Defense Command Mod.

[ductonius]

The World Of Defense Command.

Most of humanity was destroyed in "The Bump". The decendants of those lucky enough to survive now struggle to rebuild their world so many generations removed from what happened that they are not sure what really caused the devastation. Thousands of miles or great stretches of water separate the five main factions of humanity from each other. With so much energy and time spent surviving in their own corner of the world, they have very little reason to search for other peoples. Only conflict could bring them together, and unfortunately, it will.

For a hundred years the North West Returners, inhabiting the former areas of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, British Columbia and Alberta have been living their lives and rebuilding their civilization. While desiring only peaceful coexistence they maintain an advanced army capable of defending the vast stretches of their land and send scouts into the Californian Desert or the Eastern Wastes. The world past their borders seemed quiet save for nomadic herders occasionally observed in the northern tundra or the peaceful Mormon Combine in the south and it was only natural for them to assume that there was nothing else left of humanity.

The body of a deep waste scout was the first sign of trouble. Washed up on the western shore of Cold Lake, Alberta the NWR Defense Command retrieved an magnetic-wire audio recording and photographic film the contents of which hinted at a possible threat to the safety and security of all NWR territories. The photographs and the wire told the tale of the scouts last days, following, observing and eventually running from a group of soldiers he called "The Mob" but which later came to be known as "The Prols". At first they appeared to be travelers or some sort of settlers due to the fact that, while everyone had uniforms - indicative of a military group - there were relatively few weapons. The reason for this became clear when a few days later the Prols encountered a pack of ultra-wolves. Weapons were quickly handed out by the commanders who brandished their pistols and threatened the troops into fending off the beasts, and then just a quickly, the weapons were confiscated; this group was motivated by fear, and the commanders didn't trust the troops with guns for longer than they had to.

The now dead scout was a testament to his superb training and had apparently fashioned a parabolic microphone from an ancient satellite dish. Using this, he recorded speeches made by the commanders. Full of rhetoric and patriotism, the long winded triads extolled the virtues of the Prol leadership and condemned the "western threat", the Prols name for the NWR. Many details of the NWR life were used and twisted to depict them as greedy and heartless people who must be forced to help their fellow man. It became apparent that while the NWR may not know about the Prols, the Prols definitely knew a lot about the NWRs and were on their way to take what they saw as rightfully theirs.

Only days later, another scout returned with a greater amount of evidence showing not a lowly band of Prols, but a great army, marching directly toward the heartland of the NWR.

The President and Prime Minister were briefed only hours after the evidence was processed. In an emergency session, the NWR Parliament approved a military funding bill with the President and Economic House quickly adding their approval. They were on the brink of an unprovoked war. Their lives and way of life were at stake. Their homes, friends and family were in grave danger. Survival from this day forward would rely on the NWR Defense Command.

This story will be continued as the other three races are added.


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Defense Command is a total conversion for Half Life 2 changing it from a first person shooter into a squad based real time strategy game. By combining the advantages of squad based strategy and cooperative multiplayer game play Defense Command will create a game allowing for strategic play while preserving the individual players involvement and skill in the battle.


D-Comm is currently looking for all manner of talent including:

# Web designer
# 3d artists
# 2d artists
# Musician(s)/Sound
# Mappers
# Programmers

Please visit the Defense Command home page.

The main page contains
- A short design doc
- A table of preliminary stats
- Sketches of vehicles, troops and weapons


It would probably be worth a look even if your not interested in becomming part of the team.

I can be contaced by mail [email protected] for inquiery or comment.

I have attached some of the concept sketches.

 

[dawdler]

Sounds very ambitious
Only one thing: "The battlefield will go through day and night cycles lasting approximately 2.5minuets each."
2 and a half minute is very little time to pull of assaults on using those vehicles weaknesses/strenghts... But that depends how fast combat is I suppose.

 

[ductonius]

Originally posted by dawdler
Sounds very ambitious
Only one thing: "The battlefield will go through day and night cycles lasting approximately 2.5minuets each."
2 and a half minute is very little time to pull of assaults on using those vehicles weaknesses/strenghts... But that depends how fast combat is I suppose.

The point of the short day/night cycle is so that one side does not gain an overwhelming advantage if fighting agianst an opponent who prefers the other time.

I concidered making it longer - and it may still, if we find out in play testing that its too short - but it seemed like a ten minute day was just too long for a 30 min game, besides 2.5 minuets may seems like a short period of time, but its not when you're at a disadvantage.

I dont know about anyone else, but when playign RTCW or BF1942, a 20 sec respawn countdown seems like forever.

 

[Hoju]

You could not make it a 30min round then.

 

[IchI]

hmmm, why not just make both the teams exactly the same then? This would mean no team has the advantage. If its a CTF game make both sides of the map simetrical as well. Answer solved

 

[ductonius]

Originally posted by Hoju
You could not make it a 30min round then.

I didnt mean to say that the rounds were only going to be 30 min long. I was using that as more of an example of what a typical round might be like.

Originally posted by IchI
hmmm, why not just make both the teams exactly the same then?

Because all five teams arnt exactally the same.

They vary in tactics and preference enourmouly. Some sides have an advantage in manpower (the Prols) while others in firepower (the NWR). The other three races (which arnt complete yet) will vary even more from the two that are in the design doc.

Besides, that would be boring, playing against an enemy that perfectly matches you in every domain?

Originally posted by IchI
This would mean no team has the advantage.

This is a very valid point, I even concidered it in the beginning, but in this case, play balencing will do that job.

Originally posted by IchI
If its a CTF game make both sides of the map simetrical as well. Answer solved

Symetrical maps are almost a given, but you have raised another point inadvertantly: Reading through my own Design Doc, I have pretty much failed to mention play modes.


TO EVERYONE
I would like to thank everoyone who has commented. This is exactally what I would like to hear. I would rather find out about, and fix problems on paper rather than after work is done. Please continue!