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Space Orcs Campaign

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Space Orcs Campaign

I've had this idea for quite a while now but never actually thought of trying to realise it.
It always interested me what the warcraft universe would look like in a couple of hundred years and as the Orcs are my favorite race I decided it was time that someone came up with a good space orcs campaign.

The campaign itself is to take place roughly 800 years after the (slightly altered) events of Wrath of the Lich King.


Background Setting

After the fall of Arthas the remaining undead-which can now think for themselves again as nobody enslaves them anymore-join the Forsaken which in result are now the strongest faction on Azeroth.
Due to the strained relations between the Horde and the Alliance after the events of the Battle of the Wrathgate (the Alliance's king attacked Thrall in Undercity) the Humans issue an ultimatum demanding the Orcs to sever their ties with the undead as they fear the horde could become too strong to take on in an open conflict. The Ultimatum is not supported by Tyrande and Jaina who deem it to be a sign of open aggression as the Humans at the same time order the full mobilization of their troops. Thrall refuses to cooperate with the Humans.
Beneficiary of this situation is Fandral Staghelm who, supported by the humans, takes control over Darnassus one month after the issuing of the ultimatum. This leads to a bloody war in Ashenvale between Staghelm's followers and the Circle of Cenarius.
At the same time a joint force of dwarfen and human ships blocks all incoming traffic to Theramore, demanding of Jaina to join their cause. As she continues to refuse she is being murdered by assassins and the troops of Theramore are integrated into the Alliance's army.
3 months after Thrall's refusal to sign the Ultimatum, the Alliance launches a full-scale attack on Kalimdor and the Forsakens' and Bloodelvens' territories on Azeroth.
After 3 months, the attack of the Alliance slowly comes to a halt. Every inch is being payed for with blood. To end the war, the Alliance's military command reassigns troops to the attack force in Kalimdor. This decision proves to be fatal: Due to the now outmanned troops in Azeroth, the Forsaken and Bloodelves take over large parts of Lordaeron and the Alliance is forced to blast the entrance to the wetlands to avoid further enemy advances.
In Kalimdor, the Horde, alongside with the Ogres, inflicts heavy losses on the Alliance's troops in the Dustwallow Marsh.
Another month later, the deployment of toxic gas wipes out the population of Kul'Tiras and turns it into Undead.
The military command of the Alliance sees a direct attack on the Barrens as the only hope for a quick end of the war, but this can only be achieved by erecting a beachhead in Ratchet.
As a result, the Alliance demand of the (neutral) goblins, whose technology they also deem to be a decisive factor for the military strength of the horde, to open their harbors for Alliance troops. Undermine refuses and concludes a treaty with the horde, assuring them their military aid.
Nonetheless, the Alliance's attack cuts a deep hole in the Horde's defenses and Crossroads becomes the scene of a massacre among Horde civilians. The king of Stormwind announces the eradication of the Orcish plague as the Alliance's highest goal.
At the same time, the Human and Dwarfen forces, now reinforced, close in on the starving and tired Horde forces in Dustwallow Marsh and force them to surrender.
One month later, the Alliance suffers from a heavy setback: Staghelm's troops are defeated in Darnassus and Tyrande reclaims her positions. She immediately begins to iniate a peace treaty with the Taurens via the Circle of Cenarius as they were drawn into the the war with no interest in joining it.
The majority of the Taurens gladly take this offer and discard from the war with the Night Elves. The Draenei, now fighting alone in Azeroth, cannot hold the front anymore and have to surrender.
But the war for the Horde is lost, too great were its losses. Neither the Forsaken nor the Bloodelves can intervene when the Alliance starts a direct assault on Orgrimmar as the sea is controlled by dwarfen and gnome forces.
1,5 years after the beginning of the war, the shamans of the Orcs dream of a new home among the stars. In the fourth week of the siege Thrall opens a giant portal with the help of the shamans and stays behind to ensure that it stays open until all forces are evacuated. After all remaining survivors of the Horde have went through the portal, Thrall and the shamans cannot maintain it any longer and it collapses in a giant detonation. All Alliance soldiers present during the siege are killed that day, Kalimdor is being ripped apart and large pieces of it are being tossed into the air. Everything remaining on the ground is turned into a giant nuclear wasteland.
A huge cloud of ash covers the upper half of Azeroth, from Sunwell to Blackrock. The Bloodelves, seeing that they will not be able to survive, contact the Draenei with the help of the Naaru and are able to save big parts of their population. The remaining bloodelves are turned into grotesque mutilated shadows of themselves.
At the same time, the Forsaken see their final hour of revenge and the remaining Humans, Dwarfes and Gnomes desperately fight for their lifes.
Meanwhile, the Orcs settle down on the new planet they discovered and found the Orc Imperium. The following 800 years are marked by huge technological advances, the colonization of over 30 new planets and a period of constant peace. But beneath the surface lurk corruption, internal struggles for power and decadence. The Empire's senate splits up into several factions with increasingly fixed opinions and is deadlocked.
Everywhere in the Empire, people prepare for a civil war.

Campaign story

At this point, the story of the campaign commences. It focuses on the leader of a small Orcish military outpost on one of the more remote planets.
I do not want to give away too much of the story in case I am actually going to get enough people interested in this to create a team, but the first half of the campaign is going to focus on the Orcish Civil War and the reasons it started. The second half will (after an unexpected change in the story of course) focus on the return of the Orcs to Azeroth.
The Orcs (and Goblins, Taurens and Trolls who came with them) set foot on Azeroth after over 800 years and none of them are prepared for what awaits them there.

New Gameplay Elemtents

I'll probably stick to the RTS-view, but change some elements of the Warcraft fighting system as it's obivously not suited for mordern or even futuristic skirmishes. If I get good triggerers interested in joining this project, I'll probably use an advanced cover system (doodads, tanks etc. block bullets, artillery crates can be used as cover and so on). A huge plus would be if units could fire while walking, but as no such animations yet exist for the Space Orc models they would have to be added. I am also thinking about adding some minor other things like tanks taking more damage from the side or behind than when being attacked on the front armor (also the tanks should be move to turn their turrets, I haven't checked whether they do, so if this is already implemented forget what I said, I'll check it out later this day). Infantry will probably (once again, this depends on the triggerers) have special abilities like grenades and similar stuff. Well, there's not much to say apart from that, I thought of using a squad system but came to the conclusion that it wouldn't do any good in Warcraft, if I come up with anything else I'll post it here.

Member Recruitment

This is the "official" recruitment thread:http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/project-recruitment-256/team-recruitment-space-orcs-campaign-156686/
I am looking forward to constructive criticism and your opinions on this :thumbs_up:
 
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[...] the background setting took me hours to read [....]
Hope that time wasn't wasted :grin:
Also, I am still thinking of a name for this project (whether it is going to be worked on or not), so if anybody has an idea on how to call it, please leave a comment.
 
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It has a very nice history going which i like! Also the fact that at one time the ORCS of all races seemed to be leaving a planet again.... and become something of democrats. Its a bit far fetched but lovely in its insanity i wish you good luck with such an inventive project!
 
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personally I think it's a great idea I have no idea about a name though.
i would offer my talents in making cinematics though i believe it'd be a challenge to get all of this information and all of the events into one cinematic...
If anyone has an idea about that I'd like to hear it too
 
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Sounds interresting :grin:
Please get another "combat system" implented than the one WC3 has now, since you cant do a good shooting map with it :p
Wont be fun if you just choose your fully force and order them to attack somewhere. . . .
It would be really nice if you had a "spell" called shoot, some kind of very advanced shockwave.

Tell me if you need some help with terraining or ideas i would love to help you :thumbs_up:
 
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Tell me if you need some help with terraining or ideas i would love to help you

i would offer my talents in making cinematics though i believe it'd be a challenge to get all of this information and all of the events into one cinematic...

[...] if you need help by anything, I would be glad to help as a storywriter. I am very aware of the Warcraft lore, and I am also quite creative :)

I'll put your names down for future references :wink:
 
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I bet this is atleast a bit inspired by GF's Space Orc models? ;)

Only in part. I've had the idea long before I even knew about The Hive, but when I saw the space orc models here, I thought for the first time that the project might actually be feasible.
 
Intruiging, I think many people have tought of a space orcs map or campaign and suchlike, but none with such an amazing back story, I'm certain that there are many people on the hive who will see this as an opportunity for them to realise an old idea about a space orc map or campaign, So there will be lots of people soon signing up for it.

As for me, I will glady lend a hand, I've always tought about making something involving space, Maybe I could make some futuritic weaponry function for you. such as artillary which is inaccurate but long ranged (triggered firing) Missiles that split into smaller ones, Gravity weaponry using the z axis, shards, rikochet (<- cannot spell this to save my life) effects and things like that.

Whenever you need something Just send as pm and I'll see what I can do. :p
This will most certainly be something many people will pay attention to if you manage to realise it.
 
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Amazing idea...but i assume that it could be difficult to design those space maps...

How many missions are you going to implement?
 
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Amazing idea...but i assume that it could be difficult to design those space maps...

How many missions are you going to implement?

There will most probably be no maps in actual space (apart from some cinematic scenes maybe), the campaign's scenarios will take place on the planets themselves.
As for the number of missions, i can't say how many there are going to be seeing as i have not finished writing the story yet.

EDIT: I will be gone from the 28th until the 3rd meaning i will not update this thread in that timespan.
 
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~bump~
I'm back :grin:

War of the Worlds(races)[but worlds sound better xP]

War of the Worlds is the title of a book and a movie based on it, so I don't think I'm going to use it and War of the races sounds a bit too generic in my opinion, but thanks nonetheless for your suggestions.
 
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If this has physics; I'll play it. It would be cool if it was done from an fps, overshoulder (like gears of war), or tps view. Also if you have good AI, so you can have orcs fighting beside you (and against you) in combat, as you try to besiege buildings and complete other objectives. Gameplay that is something like Star Wars battlefront and buildings you can go inside/outside of would be WIN./
 
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If this has physics; I'll play it. It would be cool if it was done from an fps, overshoulder (like gears of war), or tps view. Also if you have good AI, so you can have orcs fighting beside you (and against you) in combat, as you try to besiege buildings and complete other objectives. Gameplay that is something like Star Wars battlefront and buildings you can go inside/outside of would be WIN./

We'll see about physics. There will probably be some sort of advanced combat system depending on who is interested in triggering that sort of stuff.
As for the first-person-shooter idea, I think I'll stick to the classic rts-view.
There are a lot of reasons for this, the most obvious one being the controls. Imitating the classic fps-controls is (as fas as i know) impossible in Warcraft and anything else doesn't work (e.g. aiming with the keyboard and so on).
Also, you'd need a lot more animations for all the characters in the game (crouch, sprint, aim etc. not to speak of additional animations for the cut scenes throughout the campaign to make them look realistic from a fps-view).
Additionally, doing enterable buildings and all that stuff would be extremely hard to do in a way it feels smooth and well implemented.
So, as I've said, it's probably going to be the classic rts-view but thanks anyway for your suggestions.
 
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Don't know how the progress is, but maybe some wips-screenshots, more information about battle system, units, heroes, enemies, etc.

Well, I can't give you any screenshots as nobody is working on this campaign right now. I wanted to get an impression of whether people would be interested in this before assembling a team.
As for the battle system and the rest you mentioned: It depends a lot on who I can get as triggerers. If they are good, advanced stuff will be implemented, if not, well you got the idea.

But, to tell you what I am currently thinking of as for the battle system:
I won't go for a first/third person gameplay, because it a) wouldn't fit into the story and b) is almost always bad to control. I am aiming for a modified RTS-style gameplay. The main elemts I am thinking of is a cover-system, using doodads etc. as protection from incoming projectiles, a system to simulate realistic bullet spreading and some minor other changes. I guess I'll update the first thread and post this there too.
Hope I could answer at least some of your questions :thumbs_up:
 
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I am personally loving this story (as I'm sure many other viewers already are as well) and can not wait to see where it goes next!

As for the physics I saw mentioned above, this is going to be done as an RTS, yea? I do have a projectile system (which has yet to have projectile arc implemented, but I'm trying to get Illidan(Evil)x to add it :p) written in vJass. If you ever feel like you could use it, just give me a PM and I'll see what I can do ;)
 
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Looks like you have a plan, and your prepared to start work on it.
And I would be thrilled to be a part of it.

If you need any ideas for units/heroes, abilities, missions (I can make units/heroes and the abilities in my Object Editor and send it to you if that works better), just PM me and we can get started :D
 
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If I recall correctly, I've told this quite a few people already, but I wanted to post it here too: I am going to open a recruitment thread at the end of the next week, the feedback I got gave me the impression that enough people like this idea. Thanks again to all people who already volunteered to help me with this.
 
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Dude, read the very first post. Foo_sharp needs triggerers before anything can be done. Although I do have a projectile system which I would be more than willing to give to him (all I need is the word), he still has features that require more complex triggering. In addition to this, I am not sure if the projectile system is what he wants :/
 
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Great lore but it lacked detail in the later part and had too much detail in the first one. Have Beta, Will Play.

I know about the last part being more vague than the first one.
That is due to the fact that I am trying to keep most of the details of the story hidden until it has been fully completed (WIP is done, writers are currently looking over it).
 
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No, they are not. You do not know what you are talking about. The Wc3 Space Orcs are completely different, especially considering that they are not as chaotic as the WH40K Orks. Don't forget that Warcraft is all about races getting along to conquer greater challenges and to be all gay about war 'n' shit, while Warhammer 40K is more gothic and realistic in that war is not as happy as Warcraft makes it appear to be -.-;;
 
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No, they are not. You do not know what you are talking about. The Wc3 Space Orcs are completely different, especially considering that they are not as chaotic as the WH40K Orks. Don't forget that Warcraft is all about races getting along to conquer greater challenges and to be all gay about war 'n' shit, while Warhammer 40K is more gothic and realistic in that war is not as happy as Warcraft makes it appear to be -.-;;

Correct, although we're aiming for a bit of a darker tone in the campaign :p
 
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