test content
Logo
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc
Eclipse series
intrinsical
Member Posts: 208 Arc User
With the launching of episode 2 today, I figured its time to start promoting my foundry series.
The series is about a dark time in your character's career as a Starfleet officer when some unscrupulous people forces your character into making some potentially hard and unpleasant choices. If you like the kind of stories that were told on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, stories that examine the human condition, stories that include a lot of Trek lore, then this may be the series for you.
Eclipse #1: Komahashi Maru
Author: intrinsical
ID: ST-HJCGWMIJA
Faction: Federation
Level Requirement: None
Length: 20+ minutes.
Type: Story, Puzzle, Ground Combat
Synopsis:
You and your crew have been summoned to Starfleet Academy to attend a Special Command and Tactics Refresher Course. However, things may not be as simple as it seem...
Eclipse #2: The Borg of 4028
Author: intrinsical
ID: ST-HKV6A7QVE
Faction: Federation
Level Requirement: 41+
Length: 50+ minutes.
Type: Story, Puzzle, Ground Combat, Space Combat
Historian's Note: This story occurred just prior to the Special Task Force missions, "Into The Hive" and "The Hive Onslaught"
Remodulators: Required
EV Suits: Nice to have
Synopsis:
Priority one message from Starfleet Command. We are to rendezvous with a Task Force Omega Agent at the specified coordinates in the Lackey System in Sirius Sector Block.
I realize the mission titles and synopsis make the series sound very boring, but I can promise you that the storyline is much more interesting. So please run through them. Pretty please?
The series is about a dark time in your character's career as a Starfleet officer when some unscrupulous people forces your character into making some potentially hard and unpleasant choices. If you like the kind of stories that were told on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, stories that examine the human condition, stories that include a lot of Trek lore, then this may be the series for you.
Eclipse #1: Komahashi Maru
Author: intrinsical
ID: ST-HJCGWMIJA
Faction: Federation
Level Requirement: None
Length: 20+ minutes.
Type: Story, Puzzle, Ground Combat
Synopsis:
You and your crew have been summoned to Starfleet Academy to attend a Special Command and Tactics Refresher Course. However, things may not be as simple as it seem...
Eclipse #2: The Borg of 4028
Author: intrinsical
ID: ST-HKV6A7QVE
Faction: Federation
Level Requirement: 41+
Length: 50+ minutes.
Type: Story, Puzzle, Ground Combat, Space Combat
Historian's Note: This story occurred just prior to the Special Task Force missions, "Into The Hive" and "The Hive Onslaught"
Remodulators: Required
EV Suits: Nice to have
Synopsis:
Priority one message from Starfleet Command. We are to rendezvous with a Task Force Omega Agent at the specified coordinates in the Lackey System in Sirius Sector Block.
I realize the mission titles and synopsis make the series sound very boring, but I can promise you that the storyline is much more interesting. So please run through them. Pretty please?
Post edited by baddmoonrizin on
0
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
Two players who I've asked to playtest the missions have told me that episode 2 plays like an STF (one of them even said the mission is better than Cryptic's "The Hive" which I take as a big compliment), but they felt the combat encounters were too easy and want me to increase the level of difficulty. Should I do as they say?
I actually like Delta Rising.
My apologies it took so long for part 2 to come out. The three big maps each took at least 2 months of work. Each map has hundreds of objects that had to be manually positioned in 3D space. It was painstaking work.
Also, part 2 has gone through a huge amount of changes. I spent a lot of time adding a B-Story on Utopia Planitia, then removed all of it because it didn't really fuse well with the main story. A foundry bug then wiped out most of the conversations, forcing me to rewrite the dialogs from memory. Anyway, better late than ever right?
I'm now working on part 3, which is another big headache because I'm always trying to do stuff that pushes the limits of what the foundry is capable of achieving. So cross your fingers.
I have been thinking about it over the past week. Some options such as not using the Klingons are off the table because of plot reasons. This is something I have been setting up since Eclipse #1 and Eclipse #3 was going to be part of the payoff. For similar reasons, using some minor rebel Klingon faction won't work with the current plot either; The mastermind behind the scenes is only interested in playing on the big stage.
The only solution I can think of is something I did in Eclipse #2. And that is to add a "Historian's Note" stating that the events of Eclipse #3 happened in 2409 instead of the current year, 2410. It is not a perfect solution as the transition to 2410 is a major event. I am concerned some players may feel part 3 is "dated".
Unless someone can think of more options?
Federation Mission - Eclipse #2: The Borg of 4028
Author: intrinsical
Allegiance: Federation
Project ID: ST-HKV6A7QVE
Report Start
Summary: This is a good story oriented combat mission with a good mix of tough and normal battles and well written story dialogue. I would definitely recommend this mission to other players who like a good story driven combat mission and series. I would not recommend using Elite level as I found it to be challenging enough on Normal, although I am sure the rewards would be higher on Elite.
I did mention the excessive use of the response button "Continue" on a couple of the maps. By now I think everyone knows my mind on this but just to be clear. You should use a response that is appropriate to the dialogue. If you are seeking to bridge the dialogue between two separate windows and no player response is needed then I recommend using " " to signify acknowledgement without the default entry. It concerns me as a distraction from the story. The example I like to use is a BOFF says "Enemy vessel de-cloaking off port bow". The player responds "Continue", which you can see would sound silly.
The use of warp streaks to give the player the feeling of proceeding to a location is always a good thing. Then bringing them from warp to normal space reduces the number of maps you have to use to accomplish the mission. On the currently named "Rendevous Space" map you used the "Weather Starstreaks North South" effect with the entire map oriented to the north and south. As I have played and authored missions in the Foundry I have found that effect does not work well unless the player is at "Full Impulse". Perhaps Cryptic will fix this issue one day but until then I recommend using the "Weather Starstreaks West East 01" effect with the map oriented east to west. The effect works well at any speed as the streaks flow from west to east regardless of the players speed. Everything else on those maps worked well and can easily be reoriented to the east to west.
Below are a couple of things I noted while playing the mission that I wanted to let you know about. Everything in this write up should be seen as suggestions on ways I felt you could improve certain elements of the mission. They are yours to do with as you see fit.
Mission Description: The description does not really tell the player anything about the mission. The regular dialogue is only two sentences and does not really tell the player anything about the mission. There is nothing to draw the player in and make them want to click the 'Hail' button. Consider shifting around the layout to place the actual story related dialogue at the top and move the rest down. Then add more of the story to the dialogue to the description to draw the player in.
Grant Mission Dialogue: The grant dialogue is exactly the same as the last two sections of your description. Consider adding more story dialogue here to draw the player in and make them want to click 'Accept'.
Mission Task: The initial task should have the location for the start of the first custom map. You want to help the player find your mission.
Mission Entry Prompt: This is a good use of the prompt. I noted one item to consider changing:
-Consider changing "starship at the specified coordiates" to read "starship at the specified coordinates".
MAPS:
Lackey System: This is a good map design with well written story dialogue. I noted no spelling or grammatical errors with this dialogue or any issues with the map.
NGC-4447: This is a good map design with well written story dialogue. I noted no spelling or grammatical errors with this dialogue or any issues with the map.
Borg Transwarp Hub Interior: This is a good map design with a good mix of tough and regular but fun battles. The story dialogue is well written. I noted no spelling or grammatical errors with this dialogue or any issues with the map. I noted one item to consider changing:
-The use of the response button "Continue" was a little excessive on this map. You used it once or twice on the previous maps. Consider reviewing this dialogue and replace the response button with something more appropriate. If there is no specific response needed for the dialogue then replace the "Continue" with " " to signify acknowledgement without the default entry.
Borg Transwarp Hub Exterior: This is a nice map design with some good optional combat and well written story dialogue. I noted no spelling or grammatical errors with this dialogue or any issues with the map. I noted one item to be aware of and consider changing if possible:
-The away team was not able to stay with me throughout this map. They got stuck in the initial area.
Escape from NGC-4447: This is a good map design with some tough but fun battles. I noted no spelling or grammatical errors with this dialogue or any issues with the map.
Rendevous Space: This is a good map design with a fun battle and well written story dialogue. I noted a couple of items to consider changing:
-Consider changing the map name "Rendevous Space" to read "Rendezvous Space"
-The Captains Log dialogue; consider changing "headed to the pre-arranged rendevous point" to read "headed to the pre-arranged rendezvous point".
-The use of "Weather Starstreaks North South 01" effect does not work well at most speeds. Consider changing your map orientation to a westerly orientation and using "Weather Starstreaks West East 01" effect. It looks more like warp space regardless of the players speed.
-The post "Destroy pursuing Borg" dialogue; consider changing "[FirstName], I hope you do not mind that my team get a headstart" to read "[FirstName], I hope you do not mind my team getting a head start".
The use of the response button "Continue" was a little excessive on this map.
End Report
Thanks again for authoring and for giving me the chance to review your work. You did a great job developing this mission and the series so far. Especially considering these are your first few missions using the Foundry. I look forward to playing/reviewing more of your work in the future.
Brian
This critique report also filed 08/24/2014 on forum posting for: In depth mission reports upon request.
In regards to the difficulty of the ground map, I'll like to point out that I've designed the map recreate the experience and dangers of boarding a Borg installation. Depending on what the player does, the level of resistance from the Borg varies.
A player who carefully read the conversation and heed their bridge officer's advice would only have to fight 3-4 groups of Borg NPCs. A player who goes nosing around and interfere with the transwarp hub's operation would naturally draw attention of the Borg and face stiffer resistance, needing to face anywhere from 6-10 groups of Borg NPCs. And finally in the worst case scenario where the player dies and is forced to respawn, he will have to fight all 15 groups of Borg NPCs scattered across the map.