Nexus: The Jupiter Incident
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| Nexus: The Jupiter Incident | |
|---|---|
| File:Nexusbox.jpg | |
| Developer(s) | Mithis Entertainment |
| Publisher(s) | Vivendi Universal HD Interactive |
| Engine | Black Sun Engine |
| Platform(s) | PC |
| Release | November 5, 2004 |
| Genre(s) | Space simulation, Strategy game, Real-time tactics |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
Nexus: The Jupiter incident is a science fiction themed real-time tactics computer game developed by the Hungarian based Mithis Entertainment. The developers call it a TFS: Tactical Fleet Simulator. It differentiates with space based RTS games like Homeworld by laying the focus on tactics and individual ship management, without having any resourcing or base building.
Gameplay and Features
In each of the game's missions you are given a small number of large space ships (always less than 10, and sometimes just 1 or 2), some of which may have accompanying fighters and bombers. The larger ships lumber around, with inertia realistically causing them to take a long time to turn or maneuvre, whilst smaller fighters and bombers dart around them. Ships can be micromanaged to a fairly large extent, with the player having control over the levels of power given to different ship systems and the choice over which weapons fire and when. In the single player campaign it is wise to regularly pause the game to take stock of what all your ships and making modifications to your ships' settings where necessary.
There is no resource gathering and building new ships is not possible, though in the single player campaign you are given the ability to add new ships and upgrade your existing ships between each mission. The main gameplay concept is epic real time space battles between your fleet and that of your opponent, though some single player missions feature objectives other than simply destroying the opposing fleet, e.g. requiring you to use stealth or to protect a particular friendly ship.
Nexus uses the Blacksun Engine, made specifically for the game. It is based on DirectX 9 and makes extensive use of vertex and pixel shaders, which meant that at the time of the game's release in 2004 it featured some of the most impressive visuals yet seen in a computer game. The engine also features an effect system that can simultaneously display numerous lens flare and other light effects, and it contains a parametrical particle system, which all adds up for very pretty displays of big ships flying against a back drop of planets and stars, with lasers and explosions in the foreground. Also of note is that the planets, moons, asteroids and comets in the game and modelled with real scale elliptical orbits. The planets themselves – thanks to the shaders – also have a realistic appearance.
Story
At the dawn of the 22nd century the conquest of space and the colonization of the solar system is being monopolized by several huge and ambitious megacorporations. The Martian War is over, and the corporations emerge victorious and free from ISA (Earth) control. Although extremely delicate and vulnerable, a balance is maintained by these companies. It has now been 60 years since Noah's Ark, the first colony ship of mankind, disappeared when the wormhole it went through collapsed. The Ark was presumed destroyed and no more wormholes were found since. At the very edge of the solar system the companies make a discovery which will shift the technological advantage and upset the balance. And so a new conflict is born: "The Jupiter Incident". You play as Marcus Cromwell, an unwillingly-famous captain, both owing to his own accomplishments and those of his father - the captain of Noah's Ark. With the player's legendary spaceship Stiletto he or she finds himself in the middle of the conflict.
After several fairly simple missions (mostly designed to get the player acquainted with the game), the player must infiltrate an abandoned but heavily-armed space station belonging to a rival corporation - the Kissaki Syndicate. Once the station is infiltrated, a cruiser-sized ship of alien origins is discovered inside. The ship's logs indicate that the corporation apparently has a hidden base behind Pluto. Normally, a trip to Pluto would take years. However, the alien cruiser, named Angelwing by the Kissaki, can make the trip in several weeks using a subspace drive. After a short battle with the Syndicate fleet for the control of Angelwing, Marcus Cromwell is given command of the cruiser and ordered to investigate the secret base. The next mission has the player arrive to the base only to find that it is also abandoned. An artificial intelligence downloads itself into Angelwing from the base and tells the player to enter a wormhole located nearby to escape the strange entity that killed everyone on the station. The player finds him/herself in a system populated by the colonists from Noah's Ark, who are being used by an advanced alien race called the Vardrag to fight a war against another powerful race, the Gorgs. The player and Angelwing, now a home to the A.I. Angel (original name Tenshi), are enlisted into the Noah colony's military force. Soon after, the Angelwing battlegroup is created, consisting of the Angelwing herself, scout destroyer Brutus, tactical destroyer Sparta, heavy cruiser Avalanche, battleship Guardian, support ship Colossus, missile cruiser Scepter, and light battleship Crystal. The player must then take up the quest of finding out the truth behind the attack on the Pluto station in a universe where friends can easily become enemies and you might just find yourself facing the massive Vardrag cityships, powerful Gorg warships, even the fleets of your own race. The greatest danger, however, could come from a rogue A.I. who has taken possession of your ship. Is she the Angel of mercy or of death?
source: official Nexus homepage
Races/Ships
Template:Spoiler Earth (ISA and Corporations)
Earth recently lost an interplanetary war against the corporations and colonies in Sol. Years earlier, humanity's first extrasolar colony/exploration ship Noah's Ark was sent through a wormhole near Mars, only to have the wormhole collapse, leaving no trace of the ship. Having found no other wormholes in the Solar System, the Ark was presumed destroyed with all hands lost. After the war, the corporations exert their control on everything outside Earth's orbit, while constantly competing and fighting each other. At the start of the single-player campaign, alien life has not yet been discovered, and A.I.s are banned, having caused the collapse of the first two internets on Earth and the A.I. wars.
Sol ships have the look-and-feel similar to that of Earth Alliance in Babylon 5: no shields, weak weapons, and a spinning center section for producing artificial gravity by rotation. The ships also have no faster-than-light abilities as they rely on chemical rockets, so such trips can take anywhere from several weeks (e.g. Earth to Mars) to years (e.g. Jupiter to Pluto).
Noah Colony
Unbeknownst to the inhabitants of the Solar System, Noah's Ark made it through the wormhole, damaged but intact. When the wormhole collapsed behind them, the colonists proceeded with their original mission: find a suitable planet and establish a colony. As luck would have it, an Earth-class planet existed in the system, which they promptly claimed as their own, dubbing the system and the colony planet "Noah." Some time after the arrival of Noah's Ark, the colonists made contact with the Vardrags, a highly-advanced but peaceful alien race who offer the new arrivals a deal: the Vardrags would give the humans advanced technology, and the ability to traverse wormholes, if, in exchange, the humans became another military arm of the Vardrags, protecting their interests against their enemies - the Gorg.
Noah ships are what Solar System ships might be in a century or two: fast, powerful weapons and defenses, energy shields, fusion and ionstream ship engines, and the ability to make a subspace jump for faster-than-light interplanetary travel--however, wormholes are still necessary for interstellar travel. Apparently, such a jump protects the ship and crew from the effects of time dilation.
Vardrags Confederacy
The Vardrags are an extremely-advanced alien race who have forged a large empire by the time they encountered the Noah colonists. The Vardrag homeworld has become a planet-sized city with enormous platforms in orbit. The Vardrags' main problem have been the constant skirmishes with the Gorg Empire. While Vardrag advanced weapons and defenses managed to keep the enemy at bay, the Gorgs' warlike nature and determination allowed them to keep striking the Vardrags where they could deal the most damage. Discovering that humans could be just as aggressive as the Gorgs, they gave the colonists advanced technology in exchange for their services as mercenaries. Most of their technology, however, they kept secret even from the humans; for example, subspace blocker technology that can force ships out of interplanetary drive mode, so-called "gravity drives," extraordinarily resilient shields, and the massively powerful Cataclysm missiles, which ordinarily cannot be intercepted, knock out a target's shields before impacting, and thus are capable of destroying almost any target in one hit.
Vardrags prefer to travel in massive cityships, larger and more powerful than either Noah or Gorg battleships, although they do have smaller-sized ships. Leaving most of the fighting to their human mercenaries and Raptor allies, they nevertheless maintain a defense force protecting their major systems. Because of their mass, the cityships do have a weakness - more maneuverable ships are able to approach them from behind and attempt to disable/destroy their engines and weapon power plants with shield-piercing lasers. This is part of the reason why the Gorgs tend to attack with many smaller ships.
Although somewhat lightly armed in accordance with their peace-loving nature, Vardrag weapons are amongst the best of their types in Nexus, with plasma weapons that are equally adept at destroying shields and hulls (thus eliminating the need for a shield breaker weapon class that the Noah and Gorg ships require to drain shields), rapid firing lasers for quick disabling of enemy devices, and the aforementioned Cataclysm missiles.
Gorg Empire
The Gorgs are a warlike, green-skinned, reptilian race who constantly seek out systems to conquer and enemies to fight. If neither of these are available, they turn on each other. This is perhaps the primary reason why they have no centralized authority, each clan's sphere of influence extending only to its own ships and territories. On occasion, clans form temporary alliances to either fight the Vardrag or to gain hegemony above the others. There is a ruling clan, but its authority barely extends beyond its own clan members, as other Gorg clans are constantly vying for that position of power. While the Gorgs are proud warriors, they are not above using "lesser" aliens as mercenaries to do their bidding. Their technology level is roughly the same as that of the Noah colonists after the Vardrag "upgrade" (most likely this is due to the Vardrags giving the humans exactly the required level of technology to fight off the Gorgs but not enough for the colonists to be a threat).
Gorg ships are slightly weaker in hull and shield strength than their Noah counterparts, usually because they prefer to attack in numbers. Most of their fleet generally consists of many smaller destroyers, several cruisers of varying classes, and one (rarely two) battleship, not counting the many squadrons of Gorg fighters and bombers ready to tear apart any ship that presumes to challenge the Gorg. Given their belligerent nature, their technology has been well refined by warfare and thus the Gorg often possess stronger engines, such as the plasmastream and plasmatorch engines, and stronger weapons than the Noah colonists, being the first race to use the siege laser, a powerful weapon requiring the combined energy of at least 3 ships to fire, but capable of penetrating any shield and dealing massive damage. The Noah ships only gained use of this weapon after a truce was signed between the Vardrags, Gorgs and Humans.
The original reason for the Gorg's war against the Vardrags was an event called the "Wormhole Cataclysm," when the wormholes connecting different regions began to realign, eventually leaving remote star systems isolated. The Gorgs, not knowing the truth behind the matter, declared war on the Vardrags, believing them to be the only ones capable of perpetrating such a catastrophe.
The Raptors are the elite soldiers of the Vardrag Confederacy. They fill a role similar to the Noah colonists; however, unlike the humans, the Raptors have been genetically and cybernetically enhanced by the Vardrags to be better fighters and have unquestionable loyalty to the Confederacy and its allies. There have been reports, though, of rogue Raptors attacking Noah convoys. Apparently, these Raptors are descendants of those who were cut off from Confederacy during the Wormhole Cataclysm. As such, they have not been implanted with loyalty circuits.
Raptor ships are relatively weak when compared to the Noah ships. This is because the Raptors prefer precision strikes or hit-and-run raids with tactical destroyers and fighters to traditional ship-to-ship combat. They prefer to disable a ship with lasers, board it with cyber-strike teams, and claim it for themselves. The Vardrags mainly use the Raptors as pilots for their Praetorian Gunboats and as strike squads for boarding ships.
Ghosts are a secretive and enigmatic race, inhabiting the system called Mist. Not much is known about this species, as they tend not to get involved with other races. They do, however, on occasion work as spies and scouts for the Vardrags and the Noah colony. All their communication is done either through text messages or a carefully-chosen representative, who is granted the honor of seeing the Ghosts' true form. It is suspected that the Ghosts have powerful psychic abilities, allowing them to enhance their technology beyond what other races might achieve.
Ghost ships are not particularly strong as they are not designed for combat, but neither are they helpless. The Ghosts' main strength lies in their ability to make their ships invisible to most sensors (except for close-range scans). However, their ships are capable of holding their own in a skirmish. Their weapons are designed for precision strikes to allow a Ghost ship to disable an enemy and retreat, and indeed the Ghosts have not been observed to use any other weapon class than tactical lasers. Unlike most of the other species, their ships are organic in nature.
Little concrete information is available on the Mechanoids, except that they attempt to subjugate and/or destroy everything they encounter. According to the Vardrags, the recent Wormhole Cataclysm (realigning of the wormhole network) and the collapse of several stars are the works of the Mechanoids. There is a theory that they are rogue A.I.'s created by a long-dead race, and are trying to remake the universe to fit their needs.
Mechanoids do not have ships per se. Their physical shape can change at will. Usually, they take on the form of a complex geometric shape about 1/8 the size of Angelwing and can fire a powerful energy blast that can destroy many ships in only a few shots. There have also been reports of massive Mechanoid spheres, ranging from the size of a Vardrag cityship to half the diameter of Earth's moon. They are capable of subjugating almost any machine--even the ships of other races--to their own ends, and can also take control of living beings if they have cybernetic implants. The only counter to this form of control seems to be the intervention of another A.I., such as Angel.
Mechanoids are capable of storing and using any energy directed at them, and thus were originally thought to be invincible. Eventually, the Noah colonists discovered the Locust race and how the Mechanoids were vulnerable to their energy-draining attacks. This resulted in the creation of the Energy Skeeter weapon, which deactivated Mechanoids but could not destroy them, leaving them able to recharge and reactivate from any nearby energy source, from sunlight, to weapons fire from subjugated ships, or even an energy blast from a nearby active Mechanoid. With enough time and Angel's help, the Noah colonists were able to create an anti-mechanoid shield that broke up a Mechanoid's energy matrix and effectively destroyed small-scale mechanoids in a 100 km radius. Even this tool was no use against Mechanoid-subjugated ships, which had to be destroyed conventionally.
Another point of interest was that after the Angelwing assimilated an inactive mechanoid, Angel was able to recreate its energy matrix, allowing the A.I. to control it and use its energy weapon against enemy ships, resulting in the weapon called the "Mechanoid Angel." But without its physical body, it could not recharge itself, so the Angelwing had to donate a large portion of its own support energy to allow Angel to create the energy matrix.
The only thing known about the beings called the Creators, sometimes called Planners, is that they have monitored and, perhaps, directed humanity's development for centuries up until the 17th century, when the last Creator died, leaving behind the secret base behind Pluto, the Angelwing, and a dormant A.I. who would later become known as Angel. There is a theory that the Mechanoids were originally made by the Creators, only to betray and attack their masters, the story humans know all too well from the A.I. Wars in the 21st century. Several other abandoned bases and outposts have been located which could also have come from the Creators.
The only ship truly known to have been built by the Creators is the Angelwing. It is unknown if there are any other Angelwing-class cruisers out there. The Angelwing has a unique ability to absorb any technology into its systems and recreate it at a later time, allowing most weapons to be mounted on it or recreated from the ship's ``memory`` if none were available. Its hull can also regenerate if not in combat, and its systems seem to be perfectly suitable for Angel. Other ships have been found either in abandoned bases or already under Mechanoid control; however, it is unknown if they have been constructed by the Creators or another ancient race. Some of those ships have weapons capable of ignoring shields and engines capable of making a short-range subspace jump, allowing them to seemingly teleport from place to place, but these ships had no shields of their own.
This species acts much like its Terran namesake, consuming energy and bio-matter from any nearby sources, whether from ships, mechanoids, or entire planetary eco-systems. Completely uncommunicative, they seem to exist only to feed, regardless of the consequences. While encountered only in two missions throughout the game, they are nonetheless deadly foes.
The Locusts, being entirely organic, do not have ships, but instead are organised much like Earth's social insects, with three castes: worker, warrior, and queen. The worker is a gunboat-sized creature that attaches itself to a ship's shield and drains energy from it, until the shield fails. The warriors, which are bomber-sized creatures, then take over, bombarding the target ship with device destroying energy projectiles until the ship is completely disabled and helpless, though these projectiles cannot pierce shields with anti-bomber components. The queen, a massive creature serving as the "mothership" for the previous castes, births them in seemingly infinite quantities, receives the resources taken by the other castes, and is capable of faster-than-light travel via an unknown method despite her organic nature.
The Angelwing crew first encounters them after tracking down a Mechanoid that has been deactivated, searching for the answer to defeating the Mechanoid threat. After the Mechanoid reactivates and destroys a pursuing Gorg fleet, the Angelwing then pursues it to its next known location, where it is attacked by Locusts and drained of its energy. Marcus Cromwell's fleet is then attacked by the Locusts as well, and after fighting off a large number of workers and warriors, Angel absorbs the inactive mechanoid into the Angelwing, resulting in the "Mechanoid Angel" weapon. Later on the Locust Queen makes an incursion into Ghost territory, destroying several Ghost ships. Rushing to intercept it, the Marcus Cromwell's fleet manage to kill it and bring its corpse back to the Noah colony for study, resulting in the creation of the Energy Skeeter weapon.
Characters
Marcus Cromwell
Son of the famous Richard Cromwell - the first human born in space. Marcus was born the same year the Martian wormhole was discovered. When he was 10, the Noah's Ark was launched with Richard Cromwell as captain. After the loss of the Ark, Marcus did not lose the thirst for space exploration he got from his father. When he was old enough, he enlisted in the Federation Fleet only to find himself in the middle of the Martian War as colonies and corporations declared independence from Earth. Marcus Cromwell's ship was ambushed and crippled near Phobos, and he spent 10 years in suspended animation, waiting for someone to find him. Finally, he was found and revived to find that Earth lost the war. The victors proclaimed him a hero nevertheless. Eventually, SpaceTech made Marcus an offer to command one of their heavy corvettes, which he accepted and was given the Stiletto. Little did he know that his adventure was just beginning.
Angel
Angel was "born" as Tenshi, an illegal A.I. designed to operate the Shukenja Beta base near Pluto, owned by the Kissaki Syndicate. When Tenshi was uploaded into the base computer, a dormant A.I. left there by the last Creator merged with it and began to grow. Due to Tenshi's ease of interfacing with the Angelwing's systems, the Syndicate placed it in charge of the facility. After the Mechanoid attack on the base and the Angelwing's arrival under Marcus Cromwell's command, Tenshi uploaded herself into Angelwing. By that time, the alien part of her became more and more dominant. That new personality decided to choose a new name for itself and ended up with "Angel" ("Tenshi" is Japanese for "Angel"). While initially a subservient personality, due to the Kissaki programming her with Japanese cultural values in which men are in charge, this changes quickly, as Angel begins to question and disobey Marcus Cromwell's orders. It is also obvious that Angel knows more than she is telling. Nobody know what will happen when Angel finally outgrows Angelwing.
Read Admiral Arthur Norbank
The Noah colony admiral in charge of the main offensive against the Gorg Empire. While he is by no means incompetent, his arrogance and distrust of almost everything tend to result in, at best, very costly victories, and at worst, embarrassing defeats. Norbank became famous as a captain when he led the newly-created Noah fleet in their first battle and victory against the Gorgs (mostly because the Gorgs were expecting the Vardrags). He is the de facto comic relief of the game as the player must, on several occasions, pick up after his mistakes, assume command when he is incapacitated, or even rescue him.
Commander Sweetwater
Despite what her name suggests, Commander Sweetwater is anything but sweet. Living most of her life among the Ghosts has left an imprint on her personality. She constantly insults Marcus Cromwell, Angel, and the Angelwing, questions their abilities and motives, and obeys orders only reluctantly. Unfortunately for Cromwell, she soon proves to be indispensable to his cause, as she is the official Noah liaison with the Ghosts and is the only human, although it is debatable if she still is human, capable of operating the Ghost cloaking device fitted for the Angelwing. Despite being constantly at odds with Sweetwater, Cromwell at times does find himself unable to stop thinking about her, which is compounded by the fact that she is psychic.
Captain Francis Delorain
Francis Delorain and Marcus Cromwell were friends before their paths split. Delorain joined the ISA and Cromwell signed up with SpaceTech. Both were given command of Stiletto-class ships. During Cromwell's mission in the Jupiter sector, Delorain's ship was attacked by two OPEC heavy corvettes. Because of Cromwell's interference, Delorain survived the battle and later joined the crew of the Angelwing on its mission to the Shukenja Beta base near Pluto. When Noah colony admiral Anderson gave Cromwell command of his own small battlegroup, Delorain took command of the tactical destroyer Sparta in that battlegroup.
Commander Rudolph Veltman
Rudolph Veltman was a man of science. His works were known throughout the Solar system. That is why he was sent with Marcus Cromwell on the Angelwing to investigate the Shukenja Beta base. When Angelwing got involved in the war against the Gorgs, Veltman was given command of the scout destroyer Brutus attached to the Angelwing battlegroup. Surprisingly, he proved himself a capable commander.
Admiral Anderson
Robert Scheinemann
Chief Zatuk
Leader of the current Gorg ruling clan. His position as an emperor is constantly under threat from other clans, making Zatuk more willing to talk peace with the Vardrags and the Noah colony, in order to focus his attention on internal matters. However, his desire for peace also makes him unpopular with members of his own clan, which is manifested in the many security leaks to Zatuk's Gorg enemies. Zatuk is also the chief (captain) of the powerful heavy battleship Warcry whose hand-picked crew is loyal to him and him alone.
Daryl Sanderson More to come...
Development troubles
Before arriving at the final name and publisher HD Interactive, the game went through a myriad of names and publishers. Mostly known as Imperium Galactica 3 at one time - a sequel of the highly acclaimed Imperium Galactica 2, when being developed under CDV. A leaked demo attracted a lot of attention and - later on - disappointment when the game got dropped. The final game has no connections with any of the Imperium Galactica IP or its game genre 4X.
Bugs
Many have complained that the game contains too many bugs, even after the 1.01 patch has been applied. In particular, a good proportion of players find that the game regularly crashes to their desktop. Examples of such complaints can be found in the game's IGN review, a good number of its Amazon.com reviews, and also in the game's official forums.