Setback @ Dodge....
Sorry man, the nomads won the sol system and the remnants of any coalition is practically nill. The Sol System was virtually destroyed when the nomads blasted the sun.
In todays world, the "cold war" factions for all practical purposes no longer exist.
Those major world powers at odds during that time was the Soviet Union and the United States...both with their respective allies. (although we still have political problems with other countries threatening nuclear involvement and attempting to become superpowers themselves). But just the same...the cold war is over.
No disrespect intended here Dodge. Just some historical facts the we as a community on this project should not overlook. In part as respect toward those whome we are no longer at "obvious odds" with.

Now, I've seen some ideas that draw upon the islamic nations as enemies..but those in reality are not good ideas because the notion is based on religious ideologies. That would tend to add fuel to a fire that is not needed here.

We must use an enemy that is enemy with us all. The nomads (cough, cough) remain an enemy...but consider this..
the word "nomad" loosely refers to the desert dwelling tribes of Beduoins(sp?)
who are basically islamic. (bad idea). A new race I think would be in order here...something we have never encountered before.
In the "politically speaking" long-run...we need to draw everyone into the proverbial folds of friendship instead of being a focal point for more hostilities.


The last names of Lance and Miko would not have to be directly mentioned..just refered to. That should remove the liability.

Edited by - Rankor on 12/17/2005 8:43:36 AM

Although your right about the Coalition *which also excludes the Islamics, because they were part of the coalition* I, being 1/8 Russian, and other people who are from Coalition nations, would like to see the Coalition come back, even if they are little more then Nomads *as in Nomadic people, not Nomads the race*

Using the coalition would be a major breach of copyrights.

I believe wholeheartedly Dodge that we all could be drawn together as One to face an enemy that would be bent on our destruction. That enemy would be tough as nails to beat and would in essence forge us together as a team in the multiplayer realm.
Remember "Independance Day"? (no disrespect to the producers intended here.) ...that all nations were drawn together to fight a common enemy.
I honestly wish the world was one and able to set aside all differences. For now, this is the only planet we live on.
I honestly wish that Starlancer had a different theme that lead to Freelancer. I suppose they didnt have the foresight or the vision to see far enough ahead to the world as it is today even with its current turmoils. Knowing this, we must see beyond ourselves and think "outside the box", albeit even radically....we have to see the future of possibilties.

what about....

We have to fight ourselves? No, not in teh sense we are thinking. Lets say they send off those colony ships and then they arrive. After a few years once they have settled, a dark dictatorship (still us, not nomads) takes over the governments of liberty, rhienland, Kusari, and Bretonia. they call themselves the Malum Filiolus (Evil Gods). Little do we know that they are actually rogues from the Corsairs and outcasts, who have curiously avoided this fate (this is not known to the player, however). They declare us an unholy scar across the perfection of space and wage war on us, attempting to bring us into their dictatorship as well. This kind of a threat would be plenty to band together the 4 new colonies (with alternate names like Justicia). It also has plenty of room for storyline twists, such as pirates coming to the rescue or trent being the leader of the dictatorship (i think that would be stupid, but i'm just giving examples here), or something like that.

Or we can try for something else.

@Blackhole,
I think that's a good idea. Can you develope this concept a little further?
Its interesting how the Corsairs and Outcasts have a "stake" in the overall plot.
Give us the sleepership timeframe, a brief history rundown on how long it took to reach destination X and what happened since the journey began.
(Sleeper ships are just that...Sleepers meant for long journeys spanning multiples of years.)(I've got a massive ship designed for a similar purpose.)
Of interest, You must know the Hispaña was crippled at some point during its journey which lead to the separate factions of outcasts and corsairs. (I read this in the rumors of both factions)

Two basic types of long distcance journey ships are:
1. the cryogenic stasis sleeper ship (the one we are familiar with) and
2. the generation traveler. (The kind where generations of people live and die over the course of the journey)

Interesting note: I just finished player the single player game again...(the number of times escapes me)..I noticed that when the "Map" was displayed showing the Dom Kavash empire....it appeared to span across several galaxies.

Rankor, theres only one problem with that. People naturly hate eachothers guts. There will always be dissagreements over something, bacause you just can't make everyone happy. There is no way for people to get along naturly, its like the quote "The onlt way to truly have world peace, is through the point of a rifel."

Its sad but true, I dont think Humanity will EVER be a unified people.

Um, dodge? Thats WHY they are united. Malum Filiolus is a DICTATORSHIP, as in, they rule with military might, and we have joined together because they are a big, fat, freaking huge shotgun pointed at our head.

As for developing it, give me a little time.

And wait, it spanned across several GALAXIES? Woah. You all know what that means ^^

Edited by - Blackhole on 12/18/2005 2:00:38 PM

Intro Movie:
<music begins>
Narrator: It has been 4 months since Trent and the fall of the Nomads...
{fade, show a breif glimpse of trent on manhatten}
Narrator: The houses are at a tenative peace, the shock of the nomad infiltration still fresh in their minds...
{fade, show a group of rhienlanders flying through liberty space}
Narrator: But today is not a normal day
{fade, show orillion at a terminal}
Narrator: Orillion has finally achieved
{start to move out the window}
Narrator: what many have been trying to do for ages.
{focus on a point inside the nomad dyson sphere (where they have been working)}
Narrator: He has stabilized the Hypergate
{Hypergate opens}
Narrator: and with that discovery, the houses have
{fade, show a sleepership being built}
Narrator: set out on a grand expedition, one that mirrored the very expedition that spawned their colonies.
{fade, show the sleeperships lined up}
Narrator: The time has come for the next journey. The next chapter in the history of Sirius
{sleeperships launch into lightspeed or whatever they do}
Narrator: is about to be written.
{then we show some cool animation of our openlancer logo }


Intro Sequence:
{you are on a hallway of one of the sleeperships, our main character is looking out the window. camera zooms in as our other main character, presumably female, walks up to him}
Woman: Why hello there, Dan, still drowsy?
Dan: I was in the second batch to be woken up just an hour ago. I was asleep for 10 years, i think i'm allowed to be a little drowsy!
{both laugh}
Woman: Well i was with the first batch, about 3 hours ago, so i've had some time to wake up. Say, have you had a bite to eat?
Dan: No
Woman {chuckles}: no wonder your drowsy! Come on! {drags Dan off with her}
{fade, we are shown the queen of bretonia's office. Suddenly blasts are heard and the door is blown open. She stands up}
Queen: who are-
{she is shot, fade out}
{fade in, we are with the rhienland chancellor, he gets killed too}
{liberty and kusari's leaders suffer the same fates}
{fade in, you are outside new tokyo, and a ship that has just undocked from the city flies past the camera. You see the logo of our bad guys (whatever it is) clearly inscribed on the ship.}
{Fade out, music does a final DUM DUM}

Main Storyline:
(That is the end of the intro there, now you enter the first mission)
Mission objective change: Follow <woman's name>
You can go where-ever you want aboard the ship, although a lot of rooms are locked right now. You complete the objective when you reach the dining hall. The game uses this as an opertunity to show you the FPS/TPS controls.

{Movie}
Woman: Took you long enough! Lets go grab something to eat... {walk toward bar, fade out}
{fade in, they are walking along another hall in the ship}
Woman: Say, are you a pilot?
Dan: How'd you guess?
Woman {chuckling}: female instinct!
Dan: I'll go with that for now. Sure, i'm a pilot. Why do you ask?
Woman: Well the temporary government is looking for some new pilots, and i could go refresh your memory out there, waddya say?
Dan: <choice 1: Sure, i'm a little rusty> <choice 2: What are you talking about? i know the ropes, i'm not that old!>
<If you do choice 1, you go through training, if you do choice 2, you skip it, with either choice the movie ends with you in space>
<After training...>
Woman: Well, it looks like we have our first mission. We'll be joining up with Kappa wing over by the Jultu planatiod, a few thousand kilometers from here. We are to search for the Hypergate so we can communicate with the colonies.
Dan: Wait a second, why didn't we just fly through the hypergate with our sleeperships?
Woman: Well you see, Orillion only managed to stabalize the gate enough so that
a stable transmission can be sent through without being terribly warped. I don't know if he's made any more progress, but over on this end we carry technology outdated by 10 years, so even if they have stabilized it enough for a ship to pass through, the ship would be torn to pieces on our end because we don't have the technology to stabilize it. Yet.
Dan: Oh, well, i'm bored, lets hop to it then, eh?
Woman: You read my mind.

Mission objective: Fly to the waypoint

Woman: What brought you here?
Dan: Eh?
Woman: You know, why did you join the colony ships?
Dan: Well, long story short, I was starting to get sick of liberty, once the donau was destroyed. Then when i heard about the nomad infiltration into the colonies, that sealed it.
Woman: Ah yes, we're all lucky Trent was able to save us.
Dan: I wouldn't want to be him.
Woman: Really?
Dan: Nah, the quiet life is the life for me.
Woman: Somehow i doubt that
Kappa-1: ah, <woman's name>, glad your here, we could use some backup. The gate should be right over there.
Woman: Roger that, dan, form up with kappa-1

Note: if at anytime you refuse orders or fire on a friendly (too much ) you are dropped into the alternate storyline, which i won't be detailing here

Kappa-3: So what do you think this hypergate will do?
Woman: Probably the same thing as the other one.
Kappa-1: According to my orders, its not stable enough for a ship yet.
Kappa-2: Yeah, but that was 10 years ago. They must know how to get through now!
Woman: True, which means they'll probably send us some schematics for some kind of stabilization array.
Kappa-3: Oh joy, schematics
Kappa-2: I'm getting a reading over on the edge of that asteroid field, thats probably it.
Kappa-1: Roger, rerouting course
<20 seconds pass by>
Dan: What the...
<movie-mode, Hypergate activates>
Kappa-3: Woah! How did they know we were here?
Kappa-1: Nevermind that, i have an incoming transmission, why wouldn't you know it, its plans for stabilizing the hypergate so that ships can travel through. Apparently Orillion made progress during those sleepy 10 years.
Woman: {suspicious tone} apparently so...
<fade out>

<fade in, your back on the colony ship, walking out of the airlock. the woman is waiting for you>
Woman: Ah, your back! Well these schematics are going to take a while to get analised, and before we build that we are going to settle on a planet. So don't expect any fireworks for a while. I suggest you take up a job as a trader, or join the navy (remember, although there IS freelancing, you can now actually have a job).
Dan: A trader will do.
Woman: Great, i'll set you up with one of our frieghters, it'll be on the dock at morning. Morning being when they turn the ship's lights on again!
<both laugh, dan waves goodbye as the woman walks off>

Mission objective: <none>

Now you are in your first "free mode", past the first mission but not in your second mission yet. The second mission will actually be quite a ways off, we will be keeping the player entertained by a number of small mini-plots and sub-plots throughout the colonization of the planet. Right now you can explore the ship, which now has all its doors unlocked and is now using our random NPC generator for populating its corridors and rooms. You may take on Base-only missions.

NOTE: REMEMBER! In openlancer there is a measurable passage of time! On a planet, the day will turn to night, as the planet rotates and you are put into its dark side. Many storyline events will be governed with tim.

If, after an hour of wandering about, you STILL haven't gone to bed, they will announce that the lights will be shut completely off in 10 minutes (currently they have been slowly dimming the lights, turning off some corridors completely, making it seem late at night. All teh windows have been fully tinted), and then we force you to go to bed (yes, we could let you stay and punish you, but i'm not going to detail that right now).

In the morning you wake up and are, again, free to do whatever you like. After 2 hours of wandering, (and you will have a hunger bar. Not sure about sleep, i'd rather have that as an option to heal yourself), if you still haven't come to the hanger we will make you run into the woman and she will take you to your ship. You then launch (regardless of the player's protests ) and you cannot dock until the ship has finished its atmospheric entry.

Over the course of the next few days, and that would be a good 30 hours of playing time for the player, we will be entertaining them with exploring the planet, doing random missions (that are INTERESTING), upgrading, and being treated to a few mini-storylines.

<ok, i'm too lazy to write any more, but once the hypergate is stabilized, the evil god's fleet comes through and starts wreaking havoc. After that i haven't decided yet.>

Edited by - Blackhole on 12/18/2005 5:26:56 PM

Good job Black Hole.

To add a suggestion, why not have some Liberty Bretonia and Kusari ships come through and start firing back into the gate trying to destroy it, but before they do, the "Evil God" fleet comes through and starts to destroy the "Refugees".

But thats just a suggestion, it alows for some captian to explain the situation...

Possibly Allied Sirius Fleets jump into the system in a vain attempt to turn back to oncoming Dark Fleet as it breeches the hypergate. A few of the Dark Fleet ships go up in blasts of light, but the invasion contiues unabated.
"move back...move back!"
"Regroup wings alpha and bravo, sector 2,b-3!"....."get them ready for a bloody fight, I dont think we're gonna make this!"
(The focus group falls back to a safer distance, watching as the Dark Fleet tears the Allied Sirius Fleet to shreads.)
"This is Alpha Lead to Kappa-1, get out of here.....tell the others...bring reinforcements".
Kappa-1: "This is Kappa-1, we read you...is there anything we can do to assist?"
Allied Sirius Fleet leader: "Negative, situation grave. Report back to HQ main what you have seen here.....<static>



"hatred" is a learned behavior. Children do not know hate until they are exposed to it by those who have learned it themselves.


Spanning several galaxies opens up a buffet of new technologies...and needless to say, new life. Somewhere out there is perhaps the solution to our survival and deliverance from the Dark Fleet.
Yes, several galaxies and with the hypergate system connecting them together like a web.

Edited by - Rankor on 12/18/2005 5:52:06 PM

Edited by - Rankor on 12/18/2005 5:59:19 PM

updated my post. I haven't gotten to that part yet, but i did add in quite a bit of stuff.

ATTENTION! PLEASE GO TO THIS THREAD TO CONTINUE THE DISCUSSION!

Edited by - Blackhole on 12/18/2005 6:02:18 PM

And can we PLEASE stay off the subject of alien races for a good while? I don't want aliens to be a part of the Openlancer campaign. Freelancer had aliens, lets do something else.

I've signed up on the OL forum.

Ok. here is a note of interest about the Dom Kavash Map...
There was a galaxy you could see in a part of the map. Oddly it looked alot like the NGC 1300 bar galaxy ! Now, I've got a link here to take you to the hubble site for a picture of this particular galaxy (seen in the D-K map) along with some interesting information. It might not directly pertain to the game...but it will give you an idea to work on in the future if you choose to do so.

http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsde ... fastfacts/

This galaxy, NGC 1300 was seen in a section of the Dom Kavash empire map. From the screen view, it appeard relatively speaking...about 2 feet from the Crystals' location on the map ( in that instance, Omicron Minor of Sirius).
Now, the NGC 1300 galaxy lies roughly 69 million light-years away from us (21 megaparsecs) in the direction of the constellation Eridanus.
Gadzooks! The Dom Kavash hypergate system spanned these galaxies to enable travel "instantaneously" from point "A" to point "B".
What sector of the universe did the nomads get drawn back into with the hypergate at Dyson City in Omicron Major? A mystery remains to be solved.
This picture in full resolution from the Hubble Space telescope measured 4 feet by 8 feet.