Inspired by a section of TheForce.Net before the release of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, I decided to compile a list of random facts about the mod that reveal some parts of the plot without spoiling anything.
- The campaign will be optimized for FreeSpace Open 3.6.12, Medium difficulty.
- The campaign concept (a non-FS-related campaign that is played in the Solar System) dates back into the days following the release of the author's first campaign, Renegade Resurgence. Before any work could take place on it, the author decided to finish Into the Halls of Valhalla. These mods were dumped into a folder named "SolSystem".
- Although the campaign will rely heavily on FreeSpace 2 ships, this campaign's story is inconsistent with the FreeSpace universe.
- Yes, I'm mostly using FreeSpace 2 ships with a couple of user-made mods. You don't want to download a 2GB RAR just to play with an entire shipset of never-before-seen ships, do you?
- The altered versions of the Morning Star and the Lamprey will be available for the player in this campaign. However, the Maxim and the Trebuchet will be removed for gameplay reasons; the closest you will have to the Trebuchet is a missile called Patriot. Its range and damage are inferior to those of the FS2 Trebuchet.
- Primary weapons will be better balanced than those of the retail FreeSpace 2.
- The campaign was started under the development title "The Sol System," which was later changed to "Descendants of the Sol System." The final title is, following advice by a fellow forumite, "Descendants of Sol".
- The campaign title's strict translation is "Descendants of the Sun" (sol means "sun"). Since Sol is the word used in the FreeSpace universe to refer to the Earth, it will be used instead of "Descendants of the Earth". The campaign's title is meant to refer to the fact that humanity is not anymore restricted to their homeworld. Much of the campaign will take place outside the Solar System.
- Missions that do not make it into the main Descendants of Sol campaign will be included as standalone missions. A command briefing stage will be written to each to explain why it had to to be cut.
- You will not travel back (or forward) in time, neither will you jump back and forth between universes/dimensions in this mod.
- The player will not possess supernatural, godlike powers. He will not be a chosen one who is predestined to do something great that changes the course of human history.
- Nor will the antagonist possess such powers, and neither will he be a chosen one that you must prevent from fulfilling his destiny.
- There will be a credits mission at the end of the campaign.
- There will be no 15-minute-long missions which you typically lose in the 14th minute.
- Support ships in some missions will repair your hull.
- The campaign will feature weapons from the author's other two major campaigns.
- The Vasudans will be named as Vasudans in this universe, too.
- There will be no Shivans in the campaign. They don't exist in the Descendants of Sol universe.
- The FreeSpace 2 ship classes that appear in this campaign will retain their original names. A Hercules will be a Hercules, and a Leviathan-class cruiser will not be named as a Messiah-class corvette, just because the author decided it would sound cooler.
- You don't want to fly a Myrmidon, if you know what's good for you.
- Much like in Into the Halls of Valhalla, your character will write logs (accessible by clicking Recommendations in the debriefing).
- Neither the humans, nor the Vasudans will use beam weapons of any kind.
- You will be assigned to superiors that you will hate as much as they will hate you.
- The campaign will make use of the Fiction Viewer feature. It's a feature implemented in 3.6.10., so older builds will not be able to run this mod at all.
- There will be only one Typhon in this campaign.
- The last mission will not be about destroying an uberjuggernaut of doom, nor will it be an epic Battle of Endor-style engagement in orbit of the Vasudan homeworld.
- Hotkeys will be assigned in every mission to make targeting/keeping track of hostile ships easier.
- The Ra will not be used as an escape pod.
- There will be no Hatshepsuts, Orions, and Hecates in this campaign.
- Though the player will be able to influence the outcome of missions, he will not be able to single-handedly take down anything larger than a Faustus.
- The player will fly as Alpha 1 only once.
- The player will never fly as Alpha 2, 3, or 4.
- Most missions will award medals, but you won't get them as easily as you get medals in the canon FreeSpace campaigns.
- Most missions will have a bonus objective.
- As Illidan says in the introduction of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade: "You are NOT prepared!"
- You will have to take a simulator examination before you are admitted to the Navy. Don't get cocky, FS veterans; it won't be about switching targets, using countermeasures, or shooting drones.
- As of August 24, 2009; 18 missions are in an advanced shape. These 18 missions take up 1.06 MB.
- As of August 24, 2009, the effects, models, and maps directories contain 133 files that take up 103 MB altogether.
- There are 5 custom soundtracks currently in use.
- Every command briefing stage will have a title, colored in blue.
- The first mission's file was established on April 26, 2009.
- The date on which the campaign starts is the 200th anniversary of a certain event in Hungarian history (the author is Hungarian).
- You will not receive a single message from "Command". (At least not in the final version; some screenshots may have Command as the sender).
Nice idea and very well written. Here are my comments... the number at the beginning of each comment refers to a specific random fact.
8) Uhm, I'm pretty sure Sol isn't used to refer to Earth in FreeSpace. Sol is the whole Solar system, with Earth being the core of its activity. The difference is pretty clear even in FS1.
10-11-12) I see you're willing to take distance from BP's style here. Were you somehow... afraid to see people expecting supernatural conent in Dos?
14) That's great, really. Boosting balance is always a good thing.
24) Glad to see that you'll be using the Fiction Viewer. Are fiction files going to be focused on the player, or they will have other storytelling purposes?
27) Awesome, campaign designers should definitely rely on hotkeys to improve gameplay.
30) The player will not be able to take down anything larger than a Faustus? I kind of assume that there won't be torpedoes or similar weapons mounted on combat spacecraft. In any case, I like how the role of the player is not as significant as in other campaigns.
31) I like this, too. I also use alternate wing names extensively. Heh, even Alpha 2-4 is a change.
32) Even more interesting!
36) Is this examination... skippable?
10-12) Well, I don't know what they expect, but it's better to make it clear before release.
24) There'll be two entries, one is a news report that gives some background information and serves as a foreshadowing device; the other is more like an excerpt from a novel that helps the player get started with the character branch.
30) There'll be bombs, of course. They won't be nearly as powerful as the ones in FS, though. The missions were made so that you need to have wingmen to successfully destroy cruisers. In most cases, however, there'll be a warship at your side to help you out.
36) I may make it skippable. The training mission's purpose is to introduce the basic weapons and some altered gameplay mechanics before dropping the player into the main campaign.
24) Only two? :-(
30) Seems interesting!
36) Which altered mechanics?
24) Storytelling doesn't require more. Most of the story will be told via dialogs, briefings, and pilot logs (accessible through the debriefing's Recommendations feature).
36) Some minor deviations were taken in comparison to FS2, like a higher damp value, slightly slower turn rate, and there's a whole set of new weapons that I think justifies the inclusion of a "warm-up" mission.
36) Have you included high speeds to make duels more exciting?
There's been a slight speed increase, and deceleration and acceleration has become faster. (Initially I wanted them to be slower, but it resulted in even more collisions taking place than normal).