FirstStrike News

Jundland Wastes Backstory Revealed

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:39:23 CST

Greetings Troopers!

This week we thought we'd take the time to release a few more snippets of information about Jundland Wastes, reveal a glimpse of the loading screen art, and a first look at the backstory text as penned by RSFAngel, winner of last year's First Strike Fan Fiction Contest, whose prize was to get the opportunity to write this text, together with tester access to the mod. Let's see what he came up with...

"Hot on the trail of a pair of rogue droids, escaping a captured Rebel starship in orbit, elite Imperial Sandtroopers are deployed to scour the arid wastelands of Tatooine far below. Their orders are to search anywhere that could possibly harbour the fugitives. The droids carry sensitive information which the Empire can not allow to fall into Rebel hands. Meanwhile, a Rebel Alliance cell based out of Anchorhead has been tasked with engaging these Imperial forces in an attempt to hamper their efforts and buy the droids the time they need to get off world and evade capture."

So the stage is set for an intriguing engagement between Imperial and Rebel forces, and unlike our previous Tatooine maps this one will take you up close and personal to distinctive Star Wars movie locales so close to the timeframe of the movies that it will give you the feeling that if you'd got there five minutes earlier you'd have crossed paths with Luke Skywalker himself.

We'd also like to thank all who voted for us in this year's ModDB Awards. We may not have made the Top 10 this year, but your votes are still appreciated. Besides, look at our past form. 3rd Place Unreleased Mod in 2006, and then 4th Place in the Top 10 Released Mods of 2008, clearly 2009 was not supposed to be our year, but we'll clean up in 2010. Thanks once again to everyone who voted.

Finally we'd like to expose you to a little more eye candy in the form of the second in our series of screenshot previews.

And now I'd like to leave you with but one more parting thought.

There... is... another...

...map.

2010 Status Update

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 13:02:41 CST

Greetings Troopers!

It has been quite a long time since we last gave you all a general update of how things are going due to the fact everyone has been working so hard on content for the next release. Things are calming down for some of the team as their projects are completed, giving us ample time to update you all on what is going on within the First Strike Team and Community.

EA/DICE/Punkbuster Bug

First off we'd just like to comment on the EA/DICE/Punkbuster bug issue that has been plaguing our mod, and in fact the actual source game BF2142 since before Christmas. We're quite annoyed that EA, DICE or Punkbuster have still yet to resolve this problem. The problem we speak of is an intermittent lag/framedrop/freeze which some people get which makes the game almost unplayable. It is a global issue, everyone seems to have it to some degree. Restarting your game tends to get rid of it, but it returns in time. We'll be looking at ways to combat this until the powers at be deal with it. We'll be experimenting with disabling PB on some servers to see if that alleviates the problem. If it does we'll let you know, and run our servers in this fashion until the bug is fixed. We'd also like to make it clear that this bug is not a problem with the mod, but an issue at EA's end that they have to rectify.

Recruitment Drive

With the team gearing up for a new release, we are in serious need of more developers to help out. No matter your talent, be it coding, skinning, modelling, mapping or even Music Composition, we could use the help. If you're interested in joining the team please let us know via our RECRUITMENT FORUM (http://forums.fsmod.com/viewforum.php?id=9), please note that evidence of previous work WILL be required.. We are in need of some BETA TESTERS, if you are interested in helping out with our beta team, read THIS form.

Apprentice Program

The FS Dev team has recently renewed the apprenticeship program, where we take on people with some basic skills and they get assigned with tasks which improve their skills, give them vital experience and also benefit the mod through their work. Currently there are two apprentices on the team and both have been hard at work fixing some of the long-time bugs that have been in First Strike and also doing some small work in improving some of the content for the next release. The team is willing to take on more apprentices, however be aware that it will be MUCH harder to get into this position than it will to apply as an experienced Developer due to the fact we have few people with the time that is needed to mentor and we have more need of experienced people.

Bug Destroying

Our apprentices are hard at work, and like good mentors we want to make their lives miserable. Please help us out by reporting any bugs that are in the mod so we can task these guys with fixing them. If you have spotted anything in game which looks out of place or think something isn't working right, please post it in our BUG REPORTS forum. If the bug is possibly game breaking, or you do not want to register a forum account, then please send the bug details to the e-mail address FirstStrikeMedia@gmail.com.

Community Games

Unfortunately, the Shattered Planet community is unable to continue hosting the First Strike Community Events, however the BlackIntel group have stepped up again and offered their services as the Community Night server. We would like to extend our thanks to Shattered Planet for supporting the mod, and it's with a tear in our eye that we see them go. The BlackIntel group have agreed to appoint some more community admins to help moderate the games rather than just having their own members in control. We appreciate this move and look forward to the games this weekend! Don't forget to come online at 8PM GMT (3PM EST) this Saturday and Sunday!

New Team Structure

Recently First Strike's Lead Coder and Development Leader, Imperial, has resigned from his position due to lack of time to commit to the mod. There was recently a meeting of the First Strike Team and we have the following changes to announce:
TALON has now been promoted to Dev Team Leader and is in charge of handing out assignments to developers and establishing deadlines.
Twigs has been raised to the position of Assistant Team Lead to handle the Distribution side of beta content and also working as our new coder.
Gwynzer has been dragged into the position of Testing Team Leader, he'll be conducting all the testing sessions and he's the man to see if you have any questions about the testing team.

Finally after ingesting all this information, here is a little eye candy to help wash it down. The first in a series of screenshot previews showing off the new Jundland Wastes map.

Stay tuned for further updates on as we approach the eve of our next release.

Introducing the Sentinel Landing Craft

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 02:05:24 CST

Greetings Troopers!

Welcome to another content update as we storm ever closer to the next release of First Strike. Believe me, when you finally get your hands on this you'll see why it took so long. This update will reveal the final shiny new toy we will show you before release.

The Imperial Sentinel Landing Craft has been on a long voyage before it finally arrived in game within First Strike. I started work on building this not long after I first came to join the Dev Team, and though it was finished in a timely fashion, at that time there were no maps suitable for an asset of this size and power, and more importantly, no texture artists which were available to put the considerable time and effort in to get this beast textured, coding was also an issue, you have to remember this was before we'd even got the Lambda Shuttle flying. As a result the Sentinel lay in mothballs for some three years.

Then in 2009 with work beginning on Jundland Wastes the opportunity arose to resurrect the Sentinel, with this map being set around the time of A New Hope on Tatooine, it was the perfect fit for the scene in the movie where you actually see the Sentinel drop off Imperial troops as they search for a pair of rogue droids. There would never be a more appropriate map on which to reveal the Sentinel. With his impressive work on the Jawa Sandcrawler already under his belt, Krenyo was the natural choice to take on the task of texturing this massive Imperial war machine, and as you'll see from the renders below he has done a grand job.

So just how will the Sentinel as an asset play within First Strike? Well the Lambda is one of the most popular craft in the mod so far, it's tactical applications are near limitless with it's impressive array of firepower and ability to swiftly transport a high volume of troops pretty much anywhere on the map, in the right hands it is a force to be reckoned with which can turn the tide of a map. The Sentinel is all that on very strong steroids. The ship operates as a mobile command post, wherever it lands troops can be deployed at a moments notice with impressive fire support from the Sentinel's defensive blasters, shielding over the troop deployment ramps will mean that if enemy troops wish to plant explosives inside to deal heavier damage they'll have to venture on board to do this. Life has just gotten that much tougher for the Alliance. When Rebel troops see the silhouette of this monster on approach it is time to run.

First Strike Enters ModDB Top 100

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 14:34:56 CST

Greetings Once Again Troopers!

We just want to convey our thanks to you all for voting for us in the ModDB Mod Of The Year Awards. It means a great deal to us, and we're extremely happy and grateful to make it past the first phase of voting and into the top 100. However, the competition isn't over yet! Last year we placed fourth in the competition, in order to show up in the top 10 we'll have to place 3rd or higher this year, so get voting again!

Unfortunately, due to the way ModDB accepts votes, unregistered users votes don't count unless there is a tie, which is extremely unlikely with the thousands of people voting, so we'd greatly appreciate it even more if you could register to ModDB and vote when you've logged in.

Votelink: http://www.moddb.com/events/2009-mod-of-the-year-awards/top100

Introducing the MLC-3

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 06:28:17 CST

Happy New Year Troopers!

As we come ever closer to the next content release of First Strike it gives me great pleasure to introduce you to some of the numerous new and exciting features and assets that shall soon be made available to you guys.

First up in this update is a new toy for those of you with Rebel sympathies to play with. The MLC-3 (Mobile Laser Cannon) is a nippy little armoured unit that packs a hell of a punch for a vehicle of it's size. It's twin laser cannons are extremely efficient at dispensing with advancing infantry, and the charged maximum fire power shot makes short work of enemy light armoured vehicles, making it a versatile piece of equipment that no Rebel commander should fail to deploy on the battlefield.

Those of you old enough to have been around when Star Wars first appeared on our cinema screens may feel a pang of nostalgia, and might just remember this design from your childhood. Yes, Krenyo has taken the design of one of those old original Kenner/Palitoy Mini Rig toys and fashioned a fresh and exciting new vehicle for First Strike.

Stay tuned for the next exciting update, Jundland Wastes has been a long time coming, but it is so packed with goodness we believe you'll find it well worth the wait.

ModDB Mod of the Year Awards 2009

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 18:16:31 CST

Greetings Troopers!

Well it's that time of year again.

Christmas you say?

Hell no!

It's time for you all to vote for your favourite Star Wars mod once more, as once again the ModDB Mod of the Year Awards have come around. Has it really been 12 months since the last one?

Haul your butts over to the ModDB forums and register your vote on the First Strike page which you'll find here:

ModDB/First Strike

Get your votes in before January 5th and help us qualify for the Top 100 Mods of the year, and then following that should we qualify, voting will continue to find out which mod will come out on top in the 2009 ModDB Mod of the Year Awards. Oh and remember, votes from ModDB members are more valued than non-member votes, so be sure to login (or register if you feel like it) before voting.

Last year we made it all the way to fourth place in this competition, and with the eagerly anticipated Jundland Wastes map just around the corner, not to mention countless tweaks to the mod on the whole, we hope to do even better this year.

Keep those sensors peeled for further new content updates that shall start to come thick and fast as we approach this new and exciting release.

Now get voting people!

And Merry Christmas!!

Jundland Wastes Nears Completion

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:23:23 CST

Greetings Troopers!

As promised we are aiming to become more regular with our updates, and this week it gives us great pleasure to reveal several more key assets that will help flesh out and make the upcoming map Jundland Wastes feel more like that beat up lived in Star Wars Universe than any First Strike map that has come before it.

First off we have a few shots of a craft rarely realised in Star Wars games, the SoroSuub V-35 Courier landspeeder. A common utilitarian vehicle found across the galaxy. In our upcoming release you won't be able to drive it, but it will be parked in a familiar location. Who knows? In future releases we may well make this a pilotable vehicle.

Next up we have a few work in progress shots of a piece of equipment that is as integral to life on Tatooine as air is to breathing. A Moisture Vaporator cluster. This asset has been given more detail than the Vaporators seen previously in First Strike to reflect their heightened importance to the newest location which has been added to the map.

We are also glad to be able to inform you that the production phase on Jundland Wastes is at last drawing to a close, now that the final key location has been added to the map. Next up? Testing will step up a notch as we gameplay test the newest location and finalise the overall balance of the map. There are some interesting gameplay ideas that will also be making their debut on this map as well as new assets, so when the release time for this map comes along it shall be a very interesting time indeed to be a First Strike player.

Quite frankly we can't wait to let you all loose upon it.

Shattered Planet to Provide Official FS Server

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 07:38:16 CDT

Greetings Troopers!

Good news everyone! Shattered Planet are about to increase their level of support for First Strike in an official capacity. Already they have been sponsoring the forums webhosting for some time, but now they plan to provide us with an official game server for First Strike.

To mark this occasion we plan to host a special event to introduce the return of the Official First Strike Server which will hopefully attract a lot of fresh players from Shattered Planet's other gaming communities as well as draw out many players already playing First Strike. The Shattered Planet Official First Strike Server will also become the new venue for the First Strike Community Games hosted on Saturday and Sunday nights. We'd like to thank BI for the fantastic job they have done of hosting the Community Games up to this point, and for their continuing support of First Strike, it is very much appreciated.

The introduction of the Shattered Planet servers will be a great boon to the First Strike Community, they will offer players more choice regarding where and who they wish to play with, but will also possibly cater to specific game types, for instance we may set up an all ground map or all space map server. it is all about providing you the gamer with options, which can only be seen as a good thing.

So come out and support your new Official First Strike Server when it goes on line next week. This opening event will be held on...

Saturday the 24th of October at 8pm GMT.

This will continue at the same time on...

Sunday the 25th.

We look forward to seeing you there on the battlefield Troopers!

First Strike Stat Rankings Awards

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 05:09:45 CDT

Greetings Troopers!

It has been a while since we have looked to the rankings in the galactic military hall of fame (can you believe that the last one was back in April?), we've had a break because the guys at the top were so much higher than everyone else that there wasn't much news to bring you from those heady heights. However it is good to see what a little time away does, and from the looks of it no mountain is too tall to stop you intrepid troopers from shooting for the stars and those upper rankings. So lets take a look once again as we present the...

First Strike Statistic Rankings Awards

The Emperor is not as forgiving as I am...

The war does not progress well, with the Rebellion growing bolder and attacking our assets in the less well defended Outer Rim Territories we are still finding it hard to track down and destroy our elusive prey. Though in the instances when we have managed to engage them with the full might of the Imperial war machine we have crushed them, we have still yet to strike that decisive blow that will cripple this upstart Rebellion. Still, we have reports from Lord Vader's spies of a possibly significant outpost way out on the edge of the galaxy. Our armada is heading there even as we speak. If this intelligence pans out and it is revealed to be a Rebel base? Its end will be swift and brutal.

Grand Admiral SamZi...

As ever you have lead by example from the front line, devastating any and all enemies of the Empire that stand before you. The Emperor salutes you for your continued exemplary level of service. Continue in this fashion and there may well be a place for you in his excellency's inner circle.

Moff JE_Twigs...

Your service to the Empire knows no bounds, the territories under your command have performed impressively in the task of tracking and eliminating Rebel cells in your sector. The Emperor is most pleased with your progress and as a result you are to receive the Imperial Medal of Honour and in addition, the rank of Grand Moff. Use this power wisely as you have now caught the Emperor's attention.

Grand Moff Oddball...

Your service to the Emperor's forces do you credit, but at this crucial time in the war there are others who are beginning to outshine your efforts, and the Emperor rewards success not failure. As a result you are to be demoted to the rank of Moff. The Emperor still sees your potential and expects to see decisive victories from you in future to regain his favour.

Commodore RSFAngel...

It is good to see you once again within these hallowed halls. It would seem the Emperor's instincts about you were right, and that banishing you to the Outer Rim in command of the bulk freighter the Bantha's Burden was just what you needed. Leading to you playing a key role in one of our most recent victories. For the part you played in the encounter near Kessel, where an Imperial freight convoy fought off and destroyed a Rebel Alliance assault squadron, it gives me great pleasure to award you the Imperial Medal of Honour, and the rank of Moff. Welcome back to High Command.

Moff TK-7642...

Your speedy ascension through the ranks has been most impressive, but at this point it seems that there are others out there in the Emperor's forces that are more hungry for those posts in the highest ranks of the Imperial military. Or perhaps we just allowed your formidable skills to blind us to the fact that maybe you are not yet ready for this level of responsibility. Either way, High Command have decided to demote you back to the rank of Fleet Admiral. Perform well here and perhaps we'll see you begin to rise through the ranks once more.

Commodore Gwynzer...

With solid command skills and an impressive combat record on the battlefield you have come to the attention of Imperial High Command. As a leader of men you have shown commendable performance in many campaigns across the galaxy, and it is with great pleasure that we award you the rank of Fleet Admiral. Congratulations, and welcome to High Command.

Fleet Admirals DanteFess, & Plokun...

My final duty this evening is to inform you that the Emperor is not pleased with your apparent lack of progress. Posts in Imperial High Command demand an exemplary level of excellence which you both have not been achieving of late. As a result I must regretfully inform you both that you are demoted to the ranks of Line Captain and Commodore respectively, and that you will now both take crew postings on the Bantha's Burden. She'll be leaving Coruscant tonight, so best pack your bags.

Fear not troopers...

The battle for supremacy of the galaxy continues, show your dedication and prowess on the galactic battlefields and maybe the next Grand Admiral will be you.

Greetings Troopers!

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 18:15:20 CDT

We proudly present more news from...
 

A return to Tatooine was hard to resist, but we promise, this will be the final time we wage war this far from the bright center of the universe. We just couldn't say goodbye to this famous locale without ensuring we brought you every last tidbit we could think of, direct from the movies. In Jundland Wastes, you'll find many familiar names, vehicles and places, so be sure to visit them all when it is released this winter!

We've shown you the Imperial ATPT previously, but never fully given a breakdown on how it works in tandem with existing assets in the First Strike universe. So, here's a brief tip to get you ready to jump into the fight: On Jundland Wastes, these vehicles may be found patrolling the vast desert expanse, but these Impeial wardogs can be easily thwarted by dedicated Rebel soldiers. However, Rebels beware, unlike their bigger brother, the ATST, these miniature walkers have no problems negotiating tough terrain and entering into urban warfare.

Finally, for any farmboys out there that fancy themselves as the next fighter ace, you may want to try your hand through the tight corridors of Beggar's Canyon, watch for those needles though...

And as they say, a picture paints a thousand words, so to make sure we get maximum attention we've created this little teaser for you.
**Warning, the following content may excite.**

*Bloopers are entirely intentional and the fault of FSTest Twigs!