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[Orb]

So, while browsing through Steam's updates for Nexus I found this.


Apparently, the original developers are planning on making a sequel, but lack the funds, and are having a 'kickstarter' at Gamesplant.

Clickity Click

And before you say anything, I must insist you watch the concept video at their kickstarter page. It looks amazing.

Spoiler:  Gallery (click to show/hide)

"Edit" Snooping around, I found that the concept video is actually part of a larger tech demo released a few years ago. You can find it here

[Girlinhat]

I just got the weirdest boner.  Mostly weird because I'm a girl...  Nexus is like "YEAH!" even though I never actually beat it.  That last level with the damned apocalypse missiles or whatever...  I never had a computer that could handle it.  Point defense wasn't strong enough to protect against armored missiles and fighter wings caused too much CPU stress, so I either got pwnd or got lagged to crash.

Still, fantastic game that I end up going back to about twice a year or so, play a few missions and bask in the glorious weapon and power management systems~

[Chaosgabe]

I put 250 bucks down for it a few weeks ago. Dont think they will make it though, they set a pretty steep goal.

[Sirus]

I assume this is the sequel for "The Jupiter Incident"?

I just got that game, though I haven't installed it yet. Gotta say though, these previews look pretty good. If I were a millionaire, I'd probably shell out for platinum XD

[Girlinhat]

Depending on jewelry sales, I might throw in for the 20 package.  This is one game that's heavily influenced my sci-fi views and promoted a lot of my personal interest in various sciency things.  I don't mind showing a little support.

It's probably not a direct sequel though, that ending was a little hard to sequel to.  I could imagine it being, say, 150 years later, or even a prequel on how the Marco Polo survived the gate crash (that was the ship's name, right?).

[Sirus]

The video kinda reminds me of Star Wars: dog-fighting small craft, and larger ships blasting away with lasers at relatively close range instead of launching missile salvos from several light-seconds away.

I love Star Wars, mind, so this isn't a bad thing. If you don't mind me asking, Girlinhat, what part of Nexus has influenced you?

[Girlinhat]

The parts that stuck with me most were energy management and the whole "feel" of "this is my ship".  I love the way you can assign energy levels, turn items on or off, overload items, expend or recharge onboard battery, all of that!  A lot of my writing has become more concerned with energy management and reactor sizes - namely that most ships I write about are too small to mount a proper reactor, so they use large capacitors and survive a short battle on battery.  The expanded mechanics on "you can fire one weapon normally or two weapons at 75% speed for 30 seconds" has spurned a lot of thought for me into thermal management, as you can image that an overloaded weapon would be prone to overheating.

That said, it's not hard sci-fi, and for the most part I don't write hard sci-fi either.  Aurora (designed by Pentarch) does much more hard sci-fi with missile encounters at 50 million km range.  But it offers no graphics, understandably, as there would be nothing to see.  The ship you're aiming at is so far away as to be invisible, at the edge of your long-range sensors while the minimum weapon range is some 10 km.  It's grand in design and thought, but it's not theatrical.  Nexus aims to be theatrical, and that only happens within about a 10 mile radius.  It's simply one of those things where you have to sacrifice realism in favor of entertainment.  3 month trips from Earth to Mars is boring.  15 minute battleship brawls are considerably less boring.  And the sheer joy of watching a railgun impact shatter an enemy's hull is just satisfying.

[Orb]

Depending on jewelry sales, I might throw in for the 20 package.  This is one game that's heavily influenced my sci-fi views and promoted a lot of my personal interest in various sciency things.  I don't mind showing a little support.

It's probably not a direct sequel though, that ending was a little hard to sequel to.  I could imagine it being, say, 150 years later, or even a prequel on how the Marco Polo survived the gate crash (that was the ship's name, right?).

It has been 25 years since the malevolent Entity was defeated, and the space-gate closed, liberating humanity from the yoke of slavery. In the meantime, humanity has spread across the solar system, and seen the emergence of the first “Psis”: psychically-gifted individuals who can direct the course of space, time and matter by the power of thought alone.

However, all may not be as it seems: as the first Psis reach maturity, humanity finds itself once more under attack by beings from distant stars, who attack wherever the Psis are to be found. Are the Psis the next stage of human evolution, or a subtle curse that will lead to the downfall of the entire species? All is to be discovered.

So. 25 years after the events of Nexus TJI.

[Sirus]

Hmm, I don't think I've ever read sci-fi that emphasized or even mentioned power management. Fuel management, maybe, but not power.

I read sci-fi from all ranges on the spectrum, from super-hard (no faster-than-light capabilities, all physics are accurate) to super-soft (Warhammer 40k) and everything in between. This Nexus game sounds like something I'd enjoy. I better install it

[Anvilfolk]

Nexus was one of those games that I felt had all the elements for me to absolutely love it, and then... I didn't like it as much as I wanted to. If I recall correctly, there was barely any time-acceleration, and the early secretive missions put me off a bunch. And then I never really, really saw a difference in targeting the different systems. Sure, there was some, but it either didn't have that big of an impact in the battle, or perhaps it just wasn't conveyed in a way that made it meaningful. But one day there'll be a supremely tactical starship combat game where you tell all turrets where to aim for, with all ship components individually damageable and all that. I'm just... kinda waiting for it

[Sirus]

Nexus was one of those games that I felt had all the elements for me to absolutely love it, and then... I didn't like it as much as I wanted to. If I recall correctly, there was barely any time-acceleration, and the early secretive missions put me off a bunch. And then I never really, really saw a difference in targeting the different systems. Sure, there was some, but it either didn't have that big of an impact in the battle, or perhaps it just wasn't conveyed in a way that made it meaningful. But one day there'll be a supremely tactical starship combat game where you tell all turrets where to aim for, with all ship components individually damageable and all that. I'm just... kinda waiting for it

You might like Battleships Forever; you can indivually target different ship sections and components. Lots of nice explosions, too.

[Girlinhat]

The point of targeting a system in specific is to disable, not destroy a ship.  If the enemy has thick armor that you just can't penetrate, then you might have better luck using a laser to pluck his weapons off and leave a toothless hulk floating about.  In fact, I think a ship with no weapons would auto-evacuate.  The ghost ships did a fantastic job of barrage lasers, smiting down enemy systems in very short order, but in most battles I'd have one set of ships plucking off the enemy's anti-shield bubbles or trying to disable their reactor, while another set of ships brought the killing force.  At times this would be battleships armed with lasers and frigates with gattlings, others it'd be battleships mounting torpedos and destroyers with lasers.  Most importantly though, lasers could strike through shields, and hit shields.  If you didn't bring enough bubble firepower, you could instead destroy the enemy's shield generator and leave them with naked hull.

If you got bonus or salvage for disabling enemy ships then I'd be mounting full tackle gear, but since it's all about the "win" then whatever method works, y'know?