(Working Title Only)
The Nova universe features a rich history, while a lot of stuff happened in Nova, a ton of interesting stuff happened before Nova's start in the year 1177NC. We here at the Aftermath Team saw that nobody has really shown too much interest in doing a plugin based on the events before Nova. So we have decided to start work on a second plugin while we continue work on Aftermath. We are giving this new project the working title, Beformath.
Beforemath will be unique in the EV plugin scene. Most EV plugins have multiple strings that the player can play, but these strings almost always lead to different results, as if the player is so important that he can change the entire dynamic of the universe. Also most EV plugins have time lines that really only span a few years. Beforemath will be different.
In Beforemath you the player will cover most of the one thousand one hundred seventy seven year time period between the death of Omata Kane, and the begenning of EV: Nova. You'll be there during the construction of the great hyperspace jump gate network, and the great expansion that followed. Watch as the massive Demios colony ships head out to colonize unknown worlds that you take for granted in EV: Nova. You could help establish the Polaris's new home past to Polaris star, or take part in the Auroran's conquering of the five outer territories. You may even get your chance to take a vital role as one of the Armetis terrorist that brought about perhaps the most definitive point in human history, the destruction of the hyperspace jump gate network.
There will be plenty of battles for you to take part in, including the Colonial Councils wars against the Polaris, Vellos, and the forming Auroran Empire. There are also of course the multiple civil wars between the Auroran houses. You'll get to fight in the battles only briefly mentioned in EV: Nova. In Beforemath a fleet won't just show up in the system a battle takes place in, you'll actually be able to watch as mighty battle fleets journey on their way from system to system to major battles. And yes, this is for each and every major battle.
But the vital part of Beforemath is that you'll be able to do all of these things with a single pilot file. Now of course you won't be able to play as a character on both sides of a war, but you will have your choice of which side you wish to follow. With one pilot file you'll be able to span the entire 1177 year history of EV: Nova.
How do we plan to let you do this? Will you become some sort of all powerful super being that drifts through time taking part where it pleases. No. Instead we will be breaking down the history into several "player entry points". When your character dies, weather its through a clamatic space battle or simply through old age, or even because the story demanded it, the universe will continue on without you, until it comes to another entry point where you will be able to pick up the story as a new person. No, you won't be flying around as a ghost or something, you'll simply see a dialog explaining what happened since your death, and then you will be reinserted into Nova's history with a new character.
Another unique thing Beforemath will have to offer is a single consistent series of events that the player can take part in from many different points of view. For instance if you choose to join with the Vell-os in their fight to protect the Polaris against the Colonial Council you had better be ready for the telepathic enslavement device thats in your future, and to live out the rest of your life as a slave. In Beforemath the player's actions can not change the history of EV: Nova, he simply is not that important. If you fail an important mission there will be somebody appointed to replace you, and you'll eventually get used to ferrying annoying passengers from place to place for small sums of money. But if you succede you'll rise in rank, and maybe even get to run the entire show, for a limited time, you can't live forever.
Beforemath will be many many times the size of any plugin, ever. Even the large size of Aftermath will be eclipsed by Beforemath, several times over. Our current estimates put the size of beforemath in the range of 40,000 different missions, not including the silly random cargo delivery missions. Also, expect plenty of system changing. Beforemath will begin in the years prior to the hypergate network's constrution. Instead of traveling the galaxy, you'll, travel the Sol system, which will be comprised of several typical systems. As interstellar travel comes into existance and expands journeys that seemed to be long distances will shrink and shrink as a whole new area to explore will open up. But you'd better watch out, when the hypergate network is destroyed you'll be trapped, and the system you are in will again expand to be one system comprised of multiple areas. Additionally each and every planet will have a day and night cycle composed of morning, noon, evening, and midnight, creating a far more immersive universe than has ever been seen before.
Beforemath's graphics will be far more expansive than anything else out there. You'll be able to watch, not just read about, as new technologies and ships are developed and become common place. No longer will variants simply be marked as such in the target screen. Every single ship variant will have a different model, not just different textures. Each planet will also be animated, some will have storms, or lightning flashes, while others might have firey lava or moving clouds. Beforemath will be so big we expect there to be a sharp rise in hard drive sales worldwide. 
Finally, this project is so large, and complex that we finally decided to do something drastic. We've had perhaps more than our share of roadblocks with the EV3 engine and Aftermath, so we decided to completely avoid them, by writing a custom EV like engine. All the things above that sounded ludicrous, should be simple in our engine. We'll be making use of data files instead of resource forks which will mean you will no longer have to have fifteen different plugin files for one large plugin. There is however a slight bit of bad news, the framework our engine is being built off of will currently only run under Windows, but we do hope to port it over once its completed.
Now for a quick set of frequently asked questions, that are completely fake, since this is the first time the pulbic has heard of Beformath
Q: Beforemath, what kind of stupid name is that?
A: Well we couldn't decide on a real name for this project, or perhaps we have but we don't want to reveal it yet, you be the judge.
Q: This sounds awesome and very big, do ya'll need any help?
A: Yes, yes we do. If you have writing, graphics, or Mac programming skills and wish to help with this truly massive plugin, post in this topic.
Q: Windows only! What in the world were you thinking!?
A: The engine frameworks sadly are Windows only at this time. We're confident once we get the engine finished somebody will step forward to port it to Linux and then of course the Mac.
Well thats all the questions I could think of, but feel free to ask your own, we'll be happy to answer everything, there are very few secrets behind Beforemath, as its plot is already public knowledge (see Nova Preamble 1). There are a few more things to "reveal" in regards to Beforemath. For instance you'll notice we have no website for it, and there are a few other odd things that still need to be done. Hopefully all that will be solved in about a weeks time.
