Overview:
Final Exodus : Online, is the sequel to the Final Exodus Single-Player game entered into the nVidia 2006(but if you count prizes being delivered then 2007 and soon to be '08) compo. Like its Single-Player counterpart this will be a space combat based RTS, however this will be online in a single game universe(not too dissimilar from EVE Online).
It will feature RTS and twitch based(in cockpit) gameplay like its predecessor but will be far more open ended and have more depth than just blowing everything up(though that will still be an important part). I have plans to implement first person shooter aspects to the game too, such as walking around parts of ships/stations as well as venturing around planets on foot however these will be added in due time.
Videos:
Races:
Human - This is the only race you will be able to play as however you will be able to change your appearance to any race you come across. Humans don't have very advanced technology compared to other races, however their ships have very durable armour(no shields by default) and are proficient at reverse engineering technology.
Svarog - Like in the Single-Player version this race is a plague in the galaxy. They aim to steal resources from solar systems by any means they can, they have limited cognitive ability but work in packs. Their origin is unknown but they enter the galaxy via artificial wormholes.
Sopharan - A highly advanced pacifistic race who guard several solar systems, such systems are essentially safe spots as anyone attacked in them will get defended by their ships.
Agrippen - Like the Sopharan this race is highly advanced but chose a more military path due to the Svarog invasion, They haven't been spotted for hundreds of years however...
I have plans for a few other races but they would spoil the storyline if I wrote a small bio about them.
Also like most space games you will come across pirates(NPC ones) who will stop at nothing to kill you and salvage your wreck, pirates will use a wide range of ships and I hope to make the AI challenging; not just a group of morons that get more powerful guns the further you stray from the safe zones.
Combat:
In addition to flying your own ship players will be able to stock up on drones and fighters. A player's ship will be capable of controlling a limited number of drones(for point defence/offence) or in the case of fighters a player is able to remotely control it(like a normal ship, just in first person through the fighter's camera) whilst still being in control of their main ship. Fighters cannot be controlled by the ship(only drones), however other people on board your ship can launch them(should you authorise them to) to help in the battle. Fighters are very limited and do not have any FTL capabilities, however they are cheap and designed to be expendable.
In combat, large ships(battlecruier/battleship etc) will serve as launching platforms for any docked ships and fighters, their only other main use is to take out other big ships or to orbitally bombard planets, however I don't plan to have any really huge ships, i.e. the Titans in EVE as in my mind they would realistically be useless in combat due to having 0 manuverability/speed so the maximum sized ship in my game will likely not exceed 1.5km in length(the Excalibur is already above 1Km). Because of this big ships will have some maneuverability and coupled with jamming devices a good pilot should be able to fend off weapons fire from other large ships.
Due to the potential size of battles, doing polygon checks per part is not really viable and would force the more hardcore players to make stupid designs to give them a tactical edge, because of this I will likely make it so that each ship has an oval shape that encompasses them(currently the shield size) and any weapons fire entering this will be a hit, but I will calculate which side the impact happened on to deduct HP from the shields or armour for that side. In addition to this each subsystem slot will be located on a specific side to a ship so if a user wishes to take out your engines they will most likely have to remove any shielding/armour surrounding the left and right sides of your ship(or rear if it's a smaller ship), however visually the engines can be located anywhere as I don't want people to impede their design efforts for the sake of conforming to the ship's part layout.
