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First Strike v1.2 Update: Battle of Yavin

22 Feb 2008 - 12:02 by TALON

Welcome to the second of the articles we’ll be publishing in our run up to the release of First Strike v1.2. In this article you'll get an in depth introduction to a new map that we are very excited about, and we know you will be too. Our setting is the site of the climactic battle at the end of Star Wars: A New Hope, the Battle of Yavin.

Backstory

For Star Wars fans, this map really needs no introduction. With the Death Star approaching their no longer hidden base on the jungle moon of Yavin IV, Rebel forces launched a desperate attack against the Empire’s moon sized technological terror. Armed with knowledge gleaned from technical readouts of the battle station, Alliance tacticians lead by General Jan Dodonna, exposed a small weakness in the Death Star’s defenses, and the Alliance’s one-man snub nosed fighters were the perfect weapon to exploit it. As the Rebel fighters slipped past the battle station’s heavy turbolasers, Imperial pilots launched their own fighters to engage the attacking Rebels ship to ship. A gruesome battle ensued with the Rebel Alliance’s fate hanging on one pilot’s ability to successfully fire a proton torpedo down a thermal exhaust port less than two meters wide.

”Look at the size of that thing.”

When creating our version of the Battle of Yavin, the focus was on recreating the surface of the Death Star as accurately as possible within the constraints of the Battlefield 2142 engine. According to Star Wars lore, the Death Star was the size of a small moon, so getting a full-scale replica of the entire Death Star into the Battlefield: 2142 engine wasn't going to be even remotely possible. Instead, we had to decide what parts of the famous battle we wanted our map to feature, and figure out the best way to implement them in order to effectively mimic the battle we all know and love from the movie. To recreate the surface of the Death Star, artists worked from photographs of the original pieces of the surface model used in Star Wars: A New Hope. The mapper then slotted these pieces together (just as the model makers did for the movie) to create a believable, endless plane of technological terror. Once the basic surface was finished, work commenced on the important objective targets, and other unique assets across the map such as the TIE Fighter hanger bay, the deflection towers, turbolaser towers, the all important trench, and that most holy of holies, the thermal exhaust port in all of its two meter glory. All of our assets were lovingly detailed to the point that we believe this map is likely the most accurate rendering of the Death Star surface to be found in any game to date.

”Cover me Porkins, I’m going in.”

Aside from accurate visuals, our most important goal for the Battle of Yavin was to create a fun gameplay experience while effectively recreating a lore accurate version of the battle seen in the movie. The portion of the Battle of Yavin experienced in our map begins at the point where the fleet of Rebel fighters has passed through the Death Star’s magnetic field and are about to start their attack runs on the surface of the gargantuan space station. The map is essentially split into two separate sets of objectives for the Rebel forces. First they have to take out a number of Deflection Towers in the immediate area to disable the battle station’s shields, this will allow them to move on to stage two where they may make an attack run on the thermal exhaust port at the north most point of the trench. The trench cannot be entered by Rebel fighters before the shields are down, and any attempt to attack the thermal exhaust port from above the surface is doomed to failure thanks to an unhealthy concentration of turbolaser towers around that area. So you can see it is essential to complete stage one before attempting any assault on the exhaust port.

The sole objective for the Imperial forces in the Battle of Yavin is to defend the Death Star until it is within firing range of the Rebel base on Yavin's moon. The Imperial forces have two options for defending their prized moon-sized monstrosity, they can either man the station’s powerful turbolaser batteries in an attempt to blow the Rebel starfighters out of the sky, or take to space in their own craft, the infamous TIE fighters, and take them on ship to ship. No need to worry if you feel you don’t have enough players to effectively man both the turrets and TIE fighters, the turbolasers are controlled by A.I. when unoccupied and can quite capably turn Rebel fighters into a fiery ball of oblivion all by themselves. The addition of auto controllers manning the turrets really adds to the immersion and atmosphere as players experience a storm of green laser bolts filling space above the Death Star's surface.

“You worry about those fighters. I’ll worry about the tower.”

When you reach the point of the battle when you must arc your X-Wing fighter down into the harsh grey metal canyon that is the Death Star trench, I challenge you not to start spouting Star Wars movie quotes like they are going out of fashion. We have gone to great lengths to make this map feel as authentic as possible, and in no part of the map does that become more apparent than when you first enter the trench. We worked hard to get the lighting and scale of the trench just right using various lore references and blueprints. And the famed thermal exhaust port itself? Yes, it too is accurate, and no...you won't just be shooting torpedoes at a wall at the end of the trench until the Death Star is dead. You will only have to fire but one torpedo into the port successfully, but that will be no easy task, and heroic Jedi-like accuracy will be required. However, once you sink that fatal shot, only then will you finally realize the great satisfaction from allowing the Rebellion to live on for yet one more round.

"The Force is strong with this one."

After playing this map hour after hour with our team of testers I still never grow tired of it. The team has put forth an amazing effort to so diligently and accurately recreate this most famous and iconic of Star Wars locales, and we are very proud of what we have accomplished. We are still in the process of balancing the gameplay and tweaking various aspects of the map to get it just right, but we're sure that you will be thrilled with what we have accomplished here. The Battle of Yavin is destined to be a firm favorite in the First Strike map rotation once v1.2 is released.

Community Games

In the upcoming weeks we will be hosting a series of community games on our FSMod.com server to bring the First Strike player population together for some fun, intense Star Wars battle goodness. Be sure to check this space soon for details on the dates and times. Thanks again for stopping by and sticking with us, hope to see you on the servers!

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First Strike v1.2 Update: Ryloth

05 Feb 2008 - 09:02 by TALON

Progress Report | comments (141)

This is the first of several articles we will be publishing prior to the release of First Strike v1.2. This article deals with the issues raised by introducing combined arms gameplay into the world of First Strike by introducing you to one of the maps to be found in our next release: The Battle of Ryloth.

Backstory

The planet of Ryloth is the homeworld of the Twi’lek, the tentacle headed aliens best known for their exotic dancers and criminal major domos such as Bib Fortuna. Located in the outer rim, this arid world has the interesting quirk of having one side of the planet always facing the sun, and the other forever hidden under the cover of night. This results in a twilight region between this perpetual day and night being the only habitable area on the planet. Yet even in this twilight region, dust storms ravage the landscape and living is no easy task. Such an inhospitable and remote place became an ideal location for a Rebel base. Unfortunately, Imperial Probe Droids discovered the Rebels, and the Imperial Star Destroyer Vengeance entered the system to crush the Rebel forces. After pounding the surface from orbit with its batteries of turbolasers, the Vengeance deployed ground troops to mop up any Rebel survivors. However, due to their hidden underground base, much of the Rebel forces had survived the initial bombardment, and a fierce battle ensued between both factions' forces both on the ground, and in the air.

Combined Arms

Now that you know why we are on this planet in the first place, we can get into what can be expected from the Battle of Ryloth. One of the major elements missing from First Strike v1.1 was a full scale map utilizing ALL of the types of assets that the team had created, all in the same map. With Escape from Hoth and Taloraan you get air (space) combat, and with Mos Espa and Endor Strike Team you get ground combat. With the Battle of Ryloth, the team decided to bring in that missing element, the gameplay that the Battlefield engine is best known for: combined arms. You will be gaining access to several new vehicles on this map, not to mention the fact that this will be the first FS map to feature starfighters on a ground map. However, adding new vehicles and new roles for existing vehicles causes balance issues. The trick here is to get everything balanced just right, and our testers are working extra hard to make sure that Ryloth will be balanced and fun by the time we release v1.2.

New Toys

Without further ado, here are some of the new vehicles you will get to play with come the release of First Strike v1.2.

Rebel Armoured Freerunner

Manufactured by the Kelliak Arms and Armour Company, the Armoured Freerunner was considered one of the most powerful additions to the Rebel ground arsenal. Able to be easily reconfigured to meet any combat need, the Freerunner was roughly equivalent to a medium tank in its standard configuration.
Armament: 1 anti-vehicle turret (middle), 1 anti-personnel turret (rear)
Crew: 1 pilot, 2 gunners, 4 passengers

S-1 Firehawke Heavy Repulsortank

Despite the Firehawke's deceptive classification of 'Heavy Repulsortank', it was quite fast and agile. Armed with a heavy laser cannon mounted on its primary turret, the Firehawke combined its speed with its ability to strike with precision from great distances, making it a dangerous foe indeed for Rebel ground forces.
Armament: 1 heavy laser cannon (primary turret), 1 medium blaster cannon
Crew: 1 pilot, 1 gunner (operates medium blaster cannon)

T1-B Hovertank

Although equipped with little armour in order to preserve its agility and speed, the T1-B was not to be taken lightly. Armed with a pod of concussion missiles (homing), and a dual-laser cannon turret, the T1-B helped immensely in neutralizing the Imperial air threat. While vulnerable to enemy armour in one-on-one encounters, it excelled at supporting Rebel armour and working in combination with heavily armed infantry.
Armament: Dual laser cannons (forward turret), 1 missile pod
Crew: 1 pilot, 1 gunner (operates laser cannons)

Every element has its place, and our new vehicles have roles to fill, but we haven't forgotten our infantry. To deal with the threat of additional armour on the ground, and starfighters in the air, the heavy weapons specialist class has had their missile launchers upgraded with a newly added homing functionality. As a pilot you will come to fear the infantryman with his homing missiles, and you will need to adjust your strategies and flight patterns accordingly. Other changes of note include the Y-Wing being converted to its bomber role, and the addition of several fixed weapons emplacements.

In Conclusion...

After playing the Battle of Ryloth in its current form for hours upon hours with our testers, we have tweaked, fine-tuned, and dramatically altered many aspects of the map. It is very important to us as a team that we turn out a map that provides a compelling atmosphere/setting, is graphically satisfying, and ultimately is a map that you, the players, will enjoy playing. There are still things left to be done such as balancing our air vs. armour vs. infantry scenarios and tweaking the graphics, but we are working hard and continue to press on towards our v1.2 goals. We appreciate the dedication you have shown to us by sticking with First Strike while you eagerly anticipate the next release.

Maybe Next Time Buddy

In our next news update we will discuss another of our new maps for First Strike v1.2, the Battle of Yavin. That's all for today, see you next time and may the Force be with you!