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Dawn of Victory - Total Conversion: Use the newer thread idiots.

Dawn of Victory - Total Conversion: Use the newer thread idiots.

http://www.dawnofvictory.com

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



 

 

1,143,486 views 558 replies
Reply #51 Top
Forgive me but, im still distraught over the loss of ground combat... I wont be waiting for this, SSP has quite honestly preety much gone under with the loss of theyre Halo project and the "icing" of Asylum...
Reply #52 Top

Forgive me but, im still distraught over the loss of ground combat... I wont be waiting for this, SSP has quite honestly preety much gone under with the loss of theyre Halo project and the "icing" of Asylum...


I can understand your misgivings about Halogen (believe me, I had waited since pre-Derelict Studios days for it) but it was not because of a lack of support from Slipstream Productions. Indeed, it is arguable that the only reason we were C&D'd by Microsoft/Bungie was because we were making such an excellent modification. And yes, the morale of some of the SSP crew took a hit after that, but we are going to continue with Asylum. Right now, it's under review as to whether or not it should stick with the ages old ZH SAGE engine or move on. (I know a couple different engines have been looked at. I'm not sure what has been chosen.)

As to the loss of ground combat, I'm not sure whether or not you've played EaW, but the ground combat is lackluster at best and the modding capabilities really weren't enough to make the complete and total suckage of ground combat go away. In addition, the space combat (while much better than the ground combat) really couldn't be modded to a large extent. If DoV was continued and made on EaW the game would feel like a new skin for EaW, instead of an entirely different game (which is what we are really aiming for.) Naturally, some things will stay the same, but the tradeoff of EaW for SoaSE was not a difficult choice from a modding perspective.

Believe me, as someone who has gone from "complete fan" to staff member, what is ticking under SSP's lid is easily enough for me to say that they have far from 'gone under.'
Reply #53 Top
EAW has perhaps some of the worst ground combat EVER....
Reply #54 Top
Good mod idea. I liked the series. The last book left things in an interesting place.
Reply #55 Top
Comrade Stumpster has it right, I think sacrificing lackluster ground combat, for much more satisfying space battles is an easy trade to make.
Reply #56 Top
well, could we at least get some kind of in-game pre-rendered cinematic pop up when we nuke or invade a world *Massive_attack is desperate for at least a sign of conflict planet-side*.


Oh and yeah EaW's GC was utter sh*t. I can understand you moving over to a new game but, am shocked and saddened that you chose a space-only one..

I am soory, but really couldn't you think of any better engines for this ?
Reply #57 Top
Well since DoV is focused a lot on the space side of combat, that throws out 90% of RTS games out there. Then, the game has to be friendly to the modding community, and (preferably) have a released SDK or a fairly moddable engine. That throws out 99% of RTS games on the market. On top of that, a good mod will take at least a year to a year and a half to finish, usually more. Because of this, mods have to be started before or very close to the launchdate of the game so that people that aren't fanboys of the mod will give it a shot. That is one of the reasons that a couple games (namely Homeworld 2) weren't looked at very closely. They've already been out for three to four years, once the mod is complete, the game will be six to seven years old! That doesn't sound like a lot, but in the world of computer gaming very few people will keep a game installed for that long. Basically, it comes down to one of these:

Homeworld 2 - Fairly old game. Still one of the greats, but there is no ground combat anyways.

Empire at War - The only one with ground combat, but it is terrible, and the XML that is actually editable leaves a lot to be desired.

Nexus: The Jupiter Incident - Not quite as old as HW2, but still pushing it. It's not as 'epic' as we would like.

Sword of the Stars - Epic and new, but the RTS battles were 'meh'. While the 4X part is a big role in DoV, we would also like to have the RTS battles really feel like you're in command. With SotS, it did the 4X part wonderfully, but the RTS didn't feel quite right.

SoSE - New, epic, easily modded. Excellent 4X control with RTS battles that looked good as well. The clear winner.

Simply put, trying to find a game that not only had good 4X control, space combat, and ground combat was simply an impossibility. Other than EaW there isn't a whole lot out there that really has a grand strategy campaign with space and ground RTS combat. Something had to be sacrificed, and ground combat was it in this case.
Reply #58 Top
I realize that, really i do, but honestly, the loss of ground combat will hurt your fanbase, I was one of the first, in fact. I have been silently observing this in secret, reading your forums, watching the videos collecting concepts, and then this. I am deeply saddened, ground combat was a huge part of your universe, and i feel that the loss of it was like a deep stab to the chest. Not only that, but your great pictures and concepts of ground combat was like pouring alcohol on the fresh wound. Its kind of like: Oh SWEET were invading a world ! *colony ship launches 2 pods, pods go to planet and in a few seconds its captured* Well, thats it ? no epic battle? no nothing ? those 3 pods contained enough men to wipe out a military fortress ? Im just supposed to imagine all the shit in the pictures ? wtf is this ?!

Space combat is great n all but im disturbed you decided to FOCUS on it. Who knows though, maybe someday you'll make a ground combat mod for Command and Conquer 3 or something, but untill then, all that time and waiting for your damn mod just turns out to be alot of BS, goodbye concept pictures, hours of my time reading your posts, excitement and anticipating, All gone, just like my interest for this.

Good bye, forever.
Reply #59 Top
Well I apologize that you're so focused on the ground combat and that you're disappointed. Apparently, nothing I can say will convince you otherwise that we are more than capable of making a modification that should be fun no matter in what form that it takes place.
Reply #60 Top
ive tried modeling and skinning, i even took classes, It Didn't End Well
Reply #61 Top
hey that looks brill   
Reply #62 Top
Small update today revealing the Soviet Light Cruiser. It hasn’t been armed yet, but you can see the main body of the ship. This will be the mainstay of the Soviet Fleet and the most produced vessel in your armada.

+1 Loading…
Reply #63 Top
Just some new wallpaper, showing off the new Soviet fighter Skins and such.


(click for big)

More info here: White Sun of the Desert
Reply #64 Top
I've already said this on our forums, but the new wallpaper looks awesome, keep up the good work guys.
Reply #65 Top
looks good, always like a good mod after the Vanilla game wears out....
Reply #66 Top
@Massive

There was always something that didn't seem right with the EaW ground combat. I didn't enjoy it and I'm aware that most of the other staff members didn't either. The fact that we are abandoning it to allow Space Battles to be much more epic sits fine with me and was possibly one of the diving factors in the change between game engines. Yes there may some as yourself who find the lack of ground combat leaving some kind 'combat process' hole whereby the action of taking a planet misses out a whole segment completely. However I have found that without this, it has made conquering planets and star systems much more fun, you get the chance to make your Front Line bases strongholds from which you can expand without having to make sure you have sufficient ground forces to repel an invasion. It just simplifies things in a way which over all make the game more fun for most.

If your like me and are in it for the epic space battles with massive capital ships raining death at each other while fighters swoop by, engaged in dogfights with enemy counterparts then this is what we're trying to bring out of the mod to the masses who enjoy this kind of thing. The ground combat wasn't the sole reason we dropped EaW for SoSE, as mentioned previously, however it was an important part of it and I, like the rest of the staff, feel the switch was a step in the right direction to making a better mod.
Reply #67 Top
I have an suggestion about ground combat/invading worlds

Now if it’s at all possible
Invader ship launches pods/ships; pods/ships go to planet.
Now it would take time to take the planet ground combat could be simulated by having Explosions of different sizes around and in urbanized areas (as well as radio chatter from the ground) what starts at the place where the pods/ships landed and works around the world as the time to take the world gets shorter.

it would at least give a sing of conflict planet-side.













Reply #68 Top
I know this is a bump, but seeing as how the 3rd beta just started I thought that I should reinforce that SSP is still looking for skinners, and 3d Modellers. Refer to Stumpster's post above this for links to the forum and the massively expanded Autonomicon.(Contains large ammounts of the games backstory and it is always expanding)

Edit: oops I thought this stopped one the first page.

Links http://www.slipstreamproductions.net
http://www.wiki.slipstreamproductions.net
Reply #69 Top
The plot is loosely based on a series of books by Harry Turtledove; aliens invade during World War 2, humanity holds them off, and you have Germany, the US, and the Soviet Union launching into space.


I read those books!   

However, it must be pretty losely based on them because after the intial fighting (and another short war where the aliens kick Germany's ass but didn't conquer it), human tech catches up and passes the aliens basically forcing a surrender. So basically it sounds like an alternate history to and alternate history which I don't mind. Overall sounds cool!   
Reply #70 Top
Actually ScourgeOfGod, it actually holds true to the books in respect of the German invasion of Crete (successful) and the German invasion of alien held territory between Germany and USSR (failure).

On Earth there was a cease-fire that lasted until the Germans messed it up, leading to several border skirmishes, ultimately leading up to the human evacuation and nuclear bombardment of the planet.

Human tech, at the time of the game, is either on par with, or almost on par with the aliens, which is the cause of the sudden reemergence of the aliens in human space.
Reply #71 Top

I have an suggestion about ground combat/invading worlds

Now if it’s at all possible
Invader ship launches pods/ships; pods/ships go to planet.
Now it would take time to take the planet ground combat could be simulated by having Explosions of different sizes around and in urbanized areas (as well as radio chatter from the ground) what starts at the place where the pods/ships landed and works around the world as the time to take the world gets shorter.

it would at least give a sing of conflict planet-side.


If such a thing is supported (I figure we can rig up planet-invading troops by changing the projectile of the siege cruiser to some sort of pod), I'd totally be for it. I'm not sure if the "bang" of the pods hitting the planet are 1. dynamic (I can add more sounds if I want, you wouldn't want to hear the same gun/radio chatter every second) 2. changeable as far as delay goes (i want to control how long it plays), and if they are both we could play with that effect to simulate a planetary invasion quite satisfactorily.

Human tech, at the time of the game, is either on par with, or almost on par with the aliens, which is the cause of the sudden reemergence of the aliens in human space.


The humans do not have laser/beam technology, they are at a level similar to Battlefield 2142 (more advanced technology, but not "sci-fi", you will not see giant Kol-type lasers in Earth factions). The Scinfaxi however have such weapons and use them when applicable. However they are close to equivalent in non-military tech AFAIK and the rate of development is so high the Scinfaxi decide that they will be equalized or surpassed quite soon.
Reply #72 Top

If such a thing is supported (I figure we can rig up planet-invading troops by changing the projectile of the siege cruiser to some sort of pod), I'd totally be for it. I'm not sure if the "bang" of the pods hitting the planet are 1. dynamic (I can add more sounds if I want, you wouldn't want to hear the same gun/radio chatter every second) 2. changeable as far as delay goes (i want to control how long it plays), and if they are both we could play with that effect to simulate a planetary invasion quite satisfactorily.


Entirely doable with the buff/ability system in Sins, I believe. I've already got the pod effects working in Kin of the Stars, although I gave the ability to the colony frigate rather than the siege frigate. Currently my implementation still does instantaneous damage, but it's a very small step from that to damage over time, with a full script ("OnDelay") for when damage is applied ("DoDamageToPlanet") and sound effects played ("PlayAttachedEffect").
Reply #73 Top
Our artist extraordinaire Godwin has entered the following concept art into the ModDB concept art contest. You can take a look at the other submissions and vote here. Just click on the image and it should load a flash gallery. For some reason the thumbnails for Godwins piece got messed up, so its best to take a look at the full piece below, which depicts a Greater German Reich task force attacking a Soviet Refueling Station.

(Warning image is huge)
Reply #74 Top
thats pretty damn impressive!
Reply #75 Top
Can't spell Godwin without God and win.

I personally love it, but there is some seriously stiff competition over at ModDB, there are a ton of great artists over there.