. Each base is identical on the inside and outside, except for obvious blue/red markings. Only the command tower has team markings, all other structures have no team indicators, except on the inside. Each base is surrounded by Beacons that flash the team colour every second to aid your eyes. The beacons also give you an idea of the base perimeter for which to establish your sentry guns. Player bases have no default AI escorts, it's all up to the players.
The Environment
Flying around Genesis, the name of the level, is quite interesting. Whereas in previous Hyperspace levels, you were limited to just one area - Or a very limited, two way jump as in Standoff - In this spinoff, you get to fly to different star systems entirely. Ok, so you don't literally fly there. Just think of the environment in Divided and Apotheosis, then multiply that a few times. Each system is connected by Modified Mini-Gates, designed for small craft such as yourself. The big jumpgates aren't in this region of space (like the one in Standoff) but you might find an inactive one. The minigates will instantly teleport you to the connected system. The red and blue base are seperated by a canyon in space - Kind of. Ok, so it's not a canyon, but I'm not sure how to best desribe it. Each base is in it's own system, and there's one system inbetween as well. That means you gotta fly through the centre to get to the other base. Originally, I was going to put each base further apart - But figured people would get bored spending all that time flying around, only to get shot down by that super missile or a lucky bullet from that NPC swindler.
So you ask, what happens if you go beyond the "three centre systems?" - Well, go see for yourself. Although there isn't many systems in Basewars (about six planned on release, with a few bonus features...) there's lots to see and blow up. Each system will feature our lovely AI ships, pirate factions bent on destruction. Well, your destruction. From the center they'll be relatively easy, but as you venture to the systems further out, they might get a bit tough for you newbie pilots or may require gangs to take down. Some systems will include a base of somesort - Which could be a pirate outpost, abandoned mining post or something quite scary! There will also be randomly scattered things like rocks and hidden stuff. The Modified/Pirate weapons I mentioned earlier are also found either from killing pirate ships, or within these hidden areas. I could go into more detail about what's to explore, but I guess that takes the fun out of it. Just be careful, because you might end up stuck in the totally wrong place (or worse, dead) when your needed elsewhere, like destroying that shield generator!
One detail worth mentioning though, is that the scenary and ships will respawn. Not instantly, and the bigger ones will take longer to respawn. That means there will be really special stuff out there, like a nasty AI ship that just happens to drop a one-of-a-kind weapon. The problem is, you might have to wait a while to see him again! Hmm, guess you have to be fast. So, you probably want more details on the kind of enemies your going to face. Well, tough. If it's bigger than you, just don't expect an easy fight. Anyone who has played the Hyperspace levels will know the big guys get tougher each time... But, if you really can't take all the stress, pay a visit to the website (http://sectorgame.com/d3) where you can find information on all of the objects in Basewars.
Gauntlets and Such
Some of the scenary is more than just scenary, you can interact with it or change it by destroying it.
The asteroid base is a good place if your looking for a scary encounter with some infested drones. But beware, if you venture in - Don't expect to come out. You'll need to locate the Command Centre of the base, and then destroy the infested Boss to obtain the exit key.
Look for the Mercenary jumpgate. It's different from the regular stargates, and infact doesn't send you to another system - But to a closer orbit of a planet. Once you arrive, you'll have to face the Mercenary gauntlet and obtain the Mercenary Commanders keycard to use the jumpgate out. The only other way back is death, which in turn doesn't get you those special weapons.
The abandoned Gemini Syndicate temple is well and truely abandoned with a twist - It's been turned into a combat arena for pilots to compete in close quarters.
Repair your ship in deep space at Maltu outposts - Assuming you don't get blown up approaching it. Should you want to vent your anger, feel free to find some friends and remove the outpost - What an eyesore.
Objectives
Although there is some flexibility in how you go about it, the main goal of the level is to destroy the enemy base. If there isn't anyone around though, you can always go explore and hoard weapons. That's really the reason I decided to have a dynamic environment, so you can essentially switch to single player when theres not much happening. Which is likely, since not many people play big games these days unless it's a planned event.
The order of destruction goes from the bottom up, like so: Shield Generator / Tracking Satellite, Storage Silo / Maitenance Hanger and then the Command Tower. Each structure has lots of hitpoints, so it'll take a fair bit of firepower and team work. The reason they have so many hitpoints is because you can't remotely repair them which was originally planned for this project. Each team also has a health monitor, so you can see how your vital base parts are doing. If a player happens to be inside a structure at the time it explodes, they generally should explode too.
Announcements will be made for every structure destroyed, meaning the teams get to gloat every so often. The first team to nuke the Command Tower wins.
What's What - Ships
Phoenix - Horus Interceptor
Pyro-GL - Seth Fighter
Magnum - Isis Bomber
Black Pyro - Mercenary Horus
What's What - Weapons
I decided to leave out detailed descriptions of weapons, since most of them are quite simplistic as was intended in the plan for this project. Standard Weapons are available in the Armory of each base which include:
EM Blaster Cannon
PL Blaster Cannon
Small Rail Cannon
Small C4L Artillery
Large C6H Artillery
Tornado Rocket
Hornet Rocket
Paradise Missile
Blood Cruise Missile
Doom Vulture Warhead
The bigger guns and missiles take longer to respawn. Modified weapons are enhanced versions of the standards, or entirely new designs altogether. These include:
Alliance Modified 25mm Ion Cannon
Alliance Modified 50mm Ion Cannon
Maltu Orion Legion Rail Cannon
Alliance Modified Heated Plasma Railgun
Alliance Modified Prototype Shock Core Railgun
Mercenary Palermo Invader Missile
Mercenary Rekhmir Cluster Bomb
Gemini Syndicate Beserker Missile
Gemini Syndicate Sphinx Bomb
Maltu Orion Legion Orion Torpedo
What's What - Platforms
Prox Mine - Small Blaster Turrets
Seeker Mine - Large Blaster Turrets
Gunboy - Cruise Platform
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And yes, the level is complemented with a new selection of sound effects and music. The music maybe an optional download (it's uncertain at the time of typing this) - There will be five ambient pieces included. Since the level isn't fast paced, I figured dark ambience would work best to fit the mood of the level.
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On The Horizon
What to hope for in the future? Well, not much since this is more or less a one man show. Basewars will undergo considerable testing before release, but there's always bugs that appear after release - Especially with this kind of project. And since the level will be huge, redownloading is out of the question, so I'll probably be doing patches instead. Always check the version number before playing. Look out in the very near future for an exciting Single Player mission utilizing the Basewars content. Yes, those hungry single player people finally will get their wish. The SP mission will again, be huge. People with slow connections are probably whining right now, well fear not, because I'm going to be sending them out on CDR for free! The CDR will not only include Basewars & the SP mission, but also every level I've released. The downside is you'll have to wait until I've completed it, which could be a month or so after Basewars has been released.
The single player version will be essentially a scenario driven mission, where you'll receive missions - each mission with a small, interconnected backstory - All complemented with exclusive giant NPC ships and a dynamic soundtrack.Keep in mind anything you read here is subject to change without notice, and the level may differ on release