Battleships Evermore - 1.0 Release!
Hi all! I'm back with another first-time-mod for ModDB (although this game once had quite the modding community on its official forums - now it's a bit quieter, but the occasional post still gets made) - a mod for the freeware ship-building-and-combat game, Battleships Forever! Given the game last saw official support something like eight or nine years ago and much of the community has dropped off since, I decided this little revival would be aptly titled Battleships Evermore - as the game approaches its second decade of existence.
I played this game a lot as a kid, introduced to it by my dad, and always had ambitions of creating something serious. I wasn't proficient enough to understand even the simple mechanics behind encounters and proper ship design, but many years later I took another crack at it with a serious concept and scope in mind. Without further ado - let's get into it!
Battleships Forever is freeware and can be downloaded here.
Ship Sections - The Building Blocks
First things first - Battleships Forever is built on players doing some, well, building. The ship maker is just the start - as although the base game has plenty of pieces to work with for making your own ships, I wanted the ships unique to the mod to have their own visual style. Therefore, I hand-drew another twenty ship sections of various shapes and sizes, with ten "chunks" intended for constructing general hull shapes and ten "wings" for outcroppings. All the ships in the mod (which we'll discuss next) are built out of only the new and custom segments, with weapons and effects from the base game.
Ships of the Line - The Aphaxi Navy
The new alien race introduced in Battleships Evermore are the Aphaxi, a nomadic race of aliens who get caught in the middle of the Terran-Nanz conflict. The Aphaxi navy is made up of ten ships ranging from smaller patrol craft to the two-of-a-kind mega star dreadnoughts.
The Aphaxi navy fully assembled
Frigates
Visage Frigate
The Visage is a simple frigate, the oldest frigate-class in the fleet, but its cheap maintenance
makes it readily available throughout the Aphaxi fleet as a support vessel.
Vestige Patroller
The Vestige lacks the staying power of many of its peers,
but makes up for it with much more firepower.
Veritas Defence Ship
The Veritas is a vessel best used to nimbly move throughout a fleet, providing support where needed. The repair matrix and moderate firepower means it can adequately defend against weaker enemy targets.
Venerable Fortress Craft
The Venerable class is a nearly unarmed vessel, but for its size, is remarkably hardy. Deflectors allow it to defend against even the fiercest attacks whilst a pair of flak cannons shoot down most enemy projectiles.
Destroyers
Centurion Frontliner
The Centurion's offensive power is notably weak compared to other ships in the Aphaxi navy,
but it is mostly a defence craft intended to cover the bases larger ships in the navy fail to.
Liberator Gunship
The Liberator is a simpler ship, so simple that it, in fact, is not based on Aphaxi designs at all
- representing a combination of Aphaxi and human technology.
Cruisers
Syndicator Fleet Support Craft
The Syndicator is quite heavily armed but with armanents best suited against larger targets. More of a long-range artillery craft, the Syndicator's true strength lies in its repair capabilities and platform dispersal pod.
Bellator Assault Vessel
The Bellator's wide profile may give plenty of room for taking fire, but it is hardy and heavily armed, with ample means of defence. Some of the heaviest firepower in the fleet can be found on the Bellator.
Battleships
Adjudicator Enforcement Ship
When serious enemies pose a threat to the Vindicator Star-Farer ships,
the Adjudicator is the strongest line of defence used in regular combat.
Dreadnoughts
Vindicator Star-Farer
Only two Vindicator-class Star-Farers exist - the Mallima, and Quorochi. Both are giant city-sized
ships intended more as mobile homeworlds than anything, with thousands of colonists.
Encounters - A Fortuitous First Contact
In Battleships Evermore, you'll meet the Aphaxi - a nomadic race of aliens. Initially leading into conflict with the losing Terran forces, the Aphaxi will eventually become an ally against the Nanz, but only after many twists and turns in this short but engaging adventure.
Special thanks to Bunnytob for the default ships used in encounters!
Encounter 1 - First Contact at Praxes IV
In a losing war with the Nanz, Terran forces shoot first and ask
questions against another alien species encroaching on human territory.
Encounter 2 - Diplomatic Tension
A shaky ceasefire is agreed, but as peace details begin getting hashed out, Nagaya's pirates see an opportunity for plunder and attack, meaning humans and Aphaxi must team up to repel the attackers!
Encounter 3 - Nanz Aggression
Not wishing to get drawn into a war they cannot sustain, the Aphaxi initially decline Terran assistance - but yet another unprovoked attack, this time by the Nanz, threatens their entire existence.
Encounter 4 - Enemy of my Enemy
Finally realising this hostile galaxy needs every ally you can get, the Aphaxi team up with the Terrans in preparation for an onslaught of Nanz and Nanz-aligned pirates.
Encounter 5 - Alienism
Sometime after an alliance is formed, a human fleet intended for joining up with an Aphaxi force turncoats out of anti-alien sentiment, and the Aphaxi must fight for survival against their new and once-allies
Encounter 6 - Separatism
Faced with treachery and combat on all sides, the Aphaxi people split in two, and
the Vindicator Star-Farer duet, for the first time, splits as well. The
fate of the entire Aphaxi people will be decided by the victor of this civil conflict.
Lore - What You Leave With
Whilst Battleships Forever is hardly a lore-heavy game, it does have its own simple narrative to frame events. There's no obligation from mod creators to remain within this narrative, but in designing Battleships Evermore, I kept the themes and conflict consistent with those from the base game as a sort of "addon campaign". Lore for each of the six encounters, as well as entries on every one of the ten ship types, will give a little extra background to the events taking place. It's suggested you read each encounter lore entry before playing that encounter!
Conclusion
This has been another little modding adventure, and I especially enjoyed creating the custom sprite pieces the ships are constructed from! I'm not against revisiting the Aphaxi with yet more ship pieces and more ships as they evolve to face off against the Nanz - but just like with all of my mods, a sequel is a story that may or may not ever be told. For now, enjoy this walk down memory lane, and feel free to use my ships and ship parts in your own encounters and creations!
