[MOD] The Ghosts v0.95

[size=85]Ladies and Gentlemen, i have the pleasure to present:[/size]

[size=150]The Ghosts History:[/size]
The first records related to this strange entity were registered around 4000 standard years ago, right after the widely known “Great Cataclysm of the Shallows”, when a powerful supernova-sized explosion destroyed 4 colonized star systems and killed around 87.000.000.000 lives.
That cataclysm was not caused by a star or any other natural source, it was accidentally caused by nothing less than an incredibly advanced inter-universal traveling system created by the ancient race identified as “Necros”.

The records about how the first contact was made are very vague and lack of important details about the visitants. However, there are several visual records showing an entire fleet of cruiser sized ships jumping in our universe and causing the powerful shockwaves that also caused the cataclysm.
The radiations of the shockwaves didn’t helped, but a deeper analysis of the energy signatures showed that every ship was identical, and that nothing less than 117 ships jumped in our universe.
The closest ship that suvirved the shockwaves was a Nomad Frigate, the ship suvirved to the radiations thanks to a neutron star that served as shield. When the nomadic frigate reached the origin of the cataclysmic shockwaves found a single ship, waiting.

When the nomadic ship tried to analize the strange ship every system went offline with the exception of the communications channel:

“-We came from an ancient and long ago dead universe. We are the remnants of the last living lifeform of our dark home. Our race lived eons in the darkness, waiting for this moment, waiting to arrive to a younger universe, to this universe. We are sorry for the disasters that we’ve caused to the people of this sector, but we had no choice.
We are the Necros, and we come in peace.”

As nomadic eyewitnesses told, the ship identified as Necros Cruiser just dissapeared instants after the comms ended, and the nomadic frigate went online again.

Several years later, a scientific group found that there was more information hidding at the background of that communications recording. Information about the dead universe of the visitants and about their history. In short, they were a race that reached the space in the last eons of their universe, known as the dark era, when every other intelligent lifeform was already extint. This is why they grew up alone and found that there were other universes waiting for their arrival. Several undred standard years later they managed to travel to our universe, sacrifying a great part of their people and even their own universe in the proccess…

No one knew anything about the Necros after their arrival to our universe, until 1500 standard years ago, when a cruiser of the young Order recieved a call of help of a ship very similar to the identified in the times of the “Great Cataclysm of the Shallows”. They were desesperatedly calling for help, they told to the Order that their only colonized star system, their new home system, was facing the total anihilation… No one knows why, but the Order didn’t helped…

There was no time, there was no chance, the decision was already taken and the Necros cruiser jumped back to its home system in a last desesperate attempt to save some more people, but when the cruiser reached its destiny, it found a dying homeworld and its own destruction… by falling inside a huge black hole…
An Empire cruiser registered the whole disaster and recorded a broadcast transmission generated by the falling Necros Cruiser, a last cry of desesperation:

“-Vengeance…”

Now, 1500 years later, a strange fleet of “ghost ships” is exiting from the very same black hole. No one knows with precision if they are the Necros or just some kind of new lifeform. All we know is that they are really agressive, they dont answer to any communication attempt, they dont have mercy and all what they do is destroying worlds and anything that tries to stop them.
They are “The Ghosts”.

[size=150]The Ghosts Backstory:[/size]
Several months ago, when i was coding the EX-Tityan Dreadnought of Praetorian Industries Mod, a new idea for a mod came to me, and instantly knew how i was going to name it… The Ghosts. But The Plague mod had the priority. Now, after another year of modding filled with delays (delays, delays everywere), the Plague mod is about to be completed, and with it, another chapter on the GSB modding community (wich created every beast in The Plague fleet) succesfuly ends.

I kept this project in secret for almost a year, but just started to truly work on it a month ago. My objective is to release it at the same time that The Plague Mod, (yeah! i’m working that fast! xD), but i’m not going to delay TP Mod, if TG Mod is delayed by any reason, The Plague will be released first, dont worry

The fact is that Praetorian Industries Mod, The Plague Mod and The Ghosts Mod are the three parts of a project, long ago started, that i was going to call “The Praetors Trinity”… joke :P. It will be never only mine, because PI and TP mod wouldnt have passed the drawing table without the help of the great community of modders that lurks around the GSB modding tab. (Thanks to everyone again! =D)

Therefore i’m going to name it “The Community Trinity” or just “The Trinity”

[size=150]To Do List:[/size]

General Modding:
> Module Making: Covered By Me
> Turrent Graphics Making: Finished
> Design of Hulls: Finished
> Making of Damage/Hulk versions: Finished
> Hull Coding: Finished
> Scenario Making: Covered By Me

Ship Classes Making:
Drones:_______________Target= 4 Designs= 4 Functional= 4
Frigates:_____________________Target= 4 Designs= 3 Functional= 3
Cruisers:___________________Target= 4 Designs= 3 Functional= 3
Dreadnaughts:___________________Target= 2 Designs= 1 Functional= 1
Juggernaughts:___________________Target= 1 Designs= 1 Functional= 1

Functional Hulls Count:: 12
Functional Modules Count:: 28 Modules with 30 new Icons, 30 Visual Effects (FX) and 19 new Sound Effects.

[size=150]Current Version: 0.95[/size]
v0.5 - Modules Created [size=85]<<0.90% Complete>>[/size]
v0.6 - Turret Graphics / Weapon FX complete [size=75]<<100% Complete>>[/size]
v0.7 - Ships coded in [size=85]<<95% Complete>>[/size]
v0.8 - Missions Complete [size=85]<<50% Complete>>[/size]
<<Last call for new Modules / Weapons / Ships / Missions / Content>>
v0.9 - Balance Modules / Weapons / Ships / Missions
v1.0 - Remove Unused files and RELEASE !

[size=150]Download Link:[/size]
positech.co.uk/gratuitousspa … _v0.95.rar

[size=150]Related Stuff: [/size]

[size=100]> Gratuitous Modding Pack[/size]
If you want to make your own mod, here you have a great source of visual and sound stuff, it was used to make this mod:
http://positech.co.uk/forums/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=6888

[size=100]> Praetorian Industries Mod[/size]
Enjoy the huge ammount of new possibilities that offers this mod!
http://positech.co.uk/forums/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=5698&p=39509#p39509

[size=100]> The Plague Mod[/size]
Prepare to face a large scale invasion of insectoids!!
http://positech.co.uk/forums/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=6928

[size=100]> The Exiles Mod[/size]
A bunch of fanatics exiled from The Order has started to create giant mechs! Stills as WIP
http://positech.co.uk/forums/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=7794

Moddb Page:

Thanks for your attention. This post will be updated… sometimes Last Update: Dec 25 of the 2012.
[size=85]If you want to help, you can tell me via PM.[/size]

Look forward to seeing the finished version of the mod. The Ghost’s unusual style will be very interesting to see in action.

Cool, i cant wait, this will be interesting!

But i’m guessing balancing them with their firepower and armor etc will be a real pain, due to their randomness of the cloaking.

Not really, if you want to make completly invisible a ghost ship just use the standard Camouflage Module, it will reduce the Ghost Ship visibility to Zero

As i’ve said before, The Ghosts are some kind of remnant of an old race called the Necrons, that had the uncomon ability to Phase Out entire ships.

<<When a Necron ship enables Phase State or Phase Space the ship turns completely invisible and its untouchable, if you shot at it the shot will pass throught, because the matter of the ship is not in our dimension, but at the same time the ship and its crew is is ocupying the same space and time of our universe. In other words, a ship in phased state is invisible and untouchable, but it is right there and right now!. Pretty bad for you, because the Necrons have Trans-Phasic weapons, in other words, you cant damage them but they can indeed damage you.
The only disadvantage of the Phase Tech of the Necrons was its limited time of use.

However, The Ghosts, wich are problably the Necrons (no one is sure about that!), have a corrupted version of the technology explained above.
A ghost ship is permanently between Phase State and Normal State, you can barely see them (and sometimes you just cannot see them, or the exact oposite) BUT you can hit them!. Since they cannot reach Phase state, the matter of the ship stills in our normal space, but at the same time it is not completely in normal space, making the ship barely visible each time that gets closer to Phase state, and more visible when its closer to Normal State.
However, a Ghost ship can voluntary get closer to Phase State (installing camo module), but it will be unable to fight back the enemy.>>

All of this is the Sci-fi explanation of The Ghosts tech, the real life one is much more simple, there are two ways to make a ship invisible for a certain ammount of time, the camouflage module AND, if used correctly, pulseglows.
None of them can work in the same way that Necrons Phase Tech does, but both of them can replicate the two different states of The Ghosts corrupted Phase Tech.

And another Praetors mod project comes over the horizon. Best of luck to you in your third addition to this game!

Purely aesthetic features aside, I look forward to seeing how you choose to make this race tactically distinctive from other races when it comes to combat capabilities defined by your new shipboard equipment, as well as bonuses & penalties in the hulls.

Sure sir! I’m going to add several new modules with brand new Graphic and Sound effects. However, my mind is a bit empty of new ideas for this mod… but Xedilco Mod showed me that there are many more module possibilities to try with!
For now, i’ve coded just 3 cruiser sized weapons:

Transphasic Blaster: Similar to standard laser cannons.
Transphasic Positron Wave: Similar to quantum blasters, but with HIGH shield and armour piercing capabilities.
Transphasic Phasor Beam: A medium range beam laser with somewhat standard battle capabilities.

I’m thinking on new modules, since The Plague mod lacks of standard modules i think that i will try to make some more for this race.

Okay guys, time to share some more about Ghosts tech:

[code]
<<All the energy signatures of the cruiser sized ghost ships scanned by our scouts until now are showing the same thing, all of them are equiped with a single power generator located in the center of their hulls.
Seems like those ships need a lot of power to keep their “unusual” equipment active, because the energy levels are comparable (and sometimes even bigger) than Uni-Ts Doom-generators.
That might explain why the ghosts are packing these godamned powerful shields, and why their tactics involve large-scale formations using just a few ships instead entire fleets. They dont want to us hitting their fragile generators, and if that happens, they preffer to lose a single ship instead an entire fleet.
If this intel is correct, every ship captain must know about it, if someone gets lucky and finds in the battlefield just a few of those cruisers close enough of each other, that lucky gunner might be the first in history archieves the destruction of an entire fleet with a single well-aimed shot!

                                                      -Kaliq Hashim from Araneb Clan, Nomadic Capitain>>[/code]

If someone is going to use Ghost Cruisers, remember to equip them with the best shield that you find, because if one shield goes down, an entire fleet might go down with it.
Bwahahahaha…

EDIT: Now The Ghosts Mod counts with 25 modules and weapons (crew, powergens, shields, engines, basic weapons, basic ghost tech, etc).

EDIT2:

Just finished the graphics for a Ghost Dreadnought… bwahahahaha >:D

Oh no. The Order will need to kick up their praying a couple notches. I once had the P.I. leviathan in “The Final Entrenchment” take out nearly 25% of my fleet from just the shockwave. I shudder at the thought of what that could do. The shockwaves from a destroyed fleet could probably destroy a small moon.

Okay guys, i’m really happy to present you the final release trailer, does anyone knows what this means?
The release date is very very very close!!! =D

Enjoy, feedback welcomed ^^

mediafire.com/?xoiw860ovb2cxb1

Can’t wait for release!

Alright, downloaded that video… augh… my cheap graphics processor. Looks pretty epic, but I can barely watch it on my PC. I know it’s downloaded, but I’d swear the video was buffering.

Sorry, my bad; I compiled the video at super super HD lol

So, are there plans to include some of the GSB v1.61 changes in this mod?

Nice trailer.

Oh yessss

Considering that you just registered to reply this topic, thank you very much sir! xD

EDIT:
Progress Report:

>Added several new weapons to almost every Ghost ship class.
>Made some great graphical/fx improvements for every Ghost Ship, now their fade in-out effects look much better. (Thanks Aradia! The update is based what i’ve seen in your Yoma Mod! )
>“Firing when camouflage (or phased out) is active” will be the main characteristic of most of Ghosty weapons thanks to their Transphasic capabilities
>As you might have noticed, i’ve added a Juggernaught to the lines of the invisible hand. Its main role is defensive support for the rest of the fleet (as offensive support is the main role of the Dreadnought)
>Made several pre-codes using the new features of v1.61, more nasty weapons are coming…

I’m glad to say that The Ghosts Mod V0.95 is now avaliable for downloading! I had no time to upload it to mediafire, but check the Moddb mirror and (if the link was authorized), you will be begin able to download it!
I will keep updating the mod over time ;D
Enjoy!

Is this mod completely free of copyrighted imagery? If so, I m happy to host it on my server here permanently for free if you’d like?

An OP issue here.

If you start a scenario (or in my current case, a survival) where they have no plasma or anything like that with the extremely high 50+ shield penetration my ghost fleet becomes invincible.

I was doing GATC’s Recon at Andromeda (the stand-alone one) and my surviving 3 cruisers (I believe the rest fell due to overwhelmed systems when their frigates started chain reactions) are just sitting there demolishing the stations as they spawn, taking 0 damage.

Every ship was made by only applying simple mirroring effects to a few of your own Swarm ships, thus they are only under your copyrights (you have copyrights, yes?).

The answer is yes! I would love that =D

Actually, heavy plasmas can penetrate those Discordia Heavy Siege Cruisers (their real name). And it should be the only vainilla weapon with enough penetration.
Also, fighter tactics are really effective against the Discordia cruisers, you just have to focus on taking out any other anti-fighter ship and helping your fighters to reach the minimum possible range to avoid the target’s anti-fighter weapons. If you do that, the cruiser will be dead within seconds

BUT, if you (and anyone else) wants me nerfing that shield a bit i have no problem! It is still a bit OP. So, do you want me doing it?

I’m having trouble downloading the file: it tells me there are no mirrors with the file, I have already tried multiple times across multiple days, help?

The mod has been mirrored on our server here:
viewtopic.php?f=23&t=7787
Enjoy…