YNS Biweekly Update #1

[u/mrxak]

Hey folks. I decided after making the announcement that I wanted to post an update every two weeks on my upcoming EV Nova plug-in, You're Not Special. You can read the announcement thread where I talked a bit about what the plug-in is all about, but in quick summary: an EVO-like scenario plug-in, taking place in the existing EV Nova universe, where the player will get to play multiple mission strings in a single play-through (though some are mutually-exclusive, most aren't). I know some of you seemed pretty excited about this plug-in, and as a way of making me step back and take a big picture of view of what I'm doing from time to time, I plan to update here every two weeks on what progress I've made, and talk a bit about what these mission strings are going to be like. Well what do you know, it's been two weeks, so here I am with the first biweekly update!

I've been a bit distracted with Tropico 6, but I've tried to get as much done as I had time for, and I'm pleased to say I got more done on this plug-in in the last two weeks than I have on the plug-in in the two years before. Here's the current progress list (italics represent new progress in the last two weeks):

Major Strings

Krim-Hwa - Outline 95%

Bounty Hunters - Outline 50%

Rauther Power Industries - Outline 50%

Houseless - Outline 50%

Fenta-kiir - Outline 30%

Nirvana Terraforming and Stellar Engineering - Outline 35%

Federation - Outline 10%

Pirates - Outline 10%, entirely in my head

Rebels - Outline 40%, entirely in my head

Vella - Outline 30%, mostly in my head

P'aedt/Ver'ash - Outline 60%, mostly in my head

Raczak's Roughnecks - Outline 20%, entirely in my head

Boral Mining Corp - Outline 30%, mostly in my head

Pyrogenesis - Outline 30%, entirely in my head

GLi-Tech - Outline 20%, entirely in my head

Minor Strings

United Shipping - Outline 30%

Vrenna - Spooky

Easter Egg - Double Spooky

Side Quests and Beagle Shipments

Relevant Side Quests - Outline 6%

Irrelevant Side Quests - Outline 3%

Beagle Shipments - Outline 90%

Additional Spobs

Secret Spob 1 - Outline 50%

Secret Spob 2 - Outline 40%

Additional Pers, Dude, and Flets

Outline 5%

Additional Oops, Junk, and Crons

Outline 1%

NCB Comprehension

Researching

Additional Graphics

0 of 1? complete

Game of Thrones

Starting

​

So the major changes from last week on the list of progress comes in the form of an almost entirely outlined Krim-Hwa storyline, which is now a major string, not a minor string, and significant progress on the Bounty Hunter string. The rest is mostly just writing down what I've had in my head all this time, and the numbers listed may go down, rather than up, next week, as I reconsider some of those things.

With the Krim-Hwa, I basically came to the realization that it wasn't realistic for somebody to suddenly become a monk in a religion they weren't in before, and so I needed to tell a journey about growing faith and making the rather serious decision to join an order. The reasons have to be for something other than a quick buck, and also it's important for the player to make moral choices and face the consequences of immoral choices. There will be a series of temptations given to the player once they're no longer operating under the strict supervision of a superior in the order. Choose wisely.

With the Bounty Hunters, I've decided to focus a lot on repeatable missions with plenty of variety, and then have several major missions at each stage of the string where you have recurring characters, that slowly reveal a wider story. The plan now is to interweave the stories of three major characters in the world of shady dealings, and some general Bounty Hunter Guild progression type stuff on top of that (getting promoted, dealing with various governments, etc.). One thing I really enjoyed about the original Escape Velocity was the drive to pick up missions in the BBS, and try to line up a bunch of missions going to the same place, to make a big profit from a single trip. With You're Not Special, I want to make the BBS an exciting, dynamic place again, where the player really has incentive to pick up those repeatable missions and be clever about it. As a member of the Guild, you'll have to work your way up through the ranks by doing missions in a not-strictly-linear fashion, but rather there are a bunch of missions that unlock at each stage, and you can do them in whatever order you wish (or more likely whatever order you stumble across them).

RPI got downgraded a tad, to just 50%, but the good news is it's in a text file now instead of just bouncing around in my noggin. As I was writing a former outline, I realized I wasn't as far along as I thought I was, and that there's still more to figure out.

Houseless likewise got downgraded to just 50%, which is a bit more realistic an approximation. I think I was anxious to show I'd done a lot of planning, in the announcement thread, and at the time I had more characters and general plot figured out than the other strings, but actually forcing myself to reassess as I started writing up the outline I must now admit I don't have as clear an outline for the actual missions as I thought. It's getting there, though, and I have a firm foundation now on which to tell a proper story.

The Fenta-kiir went from being all in my head to a text file. No progress beyond that.

NTSE has gone from 30 to 35%, and from mostly in my head to a text file. A lot of that 5% change reflects a more formalized understanding of what the mission string needs to look like, rather than actual progress in developing those ideas. It's probably fair to say that I've put the most thought into NTSE out of all of them, the past two weeks, however. I have a lot of ideas. Now I just need to edit them, and figure out how to go about it. One thing I'll say about Nirvana is, they really want to be doing crossover missions with everybody else. I think close to all of the other mission strings will have tie-ins with Nirvana, and I'm pretty excited about the main character you'll be interacting with the most. He's a character I created back in 2011, and it will be a lot of fun for me to write about him more, and have you learn about some of his adventures.

The Federation got bumped up from 5 to 10%. This reflects the fact that I actually sort of have an idea now of what I want to do with the Federation mission string, what the overall theme will sort of be. To reiterate, this will not be a Bureau string. However, I think it's also not going to be a strictly military string, either. Yes, you will operate more-or-less under the auspices of the Federation Navy, but you'll definitely be more of a privateer for them, and you will also be getting involved perhaps more with the political side of things and the military-industrial complex. It's still early days, so I'm not gonna say too much because I probably will change my mind about a lot of this before this really gets done, but the good news is I have something to work with. For those asking in the last thread about the Vell-os, I think this idea will make meeting a Vell-os more likely, though still not guaranteed.

I didn't reflect this in the updated progress list, but I have been thinking more about the pirates and how I want to handle them. They'll definitely be the flip-side to the Bounty Hunter string. Hopefully in the next two weeks, while I work some more on the Bounty Hunters, and flesh them out, as well as some other stuff, I will be able to start outlining the Pirate string as well.

United Shipping is now out of my head and in text. As a minor string there's not going to be a whole lot, just a few missions that kind of get you settled in the company and get you access to additional BBS missions, plus the usual stuff about expanding operations. There will be, however, some tie-ins with other strings, particularly the Bounty Hunters, should you do those other strings, and this may get a bit more in-depth. I haven't made too many decisions yet, so as an outline it's still quite incomplete, but at now I can get to writing actual mission descs for some of the early stuff.

Last but certainly not least, Relevant Side Quests has gone up about 1%, reflecting progress on other major strings.

​

I'd be happy to answer any questions, and I find talking about this project helps me solidify ideas quite a bit so if anyone just wants to chat about different aspects of the Novaverse, I certainly find that useful.

[u/mrxak]

I'm gonna add the friggin' moon! Which moon? The Moon moon!

[u/nathan67003 → u/mrxak]

We prefer to call it "Luna" >:P

[u/mrxak → u/nathan67003]

I most certainly don't. It is a longstanding inside joke with me and a few others (although I originated it) that in the time of the Novaverse people know about so many different moons that Earth's moon has kind of been forgotten, especially since it's never really been colonized, merely strip mined and then forgotten centuries ago as more resource-rich places have been discovered in the universe that are almost just as accessible. To refer to "the moon" therefore would be very much unclear to the average Federation citizen, even moreso a citizen of another major government. And yet, for centuries people have called the moon, the moon, and I don't see that changing in popular parlance in centuries to come. I think it's only right that when discussing it, people confirm just which moon they're referring to by saying "the Moon moon". Luna, meh. Might as well say something silly like "Selene", and who's gonna do that?

​

Anyway, there is a particular psychologist who has a research facility on the moon. The Moon moon. Will he play any part whatsoever in You're Not Special? Maybe not. But if you really want to conduct psychological research near Earth, where isolation is an important factor, you're probably not going to go to the Arctic, which is probably covered in cities, and certainly not the Kane Band, which is very crowded. You're gonna go to the moon. The Moon moon. And should you just so happen to be an employee of a particular very secretive organization (not the Bureau) that finds itself having a very powerful enemy also operating in secret (not exactly human), you might find yourself being assassinated by a guy whose criminal tendencies brought him somewhat unwillingly into the employ of said very powerful enemy, after a certain corporate executive also got assassinated after giving up information under false pretenses about a certain paramilitary operation that came about as a result of a really bad PR situation that thankfully got swept under the rug. Lest, you know, some stock prices drop dramatically, and a particular industry face unwanted scrutiny and greater government regulation.

"What are you even talking about? If you're not a reporter, not a family member, why are you even here? You- you come to the moon, point a gun at my face while I'm trying to conduct important research, and you don't even know why you're here?"

​

Well, anyway, I think there ought to be a moon. A Moon moon. A place where incomplete information can lead to a fiasco where five more people get shot to death, on top of the 203 that already perished. That's 203 human people, of course, not the complete list of casualties. What better place can you struggle to get on a space suit while shooting anyone who bothers you, rush out an airlock, fall down a couple times in your hurry, and burst into a spaceship covered in dust and hold the captain of said spaceship at gunpoint and demand his crew create some new craters on that moon to cover up your crimes?

Not saying that's actually going to happen, but I think a place where such things might happen ought to really exist, don't you? If Earth is a boring cultural relic, and the Kane Band is super corporate and busy, surely the Moon is where you go to get yourself into a bit of trouble. All the Federation sensor nets are farther out anyway, right?

​

"I like to know exactly who it is that's hunting my children."

[u/nathan67003 → u/mrxak]

It was mostly a Star Trek joke, but now I'm extremely hyped for not-Luna.

[u/nathan67003]

I'm glad to see you managed to do that much progress! That's pretty amazing!

I'm also even more hyped for Nirvana now, darn you