Moderator: Thanas
(I'd guess the latter)
I certainly hope so; I rather like the idea of being part of a major war. I remember going to the Boneyards website and looking in awe at the sector map as planets traded sides again and again.White Haven wrote:Attention: WOOT!
That is all.
Well...no, not all. I wonder, given the massive Expanse of Lawless Anarchy(tm) that's being written into the story, if SC is going to include a Boneyards-style multiplayer campaign?
Too easy!Uraniun235 wrote:Alternative names for team leader:
Dr. Death (many, many bonus points and delicious cookies for those who get this reference.)
Time to sing.Ace Pace wrote:Okey, some notes:
Around 2018, humanity discovers quantum tunneling, by late mid century their transporting humans, significecntly speeding up travel times.
Humanity expands, then meets these weird aliens that want nothing and arn't hostile but someone attacks them.
Forgot this part.
Final status: There are 3 factions.
One of them is standerd humanity, fighting to stay alive.
The second is the Aeons, sleek aliens, kinda crusading with the "Our way" or perish.
Last are cyborg\geneticly enhanced humans, out to get their rights.
Dahak wrote:Well, the whole "wormhole network" thingie read almost like that of "Pandora's Star"...
Page 1 wrote:Perhaps one of the weakest things in Chris Taylor's last RTS was lack of a back story. He hopes to change that this time around.
By John 'Warrior' Keefer | July 8, 2005
Total Annihilation was one of the best RTS games ever created and to this day still has a following in the mod community. Yet, despite all the fanatical loyalty behind this futuristic game, even the fans agree that one of the weakest parts of the game was the story. While some may argue that you don't need a solid story to have a good RTS, the popularity of titles like StarCraft and the Warcraft series are enhanced by a story that followers of the various sides can sink their teeth into.
The original story was confined to one page of the 3-inch by 4-inch manual. The bottom line: Galactic War between Core machines and Arm clones. That, and the fact that all civilizations had long since died over a 4,000-year war, was pretty much all players got. "We were really focused more on gameplay," said Chris Taylor, mastermind behind Total Annihilation and now spearheading Supreme Commander at Gas Powered Games. "It wasn't until the very end that we said, 'Wow, we need an intro for the game and a story.' We threw it together really fast."
So, while Taylor and his team have still been focusing on great gameplay, there has been more of an effort placed on creating a believable story that shows the beginnings of the three factions for the game and what led them to the time when the game begins. Now, there is a whole timeline from present-day Earth to more than 1,800 years into the future. The three factions -- the United Earth Federation, the machine-like Cybrans and even the bizarre Aeons -- all have ties to Earth.
Starting with the Quantum Age in 2018, Earth scientists begin experimenting with "quantum tunneling," which will transport living matter great distances. However, this technology is extremely expensive; one tunnel can use the combined output of 25 fission reactors. Earth had been focusing more on conventional space travel, only to start running into problems because there travel just does not happen fast enough. So scientists keep working on the tunneling technology and finally perfect it, first teleporting a single atom of cesium in a lab. Soon after, the first off-world teleportation moved a milligram of iron to Mars.
After those successes, scientists slowly started working up the food chain from inspects to mice and monkeys. The first human "tunneled" happens in 2062 when a group is sent to Neptune's moon Triton to explore interstellar travel. A quantum tunnel transport takes .26 seconds.
The galaxy slowly begins to be colonized through a variety of tunnel networks, radiating from the Earth. By 2284, 16 colonies (also known as the Prime Worlds) have been created, and by 2316, each of these 16 colonies begins their own expansion. More than 210 years later, 110 colonies begin their expansion. To this point, no alien life has been uncovered.
Page 2 wrote:Meanwhile, on Earth in 2592, Dr. Gustaf Brackman has been doing some amazing things in the field of biology and artificial intelligence. He creates what he refers to as "twined individuals," which are humans with microcomputers placed in their brains to do more advanced calculations at incredible speed, as well as balance out human impulses and correct psychological problems. The microcomputers house advanced AI algorithms designed to compliment and enhance a person's own personality, ability and role in society. The work eventually evolves into the creation of cybernetic brains that function expertly in the areas of science, engineering and war.
However, as with any major scientific breakthrough, the skeptics came out. In this case, it is the government that gets scared at the prospect of these twined individuals replacing real humans. So the government creates a "gentling" program that becomes part of future cybernetic brains. This program can be activated if the cybernetic brains get out of control. Brackman fights the change, but eventually acquiesces to keep his funding going. Also during this time, the technology is made available to the private sector.
By 2663, there are now more than 400 self-replicating colonies and the empire is having trouble regulating them. Small scale wars develop between colonies and the Earth sends Colonial Command forces to stamp out the resistance. These pacification operations continue to grow. What the Earth doesn't realize is that some of these rebellions are being started by Colonial Command Commanders unhappy with current events and/or greed for power of their own. Several colonies seek to secede from the empire, including Pluto II, a planet made up almost entirely of Cybran symbionts. The secession demand is rejected and the Colonial Command moves in to pacify the resistance. At the same time, the government orders the "gentling" program activated to prevent further dissent.
During this time, Brackman anticipated the Empire's reaction to the request for secession and flees Pluto II along with many of his (soon to be) Cybran followers to start a new colony in secret and continue his research. He is in failing health and begins to use his own cybernetics to keep himself going. He is alerted to the order of the gentling program's activation and immediately activates countermeasures he had programmed into later cybernetic brains on his planet. He cuts off contact with Earth and keeps his Cybran research going. The move goes unnoticed by the Earth Empire and Brackman's planet becomes the hub for the Cybran expansion.
Page 3 wrote:During the second galactic expansion, an expedition to the planet Seraphim II is presumed lost when there in no contact after several weeks. A second expedition is sent, but also does not contact Earth within the appropriate time. Earth marks the area HAZARD and adds it to a growing list of areas that need to be investigated closer when time and Colonial Command manpower permits.
What the Earth does not know is that alien life was finally discovered. The Commander in charge of the expedition cannot handle the first contact and readies for a war with the aliens, despite no overt acts from them. He also cuts off all contact with Earth "to protect them from this newfound menace" and to hide the location of earth in case the aliens have the means to track communications.
A biologist, part of the colonization team and only identified as Sarah, meets with the aliens without the Commander's knowledge to try to gain a peaceful solution to the conflict. It turns out that the aliens are indeed peaceful and she is able to gain their trust. However, the Commander grows increasingly paranoid and accuses her of being brainwashed by the Seraphim. He increases his attacks so that Sarah and the Seraphim have no choice but to resist and counterattack. In the end, the Commander releases a biological agent into the atmosphere that is deadly to all Seraphim. He annihilates the planet, but not before the race is able to impart all of their knowledge and technology to Sarah and the Seraphim sympathizers.
Part of this technology involves the ability of "future sight." The Seraphim could see the future but refused to do anything to change it when it was in their power because they did not want to tamper with the purity of what is to come. They imparted a limited "future sight" ability to Sarah and her associates -- limited only because the human brain was not as capable of the ability as the Seraphim. The remaining colonists build on this alien technology and expands to continue the "peaceful" teachings of the Seraphim.
More than 120 years after the first colonization expedition, Earth finally hears from Seraphim II. Delegates from the colony explain what has happened and how the aliens gave them "something beautiful" before being destroyed by an insane Commander. They announce they have evolved and want to help Earth by sharing their knowledge to avoid "the calamities to come." In response, the entire Seraphim II sector is quarantined and all available Colonial Command Commanders are sent in to pacify what Earth sees as its greatest threat to date.
However, within the course of a year, Earth starts to lose contact with numerous planets bordering the Quarantine Zone, but not before getting cryptic messages from various Commanders of attacks. No further communication from these planets is ever received, so Earth only assumes the worst. By the end of the year, all contact with Colonial Command forces on colonies within 10 light years of the Quarantine Zone is lost. Fragmented video shows forces using vaguely familiar Colonial Command designs, but with unusual and unrecognizable modifications. Earth tries some half-hearted diplomatic negotiations that fail. So, all Commanders in the area are ordered to destroy the Quantum Gates along the Quarantine Zone in an effort isolate the Aeon.
Page 4 wrote:Despite all the turmoil, expansion continues, with the Earth claiming control of as many as 1,280 systems at its peak. The Colonial Command is stretched to its limits because of unrest along the frontier, incursions by the Cybrans and Quarantine Zone action. Unrest grows into full-scale galaxy-wide wars among various colonies. Corrupt elements of the Colonial Command seize the opportunity to become warlords in their own domains and cast off any allegiance to the Empire. Cybran rebels seize whole systems and Aeon Commanders force the Colonial Command to pull back from the Quarantine Zone with coordinated attacks.
Finally, after five years of relative quiet along the Quarantine Zone, Colonial Command Commanders are overwhelmed by a coordinated strike on nine border worlds. The Colonial Command takes heavy early losses, but is able to rally to stave off any further Aeon advancement. Any attempts to make inroads into the Quarantine Zone are repulsed and the battle lines are finally drawn and the Aeon Illuminate has secured its sector of the galaxy.
Historians make 2819 as the beginning of the Infinite War. The last loyal remnants of the Colonial Command have retreated back to the 16 Prime Worlds, abandoning the rest of the galaxy to anarchy. Much of the Quantum Gate network is destroyed by various factions pushing their own agendas. Many worlds that relied on the Empire are lost, as are the technology and science that may have been in development.
It is during this time that 28th-century combat takes on a new face. A single man in a self-sufficient commander suit can arrive alone on a distant world and create a massive army of robots, tanks, ships and planes within hours of arrival, using only the native mass and energy of the planet. Whole worlds are laid to waste in battles between these commanders and robotic armies. It is believed the Infinite War is lasting as long as it is because of the inexhaustible nature of these "Supreme Commanders" and the fact that they were never envisioned on such a massive scale.
The Earth Empire finally crumbles and a new government comes in vowing to reach out to the worlds abandoned as the empire collapsed. This United Earth Federation offers stability to troubled worlds. Meanwhile, the Aeon Illuminate suggest that worlds accept "The Way" or destruction. And the Cybran fight trying to free their brothers from the oppressive human way.
As the UEF is formed, the battle lines are drawn and the sides clearly defined. And it is up to the player to end the war. When the player chooses a side, they are presented with a sympathetic view from that side's perspective. The Infinite War is now in the player's hands. How will it end?
