Ambrosia Software Web Board: While I'm on the subject... - Ambrosia Software Web Board

The Marathon topic in Trash Talk gave me an idea that may be worth exploring. For now, perhaps a discussion.

What about a Marathon TC for Ares? It would need some meticulous planning to be worth anything, but it has potential. Think about it: you command the forces of the small yet powerful S'pht'Kr, and the large yet pathetic forces of the UESC in a crusade against the Pfhor, their subordinates, and their masters (if we implement EVIL).

Massive battles involving weapons unique to the Ares universe, wierd technologies, and strenuious missions would push Ares, Hera, and their users to their limits.

But as i said, this would require a lot of work and some really good planning. What do you think?

------------------
Throughout their history these "unenlightened" beings have continually opposed and fought abuses of power wrought by their own bretheren. We, as the prophets would do well to learn from these Humans.
-Final statement of the Salrilian reformist Sirthis shortly before his execution.

id love to play it. But i dont really have enough experience with the storyline to help.

------------------
just take my post, and imagine everything is speeled right.
nickel count: 8

I'd love to see an ASI/Darkk conjunction of it. (Darkk appearantly lives and breathes Marathon) As you said, it'd be hard to do and would take a lot of time, but I think the end result would be worth it.

------------------
"I'm a controversial figure. My friends either dislike me or hate me."

I'm in. Ahh, the chance to live my fantasy of being Durandal.
I'd love to be a sarcastic immortal powerful AI, wouldn't you?

We should put the Wr'knckater (I know I spelled that wrong, I'd like to see you spell it) in the secret level like Slug did with the Borg.

SACK THE PFHOR HOMEWORLD! Fly Jjaro dreadnaughts.

I'm gonna pop if I don't get unhappy real soon *thinks about school*. There we go.

I would love to assist. Bring it on, I might even do sprites.

Giddy with excitement,
Darkk, servant to Durandal

------------------
William Darkk, head of the Darkklight Entrepenurial Federation
"Strategic warfare" is code for "killing civilians", and it's my calling. Yeah, it's barbaric. War's supposed to be.

Oh, and by the time they have a fleet, I'm pretty sure it's UESG.

I've already got 2 weapon ideas. I'd love to do this plug!

*tries not to post to this topic every 2 seconds

Hate to get your hopes down, but if you are over-joyful because of what I said, note I mentioned a "Darkk/ASI conjunction". In other words, you need to get their approval first.

------------------
"I'm a controversial figure. My friends either dislike me or hate me."

I'm overjoyful the idea's even come up.
If ASI won't, I might on my own if I can find space for it among my other projects.

I'll pass the idea along, but both Slug and SA are bogged down with life and other projects, and Zeta seems to have dropped off the face of the Earth. That leaves the rest of us with the burden of the Ares Port. Although I'd still love to do this project.

------------------
Throughout their history these "unenlightened" beings have continually opposed and fought abuses of power wrought by their own bretheren. We, as the prophets would do well to learn from these Humans.
-Final statement of the Salrilian reformist Sirthis shortly before his execution.

Wr'kncacter. Without looking.
And I'm pretty sure it is UESC.

I'd be happy to work on it. (I haven't officially joined ASI yet, but Slug has suggested i a couple times).

So we'd have Durandal/Darkk, the rampant AI who likes to kill things and does things for his benefit,
Leela/Pallas Athene, the good AI, who is inevitably killed early on because she's too nice for the storyline.
Now, what about Tycho and Thoth?

Lets see.. races: UESC, S'pht'kr, Pfhor, Jjaro. Maybe: Nar, S'pht'mnr (as an alternative)?

------------------
-Pallas Athene of Dysian Beta, Obish Consensus Representative
-Nieru Dast, {M}ilitia Aeriane
-Danae Vernius
ThinkFish, and good things will come.

I'd live and breathe Marathon too, but unfortunately, at the moment I can only live and breathe Marathon 2. (I'm not a big fan of the original, and I keep forgetting to get infinity)

------------------
-Pallas Athene of Dysian Beta, Obish Consensus Representative
-Nieru Dast, {M}ilitia Aeriane
-Danae Vernius
ThinkFish, and good things will come.

It is UESC, I just checked. unfortunately, it's W'rkncacnter. But I was closer than you

------------------
-Pallas Athene of Dysian Beta, Obish Consensus Representative
-Nieru Dast, {M}ilitia Aeriane
-Danae Vernius
ThinkFish, and good things will come.

And in browsing around in DTB, I got a great new sig.

------------------
-Pallas Athene of Dysian Beta, Obish Consensus Representative
-Nieru Dast, {M}ilitia Aeriane
-Danae Vernius
"Cheaters don't really win, and winners don't really cheat. Unless you're talking politics." -Durandal

Earth
Mars
Tau Ceti
Lh'owon
T'jia, first moon of Lh'owon
Yloa, second moon of Lh'owon
Pfhor Homeworld
Epsilon Euobea (Nar)
Beta Tear (7 Great battles)

UESC
Pfhor (+trih xeem)
Jjaro
Nar (Apparently another dominant race in the quadrant, enemies of the Pfhor, mentioned Elite CFN units)
Drinniol (Pfhor slave)
Nebulon (No references, just a quote and dead ones underneath a dreadnought)
S’pht’Lhar
S’pht’Hra
S’pht’Nma
S’pht’Kah
S’pht’Vir
S’pht’Yra
S’pht’Va
S’pht’Shr
S’pht’Mnr
S’pht’Yor
S’pht’Kr

------------------
-Pallas Athene of Dysian Beta, Obish Consensus Representative
-Nieru Dast, {M}ilitia Aeriane
-Danae Vernius
"Cheaters don't really win, and winners don't really cheat. Unless you're talking politics." -Durandal

Weapons:
Trih Xeem
Wave motion cannon
some sort of green tazer-like beam
warp capable fusion missles
battleroid transporter (any ship hit with one of these will die after a while, and start malfunctioning before that, but not instantly)
juggernaught transporter (see above).

Ships
UESC Marathon
UESC Shuttle
Pfhor Fighter
Pfhor Corvette
Pfhor Destroyer
Pfhor Battleship
Pfhor Assault Carrier
Jjaro Dreadnaught

I'm pretty sure we'd have to make up the rest.

As for the UESC/G thing, I'm pretty sure the G only appears in 2+, as it was renamed in the 300-odd years Marathon had been away.

Oh, I'm pretty sure the ratio of damage rate to shields is much higher in Marathon, making ships die faster.

------------------
William Darkk, head of the Darkklight Entrepenurial Federation
"Strategic warfare" is code for "killing civilians", and it's my calling. Yeah, it's barbaric. War's supposed to be.

Ok, obviously I won't be able to follow this plug-in. I got lost somewhere in the last two posts.

------------------
"I'm a controversial figure. My friends either dislike me or hate me."

Maybe battleroids and juggernauts could be two different types of EVA troopers? Juggernauts being capable of fighting and movement, of course.

------------------
Throughout their history these "unenlightened" beings have continually opposed and fought abuses of power wrought by their own bretheren. We, as the prophets would do well to learn from these Humans.
-Final statement of the Salrilian reformist Sirthis shortly before his execution.

Maybe, but they did as much teleporting directly to target as floating in space (marines never actually did, but that was planned at one point).

I think the marines should teleport, and mess up ships (this is in MI, "Post Naval Trauma"). It should take a long time for the marine to finish a ship, though. And a longer time to cycle the "marine transporter" weapon.

------------------
William Darkk, head of the Darkklight Entrepenurial Federation
"Strategic warfare" is code for "killing civilians", and it's my calling. Yeah, it's barbaric. War's supposed to be.

[This message has been edited by Fleet Admiral Darkk (edited 01-10-2001).]

[quote]Originally posted by Fleet Admiral Darkk:
Weapons:
Trih Xeem
Wave motion cannon
some sort of green tazer-like beam
[/quote]

Ye olde Particle Beam, yes? And Durandal can focus zem at twice ze Pfhor's maximum range. See, I play too!

Ships
UESC Marathon
UESC Shuttle
Pfhor Fighter
Pfhor Corvette
Pfhor Destroyer
Pfhor Battleship
Pfhor Assault Carrier
Jjaro Dreadnaught

I'm pretty sure we'd have to make up the rest.

As for the UESC/G thing, I'm pretty sure the G only appears in 2+, as it was renamed in the 300-odd years Marathon had been away.

Oh, I'm pretty sure the ratio of damage rate to shields is much higher in Marathon, making ships die faster.

[/B][/QUOTE] The terms make it appear that any ship can destroy a fleet... meticulously piloted, of course. Lots of fast, maneuverable ships in this one, methinks. Can I help too? Please?

------------------
Subcommander g'Var "8 Lightnings" Krai'un
Second in command of the Escort Starbeam.
"CRUISER DESTROYED. 91 remaining" -Ares, chapter 9, Hand Over Fist

Fast and manuverable, yes, but also with at least one turret per ship. The vast majority of ships are large but fast and have turretS.

------------------
William Darkk, head of the Darkklight Entrepenurial Federation
"Strategic warfare" is code for "killing civilians", and it's my calling. Yeah, it's barbaric. War's supposed to be.

Ship Types:
Fighter
Corvette
Destroyer
Battleship
Assault Carrier
Dreadnought
Colony Ship

Weaponry:
Particle Beam
trih xeem/Nuclear Missiles
Fusion Missiles
Wave Motion

BOB/Fighter/CFN/S'pht Transporter (Generic term: Troopers)
-2 on Fighter
-5 on Corvette
-10 on Destroyer
-15 on Battleship
-25 on Dreanought
-50 on Assault Carrier
-20 on Colony Ship

When # (occupancy) > 4, begins eliminating enemy troopers on ship in a random manner. When there are no remaining enemy troopers, the ship is captured.

Marine/Juggernaut/Elite CFN/Defender transporter (Generic term: Elite)
-1 on Corvette thru Battleship, Colony ship
-2 on Dreadnought, Assault Carrier

These can be transported back. (Don't worry, I'm good with Hera, remember? I've already figured it out)

Eliminates large #s of enemy troopers on ship. No remaining troopers, ship captured.

Races:
UESC/G (BOBs, Marines)
Pfhor (Fighters, Juggernauts)
S'pht'Kr (S'pht, Defenders)
Nar (CFN, Elite CFN)
Nebulon (?,?), weakest race in quadrant.
Jjaro (?,?), strongest race in quadrant.

Capturing Planets:
There should be one colonized planet for each race (at least in multi), as well as a number of uninhabited. A colony ship may be brought to an uninhabited planet, and an outpost built there. Colonized planets may be controlled by teleporting troopers/elites there. Each outpost/planet has a garrison, which can teleport to other ships. Colonies may be destroyed by sending a Nuke or trih xeem. It must then be recolonized.

------------------
-Pallas Athene of Dysian Beta, Obish Consensus Representative
-Nieru Dast, {M}ilitia Aeriane
-Danae Vernius
"Cheaters don't really win, and winners don't really cheat. Unless you're talking politics." -Durandal

[url="http://"http://caalaklael.tripod.com/pfhor_corvette.jpg"]http://caalaklael.tr...or_corvette.jpg[/url]

------------------
-Pallas Athene of Dysian Beta, Obish Consensus Representative
-Nieru Dast, {M}ilitia Aeriane
-Danae Vernius
"Cheaters don't really win, and winners don't really cheat. Unless you're talking politics." -Durandal

Guys, this is showing some serious potential. If we could think up a few more weapons and a decent plot this could actually come to gether.

------------------
Throughout their history these "unenlightened" beings have continually opposed and fought abuses of power wrought by their own bretheren. We, as the prophets would do well to learn from these Humans.
-Final statement of the Salrilian reformist Sirthis shortly before his execution.

Weapons? Decent plot? Hmm...

UESC Marathon
Khfiva
Sfiera (Boomer)
Hfarl

Battlegroup Seven
Battlegroup Three

UESC:
Lasers (non-kinetic)
Laser Turrets (NK)
Gravitic Mines (Chases any ship in range)
Fusion Missiles (homes)
Fusion Cannon (Duh)
Nuclear Missiles (Destroys Outpost)

BOB Teleporters
Marine Teleporters

Pfhor:
Particle Accelerators (Like Concussive pellet)
Particle Beams (Green beam forward)
N-Cannons (As on juggernaut)
Warpeadoes (Causes large flash, homes)
Particle Waves (Emits circular effect
Compilers (Cause ship disable effect)
trih xeem (Destroy Outpost)

S'pht'Kr:
'KrBolt (S'pht'Kr Bolt)
'KrBlast (Big version)
S'ct'lac'tr (Virus vs. Pfhor)
...
S'pht Transporter
Defender Transporter

Nar:
Battlemace
Battleflail
Plasma Cannon
...
CFN Transporter
Elite CFN Trasnporter

Nebulon:
...
...

Jjaro:
I think Darkk'd like to do this one...

Storyline:
..Upon recieving Durandal's message, and learning of the Pfhor and their plans to invade Earth, the UESC/G planned a massive counterattack. All the resources of their hundreds of worlds were soon devoted to one task: the production of ships to eradicate the Pfhor. In doing so, they soon became the aggressors.

But while the S'pht were helplessly enslaved millenia ago, the Pfhor had the technology of the Jjaro, and therefore the ability to fight back. Soon the entire galaxy was on the brink of war. The S'pht'Kr, remembering Durandal, immediately chose to side with the UESC/G in the eradication of the Pfhor.

The Nar and the Nebulons were forced to stand by as their homeworlds were destroyed- from years of experience, the UESC/G was inferior to the Pfhor, a losing battle if they were to side there. But their lifelong enemies had been the Pfhor, so any alliance there was no choice. With the choice of the Enemy, the Loser, or neither, both chose neither. But their homeworlds were between Sol and the Pfhor Homeworld, and they too were forced to fight.

The most chaotic event of the entire war was the entrance of the Jjaro. Gone from the galaxy for eons, the Jjaro were the most powerful race ever to exist, even with today's technological standards. They quickly claimed they intended to keep peace.

No faction was willing to listen.

And the war has only begun.

------------------
-Pallas Athene of Dysian Beta, Obish Consensus Representative
-Nieru Dast, {M}ilitia Aeriane
-Danae Vernius
"Cheaters don't really win, and winners don't really cheat. Unless you're talking politics." -Durandal

You forgot the "warp-capable fusion missle" for the humans, presumably a fusion missle of superlight-speeds with a very large range, as well as the allmighty wave motion cannon (probably a blue lightning beam), which should be the colony-eraser instead of the nuclear missles.

As for the Jjaro, they probably use the Trith Xem on their dreadnaughts and other major ships, as well as creating event horizons like at the end of Infinity (except these would be temporary), and maybe quantum fluctuation cannons or some techno-babble sounding weapons. I'd imagine the Jjaro should be almost unstoppable (like 5x shields/firepower/etc. of the Pfhor) but all their ships should be large and insanely expensive except their fighters. They should still be able to win if all things except race are equal (like the Auds in real Ares). I think the Jjaro should only appear in a few missions, and in most be "neutral" (attack both Pfhor and player). The dreadnaught should only appear in single player opposing you (or under Durandal's control in the last level).

The event horizons would vary directly (bigger ship, bigger horizon) with the size of the ship, and look like big black circles. They'd simply sit perfectly still doing massive damage to all that crossed them (except obviously the player they belong to), but not dieing until their time limits were up (they should be set so that they can't be collided).

Also, don't forget that particle beams are turreted. If you don't believe me, ask Battle Group 3 - wait, they're dead. Oh well, you get the idea.

As for Battleroids/Juggernauts, I think they should DESTROY ships over a period of time while making firing/screaming sound effects. Play "Post Naval Trauma", or read the terminals on Marathon's Story. Regardless, all weapons that transport troops onto enemy ships should have them make firing/screaming noises and interfere with the controls for a bit. The noises and stuff seem a nice touch of Bungiesqk humor/pseudo-realism.

The plot seems OK, though. The way I see it, Durandal (with Thoth inside him) is galavanting around looking for a Jjaro Dreadnaught. He's going to come back when the Jjaro do (but the humans won't know & the S'pht will) to get one, perhaps peacably, perhaps not.

That corvette model, if I may be so foreward, looks a little like a fighter, as that blue bubble looks like a canopy. Maybe make the back less wide and rounder and make the bubble gray? I just checked the M2 manual...

As for the human/nar/Nebulon ships, we don't know what they look like at all (except the Human Colony ship and Shuttle) and might have to make up (the human ships could use the Ares human ships, they seem similar in my head). The Pfhor design methodology is rather well known, and 2 classes of their ships have been show by Bungie to us in the M2/MI manuals.

The Jjaro appear to construct spindley structures (like the station, which had many booms into nowhere), and thus probably rely on shields far more than armor. I'd be willing to handle the Jjaro ships.

The Nar ships are massive patchwork constructs, quite possibly employing weapons from a variety of sources. They run on coal (really) and thus would be very slow, but according to Bungie very efficient (huge energy supplies). They're probably the only race with shields better than their guns.

Absolutely no clue about the Nebulons. Mostly the Nar and Pfhor beat the crud out of them unmercilessly. They probably don't even have a decent navy anymore. Their advantage (assuming UESG as 1.000) would be like 0.245 or something.

Oh, and coming soon™ from Darkk and Marathon's Story: what the races look like if you can ever find someone to draw them.

BTW did anyone else here know CFN units are sport utility vehicles with guns? It's apparently true, although very few were supposed to know. It's implied in a secret terminal.

------------------
William Darkk, head of the Darkklight Entrepenurial Federation
"Strategic warfare" is code for "killing civilians", and it's my calling. Yeah, it's barbaric. War's supposed to be.

[This message has been edited by Fleet Admiral Darkk (edited 01-12-2001).]

Trih Xeem a commonly used weapon? You must be crazy! In the games they only used it once, and I don't think the Jjaro are bad-guy enough to actually use it. (Not to mention that they're extinct.)

I was afraid that you'd forget the wave motion cannon, but you didn't. Good.

Trih Xeem shouldn't be something commonly used on a ship, but something that happens, and then you have a mission with a time limit so you have to achieve a goal, say, destroying hyperspace or whatever inhibitors, or getting a ship to the Jjaro Station so that somebody survives, and if you don't finish within the time limit, you get a neat effect of a system blowing up, and you lose.

Multi-threaded storyline; follow different characters until they unite in the end to a point where you work with both of them. i.e. Play at some points as Durandal, searching for his S'pht homeworld, which is what he was doing at the end of Infinity, by the way, then maybe even track down the Marathon marine, and keep track of him, then the UESG(C?), then some S'pht'Kr, and so on...
(Oh, and Durandal didn't merge with Thoth, the S'pht AI, but with a Jjaro AI, I forget the name)
That's my opinion, anyway.

------------------
Subcommander g'Var "8 Lightnings" Krai'un
Second in command of the Escort Starbeam.
"CRUISER DESTROYED. 91 remaining" -Ares, chapter 9, Hand Over Fist

[This message has been edited by 8 Lightnings (edited 01-12-2001).]