Nexus 2: The Gods Awaken (sequel to The Jupiter Incident - amazing space tactical game) kickstarter

[Llyranor]

http://www.kickstart...the-gods-awaken

 

I know there's a dumb Kickstarter thread, but this is bigger than that. We're talking about the sequel to Nexus: The freaking Jupiter Incident (that was criminally ignored and thus sold little). That's right, one of the best space games ever, with amazing tactical combat and super fun weapons/subsystems targetting mechanics.

 

We're presently at 77k out of 650k. At the pace (and lack of publicity) it's going at, this is not a sure thing at all. But, this has to happen. We're talking about freaking Nexus, man!

 

This is what Nexus 1 plays like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyJjzQkT1Xo

It's only 10 bucks on Steam or GOG.

 

/nexus

Edited October 4, 2012 by Llyranor

[Humodour]

I came.

[Spider]

Yeah, I've already pledged for this. Nexus: The Jupiter incident was a fantastic game, if you haven't played it and is interested in tactical games at all, I suggest getting it immediately. The playing it, then pledging for the sequel.

 

[Drowsy Emperor]

I love Homeworld and tactical games but Nexus didn't leave much of an impression sad to say

[Malcador]

Looks like this is a complete failure, oh well, shame.

[Caligula Dances]

its sad to see the kickstarter progress stall on this one, I wander if its due to other projects going on with kickstarter leaving people strapped for cash.

A real shame though nexus the jupiter incident had the best explosions in a computer game , the ship would lose control and keel over with a voice saying 'warning ship being evacuated' and then the explosion would actually send wreckage spiraling away in all directions - so immersive.

It was brilliant, it was art,

but the slow kickstarter for the sequel doesnt leave much hope for a sequel.

Edited October 9, 2012 by Caligula Dances

[Humanoid]

I would say a few recent projects kind of overestimated their pull if you look at the projects that have gone previously. Now I realise it's not just a matter of lowering the goal so that it's attainable, but the likes of SpaceVenture, Tex Murphy, Leisure Suit Larry and Jane Jensen only pulled in the range of $400k-$700k, and they'd have a fair bit more brand recognition.

 

More of less the same case with the Pro Pinball reboot that was asking for $400k, it really didn't seem viable from the start.

[Llyranor]

Gameplay update

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mostwanted/nexus-2-the-gods-awaken/posts

Thanks again for all the mails, we've tried to answer all of them & one of the more common questions we've been asked is about the new features in Nexus 2 & about the ships and their crew. We've drawn up an overview for you and in this update we'll give you a little more insight into the Ship's Crew. In the next Update we'll post info about Ship Management & Configuration.

 

SHIP CREW

 

Every ship has a separate crew. They are the ones who fulfill the orders the player gives them. The crew collects experience points in every mission, according what they do. When they collect enough experience, they advance a level. The experienced crew gets bonuses for many actions so it is worthwhile to increase their skill levels as quickly as possible.

 

When a ship is destroyed the crew can also lose experience, even though they will try to reach the next ship in escape pods, not everyone make it (the enemy fighters and flaks are ruthless. As you can actually see this in the game, you can influence it too, by sending ships into the area to draw fire from the escape pods.). The lost crew members will be replaced by Rookies, who will lower the average experience level of the rest of the crew (we might soften this and make them lose only the experience collected above their current rank, so a Veteran crew never becomes Regular again).

 

The crew has four experience levels:

 

• Rookie

 

• Regular

 

• Veteran

 

• Elite

 

SKILLS

 

The crew and the heroes (see below) have three skills.

 

• Military: better aim, damage bonus

 

• Science: scanning bonus, detect and identify ships-devices faster, collect Secrets faster

 

• Engineering: faster repairing, generator output bonus

 

A Rookie crew has a value of 1 of all of the skills. At every level all of the skills grow with 1, and the player gets 1 point that he can allocate to any of the skills. So the maximum skill value is 7 – only heroes can have higher values.

 

HEROES

 

We have 2 type of heroes is Nexus 2.

 

CAPTAINS

 

They are the captains of the ships. Their dialogs help to develop the story, so they are invulnerable. Even if their ship blows up, they will always reach the next ship in an escape pod (except if the story says otherwise). They always do service on the same ship, they can’t be moved around to other ships.

 

They have 3 skills, which give additional bonuses to the ship (Military, Science and Repair). They gain experience with the crew and can increase these skills. It is well worth it to increase these skills, as a captain with a high skill can make a big difference in a battle.

 

If one of the skills of the captain on board is higher than the crew’s value, than the ship gets the bonus of that skill. E.g. a well known scientist’s science skill is 10, therefore the unit gets this bonus at every intelligence and scanning operation.

 

PSIS

 

Another type of hero is the Psi. They are also integral part of the story, so they can’t die either. They have only 1 special skill, with a very limited use (so they won’t become overpowered). Some of these skills are:

 

• Micro Jump: this power allows the ship to jump to its move target immediately. It works similarly as the micro jump drive the “White” race has used in the 6/1 mission of Nexus.

 

• Regeneration: this power can immediately “heal” the ship’s hull.

 

• Psi-blast: all enemy ships within a certain radius around the NPC’s ship get a random but serious device malfunction. The Mechanoid ships within this same radius all die.

 

• Battle Meditation: Greatly boosts the skills of the given crew for a short time, skills can exceed the maximum levels.

 

• Mind Control: Takes over certain functions of the enemy ships for a short period.

 

• Psychic Clone: Makes a ghost-like copy of the selected ship. It is weak, but the enemy units tend to concentrate fire on it.

 

• Shield Drain: Drains the shield of the target ship and enforces the shields of the ship of the Psi. They can be placed on any ship.

[mute688]

I'm only pledged for $35 at the moment. After I've paid the PE pledge I'll have to see if I have enough left over to pledge a bit more. Only just bought Nexus:TJI on GoG last week. Haven't played a lot of it so far but I'm enjoying what I've seen so far.

[Llyranor]

Let's rev up the PR machine, VROOM VROOM VROOM VA-VROOOM VARSAJRASKURHASROOOOOOOOM

 

Okay.

 

They've added two new interviews and some concept art:

 

http://obsoletegamer.com/nexus-2-the-gods-awaken-qa/

 

http://kickstarter-conversations.blogspot.nl/2012/10/nexus-2-interview.html

 

[Malcador]

Hm, not too bad. Bah, too many things I want to pledge to - time to have a roll off.

[Llyranor]

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mostwanted/nexus-2-the-gods-awaken/posts/327722

 

Oh look, lots of gameplay details.

 

SHIP MANAGEMENT

 

Ship configuration is the base of all tactics and as such one of the most important elements of the game. Here the player decides what the purpose of each ship will be. Will it be a shield breaker? A recon ship? A stealth ship with a cloaking device? Maybe a device attacker with tons of heavy lasers which can punch through any shield?

 

What equipment works best with which ship also has to be taken into consideration. For example lasers are best used on faster ships, which can maneuver better.

 

SHIPS

 

The player controls huge spaceships. We categorize them according to their purposes:

 

• Support ship

 

• Corvette

 

• Frigate

 

• Destroyer

 

• Cruiser

 

• Heavy Cruiser

 

• Battleship

 

• Freighter

 

• Squadrons (Fighter, Bomber, Gunboat, these are carried by the above ships)

 

At any given point in the game, the story dictates how much and what kind of ships the player can have. Most of the ships stay with the player throughout the game (some will join only for a mission or 2).

 

With the exception of the flagship, Angelwing, all the ships can be lost temporarily. In this case the player gets a replacement ship at the next friendly base. The new ship will be manned by the lost ship's rescued crew, and – for the easier narration – the ship is going to have the same name that its predecessor had, it’ll only have a identifier behind its name (for example “Sparta” -> “Sparta – B”).

 

There is a possibility, that the player has to complete a mission without a replacement ship – this might happen if according to the story there is no way to go to a friendly base between two missions.

 

In the vast majority of the cases though the ship configuration screen is available:

 

SHIP CONFIGURATION

 

The player can refit and repair his ships between missions. Sometimes this might not be an option (no space station/support ship nearby or a subsequent mission occurs very soon after the other) for dramatic reasons, but this will be rare.

 

As the game progresses, more and more new equipment become available. Mostly these are upgrades for existing devices, but there will be plenty of new ones too. These can be fitted to the ships on the ship equipment screen.

 

RESOURCE POINTS

 

The replacement or purchase of equipment cost resource points. Every device has a predefined number of resource points needed to install it on the ship.

 

The amount of resource points available depends on the actual situation such as how many ships are at the base, whether there are higher ranked officers, or how much time there is to do repairs or modifications. If however we have priority at the given base with tons of time, then there will be plenty of resource points. Basically it depends on the story. The above explanation also means, that the resource points can’t be “collected” and used later.

 

The player can influence the amount of resource points by raising the ship’s Repair skill. It is important to note that every ship has separate resource point pool.

 

EQUIPMENT

 

Each ship can be equipped with dozens of weapons, shields, engines and other devices. The number of available devices and equipment is limited though; all the bases have predefined stocks to choose from. The player has to think carefully which ship will get which upgrade.

 

Some devices cannot be changed, because they are mission critical equipment or integral parts of the ship/ship class.

 

The installable equipments of a ship depend on:

 

• What kind of repair capacity the station has (e.g. on a little station the player can only replace the weapons, but not the engines, and the generators)

 

• What can be put on the ship (eg. one cannot put a Siege laser on a Destroyer)

 

• Whether the player is authorized to buy the specific equipment (we may show some unavailable devices beforehand, to give some imperative to play more)

 

• Does the player have enough resource points to buy the equipment.

 

The equipment can be put into the following groups:

 

• Weapons

 

• Shields

 

• Sensors

 

• Defense systems

 

• Generators

 

• Boats (Fighter, Bomber, Gunship, Commando)

 

• Other

 

SQUADRON CUSTOMIZATION

 

A new feature is the customization of squadrons. The armament of fighters, bombers and gunboats can be changed on a new GUI panel. The player can choose from different lasers, bombs, torpedoes and flaks, but every change costs resource points as well.

 

REPAIR

 

Repairing a damaged ship is free (or takes only very few resource points), as we don’t want to additionally punish the player (he probably had bad tactics/equipment, we don’t want him to burn his resource points on repairs instead of changing the necessary weapons/devices). The rearming of weapons which use finite ammo is also free; this includes the Fighters missing from squadrons and the dead Commandos too (but only if their shuttle is intact).

[mrmud]

Nexus seemed really cool, but I could never understand what it wanted me to do. I got crushed just a few missions into the campaign and never figured out how to proceed because the game never helped me understand its systems.