You can't see the end until it comes to you
OFFICIAL STATEMENT (Added September 23, 2010)
Due to the immense dislike some members have expressed regarding writing, I decided to keep the files withdrawn from public viewing for now. I will work on another "more digestible" campaign, one that requires less writing competence to pull off. If I release that campaign, and its writing doesn't receive such harsh feedback, I will restart working on Descendants of Sol and release a new, improved version. It will not happen in the near future, though.
The section below is to be treated as outdated, as the files are no longer available.
DESCRIPTIONThe following deals with the mod's story outline. Note that
this campaign is not played in the FreeSpace universe. Treat the below description with that in mind.
By the beginning of the 22nd century, humanity had traveled outside the Sol System, and terraformed and colonized two planets in the Alpha Centauri System. These planets served as a foundation to a new civilization that could not evolve on the highly polluted Earth. The governmental factions were eager to expand their territory by discovering jump nodes to more remote systems such as Delta Serpentis. However, the planet Yartis, the more populous of the two colonized worlds, now holds perils that endanger the whole of humanity.
As a recruit of the Solarian Alliance Navy, you are stationed on board one of the many space stations orbiting Earth. Your official duty is police action, but you must find your own aims first. The world around you is unknown to you, and you are not sure how you can become a constructive member of it.
In
Descendants of Sol, the player will find himself in a dystopian future where moral and religious values and individual merits are devaluated. The circumstances do not allow the restoration of these old values. There are always more practical considerations that keep these ideas aside.
Descendants of Sol is a campaign for FreeSpace 2 Open using many new features implemented by the Source Code Project team and numerous mods (including user-made ships, effects, and music).
FURTHER INFOGrammar Checkers: bigchunk1, Klaustrophobia, starwolf1991
Number of Missions: 37 campaign missions. After the first 20 introductory mission, you get to choose which branch you would like to continue with. There are 12 missions in the "military" branch and 5 missions for the "character" branch. 4 standalone missions are also included (2 cut content, 1 training, and 1 "made just for fun"). This accumulates to 41 missions altogether.
Mods Used: Several, see the accompanying readme for a complete list, with credits
Recommended Build: 3.6.12 Final or newer, Inferno build.
NOTES- If you don't know how to install mods for FreeSpace Open, consult the readme.
- You can find some notes on gameplay in the accompanying GameplayInformation.doc. The most important thing to know is that in Descendants of Sol, corvettes can be destroyed with conventional, no-"big damage" weapons.
- All the missions are tested the most thoroughly on Medium, default loadouts, no player-issued wingmen orders.
- Since the mod makes use of the Fiction Viewer feature, post-3.6.12 RC1 builds are required.
- Use of MediaVPs is highly advised. The campaign can be completed without them (it's been tested), but there will be sporadic graphical glitches. The mod.ini will look for the MediaVPs in the /mediavps_3612 folder.
- Some missions will alter themselves to suit your fighter role of choice. For example, if you choose a bomber instead of a fighter, enemy fighters will be less powerful, but enemy warships will be more powerful.
- Descendants of Sol makes use of the hotkey feature. The most important key settings are:
F5: Friendly fighters
F6: Friendly bombers
F7: Hostile fighters
F8: Hostile bombers
F9: Mission critical craft
INSTALLATIONDescendants of Sol is installable in the usual way. If you don't know what this "usual way" entails, the accompanying readme gives you a lot of details, explanation, and helpful links.
And remember to create a new pilot file! This cannot be emphasized enough.
DOCUMENTATIONThe mod comes with three documents: a readme file, a gameplay guide, and a complete walkthrough. These files can be found in the /documentation folder of the downloaded archive.
TROUBLESHOOTINGFor a list of possible errors and their remedies, see the readme file.
This section will be continuously updated, based on user feedback, to complement the readme.
Checksums:
Searching root pack 'D:\Games\FreeSpace 2\SolSystem\DescendantsofSol.vp' ... 433 filesFound root pack 'D:\Games\FreeSpace 2\SolSystem\DescendantsofSol.vp' with a checksum of 0xbe288da7MD5 Hash Number of DescendantsofSol.vp is 68F55BDA54F8FC2EEE0B101605A38539DOWNLOADSHOTFIXESPLANNED CHANGES FOR NEXT PATCH- Inclusion of The E's texture fixes
