Preview - StarCraft: Era of Conflict

Lore Preview - The Battle of Skerron

The Battle of Skerron has become a byword among the larger factions in the Omega Quadrant for the capability of ambush tactics and sheer brute force to overcome tactical acumen, when fighting against the fearsomely strong Hades Brood. It is also the worst defeat the Raena Tribe have ever suffered on one planet... and the Raena Tribe have precious few defeats to their name.

During the Raena Tribe's rise to power, they attempted to colonise Skerron, intending to use it as a staging ground to drive deep into Hades Brood territory. Having warped in five Photon Batteries in high orbit above the planet, the Raena Tribe spent the next few days warping in various structures, building themselves up and setting up defences against the local populace. Within a week, Skerron was a heavily fortified stronghold, and Voredul began to set into motion phase 2 of his plan. Going on daring Carrier raids, the Raena Tribe began to push into the surrounding Hades-controlled space, but before long their losses became untenable as the frighteningly strong Hades Brood countered with Corruptors and Devourers, and they had to withdraw to repair. Unbeknownst to them, though, a far greater threat was on its way.

The Raena Tribe detected signals headed for their Photon Batteries, but simply laughed them off as they knew that the Batteries would destroy almost any Zerg attack. What their Observers showed them moments before they struck, however, shook them to the core - massive, powerful beasts much larger than Ultralisks, storming through the withering fire on massive wings, wielding hugely powerful claws. Then the Monstrolisks were on the closest Photon Battery, and in the blink of an eye it was gone. The group of beasts split up and headed for two others and proceeded to destroy those, too, with no significant losses. The Monstrolisks then headed through the atmosphere with a mass of Overlords that had evidently been hanging back, waiting for a hole in the Raena Tribe orbital defences to be opened. A desperate attempt by two brave wings of Phoenixes to intercept the Overlord drop intially went well, but ultimately proved futile when, in addition to the Overlords' increased toughness due to their strengthened carapace, the Monstrolisks doubled back and intervened, catching up with and ultimately destroying the Phoenixes.

Once the Overlords landed, they revealed their cargo to be Ultralisks - as if the Monstrolisks weren't enough. In addition, the Monstrolisks proceeded to prove themselves capable of landing and acting as a ground unit as well as an air unit. After marshalling their forces, the Hades Brood beasts began to charge, making the very ground under their huge feet shake. Having almost no time to act, the Raena Tribe deployed what they could: large amounts of Zealots and Stalkers, small task forces of Dark Templar and almost all of Skerron's legion of dedicated Dragoons, converted into Immortals for the task at hand. When the two forces clashed on the outskirts of the Skerron base, amid hastily-warped-in Photon Cannons and Shield Batteries, the Ultralisks and Monstrolisks were met with a ferocity and tenacity only achievable by a determined Protoss force. Stalkers Blinked, Dark Templar slashed, Zealots surrounded and Immortals took the brunt of the attack. Many of the Ultralisks went for the Photon Cannons first, smashing their huge body weight against them, while the Monstrolisks' massive, hooked talons made the Immortals' shields hum with power. For nine solid hours, Protoss and Zerg clashed in battle, but ultimately, beaten and forced to retreat, the Monstrolisks took off, evading Stalker fire and flew on. Ultralisks simply fled outside the range of the few remaining Photon Cannons and burrowed, only bursting back out of the ground when the Protoss force left to lick their wounds and tend to their casualties. Many Stalkers and Zealots had been lost, and several Immortals lay broken on the ground.

As the Raena Tribe began to repair and rearm, another, far more subtle threat moved in under cover of darkness. Yet more Overlords arrived, disgorging their cargo of Revenants. These deadly hunter-predators used their chameleonic scales to full effect, taking advantage of dead zones in the Raena Tribe's detection caused by the earlier attack. They lay in wait, blending perfectly with their surroundings, infiltrated deep into the Raena Tribe base. Once this had been achieved, the stampede began anew, with more Monstrolisks flown in to replace those lost, and more Ultralisks brought by the Overlords. This time the Overlords floated along behind them, providing them with detection and nullifying the Dark Templar advantage. Just as the forces began to clash once more, Revenants began bursting out of hiding, ambushing Immortals, Zealots and, when detection permitted, Dark Templar. The combined pressure of the hard-hitting Ultralisks and Monstrolisks, and the hideously fast Revenants was too much for the Raena Tribe, who were forced to activate their Stargates once again, pulling Carriers into the fray. What the Raena Tribe were not banking on, however, was the Monstrolisks taking off and engaging with the Carriers themselves, taking down Interceptors in one strike before going for the Carriers. This did mean, however, that the ground battle was reduced to Ultralisks and Revenants versus the depleted mass of Zealots, Stalkers and the few remaining Immortals. The Raena Tribe began to push back the tide of Zerg even as the Monstrolisks tore apart their Carriers, but it wasn't meant to be.

The Overlords, no longer needed now that the Dark Templar had been killed off by the Revenants, had left the battle, and were now returning. This time it was Zerglings they brought, nothing but an endless swarm of Zerglings, running flat-out towards the Raena Tribe, full of the promise of gleaming black and purple carapace and sharp, tough claws attacking with unholy speed. Though the Raena Tribe fought bravely, once the Zerglings hit and the Monstrolisks finally destroyed the last Carrier, the Stargates having already gone up in blue flames, the battle was ultimately lost. Those Immortals still alive tried to escape to the Warp Gate, and ultimately only two of them made it. The Zealots fought first to preserve the Immortals, then to destroy the Warp Gate before the Hades Brood could use it to encroach upon Raena Tribe territory with this fearsomely strong force. Once a mighty stronghold, the Raena Tribe presence on Skerron was reduced to a smouldering heap of glittering wreckage, their tenacious grip finally broken by the might of the Hades Brood.

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Welcome to the preview thread for the next heir to the line of StarCraft RPGs - Era of Conflict. A lot has happened during the year between SiS and now... you'll just have to keep an eye on this thread to find out what's changed - how the rules will work, what has happened to each faction, and exactly why I've decided to give this beast one more shot!

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	DarkGod wrote:
	course i might go for the classic disembowelment via zergling mosh pit

Last edited by DarkGod on Sat Aug 22, 2009 1:24 pm; edited 1 time in total

I'm curious as to what you'll whip up, perhaps something less... Gargantuan for the players to take control of?

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Rule Preview - Force Leaders

When you create a character for this RPG, you will have three options for what style of play your character will be engaged in. One of these options is to have your character be a force leader belonging to one of the six major factions. A Force Leader will be able to create a force from any of their chosen faction's widely-available units, and will have control over that force and its fate. Such forces should adhere to a certain theme - for example, a Gol Tribe Linebreaker Fleet consisting of Carriers, Motherships, Void Rays and their attached Observers, or a Coalition Infiltration Force consisting of Ghosts and their attendant Dropships, perhaps with Wraith escorts.

Over the course of the RPG, each major faction will launch several campaigns against the other major factions for whatever reason, as well as other, more mysterious campaigns. A Force Leader will then have the option of being a part of a campaign, and may be assigned different missions based on the campaign they have chosen. Force Leaders are under the command of their faction's leader body, which may be a single being (as is the case with the Hades Brood) or an entire council (as is the case with the Gol Tribe).

When not part of a campaign, a Force Leader may engage in activities appropriate to the type of force they lead (a Syndicate Battlefleet isn't the best force to use when initiating ground raids on minor factions!). Force Leaders should be wary of angering their commander, or they may well find themselves exiled from their host faction, or worse.

During a larger battle between major factions, a Force Leader may or may not be able to influence the battle's outcome, depending on their actions. It will be a rare occurrence that two player-controlled forces come into direct combat, but if they do the force composition and tactics should be outlined, and in the case of dispute my decision will be final.

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This is but one of the three facets of existence in Era of Conflict. I intend to keep things realistic, interesting and bitchfest-free, and as such I will be giving players a lot less to think about as they play. People who choose to be a Force Leader will generally only need to keep track of their force, where they are, how many units of what type are in the force, etc. and combat between two different player forces will be far easier to work out the victor of. Let me know what you guys think - the next preview will be another lore-based one!

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Logging your mation since 2006

	DarkGod wrote:
	course i might go for the classic disembowelment via zergling mosh pit

Cool notion. Probably would need a couple of add'l wardens to keep the bitchfesting down. Sammo, Defiance, and you can't be everywhere at once.

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"A man's a fool who takes an insult that isn't intended"

Lore Preview: The Cehiyos Cataclysm

The Coalition, having had many problems with the Raena Tribe's ascension to power, picked up and moved to the largely uncharted Algarus Sector. They found little resistance there, but an unhospitable sector with many planets ravaged by natural disasters. Undeterred, the Coalition spread across the sector like wildfire, quickly becoming a huge influence in the Sector. This ascension did not go unnoticed, however...

Wary of the xenophobic Coalition and their ultimate goals, the Watcher of the Gol Tribe sent information about the Coalition's new location and size right back to the Garden Council, the newly-forged governing body of the Gol Tribe. The Council, at the behest of Xalor himself, resolved to send a powerful message to the Coalition in the form of a singular and devastating strike upon a single one of their newly-won worlds. The battlefield was chosen to be Cehiyos, one of the closest seats of power, a place sure to be heavily defended. The time was chosen to be a time of relative peace, a time when the Hades Brood had been beaten back and an uneasy truce settled with the Raena Tribe, allowing the Gol Tribe to commit disproportionate forces to the battle.

The first warning the Coalition had of the sudden and brutal attack was their Orbital Defence Cannons being taken offline by huge shafts of light: the Gol Tribe had begun to arm their Carriers with the Reaverburst Starcannons. Once the ODCs were offline, a hoard of Gol Tribe Warp Prisms descended upon Cehiyos like an unholy plague of crystalline bats, accompanied by the majority of the Gol Tribe's Corsair fleet. A massive field of disruption webs was placed down, and the Gol Tribe footsoldiers marched: Zealots, Dark Templar, High Templar, Chaos Templar. Chaos Guard soared from the skies on their stylised wing-vanes, wielding their lightning-fast Jetblades.

Next came the cavalry. Dragoons and Immortals, Colossi and Reavers, Archons, Dark and even Black Archons. As they were deposited into the disruption webs, they wore off, and the slaughter began. The giant force was backed up by an equally huge air support force so large it caused an unnatural night to fall underneath it. Motherships, Carriers, Void Rays, Phoenixes, Scouts, Corsairs and even the old Gol Tribe Arbiters swooped in, annihilating the Cehiyos planetary defence fleet in little under a minute. With the skies theirs, Cehiyos was doomed already.

The Gol Tribe armies spanned horizons as they charged, attacking with terrifyingly powerful weaponry that seemed to cut through Coalition armour like it was nothing. Colossi stalked above the swirling melee, carving out paths of death among the Coalition Marine response as their thermal lances reached out longer than should be possible. For two grim hours the entire populace of Cehiyos fought back, knowing that with the skies belongong to the Gol Tribe there would be no escape. Siege Tanks and Strikefists stood side by side with civilian militia and Marines. Vultures went on daring hit and run attacks against Zealots and Dark Templar, but were cut down by the powerful and long-ranged weaponry of the Gol Tribe Dragoons and Immortals. Two separate assault fleets attempted to engage with the Gol Tribe fleets, but the fighters were quickly eaten away by the hornets' nest that was the Carriers, and the BattleCruisers and Atlas Destroyers were swiftly cut down by the Void Rays before they could get into range. In return, Yamato Cannons only managed to thin the herd of Carriers before they turned, once more, to the crucible of destruction that was Cehiyos. The last stand was around the planetary throne itself, where Coalition forces fought bitterly against massively overwhelming odds, aiming to take as many of the Gol Tribe warriors with them as they could.

The planet of Cehiyos was reduced from a seat of power to a smouldering, lifeless ruin within the course of three hours, such were the forces that the Gol Tribe had committed. The Coalition were fully expecting a continuation of the attack and had rallied forces on several of their backwater worlds to help stem the tide that never came. The Gol Tribe simply withdrew, firing off their Reaverburst Starcannons and gouging out Protoss sigils into the blasted ground as a last gesture of contempt. As they were doing this, the Coalition television feed was interrupted, and a huge, red-skinned, chitinous Protoss warrior clad in magnificent gold armour and bedecked in red-trimmed black cloth appeared on their screens. This warrior had black, slightly furry-looking nerve cords, and his hands ended in powerful claws. He wielded a massive black psiblade, and his black eyes burned into those of the watching Coalition generals. A small, almost-unrecognisable, vaguely dog-shaped creature sat with the Protoss warrior, fluttering its long, insectoid wings against its gleaming golden armour, its claws encased in a similar set of black psiblades and its great tusk-like fangs gleaming.

"Consider this your warning, Terran fools," said Xalor darkly, menacingly. "Do not meddle with us. Do not get in our way. We know that your hearts burn with a hatred for us matched only by your hatred for the Zerg. Now let your hearts burn with fear at the name of the Gol Tribe. Let it be known that we will not tolerate the slightest infringement upon our territory. Let it be known that if we must, we will repeat this show of force, only next time we will raze the Coalition to the last man, woman and child. We will show no mercy."

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Logging your mation since 2006

	DarkGod wrote:
	course i might go for the classic disembowelment via zergling mosh pit

Sweet. I look forward to when this thing is finally set in motion, though, I can't entirely guarantee my presence.

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Ha ha ha! Ho ho ho! Laugh! It helps!

Kudos to TheRisky

Does my faction recive some sort of narrative for it's split or rather..devolution into a purely Terran faction with a few protoss leaders?

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"I cannot stop,I cannot allow them a lull, I cannot give them a break.The Zerg should not be playing fair."

And what about previous characters in SiS? For some of them, will be a chance of continuation?

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"A man's a fool who takes an insult that isn't intended"

To set your minds at ease, almost all old characters from SiS, Voorseme or the original Damengor will fit nicely into one of the three categories, which are Force Leaders as described above, Faction Leaders leading a minor faction, and Independent Commanders, who lead a small task force not large enough to be considered a faction.

I have no qualms with revealing that a year will have passed between the end of SiS and the beginning of EoC, so any continuation between then of any significant importance can be discussed with me when I launch the RPG, but before I set it in motion.

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	DarkGod wrote:
	course i might go for the classic disembowelment via zergling mosh pit

Can you share any statistics data in relation to the rp and how it will play?

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I'll give an example for how a Force Leader would play. For this example, I will use the Coalition Firebird Starfighter Wing, consisting of Wraiths, Vikings and the Coalition-only Quadrowing fighters, led by Captain Falcon (see what I did there?).

Captain Falcon will need to keep track of the number of Wraiths, Vikings and Quadrowings in his force. His optimum force size would be 50 Wraiths, 20 Vikings and 20 Quadrowings, as the Firebirds are a fast-attack force best deployed as dogfighters or anti-capitals, though after the last campaign he is down to 44 Wraiths, 12 Vikings and 8 Quadrowings. As he is not in a campaign, he then has the choice of going back to Coalition worlds and requisition more units (it is assumed these come with ready-trained pilots from the Flight Academy) or pursuing his own agenda. Let's say that Captain Falcon is a grizzled veteran, and a survivor of the Cehiyos Cataclysm - he wants revenge against the Gol Tribe. He decides to requisition additional Quadrowings (as not only are Quadrowings efficient at bringing down shields, they also have a handy ability that keeps other units alive!) and then lead his force on a strike mission to gain intelligence on the movements of a depleted Gol Tribe Linebreaker Fleet seen in the area recently Taking to the skies in his personal Wraith, he decides to leave his Vikings and Quadrowings at home as none of them can cloak.

Let's say that this mission fared quite well for Captain Falcon and his Firebirds. He's got the data he needs, and finds that the Linebreaker Fleet has been reduced to three Carriers and a badly damaged Mothership, and in enroute to rendezvous with a Gol Tribe fighter wing for escort back to Gol Tribe-controlled space for repairs. Upon his return, he finds that the Coalition administration has sent him six new Quadrowings. Captain Falcon decides to destroy the Linebreaker Fleet, but as he is preparing the Coalition embark on a campaign against the Syndicate, and require Starfighter Wings such as the Firebirds. Captain Falcon must then decide whether to become a part of the campaign, thereby losing the chance to engage with the Linebreaker Fleet, or embark on his mission, thereby losing the chance to earn the campaign medal.

Medals will act as an incentive for Captain Falcon to engage in Coalition campaigns, as each medal gained will improve his standing within the Coalition forces, which directly affects his ability to requisition new units, as well as his ability to pursue his own agenda. For example, if at a later date Captain Falcon wishes to lead his fighters in a raid on a Gol Tribe outpost, he may find that the number of medals he has isn't enough to stop the Coalition top brass from ordering him back home.

Should Captain Falcon disobey too many orders or refuse to fight in too many campaigns, he may find that his force is exiled and possibly hunted down by the parent faction. An exiled Force Leader becomes an Independent Commander with neutral-hostile standing towards his or her parent faction.

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Logging your mation since 2006

	DarkGod wrote:
	course i might go for the classic disembowelment via zergling mosh pit

Very engaging, I presume you'll be guiding the missions and presenting these options to the other players, like a mix of BoS and land of log, right?

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I would also presume that the other races would have a similar set-up of rank and achievement (though the Zerg might not have that sort of option).

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"A man's a fool who takes an insult that isn't intended"

At the moment they're all called 'medals', though I'm sure I'll stick a Protoss and Zerg-themed name on it as well by the time the RPg goes live. Very Happy

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	DarkGod wrote:
	course i might go for the classic disembowelment via zergling mosh pit

Any date you plan on making it live or ready when its ready?

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