I am currently working on a half-total conversionish for Freespace. If you know what the Blank Mod is (kudos to you if you have! It had like five downloads!), that style of gameplay will be incorporated into it, except in a universe that I am making up. I don't know what it will be called yet though.

Basically, the gameplay will feature capitol ships and stronger anti fighter defenses more. Fighters will be a little bigger than in normal Freespace, but much quicker and more maneuverable. Instead of being able to take down this game's equivalent of destroyers with a handful of bombers, you are going to need at least two wings of bomber-gunships (gunships will be discussed later) support, a few fire-support frigates, and multiple escort fighter wings. Almost all weapons now are ballistic, except for some small beam weapons.

I've gotten as much done as I can without the ships. I currently have some concept art (if you can call it that) for about eight ships right now. None too detailed. I have the weapons.tbl and armor.tbl written up currently. I don't think I'll be changing too much else unless I change my mind. Ship classifications will be as follows:

***************************************
----- Maneuver craft (I call them this because they rely on maneuvering to survive, plus the term strike craft is over-used and could be potentially confusing):
Fighter type:
-- Fighters
-- Bombers
Gunship types (Corvettes are mega fighters. They are larger than bombers, and have multiple turrets, but still rely on forward facing guns heavily and maneuverability to survive. Maybe you could call them gunships. In fact, I think I will. These will be player flyable.):
-- Fighters
-- Bombers
Frigates (some):
-- Escort
-- Strike
-- Patrol (these will be generally AAA, but patrol will be slower, but have longer sensor range)
----- Capitol Ships:
Destroyer
Cruiser
Carrier
Battleship
----- Fire support ships:
Frigates (the rest):
-- Missile/bombard
-- Beam support
Destroyers
-- Missile/bombard
-- Beam support.
*****************************************

Now the story:
(If you've read that story of mine in the art section of HLP, that helps)
Humanity in this universe has developed a bit slower than in Freespace. The year will be unknown, but some time after the year 3200. The peoples of Earth have been unified under the United Earth Federation for several hundred years. The race spans several systems. Through the use of terraforming, most Earth's (the system of Earth, I'm calling, not sol) Jovian planets and moons have been colonized, as well as several stations have been built. Several other systems have been colonized to a great extent, but none to the extent of Earth. It is predicted that in sixty years, at least one other system will have a population larger than Earth. The gap between the intelligent and the average person has grown greatly, in effect causing the average people to be taken advantage of in the commercial market. The term "lowest common denominator" now encompasses nearly everyone. Almost all forms of decency or modesty has been destroyed. Children are exposed to things that today's adults are not normally. Violence is tremendous. Almost all art is gone, along with most music as we know it. The remnants of the middle class are dissatisfied with their lifestyles, and have begun to revolt...

You play the role of a squadron commander of the 329th strike squadron aboard the UEF Mammoth, a strike carrier. The 329th is a veteran unit dating back to the turmoil just after the assimilation of the last colonies after the Union wars. Currently, the UEF Mammoth is stationed at Phobos, Mars, along with it's escort destroyers, the Tham and Roswell. It's current task is quite easy, to protect the inner travel lanes from pirate attacks. Pirates don't normally come this far into the Earth system, but they have been previously known to quite easily. With the disturbing news from the fringe colonies about a revolution, they don't expect to be stationed there much longer.



Okay now since this is a relatively new mod, I am going to need some help


I will be hiring:

Modelers/texture-ers (PLEASE don't make me go to moddb)
- I need people who can get a model ready to table.
- Skill level: competent. I am not too concerned about looks for this mod.


email or PM me if you're interested.

Release date: later

other stuff: yes

some more stuff: I'll think about it.


Man. I keep on thinking I'm forgetting something.


So yeah. I hope you guys are gonna like it. I have some nice plans for the storyline.



And I might add that I like this sites selection of smileys.

you know, I would have downloaded the blank mod if you told me what it did.

I could have sworn I did.

EDIT:

This mod increases speeds of almost all ships,
emphasises capitol ships by tripling their hitpoints (it's less than you think),
and to put more focus on missile use.

That was part of the readme which was posted on the first post of the thread. Oh well, you're right, I should probably just do this...

EDIT: First post updated due to lack of clarity.

I can edit source code!

Oh wait, you don't need that...

I can compose music!

Oh wait, you don't need that either...

BlackHole wrote:I can edit source code!

Oh wait, you don't need that...

I can compose music!

Oh wait, you don't need that either...

can you edit the code? Like, weapon flags?

Oh yes, i can edit either tables, or the actual source code (assuming you are using the SCP). Hoping that the features you want aren't too complicated, i could add in anything you had in mind, like, well, what did you have in mind?

Could you add a weapons flag that make the weapon only attacks missiles like bombs? That would be very much appreciated.

Sounds simple, i'll give it a shot. I assume you want all modificiations on the 3.6.9 build?

yup. Thanks!

Got to ask... Why wont you just use 'small only' flag with the weapon? It would then target fighters and bombers too but prioritize bombs above other targets..

Kinda like modern CIWS (phalanx etc.) work... That is those are also used against aerial targets - in addition to missiles - should some one wonder close enough.

Modern CIWS, IIRC are short range weapons (hence the Close-In). The ranges of most fighter weaponry has evolved to past standard CIWS range, and the RD people in this universe have changed CIWS to an anti-missile only system. If they kept on improving and increasing CIWS range, they would cease to be CIWS. It is more efficient to just have a dedicated AMS so every few seconds all the turrets don't go berserk attacking bombs. Plus, this way they can keep the heat on the ships launching the missiles with the other turrets.


So basically what I'm saying is that if the CIWS can't shoot the fighters, and the CIWS are the primary anti-fighter weapons, split the two things. Have a dedicated anti-missile gun, and a dedicated anti-ship gun. That way they can effectively engage both maneuver craft and bombs without having major gaps in coverage on either of those areas.

Hmm... That summary was two thirds as long as my main paragraph. poop.



Also:
Blackhole, also is it possible to get a "not bombs" flag?

Can you elaborate?

It's like make a flag that causes the weapon to never attack missiles or bombs. And one that makes it only attack missiles or bombs.

So the weapon with the not bombs flag wouldn't hit bombs?

Correct.