| WELCOME
to Nova-Kemet |
| 2
June 2001--
• Read
the Counter-Rant from
Dave@ATMOS. Thanks,
Dave.
• The ships
now have engine glow, I am proud to announce. Such as it is. I just
could'nt get Bryce 5 to coöperate, so I did it my way. I broke
the rules. The ships are now updated.
• Is
anyone test-driving these ships and weaps? How are they working
for you? Give me a shout willya?
• Excellent discussion at the EV
Developer's Corner on Win/Mac Relations and Development.
31 May 2004--
•
Boy,
have I pissed some people off! The EV
Developers Corner has closed the thread announcing (they say
"advertising") this webpage. Seems I let myself get drawn
into the old PC vs. Mac saw. Stupid.
•
An executive at ATMOS has expressed his displeasure at my rants
below. Who knew the Aurorans were contemplated as being of color?
I didn't. I'm glad he wrote, and his letter can be read here.
29
May 2004--
This site
is for plugin users and developers for the game Escape Velocity
Nova, the space action/ rpg from Ambrosia Software.
Here you will
find a new government and missions,
new more powerful ships and outfits.
Such as they are. Why wait until you are old and gray and someone
thinks you are Ory'Hara before you can open up a can of serious
whoopass on somebody? Sometimes you just need to release some stress
on a few stray pirates.
All plugs come prepped for Windows users, zipped or rar'ed and in
.rez format! Need a .zip or .rar utility? Try winrar.
It does both.
Soon I will
add tutorials. It seems that there is a definite
lack of tutorials for PC plug developers. Instead of complaining,
I'm making some.
Also I am interested
in a blog and web board for EVN's PC users and developers. But later
for that... For now, Ahlan (welcome, as they say in New Kemet),
and enjoy.
~Badanov
|
NEW
SHIP IS HERE:
Sphinx
Light Destroyer
After reports of run-ins with the
Federation patrol boat and the amount of sheer firepower certain
variants could put downrange, the Warriors' Kraal ordered KemeTech
to alter the Freight Shuttle for similar duty. It had to be tough
up close, but be able to use standoff tactics. KemeTech reinforced
the hull using it's stolen bio-regenerative armor, stretched the
fusilage some 15 meters, added wings for missiles, an intgrated
fusion reactor and some turreted rail guns, and the results were
impressive.
Crew:
10
Shields/Armour: 490/275
Speed: 450
Cargo: 35
Free:35
Jumps: 8
Weaps: 4/2
2 100mm turreted rails; 4 Hellhound missiles; 2 mini-lasers, 2 PD
lasers
[It's butt-ugly, put it'll put some real hurt downrange. Ooh-raaa!
--Bad.]
|
|
| NEW-KEMET
Download here: New Kemet.rar @ 921KB |
| 
^Click
pic to enlarge |
THE
SYSTEM: New
Kemet [syst 769]
Due west of Kania on
the galactic plane, one jump away. The only surviving planet of
a red giant sun (as-Shams). Nestled comfortably between the Federation,
the Polaran and the Auroran empires; they are at ground-zero for
any conflicts between the three.
THE PLANET:
Ebadu-Kedaar [spob 545]
A class-M planet that seems to be very old, much older than Earth,
in fact. The surface is comprised of either smallish brackish oceans,
desert/salt flats, or rocky mountains. The theory is that it was
an ice planet before the sun went red. All native chordate animal
life seems to have been wiped out by catastrophe, their fossils
litter the planet. Very few small native plants grow here, and those
brought by the pilgrims. The average temperature is 92.1° F
with very little latitudinal or seasonal variation.
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| 
^Click
pic to enlarge
|
THE
PEOPLE
The ancestors of the Kemetan peoples were religious and cultural
pilgrims who found Terran culture increasingly hostile to their
traditional ways. They are therefore, isolationist by nature, and
quite fierce by disposition. Over the centuries there has been a
melding of traditions, and Kemetan society is as unique as any.
For example, most non-Kemetans have difficulty accepting and understanding
the tradition of nudity among the unmarried women, and have gotten
themselves in a great deal trouble because of it. Nudity is a sign
of chastity and readiness to begin marriage negotiations between
families; but the sexes are strictly segregated here (except at
spacedock and in space); there is no dating to speak of. The tradition
of patronage is problematic as well.
Kedaaran cities (called
"petras" by Kemetans) are not raised out of steel and
glass, but are carved into the earth itself, and are huge, graceful
living sculptures, the essence of the Kemetan people. This is as
the Women's Council decreed centuries ago, but also out of necessity
to escape the grinding heat of the surface.
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| 
^Click
pic to enlarge
|
THE
GOVERNMENT [govt
196]
The Womens's Council
Kemetans believe that since women are given the gift of creation,
that they should be in charge of the planet and everything affixed
thereto, but that is all-- once one leaves the atmosphere, their
authority is limited, unless you are female, or leave something
on the ground. They are, in effect, the consicence and mother-wit
of Kedaar. The symbol of the Kemetan people is in fact the female-principle
symbol-- the ankh. The Women's Council traditionally decides when
and if the other councils may choose the Governor-- the Maghaan
Kemet. They also act as Supreme Court, the court of last resort.
The
Warriors' Kraal
All Kemetans, male and female, must have military training
(which is strictly gender-segregated, as is all Kemetan society)
which starts at eight years and continues to 13. Then one reaches
the age of choice, and must undergo your tribe's ascendance ceremony
(Bar Mitzvah, or whatever). You may elect to become a Warrior, if
they will have you, or you may be chosen by the Kraal no matter
what your wishes if you show enough talent. There are three branches,
KDF, the Marine Special Forces, and Strategic Resources (intelligence).
These forces are small, but wily and they fight with the conviction
that they must have to protect their tiny society. They will not
back down, but will instead rise to the occasion.
The Prophets' Guild
There are 17 major religions on Kedaar, and hundreds of minor ones.
The Guild trains clerics for each, and also judicial officers, judging
each according to her individual beliefs and traditions. For that
reason, there has never been a religious conflict on Kedaar. They
also oversee training of teachers, and oddly enough, spies.
KemeTech,
LLC
Though
not a governmental entity, it is the largest economic entity on
the planet and therefore has strong relationships with the government.
For the most part, it gets whatever it wants, and has recently expanded
into Kaffiruwn (what non-Kemetans are called) space. This has changed
centuries of Kemetan government isolationist policy-- forcing their
hand, so to speak.
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|
| SHIPS
Download
here: Freight Shuttle.zip @ 673KB
Starlord_Griffin.rar
@ 740KB |
| 
Crew:
2
Shields/Armor: 100/100
Speed 450
Cargo: 75
Free: 18
Jumps: 5
Weaps: 1/1
1 Mini Laser, 1 PD Laser
^Click
pic to enlarge |
FREIGHT
SHUTTLE
[ship 128]
The Sigma Shuttles' day is over-- the hull is over a century old and
the realities of space travel have changed. The galaxy is a much larger
place and fraught with dangers. Better weapons and engines are available.
Captains no longer have only one choice--- spacing in an eggshell
with no weapons and no fuel capacity. For a little more money, a ship
captain can afford 3 to 5 times the cargo space, better speed, handling,
and protection, and standard IFF package and afterburner.
Welcome to the day of
the KemeTech Freight Shuttle. It's no powerhouse, but your chances
of coming back alive, and with a few extra credits in your pocket
are greatly enhanced.
[NOTE: I have given these light freighters ship RID# 128-- that
means you start off with this ship instead of the usual "captain-killer."]
The KemeTech Freight Shuttle
Download here: Freight Shuttle.zip
@ 673KB
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| 
Crew: 1
Shields/Armor: 185/210
Speed: 600
Cargo: 15
Free: 39
Jumps: 5
Weaps 2/2
2 Mini Lasers, 2 PD Lasers
^Click
pic to enlarge
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GRIFFIN
HEAVY INTERCEPTOR [ship 423]
For decades many governments have "settled" for fighters
that,... well, suck. If they are fast, they are weak as eggshells;
if they have some punch, they are just too slow. Using purloined technologies
allowed KemeTech to produce this "heavy interceptor," heretofore,
a contradiction in terms.
It's very fast, has decent shields and armor, and packs a punch. It
even comes with pd lasers standard and afterburners standard. Griffin
bay carries 8 griffins.
The Griffin and Starlord come together.
Download here: Star_Griff.rar
@ 740KB
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| 
Crew: 65
Shields/Armor: 950/550
Speed: 375
Cargo: 250
Free: 165
Jumps: 8
Weaps: 4/4
2 Hybrid Lasers, 2 Turreted Pulse Bio-relay Lasers, 2 PD Lasers
^Click
pic to enlarge
|
STARLORD
[ship 454]
Kemetans design ships; they only manufacture fighters and shuttles.
When they have a new design as revolutionary as this, there is only
one man to call. Donald Chick. Involvement in the Rebellion is very
costly for Donald Chick; his credit is overextended and he made too
many ships for the Rebels. Now he has to recoup his losses with a
new product. He needs a replacement for the badly aging IDA Frigate
and Federation Destroyer.. The result: The StarLord-- designed with
the best at his disposal! Featuring a bio-regenerating hull structure,
a fusion power source, an SGR Hybrid Laser and turreted pulse relay
lasers as main guns, this ship is as much warship as freighter-- by
design.
The Griffin and Starlord come together.
Download here: Star_Griff.rar
@ 740KB
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NOTE:
These ships were designed using Rhino 2.0, exported as Wavefront obj's
and textured using UVMapper and Photoshop and some old public domain textures
I had in the morgue (I don't remember who did the originals). Some models
(not just the ships) were rendered using Bryce 5, others redered directly
in Rhino.
Unfortunately I haven't been able to get the exhaust flames to work correctly--
I will update ASAP. I could use some help here. I still have the models.
These
ships come standard with the outfits and weapons listed below-- so they
won't work correctly without them. I am willing to fix this if I get enough
input. They are pretty well balanced out of the box, but the outfits below
can make them super-weapons, and take some of the fun out of the game.
Use them judiciously. Or not.
~Badanov |
| OUTFITS/WEAPONS
Download here: KTech
Outfits.zip @ 643KB |
| Sorry,
except for the griffin bay, all outfits come in one archive. The oütf
rid#'s will come later.
|
STEALTH
CLOAK
Once only diplomats and members of Kemetan Strategic
Resources (the intel agency) even knew this unit existed. They have
become so common that KemeTech prevailed on the Guilds to allow these
to be sold, lest Kemet lose a VERY lucrative market. The Guilds agreed,
so long as the sale is licensed. These are the best made, even better
than the Polarans' . It is faster to cloak and even cloaks ships in
one's formation!
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SINGULARITY
REACTOR
Creating a quantum singularity isn't the problem-- controlling it
is. Working on the Plasma Vortex Inducer gave KemeTech a unique experience
in handling super high-energy fields. The solution: you don't control
a singularity, you let its instability work for you. So now, the energy
found on the event horizon of this teeny artificial black hole (several
thousand per minute, actually) can be harnessed into the most powerful
energy source known to man.
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|
DIPLOMATIC
ID
Patronage has long been the tradition in Kemetan society-- from before
the spacefaring days on Earth. If one wants a certain position (assuming
they are qualified) they must pay patronage. This isn't bribery, but
a sign of respect, and an acknowledgement that the money will support
the people first. Most Kemite spacefarers and traders have some level
of diplomatic status. This ID will clear your record in all the major
empires, but beware-- you may actually have to work for it if called
upon.
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PLASMA
BOLT EMITTER
Conflict with the Polarans has demonstrated the need
for a powerful packeted energy torpedo, one that is especially damaging
to shields. This phased plasma "torpedo" adapts "on-the-fly"
to the target shield frequencies. Faster reloading than it's counterparts
and self-cooling; all done with passive heat-sink technology. Simple,
but effective. Requires
a singularity reactor.
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|
POINT
DEFENSE LASER
An inexpensive offshoot of the Polaran TBRL. It tracks
incoming ordnance and destroys it automatically. Incoming fast-movers
are instantly disabled. After all, why kill if you don't need to?
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STRATEGIC
RESOURCES MAP
Kemetans have been traders for centuries. It has long
been law that every Kemetan ship must share its flight log maps. Kemetan
Strategic Resources keeps and uses it for its own purposes and has
long had the complete map of human space and surrounds-- as do all
the other governments. They are the most highly classified of documents
in any empire. This
20 jump map is very expensive, but it will save you time, mony,
and perhaps even your life.
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|
PLASMA
VORTEX INDUCER
{ Okay, it's an overdrive.}
What would happen if, instead of squirting out hot exhaust gases as
most reaction engines do, you used electical fields to cause these
gases to accelerate exponentially? You'd get this unit-- think of
it as a permanent afterburner. Speed
+250; accel +200!
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top] |
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REPAIR
BOTS
Few in numbers, and with few allies, and the constant
threat of piracy, the Kemites have to rely on tech to rescue them
when disabled. Given time, these repair bots can fix most kinds of
disabling battle damage without the need of external power sources.
Kids
love them-- they make great babysitters; they record and relay everything
they see. Also, when in hyperspace, vibrations on the deck plates
make them sway back and forth as if they're dancing! Hilarious!
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HYPERJUMP
EXTENSION MODULE
Common wisdom has long held that fast jumping causes insanity. Now
that this has been overcome, the only hurtle left is power, raw, space-bending
power. No one makes more powerful mass production hyperspace engines
(for their size) then KemeTech. It's not quite as good as the Polarans'
(only 8 jumps-to-one), but those aren't exactly on the market...
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FED
CLOAK REMOVAL
It's
an alabatross! It's a trap! It's not even necessary for the mission!
A cloak that drops your shields, and that you can't get rid of?
Even if you buy a new ship? Sheesh!
Not any more. Just sell it.
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|
KEMETAN
SPECIAL FORCES
Kemetan boys and girls grow up in space (their families usually being
either soldiers or traders), and their basic warrior training happens
before they reach 13. The Kemite Special Forces, known as the Shahiydiyn,
was set up by the Vaccum Soldiers of old. They don't wait around for
wars-- once patronage is paid to the right officer, they go where
the action (read, money) is. They are simply the best zero-G warriors
in the galaxy, and they can be yours, no questions asked, for a price.
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GRIFFIN
INTERCEPTOR BAY
Jane's Aerospace
calls the Griffin, "the best all-around fighter in decades,
maybe centuries." And this ultralight bay carries eight of
them. For serious offensive and defensive impact, accept no substitiutes.
One might not need any other weapons, just lauch them and point.
This outfit comes with the ships. Download here.
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|
HYBRID
LASER
SiGliRau-- a joint venture of the Federation's big-three
munitioners, and KemeTech combined to reverse-engineer the Polaran
pulse and bio-relay lasers. The result is this living "cyber-laser."
Part organic, part traditional, this weapon is almost as powerful
as its Polaran counterpart, and is grown over a cystalline-metal armature.
Destined to become the mainstay of Federation and Kemetan Defense
Force, it is already back-ordered for 2 years. Interestingly,
the Vell-os cannot travel on ships carrying this weapon; they say
they can empathically feel it's pain...
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MINI
LASER
When reverse-engineering the Polaran beam weapons, they found the
Pulse Laser and Polaron Cannon easier to reproduce than the smaller
bio-relay laser. But they managed to mechanically reproduce the output,
and a pretty darn good weapon is the result.
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|
DELUXE
JAMMING UNIT
This
unit jams all known targeting systems. Space travel without one
of these is just stupid-- so buy one already!
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|
|
As
noted above all ships use these outfits as standard fare. They should
work without them, but why would you want them to? ~badanov
Download here: KTech
Outfits.zip @ 643KB
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| I.
The Buccaneer Shuffle
You are the new, (if somewhat unwilling) Governor of a one-planet
backwater system that only has one (okay, two) things going for
it.:
1. awesome ships
and weapons; and
2. well, just go to the spacedock bar and find out.
McGowan's Pirates seem to have an inordinate interest in your little
system, and while you have other things on your mind, like getting
paid, your duties to other governments [this doesn't interfere with
other strings], and, well...(see #2, above), people are getting
killed. The question is, why?
Features: New Governor's initiation, ver y lucrative cargo runs
and pickups (once you become Governor), and a rescue mission.
More missions will come
if interest is expressed. I'll probably do them for myself anyhow.
Download: New
Kemet.rar @ 921KB
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| |
|
| TUTORIALS |
|
Basic
Ship Modelling in Rhino
for use in EVN.
That's the Starlord to the left. Don't worry, we'll do an easy one
first-- the freight shuttle. Coming first, gimme a week or two...
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Deciphering
NCB's and desc/pict RID's
Coming
soon, once I finish screaming...
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Custom
EVN Ships Step-By-Step for Windows Plug Developers
Coming soon. It's basically one and two above.
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| |
|
| THANKS
& CREDITS this is not in any
order save that of a madman's failing memory...
1.
Thanks
to Dafydd "pipeline" Williams
and ATMOS Software Productions Pty
Ltd for this awesome game;
2. to Azratax
for his "excel-lent" resource guide (how anybody made
plugs before this is beyond me; 3.
For 21st century digital boy,
and rockaddict, et
al for the Nontechnical Bible (even though
I promptly ignored most of it!); 4.
to magnet and his
"India" morph targets, lighting, and textures (see the
Ebadu-Kedaar spaceport bar-- that is a right-out-the-box render
you're looking at! Amazing.); 5.
to the guys at Ambrosia's Developer's
Corner; 6.
to Adam Rosenfield
for EVNEW (thank-you, thank-you, thank-you!); 7.
to Schlabber (Maestro!)
if you don't know, you better ask somebody!... 8.
Picture above of the federation
cloaking device is property of Ambrosia SW and it's graphic
subcontractors, over which I claim Fair Use because of my erudite
criticism appertaining
thereto; 9. to
ackagato for his
"reset missions" plugin, the reverse-engineering of which
taught me much (by
the way, my plugins work with yours, now). 10.
to E. Badu, who thinks
no one will ever name a building after her...; 11.
to Matt Burch for
coding this incredible EVN engine...;
More as my hangover clears up..
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| |
| RANTS
mostly about EVN, but
not all... again, in no specific order...
| 1.
There are no
black, brown or other people of color mentioned, described
or otherwise alluded to in this game. *
Where are the Brothers and Sisters in the future? Ain't there
gon' be no space ghetto? Places where you are afraid to park
your starship cause they keep stealing your dilithium crystals?
[I will eventually take this part out, but for now, I'm leaving
this part so the reader will know what everyone's offended
about. Plus I still think it's funny. --Bad.]
Part of the allure and longevity of Trek and other sci-fi
visions of the future is it's diversity-- the view that right
or wrong, good-guy or bad-guy, it comes in all colors.
Ambrosia
describes EVN as a Space-action/ RPG. People in RPG-genre
games need to see themselves reflected in character choices.
It is not a token that a sw developer must give begrudgingly,
it is an economic necessity if you like profit! That is, unless
you have political reasons for doing otherwise. I don't know
(or care, for that matter) what Ambrosia's target market or
demographics are, but I do know the bulk of their global market
doesn't have blue eyes like Commander Krane, or Mu'Randa's
auburn hair. They have names like Abdullah, Guo-sun, Vijay,
and Amaka.
Now, let us all
hold hands and sing "Kumbayaa." eor
*NOTE:
Dafydd Williams at ATMOS has expressed his offense at and
disagreement with this rant. I have apologized for offending
him or anyone else and have removed certain portions; and
he has given his permission to post his letter to me as a
"Counter-Rant." However, I stand by my opinion about
character choices and descriptions.
~Badanov
COUNTER-RANT
by Dafydd Williams, ATMOS
Subject: "EVNOVA and You"
|
| Hi,
I'm Dafydd Williams. I headed up the project development
team for Escape Velocity Nova at ATMOS Software. We
created the scenario, and suggested/requested all new
features for the engine, which our good friend Matt
Burch implemented with us.
We come from Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. We are all
white. We all have friends of every racial type imaginable,
and I personally find your statements on your website
to be highly offensive.
Many of our characters are described as having caucasoid
features. Many are described as having no identifiable
racial characteristics at all. For example, the Auroran
peoples are almost uniformly negroid or mongoloid...
or somewhere between. They're my personal favorite race.
The Polaris are somewhat asian in their makeup, as well.
The Vell-os are at least half subcontinental Indian.
The characters we describe are based on our own experiences
as people. In Australia, and particularly in my home
city of Hobart, racism is basically unknown. There's
no point to it, so why bother?
---
My next point; Andrew Welch didn't make Nova, we did.
Matt Burch coded the engine, and ATMOS created the rest.
---
Nova was created entirely on Macintosh. The engine
was written on Macintosh. All our custom development
tools were written on Macintosh.
Contraband ported Nova to PC, and, no, there are no
plans for any official plug editors. We have neither
the time, money, skill with PCs nor inclination to do
so.
Yours,
Dafydd "pipeline" Williams @ ATMOS Software
Productions Pty Ltd
|
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| 2.
I HATE the radar screen in EV for one reason--
(well, two-- I'm old and can't see the teeny screen) you can't
tell which way anyone is moving. Let me make a suggestion.
Instead of this screen> ,
could we please have this screen?>
Now isn't this better?
You can tell yourself from your allies, you can tell which
way everyone is moving, and therefore who to fight and who
to run from and in which order. Hasn't anyone thought of this?
And no, I DON'T have a life, thank you very much! How hard
would it be to code that? Must I learn C++? Please don't make
me. Thanks in advance. By the way, this could be an Americans
with Disabilities Act situation. Hmmm. eor
~Badanov
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| 3.
More of a suggestion than a rant
How cool would it be if you could leave your ship or an escort,
let's say, in one system and take off in one of your fighters,
go whoopass or something and then actually come back and dock?
Assuming your ship wasn't destroyed while you were gone...
Woo! A whole new aspect to the game! eor
~Badanov
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| 4.
I have found that the Developer's
Bible, as indispensible as it is, is just
the beginning and raises as many questions as it answers.
I believe that what developers' need is a real explanation
of the ncb's
as well as a useful list of desc
and pict RID's
and their locations. At least I haven't found one that did
me much good. The most difficult part about making these humble
plugins work (such as they do) was finding blank spaces to
put them in so they worked with other plugins, etc. Debugging
is not fun, people.
In the mean time, I am writing all this stuff down, and compiling
a list of unused rid's in the hope that others may not have
to suffer as I have.
See
if this is a good idea. What if I were to use this web space
to compile a list of RID's used in plugins, so developers
could just log on and share their rid#'s as well as check
for empty spaces. I am going to eventually put all the rid#s
that use on this webpage. Whadyathink? EVN4 will probably
be out by then... eor
~Badanov
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|
|
| CONTACT |
| Comments?
Suggestions? Help? Rumours? Rants? Counter-Rants? Innuendo?
Threats?
The buck stops here. Blame
me. Flame yamama.
Plugins/Editor/Webmaster/Graphics: C. Mubarak (aka Badanov) at: Cmobb@hotmail.com
See my work at: http://planbgraphics.bravehost.com/
© 2004 C. Mubarak (aka Badanov)/Nova-Kemet all rights reserved
EV Nova is copyright
© 1996-2004 Ambrosia Software, Inc.
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