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.]

^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. [Back to top] ^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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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 [Back to top]

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

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



[Back to top] 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

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!

[Back to top] 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.

[Back to top] 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.

[Back to top] 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.

[Back to top] 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?

[Back to top] 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.

[Back to top] 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! [Back to top] 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! [Back to top] 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...

[Back to top] 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.



[Back to top] 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.

[Back to top] 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.

[Back to top] 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...

[Back to top] 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.

[Back to top] DELUXE JAMMING UNIT

This unit jams all known targeting systems. Space travel without one of these is just stupid-- so buy one already!

[Back to top] 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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MISSIONS Included in the New Kemet.rar package. 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...

[Back to top] Deciphering NCB's and desc/pict RID's

Coming soon, once I finish screaming...

[Back to top] Custom EVN Ships Step-By-Step for Windows Plug Developers

Coming soon. It's basically one and two above.

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RANTS & THANKS 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..

[Back to top] 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



[Back to top] 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



[Back to top] 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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