Some Lore...
Spoiler
The year is 2375. It seems like it was only a few years ago that the Shivans invaded again. Only a few years ago since we had to sacrifice Capella to satiate that devourer. Now, on the brink of reestablishing contact with our home world, it seems as though we're back where we started. Unrest in the outer colonial militias has led to to the rise of a new Terran rebellion, led by the few survivors of the old Neo-Terran Front. Our once-grand Terran fleet, preoccupied with guarding the last of humanity and our Great Work, has grown stagnant and complacent.
With the mysterious death of Khonsu II, even the Vasudan remnant has begun to pull away from our grand alliance to focus inward. So much for BETAC, eh?. In this vacuum has stepped, like a phoenix reborn, that old Vasudan cult: The Hammer of Light. All of this is awfully convenient, considering the reports coming in from the frontier for the past few months. I'm sure you've heard them... the rumors. If there's any truth to them, we've got a helluva lot more to worry about than putting down some rebels or recalcitrant Vasudans...
So, you still want to sign up?
- GTVA Recruiter Mickelsson, Antares Station, L1 Lagrange Point, Antares Prime
Freespace is a mod that will add 5 new factions to the campaign (3 primary, 2 "pirate"), three new star systems, missions, and a huge variety of new ships and weapons. All of these are pulled from the Freespace universe, and credit is due to the great work by the Freespace SCP Open teams, without whom this mod would not be nearly as pretty.
I hope to eventually build some next-generation ship sprites for each of these fleets, but for the initial major release I'm going to focus on just getting the recognizable ships from FS2 into place.
Click here to view extracts from the 2374 edition of Jane's Starship Guide, for FREE.Spoiler
Earth, Earth, Earth... all the military seems to care about is Earth! Well, sorry to tell you lads, but Earth is gone. Lost forever. This side of the Sol node is all that is left of humanity, and you who stand before me are the last hope of that humanity, the harbingers of a new terran dawn. - Captain Isaac Richards to assembled supporters, just prior to the Delphi Incident
Hercules (Heavy Fighter)
Hercules Mark II (Heavy Fighter)
Spoiler
The refresh of the venerable Great War-era heavy fighter, the "Herc Deuce", as most of her pilots call her, is a very capable front-line combatant. Although it has less primary firepower than its predecessor, the Deuce' brings a heavy load of missiles into every fight. Bombers and small capital ships fear the firepower of these heavy-hitters.
Standard Loadout
2 Subach HL-7
2 Prometheus R
2 Hornet Missiles
Ursa (Heavy Bomber)
Fenris (Cruiser)
Aeolus (Heavy Cruiser)
Deimos (Corvette)
Spoiler
No longer fresh off the assembly line, the Deimos-class Corvettes served admirably in the fight against the NTF and in the final Shivan encounter. These ships are fast for their size, well-armored, and covered with beam cannons and anti-fighter defenses. These ships remain the core of the Terran fleet, however they are now more expensive to maintain, due to their Vasudan-designed reactors.
Loadout
4 Terran Light Beam Cannons
4 Anti-Fighter Beam Cannons
3 Dual Heavy Pulse Cannons (3 Medium Hybrid Turrets)
6 Pulse Cannons
2 Anti-Fighter Missile Launchers
Charybdis (AWACS)
***IMPOSSIBLE!!!*** - Final transmission of the diplomatic transport Khorusal, on a mission to convey Emperor Khonsu II to a meeting of the GTVA Security Council. The Khorusal was destroyed, with all hands lost. Investigations are ongoing.
Serapis (Interceptor)
Sobek (Corvette)
Spoiler
Just barely losing out to the Hatsetphut for title of "Pride of the Vasudan Fleet", the Sobek is almost ubiquitous now in Vasudan battlegroups. Don't let its smaller size fool you. Faster and less well-armored than the Deimos, the Sobek's heavier beam cannons give it an edge against other capital ships and its concentrated anti-fighter beams can cause no end of problems to attacking fighters and bombers.
Loadout
2 Vasudan Light Beam Cannons
4 Anti-Fighter Beam Cannons
2 Heavy Pulse Cannons
4 Pulse Cannons
2 Flak Guns
We have nothing to fear from the Shivans. They either all died, or left, or whatever happened in Capella. That's practically ancient history now. - Overheard in the Officer's Club of the GTD Capella.
Astaroth (Interceptor)
Mara (Heavy Fighter)
Moloch (Corvette)
Spoiler
CLASSIFIED LEVEL RHO BY ORDER OF GTA SECURITY COUNCIL
Loadout
3 Shivan Beam Cannons
2 Flak Guns
4 Shivan Lasers
2 Cluster Missile Launchers
Demon (Destroyer)
Would you like to know more? Subscribe to Jane's Starship Guide today, and get a 25% discount on your next Fleet Store purchase! Change Logv0.2 (2/11/17)- Updated for compatibility with SS v0.7.2a
- Added Nexerelin compatibility
- Switched from ShaderLib to GraphicsLib
- Fixed a crash bug with the Piranha clusterbomb
- Cleaned up and fixed up sector and planet generation code
v0.1 (12/21/15)- Initial Release.
CreditsStalker - Making all the things work together
The Freespace SCP Teams - For their permission in using renders of their beautiful HTL models.
Special thanks to the makers of Blackrock Driveyards, SCY, Templars, and Interstellar Imperium for code inspiration.
Thanks to Tartiflette for his Radioactive Code Dump slashing beams. I'm glad I didn't have to figure that out myself.
Design Philosophy/Other NotesSpoiler
- Lore-wise, the three Freespace factions are being dropped in to the Corvus system via an accident with a subspace portal. Their planetary systems now open up to the Corvus system.
- Terrans are neutral with almost everyone. The Hegemony casts a wary eye in their direction, as they don't want competition for governance of the sector. Besides, the Terrans bring with them technologies and expertise that could bring new life to the sector, and that endangers the Hegemony's control over the populace.
Some Terran ships have limited compatibility with Corvus sector weapons systems. The Terrans have opened up their ship and weapons manufacturing on a limited basis to denizens of the sector.
The Terrans are plagued by a small force of New Terran Dawn rebels. These rebels find much opportunity in their new location within the Corvus sector, and are making concerted efforts to align all the pirate tribes under their leadership.
Terran capital ships focus on an overall distribution of firepower around the ship, with a heavy emphasis on anti-fighter defenses. Terran fleets tend to rely on their fighters and bombers to soften up opposing capital ships, before their beam cannons come in to play. - Vasudans are allied with the Terrans, but everyone else distrusts them due to their alien nature. The Vasudans hope that trade will encourage new alliances, so they have almost fully opened their shipbuilding and weapons manufacturing up to the sector, only keeping a few of their higher-tech ships under wraps.
No Vasudan ships have been made compatible with Corvus sector weapons systems yet.
The Vasudans find themselves dealing with the resurgence of the Hammer of Light, a Shivan-worshiping cult thought annihilated many years ago. The HoL has found common ground with the Path of Ludd, and will likely bolster that cult's until-now meager forces.
Vasudan capital ships have a much more offensive focus that Terran ships. Most firepower is mounted toward the front of the ship, although there is still a decent amount of anti-fighter coverage as well. Vasudan fighters and bombers are not as diverse nor as effective as Terran equivalents, but still pack a punch. - Shivans are completely hostile to everyone. There is no trade, no alliance. They are the Great Destroyers, and nothing will stop them from cleansing the sector of all starfaring races.
Needless to say, Shivan ships cannot be customized with Corvus sector technology.
If one were to successfully land on a Shivan world, if there is such a thing, it's unknown what a non-Shivan would find there, other that certain death.
Shivan capital ships are almost entirely devoted toward offense. They pack immense forward firepower, designed to end a capital ship engagement quickly. Anti-fighter defenses are limited, if present at all. Shivan fighters and bombers match their capital ship cousins in an emphasis on tremendous forward firepower. - Shields/Armor: Only fighters have shields. Capital ships have thick armor to compensate (equivalent survivability to same-class vanilla/mod equivalents that have shields).
- Weapons: All weapons are being balanced to roughly same-tier equivalents in vanilla/other mods.
Most weapons slots on ships are hidden, unless they are visible as turrets in Freespace (mostly Terran ships). I'm thinking that everything except for beam weapons will be customizable in the end. I don't want to open up a situation where people can mount nothing but beam weapons on a ship... at least, not right now. - Speed: Freespace capital ships are slooow. They rely on fighters/bombers to pursue faster ships
- SPECCIAALL BEEEAAMM CANNOONNN: The larger beam cannons are really only a threat versus ships that aren't maneuvering actively. They have long charge times (up to 4 seconds) before firing, so if you sit still for too long, you're going to get skewered. If you see a Demon or Ravana charging up their main beam cannons, GET OUT OF THE WAY.
- Combat: Your best bet in a Freespace faction fleet is to rely heavily on your fighters/bombers. They are going to be stronger than any fighter/bomber in vanilla or other mods. Use your expensive capital ship(s) to anchor an engagement (their armor can take it), and use your fighters liberally to keep the enemy off balance and your bombers to devastate their larger ships from behind (bombers actually send out bombs, not torpedoes, so a fast cap ship should be able to evade).
