Right now I don't know how far this project is going to go, as I don't really have the bandwidth to dedicate to a project of that magnitude.
I did generate a premise for that mod, as follows:
Gallius IV: all is not as it seems....
Discovered just a short time ago, Gallius IV has drawn all eight known space-faring races into a battle over it. Located in a remote solar system inside the sensor-shadowed eddies of the Omicron Nebula, initial scans have shown this planet to be one of the richest and most mysterious worlds ever known: for not only does it appear to be a veritable Eden to all the known races, there also appear to be traces of an ancient civilization scattered across its surface.
However once the races set up their command posts in and around the Gallius solar system, each species began scanning the surrounding space more closely, and each slowly came to the uneasy revelation that all was not as it seemed. The first clue was how well cloaked the Gallius solar system was: if it had not been for the runestones pointing the way, the Gallius solar system would continue to have remained undiscovered deep within the shrouds of the Omicron Nebula. The second clue was how the nebula itself, with its poisonous tendrils of radiation wafting aimlessly in the solar wind, never seemed to venture into the Gallius solar system itself, as if there was a higher intelligence at work. With these telltale signs pointing the way, the races began focusing their sensor clusters onto the nebula and made a shocking discovery: the Omicron Nebula itself was an artifact! Someone long ago had created an immense cloak for the sole purpose of hiding the entire Gallius solar system. But who, and why? There were no traces in the archives of a race advanced enough to cloak an entire solar system, and there seemed to be no obvious reason to hide the Gallius system: it was strategically insignificant, and even though Gallius IV was lush, the effort involved seemed disproportionately large to hide a single planet. However the implications were obvious: whoever gained control of Gallius IV would then potentially learn the secrets of this ancient race!
Colony Leader briefing
“There is a late developing addendum I would like to make you aware of”, Oolan states as you enter the colony leader briefing chambers.
“Oh, and what is that?” you find yourself asking. As if the flurry of events from the last few hours hadn’t been enough already, now at the last moment another item has been thrown into the mix.
“I will now replay a portion of the recent Skirineen treaty negotiations”, Oolan begins, throwing up a holograph from the negotiations aimed at ending hostilities between the Skirineen and the other seven races. The holo was of the lead Skirineen negotiator, and he was agreeing to a specific stipulation the other seven races had insisted on:
“We agree not to arm our spaceships.”
Oolan freezes the holo, “it was noted at this point that several of the empaths present for the negotiations sensed something was incorrect in this exchange: while the empaths sensed the Skirineen negotiator was telling the truth, there seemed some stressing in the way he worded his response that flagged this specific exchange. Until now we could only assume the face value of the statement. However as the events above Gallius IV have proven, the Skirineen do possess fully armed warships.”
“And what do the Skirineen say to this obvious breach in the treaty?”, you find yourself asking.
“The Skirineen ambassador merely cites the phrasing of the treaty”, Oolan replies.
“And what do the empaths make of this?”
“They continue to insist he is telling the truth”, Oolan says, a slight agitation in her voice. She condenses down the holo before continuing, “now you see our quandary: either the Skirineen have now found a method of defeating all of the races’ empaths, or there is something else afoot which at this moment we are unaware of. Unfortunately time has run out to investigate this, as the Compact of Gallius IV has been signed, and you, along with your colony team, have been assigned by the human government to colonize Gallius IV.” Oolan’s stance changes to an officious tone at this point, and she turns on a recorder before continuing, “the following is made for record that the Human Leader has been apprised of the Compact of Gallius IV and that he agrees to its stipulations:
The Compact of Gallius IV
We, the leaders of the ChCh-t, Human, Maug, Re’Lu, Tarth, and Uva Mosk, agree to stop hostilities in space. Since we all wish to claim the planet, Gallius IV, the conflict will be moved to the surface and resolved there.
Each race can drop one colony ship onto the planet. Three hundred colonists armed only with hand weapons may land. The colonies will have food, energy, iron, and wood.
There are no limits on weapons and technologies. The colony leaders should develop resources and military units as fits their strategy.
The race who’s colony dominates this world, will then be awarded the planet known as Gallius IV”
Oolan turns her attention to you, “do you agree to the stipulations of the Compact, Commander?”
“I do”, you hear yourself saying.
“Let it be noted for the record that the human commander has agreed to the terms of the Compact.”
What I really liked about this was that the nebula was artificial, and was designed specifically to conceal the Gallius IV solar system. This infers whoever built this immense construct had a vastly superior technology, which of course leads into the a"conflict" phase of the baackstory, as every race is going to want this technology for themselves, or at the very least deny this advantage to the other species. It also infers that if there is one artifical nebula, then might there be more out there, waiting to be discovered? This then would lead to a series of scenarios representing different worlds which had been discovered residing in other artificial nebulae scattered throughout this region of space, and each planet (read scenario) would be vastly different: different gravities, planets with mostly land, planets with mostly water, etc. And every scenario would have a different race as playable by the human.
But what of the Skirineen in DL3? Their background in DL1 and DL2 is that they always have a limited supply of techs and units for sale. Why is that? Considering they recently signed a peace treaty with the other races of this region in space, they should have a plethora of now un-needed equipment available for sale, at the very least. And yet they don't. I find that "immensely intrigueing", at the very least.
Well, I've called the Skirineen out before and claimed they are frauds, and the reason for that is they are actually a low tech race. Somehow in the not too distant past they stumbled upon a spacehip which took them to one of these hidden planets, where the Skirineen were able to plunder the abandoned objects for their own use. They then commandeered spaceships from this planet and took them to other shrouded planets (think along the lines of Pohl's Gateway as the modus operandi here), etc etc. etc., all the while building up their fleet of ships and their stockpile fo ancient weapons. However when the war with the other races went sour for them, they couldn't easily make good their losses, as they did not have the technology to build their own equivalent units. So they had to sue for peace, and start re-plenishing their stock of ancient weapons (because at that time they were the only ones who knew where to look!).
But now the other races are on to the Skirineen's game. This changes things in a most profound way, and much to the Skirineen's disadvantage. For not only are they going to have to race to other hidden solar system to recover artifacts first, why they are already at odds with a marjority of the other races. And so (for those of you familiar with the 8th faction in SMACX), this then leads to the Skirineen being the perfect replacement for the 8th Faction: no one will speak to the Skirineen (which is perfect, because in SMACX you can't talk to the 8th Faction), and the Skirineen are constantly at war with the other factions, which is exactly the same as what the other factions in SMACX are (i.e. continually at war with the 8th Faction).
So that was the direction I was taking with the SMACX mod DL3. It does make for a nice premise. I think there might be other ideas for a good DL3 as well: has anyone thought of some good ideas that would make another great sequel for this franchise?
D