This August is a very special occasion for the Discovery mod and community - 20 years since our first public releases!
Over this time, Discovery has become an important part of many of our lives, whether that's thanks to fond memories going back to childhood, or from lifelong friends we've found among the community.
Whether you're someone who's been here from the beginning, or found this community more recently, we'd like you all to join us for a celebration of Discovery's long life and the thousands of players who have made it what it is today!
Several events have been arranged for you to enjoy, featuring a mixture of brand-new content, a callback to the past, and a guest spot from Discovery's very own creator, @Igiss!
Escape from Deep Omega
The Deep Omegas are a distant cluster of stars in the far south of the Walker Nebula - remote, dangerous, and largely unexplored.
You are a Freelancer, someone with no aspirations of groundbreaking discoveries or pushing back humanity's frontiers. You simply wanted to finish your cargo run and get paid. The last you remember, you were preparing to enter a Jump Hole in the Omegas, on your way to Planet Gran Canaria.
You awaken to sirens and the smell of smoke. You don't know where you are. Your ship is a wreck. Your NavCom screams of gravimetric hazards, and there is something in your cargo bay that was not there before. As you shake off the groggy confusion, you take in the sensor readings with horror:
You see the baleful eye that consumes all.
You must flee. You must escape the Deep Omegas.
Rules - The Deep Omegas will not be accessible until this event. During the event, there will only be one exit from the cluster, and no way in from outside.
- After the event, normal Deep Omega mechanics will be applied, with the entrance Jump Hole cycling daily between one of three different systems.
- On the day of the event, the special /restart OmegaSurvivor template will be made available. This will spawn you in space within the Deep Omegas.
- You will start in a heavily damaged freighter equipped only with a Mining Laser. This ship has the Explorer ID, which is a Freelancer ID with unique flavour text and a bespoke icon.
- This restart is placed in permadeath mode. Dying (whether you have docked or not) will send the character to Bastille.
- You must try and escape the Deep Omegas and reach Gran Canaria in Omega-49 to win. Successfully escaping to Gran Canaria allows you to claim the event's prize. - To receive the reward, your ship MUST be docked on Gran Canaria with the event cargo.
- Hint: There are spots scattered around the sector where less fortunate escapees met their end. You may be able to scavenge these for repairs or equipment.
- Hint: There are points of interest across the systems which may help or hinder you, but will provide insight into your circumstances and the Omega's fate.
- Hint: There may be some precarious safe harbours to be found where you can equip salvaged equipment.
Fleet Simulation - Royal Flush
For a decade, Liberty's military planners have concerned themselves primarily with piracy, and the suppression of the Insurgency and preceding movements. More recently, a new phrase has gripped Congress and Liberty's senior officers: peer adversary. Training syllabuses are being rapidly refreshed, and live fire exercises conducted in Colorado.
Despite this, these exercises are limited in size and scope by practicality. One place where no such limitations apply are the sophisticated simulations run by West Point. Calling on data captured from historic Liberty Navy campaigns, Operation Royal Flush is being meticulously recreated in virtual reality. In particular, war planners want to know how the current Navy would fare in a breaching attack against a fortified position held by a rival House.
While the blood spilled is digital, the pride of a modern cadre of Liberty officers rests on taking down the Battleship Oubli once again. Can this new generation surpass their predecessors?
Rules - The battle will take place in a special Leeds VR system, that replicates Leeds as of 2015.
- The battle lasts for approximately 1 hour. For the first 30 minutes, combatants can respawn in waves every 5 minutes (if your clock's minutes say 0 or 5, you can rejoin). For the second 30-minute period, death means you are done.
- For the day, the Gallic Navy will be renamed to the Gallic Royal Navy.
- Restarts will be provided for the LN, BAF and GRN (live at 4pm UTC). These are Camera Ships that start with $20mil.
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- Liberty will base from Midway Depot, Bretonia from Battleship Harlow. Their objective is to destroy the titan Battleship Oubli in orbit of Planet Leeds.
- Gallic forces will base from Stokes Station, their objective is to kill as many Liberty ships as possible.
- All stations contain their faction's ships and equipment.
- Funds and characters cannot be transferred in or out of the system.
- Points can be used to claim prizes post-event, with official faction tagged characters earning extra points.
- The old-style SNAC will be reintroduced for this event only as a bomber heavy weapon.
Final Celebration - Conn Catchup Finally, we'll be hosting a roundtable discussion in Discord's Events Stage. This will be a talk and Q&A about the mod, with a panel of devs - guest starring mod founder, @Igiss!
While this is going on, we'd love to see as many as possible of you in Conn to hang out. Staff will be on hand to give out prizes through two contests:
- A Discovery Trivia quiz, where the first eligible correct callout wins a reward. One prize per participant.
- A ship parade, where you win a prize if you bring a unique ship. Staff will be checking off each ship they've seen on a central list, so either be quick, or be obscure!
Additionally, everyone who comes along for the Conn Catchup will be eligible for a unique 20th Anniversary Holo-roundel.
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