As mentioned earlier in the holiday season here are the finalised dates for the Black Intel sponsored First Strike Gaming Events which will be held on the BI server, the first one being tonight. So we look forward to seeing you there and at the event dates to follow for some festive fragging.
As thanks for your votes over the recent MOTY Awards, and to celebrate the season, we'd like to present you with this selection of festive (Well they DO have snow in them) screenshots from the upcoming Battle of Hoth map, a little something to shove under the tree, or on the mantelpiece from the First Strike team.
As an additional gift, we're planning to get some games in this week during the break in the campaign event until after the new year. If you'd like to join us, we'll be starting on Rebel Defiance from 8pm GMT every night. We have direct admin control so can change maps, edit map lists and ticket counts etc on the fly. Ideally, we'd like to be able to reach a point where Rebel Defiance is full to capacity and we have to switch to the larger BI server. If you'd like to help see a fully populated First Strike server, then feel free to jump on. Remember, its from 8pm every night this week (except of course Christmas Eve, Christmas Day etc), you don't have to be there on the dot, there will be no password, just come and join us for some great games.
As an added bonus, if you'd like to join some team chat and have Ventrillo, We will open up the Dev Team's private Ventrillo server for use. Feel free to join it and talk with other players, increasing team work and community relations!
Ventrillo details:
Hostname/IP = vent.killercreation.co.uk
Port = 33839
If you are interested in joining this vent channel, then please try to connect early. This is so that if you have any problems you can post on the FS forums for help, but also because space is limited on there.
Finally, in conjunction with Black Intel we'll be hosting a number of gaming event nights over the Christmas and New Year season on their server, so stay tuned for details on the dates and time of those events.
So that's the lot then guys, the Devs are stepping up to the plate and calling you out! Get your game on this holiday season with First Strike!
Once again a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all, and remember...
The Captain stepped onto the bridge of his vessel, the Carrack class light cruiser Dominant. Taking his seat at the centre of the relatively small command deck, the Imperial Naval officer signalled to his helmsman to drop them out of hyperspace. The Lieutenant acknowledged the command with a curt nod and pushed forwards on the control lever, disengaging the hyperdrive while simultaneously bringing up the sublights. The maelstrom of hyperspace dropped away before them to be replaced by the massive orb of the gas giant Taloraan as they sped into orbit.
The slender Imperial vessel was soon joined by two escort Lancer class frigates and the rear was brought up by a bulk freighter, their mission, a resupply run to Taloraan for the Outer Rim Fleet. A simple mission which was about to get a lot more complicated. An alert chimed from the tactical officer's console, who turned to face his Captain just as he stepped forward from his command chair. Looking at the tactical display the Captain could see an impressive looking strike force of Rebel cruisers between them and the planet. It looked like they might find glory in this blue milk run after all. He steps back up to his chair, pressing a switch on the command console on one of the arms as he sits down, activating a fleet wide communications channel.
"All capital ships form up, prepare to launch fighters."
ROUND 1: ENCOUNTER AT MOS ENTHA
After their ship is crippled in an engagement in low orbit over Tatooine, the Naval Marine complement of a Rebel Corellian Corvette must fend off an advancing platoon of elite Imperial Sandtroopers on a seek and destroy mission to the deserted town of Mos Entha. The Rebels knew they had to act decisively or risk being overrun amongst the wreckage of their downed cruiser. Aggressively they moved out into the town in small fire teams moving swiftly hoping to catch the Imperial forces unawares in the shadows of the night. There were light skirmishes here and there, and then the commanders of both forces found that they had bypassed each other's main patrols and occupied the area their enemy had previously had control of. This game of cat and mouse continued until the Imperial forces were isolated in the town entrance area to the north. Deploying his forces in a wide search pattern the Rebel Commander moved in, careful to not allow any enemy troops to slip through the net, culminating in an intense street battle until a second unit outflanked the dug in Imperial troops and finally eliminated the threat.
ROUND 2: BATTLE OF RYLOTH
Acting on intelligence gathered by Imperial Probe Droids, the Star Destroyer Vengeance was ordered to Ryloth to investigate reports of a hidden Rebel base. Following a lengthy bombardment a task force was deployed to mop up any survivors. The base however was hardier than expected, and the Rebel forces stationed there were more than ready for a fight when the Imperial troops arrived. A lethal combination of swift but deadly T-47 armoured Airspeeders and BTL-S3 Y-Wing fighter bombers tore into the Firehawke tank columns moving in on the Rebel positions to devastating effect, halting the Imperial ground assault in it's tracks. The Empire did make formidable use of armoured Lambda shuttles, making swift and dangerous combat drops deep into enemy territory to deploy troopers to hold key installations in the area, but they never could quite break the Rebel's hold on air superiority in the region, leading to thrilling aerial chases through the region's deep canyons, and fierce fighting on the ground. In the end the Imperial task force had to withdraw from the area due to overwhelming odds, and were forced to return back to their Star Destroyer in orbit to rethink their strategy.
ROUND 3: BATTLE OF TALORAAN
Engaged in a supply run for the Outer Rim Imperial Naval Fleet Command, a small flotilla of Imperial cruisers finds a Rebel task force between them and the planet Taloraan when they exit hyperspace. Intent on collecting the vital supplies, and preventing the Rebel forces from escaping with their prize, the Imperial fleet pulled into formation to assault the Rebel cruisers. Reacting swiftly to the surprise arrival of the Imperial forces, the Rebel fleet commander deploys all his starfighters in an all out assault on the Imperial fleet. The intention, to deal as much damage as possible to the enemy capital ships before they even close into effective weapon's range. The first wave of fighters targeted the Imperial bulk freighter, that ship's repair and re-arm capability made it a valuable target that had to be destroyed as swiftly as possible. Wave after wave of focused proton torpedo attacks from X & B-Wing fighters buffeted the freighter before the Imperial fleet could close formation, and this craft's early destruction dealt a serious blow to the Imperial fleet. Once in formation the Imperial fleet moved in, and the heavily armed and armoured Rebel starfighters shifted to their next target, the Carrack command ship of the fleet. Swift moving and agile Rebel Corvettes were the first of the Rebel capital ships to move into battle, supported to the rear by a Gallofree Medium Transport converted for repair duty. The first Corvette went head to head with the heavier Carrack class light cruiser, jinking from side to side to avoid that ship's deadly salvos of proton torpedoes. Concentrated heavy turbolaser fire finally caused the Carrack's shields and hull integrity to buckle and fail resulting in another loss for the Empire. The Corvette swiftly changed target to an escorting Lancer altering it's heading to bring all weapons to bear, as the Rebel fleet surgically selected target after target to focus all their collective firepower on. The second Lancer swung around and attacked the Gallofree from behind, destroying this valuable asset and robbing the first Alliance Corvette of that vessel's much needed repair facilities. Taking on too much damage the Corvette erupted into a superheated ball of gas and debris, but it's Lancer foe wasn't far behind, succumbing to the deadly torpedoes of an attack wave of Rebel starfighters. The final Imperial Lancer tried to disengage and break orbit, but caught by the onslaught of the focused firepower of all the Rebel fleet's remaining ships had little chance of escape, and was inevitably blown apart drawing the Battle of Taloraan to a close.
So in our fourth week things continue to get interesting, with a full three match clean sweep for the Rebellion this week, which should see them take a slim lead. A fitting way to enter into this holiday season mid campaign break for Christmas and New Year, with the scores so close that it is still anyone's guess who will end up victorious in the end. This week's matches were great, with good participation, and an interesting mix of maps taking in infantry, a classic combined arms map, and a fleet assault space map, all the good diverse stuff that First Strike has to offer.
As an added bonus. Alliance intelligence have managed to intercept encrypted Imperial coded transmissions. Which when code broken were revealed to be battle logs of the Imperial forces engaged in this week's battles. Imperial Holonet News and Imperial COMPNOR intelligence agencies tried to bury this data, but we have it for you here right now, so check them out before they manage to disrupt our transmissions:
Additionally, we have helmet cam footage and sensor recordings from Rebel troops and spacecraft engaged in these Alliance victories, follow the link bellow to gain access to the data which the Rebel Alliance are streaming to all their hidden cells across the galaxy.
If you like what you see here, fear not, you haven't missed this event, it is still ongoing, and will commence again early in the new year. We hope to see more players in the coming weeks, so if you haven't joined up already get involved and sign up here:
Also during the holidays during the break in the campaign, we plan to hold a few event nights for public play, where new players can engage in some good well populated non-competitive games, so keep your sensors peeled for more news on that as we get it.
Finally, for more information on the mod and access to exclusive material, you can follow First Strike on Twitter, just search for FirstStrikeMod to gain access to this additional content.
Lastly, one final thank you to everyone who voted for us, it has certainly been an interesting MOTY Awards this year, and it seems a very exciting time to be involved in the modding scene with some fantastic work appearing in all game genres. Good luck everyone. See you on the other side.
As this year's Mod of the Year Awards season draws to a close we'd like to thank all of you who voted for us, propelling us once again into the much coveted position as one of the MOTY Top 100 Mods, that means a lot to us and makes all the hard work seem worthwhile.
So to show our appreciation we'd like to lay one last treat on you just in time for the Christmas holidays. FSDev Twigs has been hard at work shooting a second preview video of some of the content being developed for the Battlefield 2142 Star Wars mod First Strike's most anticipated new map, The Battle of Hoth. This example features work in progress (WIP) in game footage, and so as such does not represent the final product we expect to deliver, but it does provide you with a tantalising glimpse of what we intend to achieve.
We'd just like to take the opportunity with this timely article to thank all who voted for us in the current Mod of the Year Awards event, it really means a lot to us to be in the Top 100 mods list once again this year, especially as the team is now so small and hard at work bringing new content to you. It has been a difficult year but we're persevering on, and inching ever closer to Hoth, so keep your eyes peeled for new articles on that very subject later this week.
Thanks once again for the support, it is most appreciated, and we look forward to letting you loose on the ice plains of Hoth soon.
Until then get on our servers and let's get some highly populated games of First Strike going, and of course don't forget to register for the NIC Campaign currently being played. Get in on that competitive play action, you'll love it.
Speaking of which, back to business...
The swirling blue soup of hyperspace gave way to a million needles of bright white light, which in turn became the inky blackness of space, and he was at his destination. His tiny starfighter streaked in at incredible speed towards a dull brown orb. Blurs of motion in his peripheral vision notified him that his wingmen had also arrived, the sleek, flat red and white arrowhead shapes of the Rebel A-wing fighters dropped into formation either side of him as he checked his readings. There it was. Locking on he led his wing of starfighters as they peeled off towards their target, a shining space station floating in orbit around the planet Parmel. Then his ship's computer engaged a high pitched alarm notifying the pilot that the enemy installation was launching fighters. His tactical computer locked on and identified each ship class as it exited the space station's vast hangers. TIE Fighters and TIE Interceptors. The station was well defended, it looks like they'll have a good fight on their hands this day. But wait, a new signal comes across his screen. A TIE class configuration, but the likes of which he'd never seen before, a three wing array? But before he can really give it any more thought a storm of laser fire erupts before them bathing the cold vacuum of space with piercing hot light. The questions would have to wait. Now was a time for action.
ROUND 1: ENDOR CLEARING
Tracking a crash landed Galofree transport that had gone down in the woods of the forest moon of Endor, a Rebel search and rescue team have encountered a scout force of Imperial troops intent on salvaging the vessel's transponder to aid them in their escape from the world. Realising the threat the Rebel troops swiftly engaged the Imperial forces in a fierce battle to gain control of wreck. The Imperial forces arrived on the scene first, but their initial probing force was eliminated by the advancing Rebel commandos. Once secure they set up an effective defensive perimeter well serviced by sensors and Mk.II heavy repeating blasters, and dug in. By not seeking to advance further, and knowing that the Imperial forces would have to come to them if they wanted to secure the prize, they were able to whittle their numbers down as they left the surrounding tree line from their advantageous position until all the enemy were eliminated.
ROUND 2: ENDOR STRIKE TEAM
Encountering a crack commando unit of Rebel troops infiltrating their territory on the forest moon of Endor, Imperial commanders made the wise move to pull back from initial contact with the enemy with minimal resistance in order to consolidate their forces in more readily defendable positions. The first of which was an Ewok tree village near their compound. The village was essentially hostile territory, but the local indigenous sentient life forms were considered too primitive to be a threat, but in conjunction with the advancing Rebel commandos proved to be a more formidable foe than expected forcing the Imperial forces to withdraw to their southern most outpost. This proved to be more of a successful location to defend with high walls, defensive turbolaser towers and AT-ST Walkers to hand. The Rebels made many insertions into the compound but were repelled time and time again by the strong defensive measures of the crack Imperial Stormtroopers garrisoned there. Eventually with their mechanised support destroyed, the Imperials were overwhelmed at this location and they were forced to retreat again, but the cost of capturing the outpost had been high on the Rebel strike unit, and once they engaged the enemy once more in the forest trails leading to the bunker entrance, the Imperial counter attack was too much for them and the Rebel strike team was lost.
ROUND 3: STRIKE AT PARMEL
Acting on information provided by Rebel Intelligence, a strike force of Alliance starfighters had entered the Parmel system with orders to destroy all enemy resistance at the Imperial installation located there, and to capture it and any research relating to a new advanced Imperial starfighter. Little did they know that so many prototypes would already be operational. The battle over the Imperial research station was intense with some of the best spacecraft both factions had to offer engaging in head to head combat. What would win that day? The heavy firepower and shields of the Rebel starfighters? Or the faster and more manoeuvrable Imperial TIE Fighters? This time it was the Rebel's hardier vessels and hotshot pilots that won the day and managed to secure the Imperial installation, but the cost was heavy with many a good Rebel pilot falling to the superior weapons of the Empire's new TIE Defender.
Three weeks in and the Empire have managed to still hold onto the lead that they took so convincingly from the Rebels last week, but with a stronger showing this week the Rebellion shows that it is down but not out, with a number of victories that see them quickly clawing away at the Empire's lead, with the scores now standing at 41 for the Empire, and 34 for the Rebellion. So it is still very much all to play for. We hope to see more players in the coming weeks, so if you haven't joined up already get involved and sign up here:
The Imperial officer braved the bitterly cold gale force winds of the ice world of Rhen Var, stepping out of his command centre stationed amongst the towering ancient Jedi temples. Planetary sensors had picked up something entering orbit, but once within the atmosphere tracking the targets had been sketchy at best. The density of the airborne ice and snow meant all but the strongest sensor sweeps were next to useless, and that same snow and ice made visual scanning next to impossible. All the same he brought his macrobinoculars to his face, this would shield it somewhat from the wind if nothing else, and proceeded to scan the valley ahead beyond the harbour. He swept from right to left, and then pulled back. He thought he'd seen just a hint of movement in the distance. Increasing magnification on that area he saw more shadows of motion amongst the swirling ice and snow. The game was afoot. He calmly lowered his binoculars and keyed his comlink on.
"Mobilise all Firehawke tank divisions. It would appear we have company."
The commander had not been happy with his posting to this backwater world so far from the action, babysitting a bunch of scientists at a remote research station, but this day could prove most interesting.
ROUND 1: RHEN VAR RESEARCH FACILITY
A seasoned Rebel strike force sought to infiltrate and secure an Imperial research station on the remote ice world of Rhen Var. Securing a compound in the south for use as a staging area they pushed north through tight mountain passes to the station's sister compounds, initially meeting with some resistance but successfully securing the next of these installations. However they came unstuck when the defending Imperial snowtroopers mounted an impressive counterattack as the Rebels attempted to push through another mountain pass on the way to the final compound. They successfully outflanked the Rebel troops and re-secured the second installation erecting impressive defensive weapons emplacements that made it all but impossible for the Rebels to successfully invade again. Now that the advantage of surprise was lost, the Rebels had to cut their losses and retreat in the face of insurmountable odds.
ROUND 2: RHEN VAR ICE PLAINS
Dropping vehicles close to an Imperial installation under the cover of the vicious weather conditions of Rhen Var, a Rebel tank division engaged in a bold full frontal assault on the Imperial forces stationed at an ancient Jedi temple in the region. The Imperials were ready and deployed their superior at long range Firehawke heavy tanks around the valley approach to the temple complex. The resulting kill zone was lethal for the advancing Rebel armoured forces who were torn to pieces by the Firehawke's devastating long range weapons. Even support from the longer range Mortar Freerunner's couldn't break up the Imperial's solid defence. However the Imperial forces' overconfidence proved to be a weakness. Pushing too far forward they left their flanks exposed allowing speedy APC Freerunners to break through their lines in an effort to secure the tactically valuable harbour and temple complexes. Taken initially by surprise the Imperial armour divisions were slow to react and the harbour was taken. The Rebel forces made it to the temple, but by this point it was too little too late, the Imperial's defending the area regrouped, and the Rebel forces weakened so much by the earlier onslaught were now no match for the awesome firepower of the Firehawke tanks, and were finally wiped out on the steps of the Jedi temple.
ROUND 3: ESCAPE FROM HOTH
Following a devastating attack on their primary base in the region, Rebel space forces lift off from the icy world of Hoth to evade capture by the Imperial ground forces, but it isn't over yet. The Imperial starfleet lies in wait in orbit. A planetary ion cannon fires to clear a corridor through which to escape, but still one huge Imperial Star Destroyer lies in their path. Main systems have been disabled by the powerful ion cannon blasts, but the mighty cruiser's systems are starting to come back on line. To have any hope of escape the Rebel space forces must knock out the Star Destroyer's remaining weapons to clear a path for the Galofree transports to escape. Y-wing starfighters swoop over the surface of the Imperial warship, their target the lethal heavy turbolasers mounted on the ventral hull, but are faced with stiff opposition from Imperial TIE fighters. The Rebel transports move in in pairs covering each other, equipped with anti-starfighter quad laser cannon batteries and enhanced shielding they speed towards the crippled Star Destroyer, and the freedom of open space beyond. But as the first pair come into range the captain spots a fatal error. One of the heavy turbolasers is still operational, before he can do anything lethal blasts of emerald green laserfire tear through the ship's shields and hull and in moments all aboard are lost. The second transport avoids the fiery destruction of it's sister ship and uses it for cover and speeds past the Imperial cruiser and successfully makes the jump to hyperspace. The second wave have a more difficult time of it, crossing over the hull of the Star Destroyer to get to the specified jump co-ordinates they stray too close and are ironically disabled by the Star Destroyer's own ion cannon fire. The remaining turbolasers and Imperial TIE Bombers make short work of both the remaining transports resulting in a dark day indeed for the Rebellion.
So with two rounds completed the Rebels after a strong first round find themselves totally defeated in the second, meaning that after having an early lead the Imperials have now taken that lead from them with the scores now standing at 34 to the Imperials and 20 to the Rebels. Quite close and early days yet anyway, so anything could still happen. We hope to see more players in the coming weeks, so if you haven't joined up already get involved and sign up here:
Just where did that year go? It is always a shock (though a welcome one) when the ModDB Mod of the Year Awards roll in, it is always hard to believe that yet another year has gone by, that Christmas is just around the corner, and yes, that it is time to take stock of just what this year has brought us.
So just what have we been up to in 2011 at First Strike Towers? Well we haven't been idle I can tell you that. We declared last year that this one would be all about Hoth, and it was. We have been beavering away at various art assets over the course of the year that mean that the much anticipated Battle of Hoth map inches ever closer. These assets have included Hoth specific character models such as the Imperial AT-AT Commander and AT-AT Driver, both brand new assets to First Strike.
In addition development has continued on the key asset required for any map involving Hoth, the mighty Imperial AT-AT Walkers. We have finalised the interior for this powerful symbol of the fearsome Imperial war machine, and have the cockpit and crew bay interiors in game and functioning. A critical step towards completion for this asset. We are still having problems with the coding side for this complex behemoth, but with new coders recruited and old ones helping out where they can, we should soon have these issues resolved.
Lastly on the Hoth front we have continued our work on the most complex and lore accurate Echo Base to ever be seen in a Star Wars game. Continuing to build on the layout asset we built a while back, we are completing the detailing process which really breathes life into these locations from The Empire Strikes Back movie. Check out the video below for a nice preview of the Battle of Hoth's Echo Base environment.
Unfortunately it has been another tough year for First Strike, what with a very small development team and external issues hampering our progress. None the less we are still committed to getting Hoth to you guys, and though progress is slow we are getting there.
To help tide you over during this long wait for Hoth we have also been working on a number of other factors that will increase the popularity of the mod. First up this Summer we introduced a Campaign event in association with Nations in Conflict and Black Intel. An event where casual and veteran players alike could come together every weekend to play in a number of battles across maps which highlight the versatility of First Strike, with both infantry maps, land battle maps and space maps played every week. Join a faction and play First Strike as it was meant to be played. With organised teams utilising fine squad work and communication to win the day. The first campaign was highly successful, and after a bit of a break a second campaign has recently commenced. So head on over to the NIC forums and sign up today.
The final news on the development front for First Strike this year was that of a new release. While artists worked hard on art assets for Hoth, our mappers and AI coders were working equally hard on enhancing another element of First Strike. The singleplayer and co-op portion got a first release with First Strike 1.5, but over this year work has continued to hone the AI to levels that far surpass that which was originally released. Bot infantry now has the ability to utilise far more of the assets available within the mod making them a far more life like and formidable foe or ally. Their ability to use vehicles has also been impressively increased to include both tanks and enhanced starfighter support, opening up the opportunity to add many more First Strike maps with AI support which give a more fully rounded singleplayer/co-op experience which now truly reflects the First Strike multiplayer one.
So 2011 has been a tough year for First Strike, but also a successful one with the release of First Strike 1.55. We hope you stick with us through 2012 as we continue our efforts to complete the Battle of Hoth, and bring a few more surprises to the table.
Closed Alpha Test & Deth..
