Playing EV in a totally different way
Ok so I was going to develop this plug-in, but I totally lost interest and so, the proverbial cat is out of the equally proverbial bag.
I was going to call it: Escape Velocity: Viper.
Let me ask you a question... how many of you actually use fighters? Now how many of you use fighters that aren't a Manta, Dart, or T-head?
So I decided to develop a plug-in built entirely around fighters. But how could I do that?
It would be a pseudo-TC... same graphics and sound, but a different engine and basically a different game.
Imagine EV without trading, without supply runs... where you're a fighter pilot and progress through a fairly linear (with lots of branches) story line that isn't a sand-box?
Now throw in Bullet Time and you got a new game.
Now a more in-depth explanation:
A background in Freespace and/or Wing Commander would be helpful here.
Bullet Time is achieved by slowing everything down by 50%, so when you hit capslock, the game is actually 1x speed. This would allow more of a dog-fighting feel, where maneuverability is preferred instead of overwhelming firepower.
Then, I changed the planet menus. Instead of outfitters, you have an armory where you can choose the missile and gun layout of your fighter. Instead of a bar, you have a briefing room which has the missions and wingman selection instead of escort hiring. The shipyard is replaced with the hanger and allows you to change your fighter to an anaconda or another fighter.
Missiles all weigh 1 ton, 1 ton being 1 missile pylon slot rather than an actual ton. Missile launchers aren't actually launchers, but rather software interfaces that come pre-equipped on your ship so you can allow certain ships to only use certain types of missiles. Rocket pods are an exception, they're 1 ton and rockets are mass-less (10 per launcher).
Wingmen would be named and have different skills and favorite missile/gun setups.
Every ship would have 100 energy (just enough for 1 jump) and a pretty fast energy recharge time. That is because all the ships would have after burners. It would allow you to afterburn in short bursts, but you'd have to stop for a little while to recharge your fuel before doing it again. I'd say about 5 seconds to fully recharge fuel (although I'd have to do balance testing to get that right)
Systems wouldn't be systems, but rather "nav points" similar to Wing Commander. You'd have to proceed to nav points, complete certain objectives (killing ships, escorting a transport, attacking a capital ship, etc) or just land at another place. Jumps would be one way and you'd mostly take off from your capital ship, a system with the icon of a single frame of a Federation Carrier. At mission completion, you're warped to a "new" system to take off from, which is really just the next mission series.
Story ideas:
The story basically takes place in the EV:N plot in the background. You may actually see the Ory'hara as a pilot flying a Shuttle at the end of the game when you reach Sol.
You start as a cadet at the academy and fly a civilian viper against target drones.
Act 1-
You're promoted to (do they use army or navy ranks in the Federation) O-1 and are stationed on the UFS Vengeance, a Carrier with a good record. Your first few missions are patrols, with the turning point being a group of pirates attacking a United Shipping caravan. This starts a campaign against the threat of the Association in the system. No enemy ships are captureable.
You carry out a mission where you have to use a Star Liner as a carrier (yes, they can actually fit a hanger in-game), so you only get 1 wingman and are flying captured pirate vipers to locate the Carrier the enemy vipers are launching from. You find it and launch an assault on it in your pirate viper... you land, sabotage it, then take off. When you take off, wings of friendly Anacondas and Vipers arrive to basically wipe out the pirate threat in the system. You also notice an unmarked transport of some kind take off from the Carrier but it might not be obvious.
Act 2 -
Following the completion of your mission, the Vengeance receives intel that the transport that was leaving the carrier was tracked back to Rebel space.
Stuff happens, you're horribly out-gunned by the rebels and are fighting a losing-war. While some missions involve attacking Rebel assets, you're mostly defending the Vengeance (this is to also instill a love for the ship in the player). You are eventually captured (2 Rebel Starbridges jump in and basically tell you to land). They explain that the intel you got was a lie from the Bureau in order to reassign more of the Federation's naval assets against the Rebellion. They offer you a chance to join, but you see no reason to. They destroyed more than a few ships with your friends on them.
Act 3 -
You're debriefed, then sent to the roughnecks for temporary duty on board a carrier-version Destroyer, flying Lightnings(or Vipers or Anacondas of course if you want a challenge) against the Aurorans. You'll go up against Phoenixes, Firebirds and Abominations mostly, with missions ranging from convoy protection to interdiction to assaulting a carrier battle group. Eventually you get transferred back to the Vengeance, but you get to keep your Lighting.
Act 4 -
The Bureau sends the Vengeance against the Rebels again, but this time some of your wingmen show sympathies towards the Rebellion and you both decide to defect. As you run towards the Rebellion in a Federation Scoutship, you're pursued by your friends in Vipers. You're not allowed to kill them, just disable (since they're friends).
You're stationed out of a Rebel Frigate, flying any of the Rebel-upgraded Fighters.
This is where I ran out of ideas. There's of course a lot of missions here, many involve gathering information on the Bureau's atrocities and corruption.
The finale would be a flurry of missions that have you in a re-painted Rebel Destroyer approaching Sol. In one of these missions, you encounter the UFS Vengeance. You basically have to disable it to get past it, as they scan you and figure out you're not actually a Federation ship. Remember how you had to defend the Vengeance a lot? It's also the Carrier you're based the most out of throughout the game, it's the closest thing to "home" you can get. Besides, after a long mission and tough combat where you may actually die, it's a relief to make the final jump home and see your Carrier waiting. When you go up against your own ship, it makes you really feel like a Rebel.
Eventually, you land on Sol and bring your evidence to the Senate/Congress/whatever. This is the end game. While the missions are over, this is where you start something like a text-based adventure, where you present your facts and have to make choices when they reply to you. Giving the wrong answers enough will cause you to present a bad argument, which gets you arrested and executed. Giving a good argument gets the Bureau investigated and grants you a pardon. Giving a perfect argument sees you promoted and reinstated in the Federation, as well as certain Bureau members imprisoned. But you don't bring about the downfall of the Bureau, as you're not Ory'hara. You're just a very lucky and skilled fighter pilot.
I'm leaving the Polaris and Vel-Os out of this game because, frankly, they're a notch above the other race's ships.
I started this plug-in by modifying some stats, but I didn't get very far. I'd need graphics work done for the "hanger bay" graphics, which replace planet surface graphics. Like close-up shots of the Vengeance, hanger-bay shots, etc. etc.
If anyone actually wants to make this, feel free to. Just credit me with the idea and story. 
This post has been edited by Koshinn : 07 February 2008 - 01:33 PM
