Mod Ideas/Xenocide

Description

A futuristic warfare simulation; a class based mod with elements of a realism mod. A major aspect are the different "factions" such as humans, robots and aliens, which offer a unique playing experience each.

General Notes

• This mod concept is already being processed by Aeon Development.
• This concept is of a theoretical and fundamental nature. It may be subject to change and inaccuracies, details are planned but not mentioned here.

Mod Features

• Pseudo-Realistic Gameplay:
  These elements are meant to create a "realistic" gameplay - players that fear for their life and avoid unneccessary risks. At the same time, sacrificing your life becomes a powerful yet risky tool.
  On a sidenote - one thing that always annoyed me about Fortress mods was the apparent lack of usefulness of the medic - the gamplay was often too fast for him to apply his skills. Better to have an additional well armed class, be it in defense of offense. In the fast gameplay killing the enemy was always worth more than surviving. In Xenocide, the medic's ability to fully restore a player's health will hopefully make him a very useful class. He'll also be armed with more than just an excuse of a weapon.
  – limited lives (1, maybe more, possible reinforcement system)
  – sophisticated armour (damagetype-sensitive, variable penetration and more)
  – locationalized and special damage (shock, posion etc.)
  – bleeding
  – deadly weapons (few hits can kill instantly, a single hit can cause slow death due to bleeding)
  – stamina (running, jumping, aiming precision, unconsciousness)
  – realistic aiming (weapon bob, weapon(and race) specific targeting systems)
  – going prone
• Strategical Elements:
  – weighted selection system (point value and/or automatic teamsize balance, allows for "unbalanced" classes/factions)
  – leader units (special abilities, GUI for team management)
  – special pawn units (units that can be added to the team like players, but are AI controlled and may not imitate "human" behaviour)
• Factions: (listed in vague order of priority):
  Each faction has different abilities and player classes, and a unique structure (i.e. the classes in different factions are not aequivalent)
  – Rebels (futuristic human soldiers, classes similar to TFC, highly versatile)
  – Aliens (technologically advanced yet physically weak aliens, hit-and-run tactics)
  – Robots (powerful warmachines, slow and inflexible)
  – Scavengers (rag-tag gang à la Mad Max, depending on fast vehicles and flexibility, rush and ambush tactics)
  – Swarm (alien arachnoids, powerful in close combat but vulnerable over distance, rush and ambush tactics)
  – and more...
• Vehicles:
  The focus in this mod is on player classes, not vehicles. While UT2k3 allows for larger terrain it has been emphasized often enough that a good looking map should not be too large... how much this is a technical restriction or simply matter of choice I cannot say... but I don't want maps like in Tribes. The maps should be big enough to allow limited use of vehicles... on some maps anyway.
  The vehicles in Xenocide will be mostly small and/or have the nature of an APC. Most teams will have the option to use vehicles as tactical element, and some are restricted to special classes, like the human scout.
  But following the idea of the mod, every faction may have slightly different uses for their vehicles...
• GameTypes:
  – Team Deathmatch, CTF, DOM (well... the standard team gametypes, saves coding time, at least in the early stages)
  – Strategic Domination (DOM variant with many control points, capturing all primary winning condition)
  – Tactical Operation (Assault, hopefully less linear than the regular assault, taking the special abilities of the classes and factions into account)
  – Campaign (a team of players against (an) AI controlled team(s), possibly with a series of maps to be played in order, details yet to be decided)

Interested Scriptors

We hope interested developers (coders, mappers, modelers etc.) will join our team.
You can find us on http://www.planetunreal.com/ucz and #darkmagic on ETG, or email me - Claw - directly at kreydon@gmx.net.
We especially need more coders and modelers, but anyone with skills in any part of the development process is welcome. It's a "helluva" project.

Discussion