Oh you know, a little of this, a little of that.

Dawn of Victory (DoV) is a modification currently under development by Slipstream Productions for the RTS Sins of a Solar Empire. Dawn of Victory is a total conversion, replacing the game's original assets with completely new and diverse ships, structures, and gameplay elements. Dawn of Victory pits players as one of 3 intergalactic superpowers: the Democratic Federation, Greater German Reich, and the Soviet Union. These three factions wage war amongst themselves even as a greater threat, the Scinfaxi, threaten them all.

Story

While Dawn of Victory started out loosely based on Harry Turtledove’s “Worldwar” and “Colonization” book series, since then, the backstory has expanded to the point where it has taken on a life of its own.

For centuries an alien race known as the Scinfaxi had been the dominant power in the Orion region of space, their slow but steady expansion brought them into contact with dozens of other races, each one conquered and exterminated to provide the resources and material necessary to support the continually expanding empire.

 

In the 14th century, the first Scinfaxi probes reached Earth: it was surveyed, catalogued, and the plans were meticulously laid for its capture and assimilation. However, the Scinfaxi concept of time was very different from humanity's, and so when the first ships of the conquest fleet arrived in 1943, they were stunned to see Terran society had progressed to an industrial state in an unimaginable sliver of time. The initial landings took humanity by surprise, as the Scinfaxi advanced upon every continent.

It was in this darkest hour that what once divided humanity now brought it together, as the old prejudices were put aside and every free nation on Earth united against the alien aggressors. The tide turned in 1945 when the Soviet Union detonated an atomic bomb on its own soil, destroying a Scinfaxi landing site.

 

With the total conquest of Earth impossible without destroying everything of value, the Scinfaxi retreated to the Southern hemisphere, content with half the planet. Decades went by with no contact from the Scinfaxi, but as humanity grew bolder, the aliens' plans accelerated. As spacecraft from the last free nations made landfall, and eventually colonized new worlds, the Scinfaxi slowly began to advance. City after city was lost until, in a final act of desperation, the various Terran factions agreed to pursue a literal "scorched earth" policy, sacrificing their remaining positions to nuclear bombardment and quarantining the planet.

 

Humanity has expanded to the stars, and dozens of planets and moons now belong to the remaining Terran nations. There has been almost no contact with the Scinfaxi, and the former nations of Earth have become so complacent with their apparent safety that the old prejudices have returned and they once again war amongst themselves. The Scinfaxi are still expanding however, and it is only a matter of time before they decide to stamp out the potential usurpers; if humanity is allowed to advance another hundred years, it may be human soldiers landing on Scinfaxi worlds. The dawn of victory is approaching: the only question is which side will claim it.


Features

 

  • 3 unique sides: The Soviet Union, Greater German Reich, and Democratic Federation.
  • Completely reworked combat model, with each ship possessing dozens of weapons and defenses.
  • Military Based Expansion, with research and economic aspects reshaped to support combat.
  • New particle effects, skyboxes, and planets.
  • Diverse environments ranging from open space to clouded nebulae.
  • Several unique ship classes like corvettes and interceptors
  • New planetary defenses like minefields, missile arrays, and defense bases
  • Nine new levels, ranging from two player deathmatch to heated ten player battles
  • New invasion mechanics, with troopships that can invade and colonize planets simultaneously
  • Customizable cruisers and capital ships

Past Updates



 

 


Comments (Page 18)
38 PagesFirst 16 17 18 19 20  Last
on Apr 19, 2008
How are you guys handling the AI? I mean it is technically hard coded in so how will the mod affect the AI's ability to play the game?


AI's smart enough to figure a lot out, but there's really nothing we can do. I'll probably end up hacking around a lot of the weighting and stuff to try to make it play its best.
on Apr 21, 2008
are mines still a possible feature or is the ai still using them as massivle blobs?
on Apr 21, 2008
are mines still a possible feature or is the ai still using them as massivle blobs?


Nah, they work fine now. I've been putting off making them an update but I suppose I should get to it.
on Apr 24, 2008
I checked the site and I know I sound impatient(I cant help it if I am spoiled ) but when can we see some more shots?
on Apr 24, 2008
Pretty soon - see above
on Apr 25, 2008
how long does the average ship take to animate, and will turrets be moving any time soon?
on Apr 25, 2008
how long does the average ship take to animate, and will turrets be moving any time soon?


There's no animation right now - we need to get all the models cranked out before we start doing stuff like animated turrets. Don't expect to see em in the first release.
on Apr 27, 2008
cooool they are at least planned!

any updates?
on Apr 27, 2008
Do you have a concept of Democratic Federation ship style??
Coz something like that would be nice for DF:
http://www.new-un-spacy.com/macrossplus/uraga-escortbattlecarrier/uraga-escortbattlecarrier.gif
on Apr 27, 2008
Do you have a concept of Democratic Federation ship style?


http://www.moddb.com/mods/7175/dawn-of-victory/images/75951/defend-liberty#imagebox
on Apr 27, 2008
Do you have a concept of Democratic Federation ship style??Coz something like that would be nice for DF:http://www.new-un-spacy.com/macrossplus/uraga-escortbattlecarrier/uraga-escortbattlecarrier.gif


Carbon016, thanx for a link! I also found another pic showing DF ships.

WWW Link
on Apr 28, 2008
cant wait for update, from SoaSE's most ambitious mod yet!
on Apr 29, 2008
The mod looks really good and I can't wait to give it a try

Though I do have to wonder, couldn't you at least give Harry Turtledove a mention in the story section? Some name changes aside, you've basically lifted the bulk of the World War/Colonization series before moving into new territory.
on Apr 29, 2008
While mostly just an excuse to get the Soviets and Nazis fighting in space, the DoV story has evolved over time and now has an extraordinary level of depth spanning over 200 years. Fans of Harry Turtledove will recognize many elements from his WorldWar series


Yeah, I took a lot of plot elements from the whole series, but added in some of my own. I suggest you listen to our podcast at our site for some more info.


We're using the World War series and following books as a guide for our mod cannon, but the current state of the universe is rather different in our version than the books, and as far as I know the books haven't gone this far into the future yet.


Read the About link. Or listen to our podcast. Or pay any attention at all to the mod and you might have noticed us mention that we are using that as inspiration.


And finally, contained in the very first post of the thread:

The plot of the mod is loosely based on a series of books by Harry Turtledove;


People lately seem to be viewing this like we're trying to keep it a secret. We're not. We've acknowledged Turtledove's influence on the _backstory_ every time it is discussed. If it is not discussed more, that's only because it's irrelevant. The mod is not about Turtledove's universe, it is about our universe. We could have easily made a backstory that simply was an alternative universe WWII with aliens without lifting any other WW elements, or not had one at all.

At the end of the day, if this issue is really a deal-breaker they can play one of the clearly wholly original IP mods. But if they want a truly original universe and some innovative gameplay, I don't see how semantics about attribution factors into it.
on Apr 29, 2008
Sorry, my mistake. I missed the acknowledgement in reading the description
38 PagesFirst 16 17 18 19 20  Last