Ns_Nexus Final Version 2 (ns_nexus_v2)
By Stix&Stonz
July 21, 2007

First off, thanks for hanging in there. Its been awhile in the making. Start date: September 16th 2005. Beta completion date (of first playable beta): October 26th 2006. Final version completion date (out of beta): June 10, 2007.

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Changelog:

**Final Release, Version 2:
-minimap was 'zoomed in'; fills the screen a LOT more now
-de-cluttered the minimap by hiding the vents that overlapped the main hallways
-added a new vent to Docking Wing to help aliens counter siege (thanks Stupid)
-fixed a sinking structure spot in Docking Wing (thanks Quick & Easy)
-fixed an exploit in Mag Pump weldable (to screw up the pumps' movement) (thanks Scaryface)
-fixed Slug Room siege (thanks Scaryface)
-moved Mag Pump siege slightly so 4 sieges can now fit (though its tight)
-lowered Engineering zapper damage from 500 to 100; now takes 2 hits to kill lerks/marines
-elevator damage reduced significantly
-fixed a spawn in Port Hive that didnt work for MC'ing/redeeming onos (thanks Kama)
-added a touch more ceiling architecture to MS



*Story*

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The T.S.S. Nyx was a deep-space research and Nexus-integrated relay ship, lightly armed and considered a resort amongst the TSA ranks. But after receiving a distress call, the Nyx was re-routed to save the escape pod survivors of the Eon ship, as they had landed on an uninhabitable planet. It was a Marine Assault class ship nearby that actually boarded the Eon. But while everyone on the Nyx, including the civillian Eon survivors, were in cryosleep en route back to the Hera station, one of the engines suddenly gave out, and the Kharaa appeared, hive and all. Those who managed to abandon ship amongst the instant chaos made sure to scan their escape pods for kharaa bacteria before ejecting. They could not afford to make the same mistake as the Eon crew.

Conducting its research mostly on the new Chromium substance - possibly the best energy source in the universe, followed by h2o, for humans and aliens alike - its no wonder the Nyx suffered such a surprise infestation. Given the resources, the Kharaa can go from nano-size to functional offensive units within hours.

The poor Marines who had survived the Eon ordeal were en route. The Nyx could not be lost. 

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Thanks go out to Prevert-Maximus for putting in a ton of time and effort helping me fix Nexus, Prevert-NoShadow, testers and reviewers (Crispy, BigD, Johnie, Archfiendchris), and Stats class for giving me so much time to draw up the designs for everything :D.

Please email beavatron@hotmail.com with any feedback, or post in the thread found in the official forums. 

Lets get to playing :D

-Stix&Stonz










Supplemental Notes on the map:

-WHAT IT IS. Ns_Nexus from the very beginning was to be a full-fledged TSA Spaceship. Many maps are set sortof on spaceships, but none have strived to give the complete ambience, layout, and detailing of the real deal. Enjoy getting lost in its multitude of rooms, and especially in the huge ventilation system behind the access panels (which happens to be rather ninja-friendly).

-MINIMAP. Coloured and labelled, it shows the vent system pretty clearly. Learn it, and use it well.

-RUNTIMES. The runtimes from MS to each hive is pretty much spot-on, all around 30-35 seconds (depending on the route taken, of course). The runtimes between hives are spot on as well.

-WELDABLES. There are now 5, a far cry from the 11 of the first beta. There is one route-opening weldable, two siege-opening weldables, and two 'make things slightly easier' weldables. 

-SECRET ROUTES. I love them. Caged is full of them, other maps have a sparse few. I DO NOT mean illusionary walls or invisible buttons; i mean actual architecture that can be jumped/maneuvred/whatever, rather perilously, to gain a very significant advantage as a marine. Nexus has two ultra-secret routes, one secret-but-obvious route, and then tons of boostable or just plain awesome ninja'ing routes. Collect'em all. It'll take awhile.

-R_SPEEDS. They have been optimized greatly; they're almost within official limits. If you're running on Software mode, i.e. you dont even have a videocard, you're in for some s***. I have a fairly low-end comp (2.6, 1gig, geforce 5600) and i never get any slowdowns. Average for players is ~600, peaks at 1000 from certain angles. The comm peaks around 1800 in certain spots too, i'll probably fix these up in a future version.

-RES NODE LAYOUT. It is deceiving. At first glance it looks as though the majority of the nodes (7/10) are away from the bottom two hives. This is an illusion; the middle two nodes are very high up, and the far left ones are a solid walking distance from MS. Nexus Mainframe node is very close to MS, and Railgun node is a bit farther, but the rest are fair game. This was done on purpose, mimmicking Station Access/T-Junction and Powerbanks/Flight, etc. Each team/hive can easily secure at least one extra node, then another with a bit more difficulty, then after that its pure Natural Selection. The layout is actually symmetrical a la Veil, once you know it.