About Wings

[Woolie Wool]

Wings is one of the three atmospheric mods covered by this forum. I started this project in late July from an idea and a single model and it has grown to be currently the most developed of the three mods, with over 20 flyable aircraft and 11 capital ship classes so far, as well as bevy of weapons for each faction.

Wings is set in the year 2149, at the beginning of World War IV (yes IV, not III). In the years since World War III ended in 2050, the world's nations have begun coalescing into massive superpowers that stretch across whole continents and wield vast military resources. These superpowers have held an uneasy peace for 99 years, as they began moving into space, carving the Solar System and its resources among themselves. However, events are in motion that will soon shatter that peace.

A mysterious Russian nationalist group known as the Yaroslav Society are slowly taking control of Russia's government. Fueled by dreams of restoring the old Russian Empire of Tsarist times, the Yaroslav Society have set their sights first on what they consider the "cradle" of Russian civilization--Ukraine, now a province of the European Union, the greatest of all the world's superpowers.

In the Middle East, the Arab Coalition controls almost the entire Islamic world, stretching from Morocco in the east to Pakistan in the west. However, one piece is still missing--Palestine, and the holy city of Jerusalem within. For decades they have expanded their military, preparing for the day in which they will sweep through the land currently known as Israel and claim it for themselves once again. The Arab Coalition's leaders are not religious zealots, but they have built their legitimacy in the eyes of their people on the hope of reclaiming Palestine.

In Asia, China is torn by civil war, as a resurgent Nationalist China has mounted a massive amphibious assault on the mainland with heavy Japanese support. The Communist government of the mainland, weakened by decades of corruption and decay, have been driven completely out of the east coast, but the military forces of the People's Liberation Army remain immense and a counterattack is inevitable.

Even worse events are transpiring in space: rebellions are breaking out in almost every space colony in the Solar System. A new regime, the Spacer Commonwealth has declared independence from all Earthly nations and revealed a huge, secretly constructed fleet of starships armed with terrible new technologies. Separated from their access to their space colonies, the nations of Earth are suffering from serious resources and preparing a massive assault to crush the Spacer Commonwealth before it solidifies its hold over outer space.

You are a rookie fighter pilot in the United States Air Force, recently transferred to the space battleship USS Virginia. The news has just come in of a two-pronged invasion of the European Union, the Russians pouring into Ukraine, and the Arabs assaulting Israel, and the Virginia is shipping out to assist the defense. The next world war has begun, and the world will never be the same...

Features:
-High-speed air and space dogfighting at speeds above Mach 2
-Over 20 playable fighters and bombers from seven factions: the United States, the European Union, Russia, the Arab Coalition, China, Japan, and the Spacer Commonwealth.
-A gripping 20-mission campaign from the United States' perspective, set in locales all over the Earth--and beyond.

Wings gameplay is quite different from DEFCON FreeSpace, despite superficial similarities. Wings fighters are much faster than DEFCON fighters, handling is looser, and missiles are less effective due to the powerful ECM of Wings fighters. Dogfighting isn't a matter of just locking on and firing missiles; achieving a good angle on the enemy is essential, and guns are far more effective and important than in DEFCON. Wings is the more tactical of the two mods and the closest to "old school" dogfighting.

HD Teaser Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faIE-Io0a-k

[General Battuta]

In the Middle East, the Arab Coalition controls almost the entire Islamic world, stretching from Morocco in the east to Pakistan in the west.

This makes little sense, not only because a lot of the people in that area aren't Arab (most?), but because that isn't most of the Islamic world.

[Woolie Wool]

Uh, that stretches all the way from Morocco on Africa's northeastern coast, all the way across northern Africa, across the entire Middle East except for Israel, and all the way to Pakistan, with an exclave in Bangladesh. That's pretty much the entire Islamic world except for Indonesia, a few smaller African states, and Turkey.

And it's the "Arab Coalition" because all the people running it are Arabs, and most of the constituent states are Arab except for Iran (Persian), and Pakistan/Bangladesh (Muslim Indian).

Yes, most north Africans are ethnically Arab, not African. There's a reason why Africa is frequently divided into "north Africa" and "sub-Saharan Africa".

[General Battuta]

Even with all that space you've probably got only about 30% of the world's Muslim population.

That's why I have trouble with it being called 'most of the Islamic world.'

EDIT: throwing in Bangladesh you're probably doing a little better, probably up towards 40, maybe even 50%, but it's still not 'almost the entire'.

[General Battuta]

Y'know, if you take 'Islamic world' to mean 'countries that are predominantly Islamic', I guess it works. Still missing a big chunk of the Muslim population, but whatever.

[ShadowGorrath]

One might expect most of them to run off to that big nation? Though I could be wrong...

[Woolie Wool]

Y'know, if you take 'Islamic world' to mean 'countries that are predominantly Islamic', I guess it works. Still missing a big chunk of the Muslim population, but whatever.

I don't think Muslim diaspora in predominantly non-Muslim nations count as the "Islamic world", much like minority Christian populations in some Middle Eastern countries do not make those countries "Christian nations".

[Snail]

One question, is Wings based within the FreeSpace universe?

[Woolie Wool]

No. I was originally considering it, but I decided against it.

[Syphe D. Mar]

Sweet. :D

[Snail]

Another question, is Wings set in a world of moral absolutes or will it be giving the player space to think about what he's doing?

[Woolie Wool]

(Sorry for the late reply, been too busy working on Wings to answer many questions about it)

Anyway, Wings is not a world of moral absolutes, and the player will be made to do some unpleasant things. The US political system has degenerated badly over the past 150 years in this universe--the Republican Party basically holds it in a death grip and fundamental liberties are starting to be destroyed in the name of "security" and "freedom" (yeah, freedom sacrificed for freedom. Hey, our political system doesn't make sense now, why should it make sense in 2149?).

However, the player probably won't get to see the full picture of this, because, well he's just a soldier boy doing what he's told. Also, most militaries frown on people who complain too openly about their government while serving (you do not have "freedom of speech" while in uniform, in any country), so most people that Indigo 1 encounters are going to keep their mouths shut on that matter. Generally conflict against the Spacers is where things really get ugly, since many Spacer colonies are American in origin and the fact that the conflict is spread over an entire solar system rather than concentrated on a fragile blue planet makes the use of WMDs a lot more palatable than against Russia or the Arab Coalition.

(Although, considering how most Spacer colonies exist in hostile environments and rely on elaborate life support system, pretty much any weapon that can seriously damage them would qualify as a WMD if used against them).