Anyone for a trip to mars?

[kibblesticks]

I haven't done anything yet.

Great modeling as always!

 

Thanks very much! and Yay! I was worried you'd pull a 50% finished map out the bag or something and I wouldn't get the chance to make a level :dance:

[devinpatterson]

Just so I'm not working on something that someone else is doing, is anyone making Bloomfield atm? If not I'd really like to be able to make that.

 

I haven't actually started much of it at all, just a few little tidbits here and there, but I thought (and see what you think about this) it lent itself well to a standalone part 1 mod. I figure bloomfield and the mars enviornment share virtually nothing in common, so we could easily finish bloomfield without worrying about continuity errors in the mars (proper) mod. It also gives us a nice clean endpoint for a break between teh two mods. That way we don't have to finish both, before players can have some fun. And it gives us a chance to refine the mars mod's storyline and other details while we are working on Bloomfield.

 

We could make the rocket panel (or even the rocket itself) a activator and tag a little script on that throws up a msg box like alerting the player that part two is not yet complete yada yada. Then when part 2, the mars project proper is done, we'll just overwrite the script and it should be smooth as butter as long as it loads after part 1. Maybe we can do a little video of the launch, and some slideshows detailing the month long journey. Throw in some nice astronomy pics etc.

 

I'v been looking at how they have the slideshow room set up and the narrator, it looks do-able.

 

 

I'd really like the chance to work from an official design document and try my hand at a large level, plus I can generate LOD and whatnot. I've already started with the basic blocking out of buildings and roads and I've created a few NPCs with dialouge as well. The Bloomfield Wikia entry has the story of Bloomfield 200 years ago.

 

You'v gotten further than I have. I wonder if we should start another thread for bloomfield, it might make it a little more tidy.

 

My thoughts are that Bloomfield is now under the control of Bear

 

Expanding the camp under Bear's control sounds good to me. It looks like we have 20-30 years (2252 when the hooks arrive, 2281 when FONV starts), so the timeline looks solid for some post van buren activity. If I'm not mistaken that should provide an opportunity for greater resistance (ie better equipped, more numerous raiders)? Which ties into a question I wanted to bring up.

 

I'm working on some military assets and they have naturally evolved into some pretty high level/lethal gear and opponents. I wasn't aiming for high level, it's just seems to be a natural conclusion of the items I'm using nad their military nature. I know a high level mod will put it out of the reach of some players, and I can scale stuff back without a problem. But I think my brain really wants to make a very challenging mod. What do you guys think? Do we level the mod or is it set. If it's set, where, between a walk in the park and legendary adventure, do we peg this puppy? As you can probably tell from my comments, I'd like this to be a epic ballbuster.

 

 

Also, I've been messing with the domes, they work equally well in an open world as they do as closed Worldspaces. I think they definately look more visually impressive if you can see in and out. However I can imagine this creates a headache in terms of vacuums and LOD and such. One solution could be to put dummy buildings inside, so you get the illusion of seeing a city from the outside, but when you actually move inside it's a child worldspace like Megaton or DC. Just something to consider for quests and location creation :turned:

 

The Rocket, engines and dome(s) all look really good. :thumbsup: very nice.

 

And I think your right on target with the dummy nif's. It's pretty much the way the whole strip is set up. It even works better for us since the dome's shell are a physical barrier which reinforces the division of the child worldspace.

 

I havn't done much new for the mars project, just working on a few items/small project.

 

For instance I'm working on homing, explosive eyebots. At the moment I'v got them about the size of a large grapefruit and 8X speed. I'm also trying to put a mister handy jet flame on their rear. They somewhat remind me of the "scree" (is that the correct name?) from the ending of King's dark tower series (used by the crimson king to try and kill Roland).

 

A little deviation here, but the dark tower series would make a really interesting mod. Few settings lend themselves as well to a FONV cowboy, post apocalyptic view as the dark tower. I think the last book is done so the lore should be complete, and it's extensive. Check out wiki. Plus I know a little bit about King's politics and I suspect if we explained it was a non-profit venture he just might condone it. Any of you guys dark tower fans? Is it something to consider in the future? If so I can write king a letter/email. I know there was a group working on the project, but I havn't heard anything from them in 2(?)+ years.

 

Anyway back to the eyebots. I'm also thinking the player can use them by simply activating them (they race off to the nearest enemy) or setting them to guard. If set to guard they swirl around the player in a tight orbit until an enemy appears and rush off to blow it to kingdom come. However being old, irradiated, prototypes etc. they occasionally malfunction and may explode prematurely and randomly while guarding the player, or even just upon activation (explosives skill reduces this %). That should provide a little bit of a gamble to spice things up. I'm setting them with a fairly decent explosive radius so hte player needs to hit them while they are still 20 or 30 feet out to avoid getting tagged. I'v set hte ondeath explosion the same as the scripted explosion (when it reaches 10' or so from the player), so it's seamless. One thing I'v found working on them, is that it is really easy for explosions to cripple, even from a distance.

 

I thought some encounters might have small crowds of htem, say like 5 or 6. That way you either hit one (killing htem all in a chain reaction) or get killed (they all explode when the first hits the pc). It'd work great if it weren't for VATS (makes it too easy). For variation I thought we could include armored ones and melee ones aka phantasm (the ball/sentinal/orb, whatever they're called with the little knives/drills/blades). But the phantasm ones would have more advanced melee weaponry than the simple blades, maybe motorized (chainsaw) or energy blades (plasma, laser). The eyebots don't have any melee animations, but in theory they shouldn't be hard to make (just make a quick dash/dart in one direction), so I don't think it's out of the question.

 

Another item (which isn't going quite a smoothly) is actual weapons rigged to turret skeletons. Instead of just modifying the barrel of a turret, I'm trying to make (for example) the AM rifle *THE* turret and have a support added, a oversized clip (ammobox) and some motors on the support for movement. It looks really cool static, but the rigging so far has been a failure. None the less I have hope.

 

And last concerns the robots. To me, two robots really scream 1950's sci-fi. They are the brainbot and the protectron (ie a ver of robby). In hte susnset mod, protectrons are a big theme (because they lend themselves best to western attire). I'd like to do the same with the robobrains in the mars project. That would involve expanding on the various models, including embedded heavy weapons, special abilities etc. This kind of makes sense in light of hte robobrain wiki entry. The robobrains were to be the next line of soldiers in the war, but their adoption was slow because of their expense. I think that fits in well with the economics of hte mars project (the most advanced tech).

[kibblesticks]

I haven't actually started much of it at all, just a few little tidbits here and there, but I thought (and see what you think about this) it lent itself well to a standalone part 1 mod.

 

Read my mind. Winning over the Rusty Hooks, obtaining the launch codes and getting the rocket to working condition would be the perfect build up to the mod proper.

 

Maybe we can do a little video of the launch, and some slideshows detailing the month long journey. Throw in some nice astronomy pics etc.

 

Nice idea, in addition we could fade in when you enter Mars' orbit. You can't move (cus you're strapped into your chair), but you can see the surface of Mars out a nearby porthole. Would make for a nice visual reminder of where you are. Perhaps we could script a few flashing red lights and a robotic "incoming missile detected" voice, and have the player black out when the ship comes under fire. Next thing you know, you're in the middle of a pile of rocket wreckage.

 

I wonder if we should start another thread for bloomfield, it might make it a little more tidy.

 

Yus, that sounds good. Actually Devin, do you have the neccessary tga texture files to create LOD? I assume you needed to convert all the LOD dds files to generate the LOD for SSW. If so, is there any chance you could post them on the Nexus? I'm trying to convert them all so I can generate Bloomfield's worldspace but it's taking ages and seems a bit pointless if someone else has already done it.

 

 

But I think my brain really wants to make a very challenging mod. What do you guys think? Do we level the mod or is it set. If it's set, where, between a walk in the park and legendary adventure, do we peg this puppy? As you can probably tell from my comments, I'd like this to be a epic ballbuster.

Hah, epic ballbuster is my vote. We're going to Mars after all, Newbs shouldn't even be attempting the trip :tongue: Plus, I think it's better to aim high. Players can always level up to meet a challenge but easy adventures can get boring so I think we go with your gut feeling. Lower level players are just going to have to move a bit quicker to stay alive :devil:

 

 

 

The Rocket, engines and dome(s) all look really good. :thumbsup: very nice.

Thanks! I'm pleased with them. I'm especially proud of the fact that I've managed to make them using only vanilla game textures as well, which should save some space.

 

It even works better for us since the dome's shell are a physical barrier which reinforces the division of the child worldspace.

I was thinking the exact same thing. It all fits together quite nicely :smile:

 

 

 

For instance I'm working on homing, explosive eyebots...

 

Sounds like barrels of explosive sci-fi fun. Can't wait to see them in action.

 

The robobrains were to be the next line of soldiers in the war, but their adoption was slow because of their expense. I think that fits in well with the economics of hte mars project (the most advanced tech).

 

Yeah definately, I can see some interesting NPC robobrain possibilities. Useful lore too, since they can survive on the surface and can move pretty much anywhere thanks to their treads.

[VaultPi]

how about that giant "Face", or purhaps a monolith...

[kibblesticks]

Some random screenies of a suit retexture. Not sure what it could be used for...

 

http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j454/kibblesticks/MarsSuit02.jpg

 

 

 

http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/imageshare/images/1020871-1331257708.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j454/kibblesticks/MarsSuit01.jpg

 

[greenknightfury]

@ devin: I'd say we aim for players leveled to be done OWB (if they have it) so the low/mid 30's at least, this is after all a high-level full influence and support of the Enclave military installation. I've had the feeling from the beginning that this would be almost like NV's version of Point Lookout, the nastiest and most resistant critters are here, much tougher than anything you've come to expect in the Mojave. Also adds that extra bit of "different" that an adventure on Mars should have, making it obvious in another way that you aren't anywhere like you've known before.

 

@ kibblesticks: Holy crap...how'd you pull those out of my head?!? That was almost exactly what I pictured as the official project suits like you'd see on the Gen Saff and would be the ones that would make the defenses think you were station personnel! Ooooo that gives me an idea seeing it like that.....armored (like the armored vaultsuit) or various levels of damaged or accessorized for some of those living in the other domes.

 

 

BTW: did we ever yet come up with an official name for the Mars base project? With a decision on that I could easily whip up some flavor text stuff lol some official announcements to be made terminal entries or the writing for pamphlets found in various places.

Edited March 9, 2012 by greenknightfury

[devinpatterson]

Yus, that sounds good. Actually Devin, do you have the neccessary tga texture files to create LOD? I assume you needed to convert all the LOD dds files to generate the LOD for SSW. If so, is there any chance you could post them on the Nexus? I'm trying to convert them all so I can generate Bloomfield's worldspace but it's taking ages and seems a bit pointless if someone else has already done it.

 

No I'm afraid I haven't done any conversion. Part 1 of sswww is in teh mojave just north, and part 2 is in the villa, so I won't actually be generating any LOD until part 3. But what I'd suggest is batch mode in gimp, or did you mean it's taking ages because of a slow cpu/gpu?

 

@ devin: I'd say we aim for players leveled to be done OWB (if they have it) so the low/mid 30's at least

 

Sounds like we have a consesus on 30+ then...

 

BTW: did we ever yet come up with an official name for the Mars base project?

 

Not really, I was playing with the idea of Pandora 73 (an asteroid) hitting mars and uncovering hte complex. They sometimes will name a crater after the impact object. And the base could be named after the crater. Pandora is good because FEV somewhat mimics the mythos. ie 95% bad, with a glimmer of hope (since FEV can be *the* "key"). But it wasn't official. However the pandaora name has been done to death, if someone has something better I'm all ears.

 

Are the squad mates defectors? Or perhaps one of the squad mates was a traitor

 

Let me see if I can't summarize what AG and I have laid out. Hopefully over the weekend and it will be easier than trying to piece it together part by part.

 

So one thing is still bugging me. Tech treasure hunting is a good reason to go to Mars. Players do it all the time, and we see it in various factions like the NCR & BOS. But I don't feel like it's a *great* reason. I mean it's a decent carrot and all, but the scope of this mod, all the work that's going into it (both in resources and story line), all the potential etc, I feel like we need something more powerful than a scavenger hunt as the theme.

 

I'd like to take throw out a idea that could be a theme woven through the whole mod. Something similar to the FO2 (the Enclave's "final solution"), FO3 (project purity and the modified FEV killer virus) and Van Buren (Dr. Presper) storyline of killing all non humans (mutants, ghouls etc). Mars is a perfect resource as some of the research on FEV is still unique to this location, not to mention the alien data.

 

IIf we go with Dr. Presper himself (as a homage to Van Buren) some of his convoluted storyline will need to be axed. The basic setup of Van Buren (if I understand it correctly) essentially deals with Presper releasing a viral agent limit 115 in a convoluted plot to trick ULYSSIS (a AI) into arming several nukes on a B.O.M.B platform & redirecting them to destroy the areas he wanted, while humans of his choosing would wait out the 2nd armageddon in Boulder Dome.

 

In our version Presper's plan will be to travel to hte Pandora base, gather the FEV samples and data (both applied research done by staff on base and alien data), and any needed technological resources. The Dr. will complete a FEV virus variant deadly to all non humans and the means to spread it (perhaps mars missiles/rockets) and unleash a cleansing plague upon the earth. Since most humans have been affected by contaminants (whether radiological, viral etc) any one that isn't a pure strain human will also die. This=Very Bad.

 

Alternately we can go with a similar mad scientist (perhaps enclave) and keep the same plot line.

 

Whoever we choose will have pre-war resources like security codes, knowledge of the base, etc that give him a significant advantage over the courier. It allows him (and his group) to avoid the most troublesome aspects of the base and stay several steps ahead of the courier. So the player is always playing catch up until hte very end. In addition Presper realizes as soon as the player rocket is shot down that there's a problem that needs to be solved. He will set traps (reprogram AI's, booby traps, reactivate bio monstrosity labs/incubators etc), make alliances with surviving military/enclave forces (bribing them with tech or knowledge to take care of his "problem") and send out some of his own party at opportune times (inopportune for the player) to end hte player. That way we have a consistency through many of the locals of a lead antagonist.

 

We still need to tie together how the Courier finds out about Prespers plan and a lot of minor details still need to be ironed out. but I think this could give the mod the epic story line (what's bigger than saving the earth, or at least 99% of it's population) it deserves.

 

Misc notes;

In the 1st draft Presper is a cyro survivor (frozen in boulder dome) from pre-war times.......it's an interesting twist.

In the 2nd draft Presper is (was?) the scientific adviser to the NCR president.

We could force the player to brave the toxic jungle (Presper and his party would have reactivated the monorail and rode there, then disabled it and the station......the bastard) to pursue Presper to the ruins.

He may have completely duped the main installation's mainframe into believing Presper is legit, and the player needs to prove otherwise (following our story line of making peace/alliance with the base AI) or face additional problems.

It'd be nice to have an ironic twist as well. For instance, Prespers time in the mars project has resulted in him no longer being pure strain human and perhaps is his downfall when he attempts to escape and is killed as a contagion.

[kibblesticks]

@ kibblesticks: Holy crap...how'd you pull those out of my head?!?

..:psyduck:

 

I like Pandora as the crater name, but as Devin points out it's been done to death. Anesidora is Pandora's alternative name but it's a bit of a mouthful. Or perhaps it could be Pithos, which is more of a black humour name. A pithos is a greek funeral jar and also the box which contained all the world's evils in the Pandora myth. So that'd be kind of symbolic of the hopelessness of the crater I guess? Not really feeling it though. Maybe Pithos could be the code-name for the alien ruins instead? The ruins being the literal box that was opened.

 

Tbh I think we should go with Pandora, since she is a goddess of fertility (terraforming, F.E.V) and the Pandora comet opened the F.E.V box in the first place. Following this line, perhaps a running theme could be finding some way to bring back humanity with F.E.V, thus becoming the "hope" left in the box.

 

Some name ideas generated by Seventh Sanctum's sci-fi government generator:

 

-The Pandora Confederacy

 

-The Pandora Collective

 

-USIA: United States Interplanetary Alliance

 

-The Commonwealth of Pandora/ The Pandoran Commonwealth

[kibblesticks]

I'd like to take throw out a idea that could be a theme woven through the whole mod. Something similar to the FO2 (the Enclave's "final solution"), FO3 (project purity and the modified FEV killer virus) and Van Buren (Dr. Presper) storyline of killing all non humans (mutants, ghouls etc). Mars is a perfect resource as some of the research on FEV is still unique to this location, not to mention the alien data....

 

It'd be nice to have an ironic twist as well. For instance, Prespers time in the mars project has resulted in him no longer being pure strain human and perhaps is his downfall when he attempts to escape and is killed as a contagion.

 

I was toying with the idea of Presper reaching Mars as well. It fits nicely into the story and really the only thing that needs changing in the timeline is that the Enclave really did manage to modify the rockets for Mars travel, they just never got the chance to use them. I prefer the idea of Presper being the president's scientific advisor as apposed to the pre-war cryo thing. We're undoubtedly going to be including quite a lot of pre-war ghouls already, so it'd be nice to have a few characters that link back to post-war Earth.

 

As for what his plan is, obviously its going to evolve as we get further into the mod, but how about a modification of Jeo's GECK warhead idea? Perhaps the mainframe is sitting on a bunch of missiles designed to "seed" Mars from the atmosphere. The scientists would first develop viable species using the F.E.V. A five year expedition would be embarked upon, during which time these F.E.V seeds would be scattered across a large part of Mars' surface. The GECK warheads would then be launched into the atmosphere to kickstart life. Has a nice symbolism to it, warheads and F.E.V restarting life. It even has links to real-world practices, like the chinese using silver nitrate rockets to control the weather. Of course, even if the Mars mission hadn't gone to hell and even if Presper hadn't interfered, it's doubtful the tech would have worked anyway. Since when does any game-changing Fallout tech ever work the way it's supposed to?

 

If we changed it so that instead of just outright killing every mutant, the virus instead renders them infertile, then evil players could actually launch the warheads themselves. This adds more choice to the finale, without actually having to show any impact when they return to Earth.

 

Other options for the finale could include:

 

- You can fire the FEV warheads at Earth.

 

-You can fire the FEV warheads at Mars, killing all mutants (which is pretty much 100% of the fauna) but leaving the jungle to grow.

 

- You can just up and leave.

 

- You can program the warheads to conventinally self-destruct after you leave. All the good and evil contained in the Pandora crater will be obliterated.

 

- A Greenway Hydroponics scientist estimates that the F.E.V jungle is reproducing much faster than anticipated. Its seeds and pollen are being carried by the harsh Martian storms across the planet. However, without fertile land, the seeds will not germinate. You have the option of completing the original terraforming plan and firing the GECK warheads into the atmosphere, thus "seeding" Mars. Through encouters with terraforming scientists, it has been heavily speculated that any product of this untested GECK/FEV combination is completely unpredictable and could easily render Mars unihabitable. Its a gamble.

 

- You can fire the GECK warheads at Earth, with little to no effect anticipated.

 

 

So there's a few brain farts to consider :D

 

Right I'm off to enjoy my 21st by watching John Carter of Mars and getting absoloutely s***faced :laugh:

[greenknightfury]

This Dr. Presper thing ties nicely with something that sprung into my head last night: A faction of Vault raised Enclave that is obsessed with human "purity", controlled breeding and sending any "impure" (be it from minor mutated people, people with exposure to any dna altering virus/experiments, to full out ghouls and Supermutants) either to their deaths or to areas totally uninhabitable by humans. The "good" doctor could be of the more radical "wipe them from the face of the Earth" group of them, with his knowledge of the Mars base would be from classified documents from it's construction (plans with all the Enclave secrets of the facility left in, such as special override codes and emergency manual overrides for things like the monorail or sealed doors).

 

As for the name of the project how about we go with an Egyptian name scheme instead of the greek? Rebirth is a big part of that mythos and the point (beyond being a study of the ruins) was the first step in a reborn Mars/humanities rebirth on other worlds so it would be very appropriate. If we do go with it I'd vote with Isis (being goddess of fertility and the instrument of Osiris' rebirth, as well as being a goddess of protection, very appropriate for people that's very lives would depend on the protection of their domes especially during a time of war).

 

 

@ kibblesticks: Loving the ideas for the GECK warheads lol

Edited March 9, 2012 by greenknightfury