Matrix Games Forums

Hey guys!

I've been messing around with modding for a while now, but never actually posted anything. I started work on a mod with 20 new alien races, I created the races themselves but have not finished all the graphic work.

The only problem is, for some reason recently I've been thinking of dumping the idea and making a mod featuring only Humans instead. It's kind of influenced by an old game Alpha Centauri which I really liked, only in this case mankind has not attempted to colonize a new planet they have attempted to colonize a new galaxy. The Empire that they created has been decimated by civil war and split apart into clans, which are the playable races.

The thing is, would anyone want to play a mod that features only Humans? or would this be considered boring? [:D]

Also, the idea behind my original mod was to experiment with massive bonuses and handicaps for the races, trying to inject some life into the galaxy, making the race extremely different. For example, my insectoid race had an enourmous population growth and mining bonus, aswell as the hivemind government. The idea was they had a warrior cast and a worker cast which is why they were so incredibly organised (the mining bonus) and expanded like crazy. In my test game they really were like a swarm heading for an early population victory, this is cool, because if you want them to not take the galaxy by sheer number, you have to go to war with them. Another race were Humanoids who in an ancient war had had a biological weapon backfire on them infecting them all with a deadly plague, the race was excellent combatants with real high tech bonus, but a population growth of a measly 1%, playing these guys meant you have to be in constant war, the only way to grow population is to invade.

The problem with a Human only galaxy, is that I can't think of many ways to differentiate the clans as extremely as my Alien races. What do you guys think? Should I go on with my Aliens, or begin anew with my Humans? Here is the clans I've got so far, still need many more, if you got ideas, feel free to share:

Terran - Normal Humans, the remnents of the collpased Empire
Psi - Telepaths, exiled from the original Empire because of the fear of their powers
Cynet - Cybernetic race, trying to transcend the restraints of plain old humanity by merging with machines and computers
Archivist - Technological clan and historians, preserve the myth of Earth in hopes of uniting mankind once more
Clone - The Terrans experimented with Cloning warriors during the war, a single scientist, known as the father, has spawned an entire race of copies of himself, they all look exactly the same, massive population growth
Junker - The poor, forgotten colonies of the Empire, abandoned during the war by the Terrans and left to their own devices on Desert Worlds, traders, mechanics, junk collectors, pirates, least advanced, but can colonize desert and be merchant guild
Inquisitor - Religious fanatics, mankind must be cleansed through fire, very nasty guys
Utopian - Yeah, pacifists and hippies basically
Nautilus - refugess who fled to Ocean planets, which is their main advantage, nobody else can colonize these

Update:

Plaguebearer - During the civil war, the Terran developed powerful biological weapons, one such experiment was a catastrophic failure and infected much of the population with a disfiguring, highly contagious plague, the Plaguebearers were exiled and quarantined until the Empire collapsed and could no longer maintain the quarantine. The Plaguebearers are now expanding across the galaxy seeking a cure and revenge in equal measure.
Revenant - When the Terran Empire collapsed into civil war many people decided to abandon the failing society and return to the now Mythical Earth (where it is believed Humans originated from). They fled the galaxy in search of Earth, but decades later they returned, ghosts of their former selves, twisted, tormented, cannabalistic and ready to unleash terror.

Possible Ideas: Anarchists, Matriarchs

I think it would be a "very very good" idea to make a mod where the Human race is portraited in its differences.
You should d make the mod so that every faction is so specific it belief in its rightious beliefs of its "doctrine".
( Hence history of the human race is full with the uglyness of zealotry or beautifull feats of goodness )

But i think its best to use Apha Centauri as a template and not to make it 100% cannon.
Otherwise you wil be limited . So that you can edit the mod. And make it realy mature.

Ow and a Matriachical society should be added [;)]

And i can provide you some stuff for the Inquisitor faction:



You see what I mean ?

Go with the humans WoodMan. I think it's a great idea.

What about a heretical, satanic cult faction?

Maybe a faction similar to the Reavers from Firefly?

A faction of anarchists. They have no government and live in a state of complete chaos. They terrorize the other empires. I suppose they are much like pirates.

If you want to go down the comedy route (not always recommended), you could add a faction that is just stark raving mad. Like their leader wears a chicken costume, that sort of thing.

Hey guys!  Thanks for the ideas and support.  I really like dark, serious, sci-fi, so I think a good amount of background information and story will be in the mod, either in Galactopedia if its made moddable, or here in the thread or a text file or pdf or something that comes with the mod.  It would be much better taking this approach with Humans than with Aliens I think, its always darker if you think that it could be us that has comitted terrible things and ended up in this dark future all of our own doing.  Also, some of my fav sci-fi, Firefly and Battlestar Galactica had only Humans (and their dark creations) and they were excellent.

Ow and a Matriachical society should be added

I'll add Matriachical society to a maybe list, I've never thought that a society that is purely Matriachical and not for any particular reason is an interesting idea, but, if there is a reason like in Sins, the Telepath faction is Matrichical because females are the more powerful telepaths, then that is perfectly fine.  I don't know if the Psi faction should be like that though, because that would basically make them a clone from Sins [:D]

And i can provide you some stuff for the Inquisitor faction:

That portrait suits the faction really well, I hadn't got an idea in my head for the way they looked, but I think this theme suits them perfectly.

Go with the humans WoodMan. I think it's a great idea.

What about a heretical, satanic cult faction?

Maybe a faction similar to the Reavers from Firefly?

A faction of anarchists. They have no government and live in a state of complete chaos. They terrorize the other empires. I suppose they are much like pirates.

If you want to go down the comedy route (not always recommended), you could add a faction that is just stark raving mad. Like their leader wears a chicken costume, that sort of thing.

Well, I'll skip the chicken suit [:D]  Satanic I'll skip, I don't want any religion from real life to feature in the mod, the Inquisitor faction, although religious fanatics, are certainly not meant to be Christian, just to clarify, incase the name implies they are Christian.  A faction similar to Reavers is an awesome idea, this I think will be an almost certainty, nice suggestion.  Anarchists a possibility, but I'm unsure at the moment, they can go with the Matriachs in a possible pile.

I've decided to take my idea of the Plaguebearer race from my Alien mod, mentioned in the first post and put them in the Human mod, they are simply Humans instead of Aliens now, and once I've thought a little about a name/background for the Reaver faction I'll make them a certainty too:

Plaguebearer - During the civil war, the Terran developed powerful biological weapons, one such experiment was a catastrophic failure and infected much of the population with a disfiguring, highly contagious plague, the Plaguebearers were exiled and quarantined until the Empire collapsed and could no longer maintain the quarantine.  The Plaguebearers are now expanding across the galaxy seeking a cure and revenge in equal measure.

Edit: Okay the Reaver influenced race [;)]

Revenant - When the Terran Empire collapsed into civil war many people decided to abandon the failing society and return to the now Mythical Earth (where it is believed Humans originated from). They fled the galaxy in search of Earth, but decades later they returned, ghosts of their former selves, twisted, tormented, cannabalistic and ready to unleash terror.

Go with something that you enjoy! That is what is going to give you the energy to create, that is what will make it fun for you.
I was listening to PBS last night about TV shows... they said if you create trying to please crowd, it is a guarenteed failure: so go with what gives you drive to do it.

As to humans only... most of my races are human (even in the Star Wars Universe) I think the Hutts, Nemoidians, and the Geonosians are the only ones that are not human... [:)]

Go with it; I look forward to what you build.

Okay, started work on the mod today It will be a while before its playable, but I will start a thread up when I got plenty of stuff to show, I'm making new planets too, I'll make them part of mod but also put some in the planets thread while this mod is a W.I.P.

I decided to use good ol' heromachine to make my portraits, seeing as despite my trying I don't have a shred of artistic talent in my body. This way I can avoid using pics of movie stars etc and also have some power to make them look how I want. So far, simple Inquisitor and Terran concepts, I made a female Terran too, but haven't put her into photoshop yet. Pic *should* be below, if I attatched it right.

Looks sharp! [&o]

well Iff you want some pictures of human portraits let me know [8D]

Could come in handy later perhaps, once you've seen the race images to get an idea of how the culture look/dress, if you want to make a more photographic look, would be glad to include it on the mod page as an alternative for those who would prefer that style.

I'm still open to suggestions for other clans too, haven't really had time to think of anymore, except that I want a ultra capitalist type faction, perhaps corporation that grew into an entire civilization. Some more images now Inquisitor, Terran, Revenant, Utopian, Cynet and Nautilus:

And last update for today, progressing quickly with the race images, once thats done can then begin work on the races.txt

Added Archivist, Clone and Plaguebearer. Also going to change the concept of the clone faction in the story, when I get around to making it. It's no longer a scientist who cloned himself many times, its now more similar to the Nazi Aryan Experiment, but taken to the maximum extreme (the ideal person, rather than race).

Whats the guy in the firts row on the right ?

Annyway I can give you pictures of a human civ who went cybernetic.


A Steam punk civ ?

Guy on the right first row represents these guys: Revenant - When the Terran Empire collapsed into civil war many people decided to abandon the failing society and return to the now Mythical Earth (where it is believed Humans originated from). They fled the galaxy in search of Earth, but decades later they returned, ghosts of their former selves, twisted, tormented, cannabalistic and ready to unleash terror.

Edit:

Not sure about SteamPunk because I think of it as sort of its own seperate genre to sci-fi. If you got a pic of a cybernetic lets take a look. Also, for Terran I would say take a look at Starship Troopers, or some of the bad guys in Total Recall, I made it after watching Total Recall and I'm sure there is some bad guys who look like that, not sure.

ORIGINAL: WoodMan
or some of the bad guys in Total Recall, I made it after watching Total Recall and I'm sure there is some bad guys who look like that, not sure.

I watched Total Recall just a couple of days ago![:D] You're right, the chief of police on mars, played by Mark Alaimo aka Gul Dukat, wore something very similar. However, they remind me more of the Alliance from Firefly.

I like what you've done so far, well thought out. Have you thought about writing the dialog yet?

lol, now that I think of it, they do look like Alliance from Firefly [:D] Also, I love Firefly btw.

As for dialog, not yet, but definately need some cool dialog to go along with the races.  Been 'writing' some of the story in my head and got some idea of what Plaguebearer dialog might be like: "Why do you avert your eyes?  Are you appalled by my appearance, or are you simply ashamed to look upon the horror that you have created?  Look upon me Terran for this is what you have created, look upon me Terran for this is all that the future holds for you and your bretheren.  Look at me. LOOK AT ME!"  This was the first meeting between Terran and Plaguebearer diplomats [:D]

Oke i tried to use some random stuff i have lying on my hard disk.


Let me know what could be usefull for you [;)]

Hey 2Gun, the Inquisitor pic, the female Terran looks alright too, the male Terran, perhaps not militaristic enough, want the Terran to look quite militaristic. The Nautilus pic would go better with the Guilder faction that I introduce below.

Been working some more today! Got some new factions now and also some new race pics. All race pics are finished for all the factions I'm using so far, but still 5 factions short.

New Factions:

Marketeer - These guys value free trade above all else. They are the result of an Alliance between some of the Terran Empires largest corporations. During the civil war the Terrans tightened up trade and business suffered hugely, it was an attempt to restrict the movement of any dangerous material or knowledge to the many rebelling factions. The Marketeers saw their profits drying up and split away from the Terrans completely to trade with all the warring factions, and made a fortune in the process.

Holo - These are a race of sentient holograms, all connected to each other through a vast network.

Slaver - The Slaver faction are a despotic people who attatches an Obedience Collar to all its citizens. At any time disobedient members of the public can be given a painful or even deadly shock depending on the level of disobedience. After 50 years labour, the collar is removed and the free people live in specially designated living areas.

Guilder - As the civil war intensified the working class of the Terran Empire found itself worked harder and harder, for less and less reward, until the point that they were almost slaves, some were even worked to death. The various industrial trade unions joined together and declared themself and their workers independent, virutally collapsing the Terran Empire. Now they run their own heavily industrialised society and protect their independance fanatically.

The new race images are the bottom two rows: Junker, Marketeer, Psi, Holo, Slaver, Guilder

Edit: I notice I forgot ears on Clone, Marketeer and Guilder, will do tomorrow.

I think I've got all the factions finalised now. I kind of ran out of ideas with two factions to go, and then thought of three at once, typical [:D] Not sure if my final faction is a good idea because they are not Human (although strictly speaking neither are the hologram faction), but the race I left out, the Eco faction (Eco-Terrorists) I couldn't really think of a good way to portray them stat-wise, at least not without making them similar to other factions like the Utopians.

So below is the final selection of races unless I replace the Mechan with the Eco, please let me know what you think about this. First I'll introduce the new 5 factions, they are the last 5 in the image.

Datajack - What started as a protest movement on the Galactic Interweb (the internet) against the Terrans increasing levels of censorship and the introduction of martial law during the civil war escalated into digital warfare when the ring leaders were arrested and imprisoned. In such a highly technological age hackers (known as datajackers) were able to shut down entire transport systems, powergrids, communications and even sabotage military operations.

Arbiter - The Terrans designated one planet in the galaxy to handle all legal affairs and major trials. The Arbiters are the inhabitants of this planet, they were banished from the Terran Empire when they tried to bring legal proceedings (regarding war crimes) against the Terran leaders themselves!

Blackwing - The Blackwing was the special forces wing of the Terran military. The entire wing, numbering only 30,000 were deployed to defend an agricultural world against what was believed to be a small Revenant incursion until Terran reinforcements arrived. When the Terran fleet received distress calls from the Blackwing screaming for reinforcements, and reporting millions of Revenant attackers, the Blackwing were abandoned and left for dead. In a legendary battle, the Blackwing drove back the Revenant and the entire agricultural sector welcomed them as their new rulers and caretakers.

Changeling - The changeling are a result of genetic engineering. They were engineered by the Terran to act as spies. They are able to change their appearance, to look like others, or to make themselves look however they please, which is why most Changelings are incredibly good looking. The process of changing takes months for the most advanced Changelings and takes years for the majority of their population. What was not anticipated by the Terrans was that the offspring of two Changelings would inherit the changing ability. When this was discovered Changeling children were rounded up and taken away, and forced infertility or imprisonment was the choice presented to the parents. Many Changelings fled in terror and lived in secret on backwater colonies.

Mechan - In the final days of the civil war, the Terran Empire lay in ruins, the government about to lose control completely. They made one final throw of the dice and unveiled their new secret weapon, their most devastating creation to date, the Mechanoids. The Mechanoids were programmed to hunt down and kill the many enemies of the Terran (all 18 other factions). Onroute to the Blackwing homeworld the joint Terran-Mechan fleet was intercepted by a Datajack fleet, a data-battle commenced with the Datajacks attempting to shutdown the Mechans remotely and the Terrans trying their best to maintain control. The outcome was disasterous, the Mechans became corrupt turning on the Terrans themselves and destroying the last great fleet of the Empire. Now they roam the galaxy, their mission is to destroy Human life in all of its many new forms.

The full selection of racepics:

You've created some nice history and depth to these factions. Good work.

I think my favourite race to play is going to be Changling, then after that Psi and then for fun, the Revenant.

Are you going to make all the races well balanced against one another or will there be some minor races?

You've created some nice history and depth to these factions. Good work.

I think my favourite race to play is going to be Changling, then after that Psi and then for fun, the Revenant.

Are you going to make all the races well balanced against one another or will there be some minor races?

Thanks, I really enjoy making stuff up [:D]

Hoping to make the races quite balanced, though there will likely be some difference in their overall ability.  Beta will be available quite soon, but final version won't be available until the modders patch or expansion, whatever it is thats improving moddability, is available.  Will start a new thread for the Beta, and after the Beta is released I will introduce the factions one at a time with their backstory and also previews of the shipsets [:)]

Also, the mod has been named: The Andromeda Project

(That's what the people of Earth called the project to colonize the Andromeda galaxy).

Cool.[8D] You should rename the thread to The Andromeda Project.