FreeSpace: Difference between revisions

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''FreeSpace'' received mixed reviews, with reviewers praising the graphics - particularly the explosions - but calling the [[Standard Sci Fi Setting|story]] and gameplay unoriginal. ''Silent Threat'' was generally agreed to be of very poor quality in comparision, which led to the fans reworking it as ''[[Silent Threat Reborn]]''. ''FreeSpace 2'' received high praise, including numerous "Game of the Year" awards.

The franchise ended there despite the [[Left Hanging|incomplete story]] of the second game, due to a split between the publisher and the developer. However, in 2002, Volition released the source code for the game. The result of the fandom getting their hands on it is the [http://www.hard-light.net FreeSpace 2 Source Code Project] (known by the fandom as the SCP. No, not [[SCP Foundation ~~(Wiki)~~|that]].). It is a single umbrella project dedicated to improving the original source code; the FS2_Open engine is the result of the project, and is much more powerful and flexible than the original game engine, with [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhAR8rWPluQ greatly improved graphics] as well as a plethora of new features for designers to utilize in mission-building, and it is still being improved to this day. A large number of fan-made campaigns are available as well, thanks to the game coming bundled with a mission editor, the same one that Volition used to create the original game.

The franchise ended there despite the [[Left Hanging|incomplete story]] of the second game, due to a split between the publisher and the developer. However, in 2002, Volition released the source code for the game. The result of the fandom getting their hands on it is the [http://www.hard-light.net FreeSpace 2 Source Code Project] (known by the fandom as the SCP. No, not [[SCP Foundation|that]].). It is a single umbrella project dedicated to improving the original source code; the FS2_Open engine is the result of the project, and is much more powerful and flexible than the original game engine, with [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhAR8rWPluQ greatly improved graphics] as well as a plethora of new features for designers to utilize in mission-building, and it is still being improved to this day. A large number of fan-made campaigns are available as well, thanks to the game coming bundled with a mission editor, the same one that Volition used to create the original game.

== Notable Fan Projects ==

* ''[[Silent Threat Reborn]]''

* ''[[Blue Planet]]''

* ''[[Inferno (~~Fanfic~~)|Inferno]]''

* ''[[Inferno (fanfic)|Inferno]]''

* ''[[~~Derelict (Fanfic)|~~Derelict]]''

* ''[[Derelict]]''

* ''Homesick''

* ''[[Wings of Dawn (~~Video~~ ~~Game~~)|Wings of Dawn]]''

* ''[[Wings of Dawn (video game)|Wings of Dawn]]''

* ''[[Just Another Day]]''

* ''[[The Babylon Project]]''

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* [[Ace Pilot]]: The number and size of the ships you single handedly destroy during the course of a campaign will put any major fleet battle group to shame.

** Although the games strive to present a "cog in the war machine" feel, that you are just one good pilot among many the Alliance possesses, your character is singled out near the end of the first game to lead an extremely dangerous mission past the Shivan blockade... the same mission that ultimately turns the tide of the entire war.

* [[A Nazi By Any Other Name]]: The Neo Terran Front; they view Vasudans as an obstacle to the survival of the Human race. Averted by {{spoiler|their own leader, Aken Bosch, whose main plain is to actually communicate the Shivans as he thinks it's the only way to survive a war against them}}.

* [[A Nazi by Any Other Name]]: The Neo Terran Front; they view Vasudans as an obstacle to the survival of the Human race. Averted by {{spoiler|their own leader, Aken Bosch, whose main plain is to actually communicate the Shivans as he thinks it's the only way to survive a war against them}}.

** The Hammer of Light believes that the Shivans are Cosmic Redeemers and that they are chosen to eradicate all who would oppose them. The Shivans don't really care for them anyway, and destroy them regardless.

* [[All There in the Manual]]: A document called the Freespace Reference Bible, a collection of the developers' notes on the first game, contains a few story details not made clear in the main game, such as some backstory on the GTA and the precise workings of subspace, as well as some hints as to [[What Could Have Been]], including storyboards for a couple of canned cutscenes.

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* [[Fantastic Racism]]: The Neo-Terran Front, a splinter group of anti-Vasudan humans, and the Hammer of Light, a splinter group of anti-''everyone'' Vasudans.

* [[Fission Mailed]]: Failing to achieve a primary objective doesn't necessarily mean you lose the mission. Just like in real war, unforeseen circumstances can render the original objectives either impossible or moot.

* [[Fling a Light Into ~~The~~ Future]]: The Ancients do this after realizing that they have no chance whatsoever of surviving their fight against the Shivans. The information they record regarding their downfall and the Shivans' weaknesses proves vital to humanity {{spoiler|and leads to the Shivans' defeat in the first game}}.

* [[Fling a Light Into the Future]]: The Ancients do this after realizing that they have no chance whatsoever of surviving their fight against the Shivans. The information they record regarding their downfall and the Shivans' weaknesses proves vital to humanity {{spoiler|and leads to the Shivans' defeat in the first game}}.

* [[Fragile Speedster]]: Light fighters such as the ''Loki'' or ''Astaroth'' can fall apart if you sneeze on them too hard.

* [[Friend or Foe]]: The Hammer of Light just love to pose as your reinforcement, and then turn on you as soon as you turn your back.

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* [[Heads I Win, Tails You Lose]]: [[Free Space]] 2 is filled with missions where you have to keep not only yourself but an escort ship alive until a certain point... at which point the escort is destroyed by overwhelming force from nowhere.

* [[Hello, Insert Name Here]]

* [[Hey, It's That Voice!]]: Admiral Petrarch in ''FreeSpace 2'' is also a General ... [[Independence Day|General Grey]], to be specific, and Admiral Bosch in the same is [[Stargate SG 1|Kinsey]].

* [[Hey, It's That Voice!]]: Admiral Petrarch in ''FreeSpace 2'' is also a General ... [[Independence Day|General Grey]], to be specific, and Admiral Bosch in the same is [[Stargate SG-1|Kinsey]].

** The narrator of the ''Colossus'' cutscene is Red from [[That 70s Show]].

* [[Hoist By His Own Petard]]: The cluster missiles. It takes ''a lot'' of calculation to [[Improbable Aiming Skills|hit it at the right time]], considering its speed, when it will explode, the distance of the enemy target, and direction of said target to use it effectively. More often than not, the average novice player will [[No Range Like Point-Blank Range|throw it point-blank at the face of an enemy fighter]], usually killing himself.

* [[Hoist by His Own Petard]]: The cluster missiles. It takes ''a lot'' of calculation to [[Improbable Aiming Skills|hit it at the right time]], considering its speed, when it will explode, the distance of the enemy target, and direction of said target to use it effectively. More often than not, the average novice player will [[No Range Like Point-Blank Range|throw it point-blank at the face of an enemy fighter]], usually killing himself.

** ''Never'' try to shoot down a fighter [[Artificial Stupidity|when it accidentally collides with yours]]. Not only will you [[Collision Damage|take physical damage]] from the impact of the hit, you will be hurting yourself about as much as your opponent with your own weapons. This is especially fatal on harder [[Difficulty Levels~~|difficulty levels~~]].

** ''Never'' try to shoot down a fighter [[Artificial Stupidity|when it accidentally collides with yours]]. Not only will you [[Collision Damage|take physical damage]] from the impact of the hit, you will be hurting yourself about as much as your opponent with your own weapons. This is especially fatal on harder [[Difficulty Levels]].

* [[Hopeless War]]: The war against the Shivans.

* [[Hope Spot]]: ''FreeSpace 2'' is basically a succession of these.

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'''Jake''': "Me leave! Ha! This is our damn ship you stupid bastards! You think you own it! Here, own this!"<br />

* followed by a [[Bar Brawl]]*" }}

* [[Humans By Any Other Name]]: Played straight with the classic Terrans, but amazingly subverted with the Vasudans, as [[Bilingual Bonus|"Vasuda" is from an ancient Sanskrit word meaning "Earth"]]!

* [[Humans by Any Other Name]]: Played straight with the classic Terrans, but amazingly subverted with the Vasudans, as [[Bilingual Bonus|"Vasuda" is from an ancient Sanskrit word meaning "Earth"]]!

* [[Hyperspace Lanes]]: Travel between systems is done at jump nodes, essentially the end points of established wormholes that travel between systems.

* [[Hyperspeed Ambush]]: Most enemies, especially the Shivans, prefer to ambush you or the vessels you're escorting by warping in close by. Shivan warships love this tactic, as they often jump in and tear apart their targets with their beam cannons in seconds, usually done by their Ravana-class destroyers and the Sathanas juggernauts.

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** Confirmed by the Word of God in another link. {{spoiler|Shivan send out a scouting party, then send in a main group, create a gate by collapsing a star, then...um...they hadn't figured the next step out, but probably port in the REAL armada.}}

* [[Organic Technology]]: The Shivans seem to be some kind of biology-electronics hybrid species; in fact, there are theories that the ships themselves are creatures.

* [[Our Graphics Will Suck in ~~The~~ Future]]: The briefing screen, especially on the first game where they used Terran ship icons (''Fenris'' cruiser icon for cruisers and ''Orion'' destroyer ones for destroyers) to signify non-Terran ships.

* [[Our Graphics Will Suck in the Future]]: The briefing screen, especially on the first game where they used Terran ship icons (''Fenris'' cruiser icon for cruisers and ''Orion'' destroyer ones for destroyers) to signify non-Terran ships.

* [[Our Weapons Will Be Boxy in ~~The~~ Future]]: Due to the Terran ships following [[ISO Standard Human Spaceship]] classification, we have some really, really boxy ships as well; a notable one is the GTD [[Cool Starship|Orion]], which , indeed, [http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/images/Gtdorion-old.jpg looks like some sort of a flying armored brick]. Others such as the Triton, Elysium, and Aeolus can fit into this category as well. The technical descriptions of some of the Vasudan ships mention that at first glance Terran designers laughed at the Vusdans for not designing their ships along "purely utilitarian" lines. [[Curb Stomp Battle|They shut up soon afterward.]]

* [[Our Weapons Will Be Boxy in the Future]]: Due to the Terran ships following [[ISO Standard Human Spaceship]] classification, we have some really, really boxy ships as well; a notable one is the GTD [[Cool Starship|Orion]], which , indeed, [http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/images/Gtdorion-old.jpg looks like some sort of a flying armored brick]. Others such as the Triton, Elysium, and Aeolus can fit into this category as well. The technical descriptions of some of the Vasudan ships mention that at first glance Terran designers laughed at the Vusdans for not designing their ships along "purely utilitarian" lines. [[Curb Stomp Battle|They shut up soon afterward.]]

* [[Outrun the Fireball]]: Fighters and bombers lingering near a warship approaching critical mass do this all the time. You also get to run from a ''really'' big one {{spoiler|1=in the last mission of ''FreeSpace 2''}}.

** For those unfamiliar, {{spoiler|Command informs you that the Capella star has gone supernova and you've got 40 seconds to get the hell out before the shockwave hits. Good luck if you so happened to be on the wrong side of the battlefield. You still win, though. Technically.}}

* [[Painting the Fourth Wall]]: The main menu.

* [[Pay Evil Unto Evil]]: Snipes rigs an entire wing of NTF fighters to detonate, massacres a whole bunch more (alongside Alpha 1), then blames it on the "laziness" of the captain of the Sevrin, who is then executed.

{{quote| "When you sign up with the wrong outfit, [[Rewarded As a Traitor Deserves|you get what you deserve]]."}}

{{quote| "When you sign up with the wrong outfit, [[Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves|you get what you deserve]]."}}

* [[Photoprotoneutron Torpedo]]: The gigantic [[Wave Motion Guns]] are typically called "beams", both in-game and out, but their technical name is "Photon Beam Cannon". There's also the Meson Bomb, a superpowerful explosive that completely vaporizes anything within three kilometers.

* [[Planar Shockwave]]: Used and averted. The graphic effects use several planar shockwaves, but the actual blast zones are spherical and can knock you around whether one of the "waves" grazes you or not.

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* [[Recursive Ammo]]: Cluster bombs.

* [[The Revolution Will Not Be Vilified]]: The debriefing of the last level of ''Silent Threat'' has a comment that had the player's side lost against the Hades, "GTI would be writing the history books".

* [[Red and Black ~~And~~ Evil All Over]]: The Shivans. Originally, however, they were meant to be [[Sickly Green Glow|green]].

* [[Red and Black and Evil All Over]]: The Shivans. Originally, however, they were meant to be [[Sickly Green Glow|green]].

* [[Retcon]]: The Battle of Deneb is completely different in the FreeSpace 2 intro than when you play it in the first game.

** This is due to the people making the cutscenes [[Did Not Do the Research|not doing the research.]] This same cutscene later has wreckage of a ''Hades''-class superdestroyer on Deneb III, when the Battle of Jotunheim (in which the ''Hades'' was destroyed) took place all the way across Terran space from Deneb. ''[[Silent Threat Reborn]]'' corrected this seeming [[Plot Hole]] by having the ''Hades'' escape the Battle of Jotunheim and continue to hound the [[The Alliance]] until they finally shot it down over ... Deneb III.

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* [[Space Marine]]: A squad of Terran marines [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpAcztB2F-Y board a disabled Shivan transport]. For Space Marines, they aren't all that [[Badass]], since they {{spoiler|[[Red Shirt|predictably end up slaughtered]] by the Shivans}}.

* [[Special Effect Branding]]: The factions' laser cannons all have distinct colors. The MediaVPs take this further with the shields being different colors.

* [[Spell My Name ~~With~~ an "S"]]: Some fans '''''still''''' spell the GTW UD-8 Kayser as "GTW UD-8 '''Kaiser'''". [["Stop Having Fun!" Guys|It's a Y, not an I, goddamnit!]]

* [[Spell My Name with an "S"]]: Some fans '''''still''''' spell the GTW UD-8 Kayser as "GTW UD-8 '''Kaiser'''". [["Stop Having Fun!" Guys|It's a Y, not an I, goddamnit!]]

* [[Sprint Meter]]: The afterburner.

* [[Standard Sci-Fi Fleet]]: Fits almost perfectly, though the bigger ships deviate a bit.

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* [[Subsystem Damage]]: Getting hit at the same spot multiple times when your shield is down may damage and destroy a subsystem in addition to your ship taking hull damage. Most ships come with the standard Sensors (affects radar integrity), Engines (affects ship movement), Navigation (theoretically affects jumping out) and Comms (affects the success rate of sending ship-to-ship orders or requests).

* [[Suicide Attack]]: Both the Hammer of Light and Neo-Terran Front tried to do this several times.

* [[Taking You ~~With~~ Me]]: The NTF's rear admiral, Koth, attempted to do this by ramming his own ship, the NTD ''Repulse'', into the GTVA ''Colossus''.

* [[Taking You with Me]]: The NTF's rear admiral, Koth, attempted to do this by ramming his own ship, the NTD ''Repulse'', into the GTVA ''Colossus''.

* [[Tempting Fate]]: In ''FreeSpace 2'', after a successful mission, a Vasudan commander proclaims: "''This victory proves without a doubt our technological superiority over our Great War nemesis. For the second time, the Alliance defeated a species which has annihilated entire civilizations across this galaxy. With the ''Colossus'', we will have nothing more to fear.''" Now, this kind of blatant [[Genre Blindness]] is [[Tempting Fate]] by itself, but in a [[Darker and Edgier|Dark and Edgy]] setting where the storyline constantly reminds you how hopeless your situation is and how insignificant your victories are, this really takes it [[Up to Eleven]].

** Shivan ships' weapons do ''considerably'' more damage than their allied equivalents. For example, the main beam cannons of the ''Sathanas'' do almost twice the damage per-shot and fires twice as fast than the beam cannons of the ''Colossus'', and the latter does not even ''have'' an equivalent. Its huge beam cannons, while assigned as specific weapons in the mission editor, ''don't exist'' in-universe - they're just what happens when the gunners overload the next-step-down beams to the point where they start melting. Shivan beams even look more efficient, with a near-solid beam, whereas Vasudan beams look less focused, and Terran beams are even worse. It brings the Vasudan commander's comments into full-on arrogance.