Second Great War-era Campaign ideas
These are concept campaigns for the timeframe in which FreeSpace 2 takes place. Add new entries to the bottom of the list.
Alone
A campaign based off the Faustus' fighterbay.
As a new lieutenant fresh out of the academy, you are shanghai'd for a GTVI operation, going undercover with the still-forming NTF. You are issued a Pegasus stealth fighter and will operate off the erstwhile NTSC Bohr. There is also a Hercules Mk II aboard in case everything goes south and you must exfiltrate under fire. You gather intelligence about the NTF, and occasionally strike at weak points in their forces. As time goes by you become enmeshed in the attempt to discover what the heck ETAK really is. The deepening mystery eventually leads you to the NTC Trinity...and what it plans to do.
The Bohr and you have contacted GTVI headquarters and gotten no response. GTVI appears not to be planning to do anything; there's no time to warn regular GTVA forces and they probably wouldn't believe you anyways. You have to stop the Trinity from bringing about a second crack at armageddon on your own.
Neither you nor the Bohr have the proper IFF codes to make it through GTVA space unmolested. You'll have to fight your way to Gamma Draconis. There, you must stop the Trinity from activating the Knossos portal...and maybe, just maybe, change the course of history.
Fox Hunting
Admiral Ahmose is a wanted man. After a costly disruption of a covert operation to gather information about the NTF Iceni, the GTVA Security Council has branded him a traitor. Unfortunately, the Admiral yet has a small fleet at his disposal and has shown a willingness to do whatever is necessary to avoid capture.
This campaign requires a little retconning of the canon progression of FreeSpace 2, where it was implied that Admiral Ahmose was brought to justice swiftly, but it provides a rare opportunity to pit the player against a Vasudan enemy, without placing him/her in the Neo-Terran Front. It can also provide a contrast to the style of rebellion that Bosch has led, by having Ahmose retain a small, mobile fleet that engages in piracy to acquire necessary supplies, as opposed to a large, sedentary one, that must capture and hold systems. Depending on its exact composition, Ahmose's fleet would not need to be concerned with the movements of the Colossus, but would be much more threatened by fighter and bomber forces that can be deployed and redeployed much quicker than the Allied juggernaut or his own warships. (And hence the name: One warship acts as the master of the hunt, while the fightercraft act as the hounds.)
As a prelude to other campaigns, if it takes a substantial period of time to capture Ahmose, his endurance could serve as inspiration to future Vasudan rebels. Indeed, if the author is willing to rewrite this event in the FS2 continuity, Ahmose could evade capture and gain support, meaning that the defeat of the NTF would simply result in one rebellion being replaced by another.
The Retrofit
This campaign would be based around an Arcadia serving as either a decommissioning facility or museum.
5 years have passed since the Shivans again vanished into obscurity. As a veteran pilot, you have been assigned to a very prestigious assignment in Ross 128: Serving as a historical pilot at the GTI Riviera Museum, the Arcadia replacement of the original Riviera destroyed by the Lucifer. As a historical pilot, it is your duty to fly some of the last remaining flyable Terran-Vasudan War fighters and bombers in existence, along with captured Shivan craft from the 1st and 2nd Great War. All is calm, until a sudden Shivan attack on the facility sends everyone into an uproar. The discovery of an apparent Ancient-Shivan battleground with several complete derelicts leads to a vital operation to capture the wrecks and restore them to operational service.
The plan succeeds, and the derelicts are restored to combat-worthy status. As a Shivan offensive begins in Ikeya, all decommissioned ships are restored to active duty and put into service, hopefully holding the line as more GTVA ships can be sortied to hold the blockade up. As the campaign continues, you gain access to more and more ships, including captured and repaired Shivan ships, repaired Ancient ships, and even 1st Great War Terran and Vasudan ships. The defence culminates in an opportunity to destroy the Shivans once and for all by destroying a new superjuggernaut apparently controlling the Shivans, but will it succeed?
This campaign would essentially give you, along with the standard FS2 ships and weapons, FS1 ships(Terran, Vasudan, and flyable Shivan, including the Angel, Hunter, and Gorgon from FSPort) along with that game's player-usable weapons, FS2 flyable Shivan ships and usable weapons, Ancient ships and weapons, and the Ancient capital ships.
