Freespace: Silent Threat Reborn - The Hades Rebellion

[@TheInterceptor12]

It is interesting to note that, in addition to the beat backs across the Terran/Vasudan spaces mentioned, that a sizable Shivan presence in Capella had also "mysteriously" vanished during the GTA/PVE counter-attack, despite no appreciable military operation being exercised by the Terrans to reclaim the area. In retrospect, it was likely that this Shivan contingent may have traversed into Gamma Draconis (which had only been sparsely explored by the GTA prior to the Shivan Incursion) and attempted to use the unstable corridor leading to the Nebula, and the remainder of Shivan controlled systems. BTW, excellent job with this presentation. I've wanted a Tex-Talks-Battletech style lore series for Freespace for some time, and you've filled the niche wonderfully! I've always felt it was such a shame that Freespace didn't enjoy greater 3rd party support in the form of expanded lore books, because the universe offers a lot of opportunities for greater exploration of it's setting, in terms of it's history, culture, and philosophical implications. Thankfully, I think your series shows that even in the limited run Freespace enjoyed, there is still much that can be expanded on in detail with videos such as these.

[@MacsLore]

Wow, that's some high praise. And I didn't know about the Shivan Presence in Capella. Thanks.

[@thedinochromecommand]

Its like discovering all the old lore gems from my childhood. Thank you for this.

[@ghostbirdofprey]

Silent Threat Reborn: I's canon enough

[@TinkyTheCat]

I really appreciate all the effort you must put into bringing the lore/backstory of these old franchises to life. I've always loved the Freespace games, and it really warms the heart to see people like yourself and the open source code project folks keeping it from entirely disappearing into obscurity.

[@defcynodont5110]

This was really cool! One minor note that I would like to add: The unstable Shivan-Terran-hybrid tech wasn't the Hades' only weakness, While the Shivan beam cannons made the Hades incredibly powerful against other capital ships, The Hades lacked any effective point defense, and relied almost entirely on it's fighter compliment to protect it from bombers, this was one of the other key weaknesses that made the final attack possible. now, whether this was because the ship was unfinished and was missing some of it's smaller laser turrets, (it has a very low number of small turrets for a ship it's size, much less then an Orion) or if this was because new bomb, anti-subsystem, and bomber tech like the Ursa and Zeus had surpassed great-war-era point defenses- (the AAA Beams and Flak batteries we see in Freespace 2 were not invented yet) -or a combination of both reasons, is up to interpretation.

[@michaelandreipalon359]

Both could work, but I prefer the former interpretation, since the GTI appears to have gotten desperate in their coup.

[@ChairmanMo]

Also the only fighters that the GTI used a lot of where the Loki...and the Loki sucked.

[@WhiteScarsEmo]

Oh, heck, yeah! I was waiting for this! I actually liked the GTI Rebellion bit. There was so many unknowns that were going on that I never felt like I was ahead of the plot. And I liked the Loki fighters very much.

[@renardnoir2581]

ST:R is probably my favorite l campaign. There is so many unanswered questions about what the GTI really knew and how deep the rebellion actually went. It's why so many mods reference the GTI rebellion with allusion to its fallout still having ramifications decades later. This is even true with FS2 itself and Bosch.

[@Aristocles22]

In the off-chance Freespace 3 ever gets made, they should not only canonize Silent Threat: Reborn, but hire as many people who made ST:R as possible.

[@ChairmanMo]

The thing is what stories would you use to make Freespace 3? Blue Planet, Age of Aquarius, Inferno?

[@Aristocles22]

@@ChairmanMo None. Something original.

[@ChairmanMo]

@Aristocles22 yeah your right. If they lean towards doing stuff based on Inferno for example all that would do is piss off and divide the fan base.

[@ReaVen443]

Oh im screaming internally for so much euphoria im feeling right now... Freespace lore is facinating

[@Aristocles22]

Without exaggeration, this is likely the best mod for a game ever made. It drastically improves on the original product, has production values nearly equal to the original game, and the gameplay is seamless when compared to the original two games.

[@oneiromantic6104]

Wow, I just played through the original silent threat for the first time and silent threat reborn looks amazing! It seems they really brought a lot more depth and life to the story. Great video as always! It was awesome to watch this right after playing through silent threat :) hopefully one day I'll have a computer that can run reborn!

[@axon1637]

This was brilliant, lore expansion to a story that wasn't finished, love it.

[@arugulatarsus]

I love your freespace chats. So many explosions!

[@MK-kn2qu]

Awesome as always Mac. Keep up the good work man!

[@PredatorHun87]

Another excellent, informative video. I especially loved the set pieces you did, those must've taken a lot of time to get right.

[@HonestObserver]

Even though Volition probably didn't consider the events of Silent Threat when creating FS2, I have to wonder how the Hades would stack up against the Colossus. It would definitely be the sort of threat that motivated the GTVA to build the project.

[@maciej2c]

deam, the latest orion model is piure beauty

[@acewing1]

Omg, I haven't seen anything about freespace in years! This is fantastic my good sir!

[@UltraSpinkie]

Really did love this, though I sense something else from Freespace that you may do. About a Blue Planet perhaps?

[@nicok9266]

thanks for theses videos, i would kill to know what happen after the end of Freespace 2, even if some ppl made nice storylines, i really would've known the official storyline from Volition 😢

[@craftsmanceramics8653]

Love your vids! Commenting to help with the algorithm. :)

[@arugulatarsus]

In your subtitles, you have a note at 12:00 ~ minutes. See "EXPAND ON WHY"

[@MacsLore]

Good catch. I pull the subtitle text direct from the script I read from, where sometimes I leave little notes to myself about certain points. Typically I make a quick check to make sure those notes didnt make it in, but I guess I missed one.

[@arugulatarsus]

@@MacsLore I make the wing commander rpg briefing vids, nothing as good as your work, but I make the same mistakes. ;)

[@Goober5000]

This is amazing. Well done!

[@MacsLore]

Thanks Goober!

[@abrahamfranciscogalvao3474]

We need more good shit like this. Great Job. Why not continuing with The Blue Planet mod? It’s not “oficial” but came no, The history is EPIC

[@MikeCloud666]

On one hand, Terans had 2 anti Vasudan rebellions, on other hand HoL was way worse

[@michaelandreipalon359]

At least the latter were finally taken care of during Operation Templar... or so it seemed until Blue Planet revealed otherwise.

[@okiepokey4033]

Amazing as always!

[@renardnoir2581]

If you ever end up covering fan campaigns for this franchise. Id recommend shrowding the Light. Specially since a certain vasudan admiral is mentioned by name in this video

[@najlitarvan921]

nice, to see an upload, also 1.

[@nomemories130]

Hated that fight, attacking the station makes your bombers die or expend their bombs so everyone left is just attacking it with primaries, it's like trying to destroy a tank with slingshots.

[@SRosenberg203]

it's honestly worth playing the original Silent Threat solely for the comparison to see *how much better* ST:R actually is. For some reason I don't think I had ever played Silent Threat as a kid, so my first play-through of the campaign was on ST:R and my initial thoughts were "Oh, this is a cool fun campaign." But it wasn't until I went back a few months later and played the original version, and saw how half-baked and unfinished it was, that I was really able to appreciate ST:R for how masterful it actually was. Great video, I can't wait to see more FreeSpace stuff about some of the fan campaigns! Derelict, Between the Ashes, and Blue Planet are definitely the best of them I'd say. Pandora's Box is pretty good, and I really enjoyed Warzone also. A lot of people really like the Lightning Marshall too, but I didn't like that one as much.

[@michaelandreipalon359]

Would try out BtA sometime again. What about Shrouding the Light and its Origins chapter?

[@SRosenberg203]

@@michaelandreipalon359 I don't think I've played that one, so I don't know. Do you like it? I struggle with the campaigns that aren't voice acted, because FreeSpace is a game where there's just so much going on I can't stop to read text at the top of the screen while I'm trying to dogfight. I feel like I remember seeing that Shrouding the Light was good, but it wasn't voice acted so I didn't really give it a try. I could be thinking of a different one though.

[@lordkoth6735]

Huh I dont remember silent threat going like this

[@MacsLore]

Silent Threat Reborn went in some different creative directions compared to the original. For example, the Einstein in ST was just a science vessel who jumped in at the wrong place and wrong time. Where here, it's part of GTI.

[@bradhedgehog12]

Man that Hades ship sure was something but I was able to destroy it. But what? Impossible! I Destroyed the Hades before it even had a Chance to Wreak Havoc. Well whatever the case it’s done and yes I took on Botch too in the other Freespace Game.

[@davidvanvranken1595]

Yeeessss

[@jonskowitz]

"Yhotenhyme"

[@Fiifthman]

Hey, if you're going deep into Freespace lore, can you do a video on Blue Planet's Threat Exigency Initiative?

[@Jsay18]

You said there was going to be some mod lore, and I have to ask: are you going to do Derelict? I think it has enough for a shorter form video, but it would be a perfect sequel to The Second Incursion. Its only 5 years after Capella, and its not crazy with its lore, and imho its a great prequel to Blue Planet.

[@MacsLore]

I'm always open to suggestions about which mod to start covering, as my own experience admittedly has only been with Blue Planet and Wing Commander Saga (and a little of The Babylon Proejct). Truth be known I've been kind of hesitant to cover Blue Planet due to some general statements by it's creator on the HLP Discord some months back, and my own interpretation of it was that he might take my style of coverage on his work negatively. But another Freespace video is some ways off still, or not. I dunno, I dont really plan these things that far ahead lawlz. Derelict has been suggested before and it is a contender for sure. And I also might be overthinking the Blue Planet thing.

[@Jsay18]

@@MacsLore Yeah, Blue Planet isn't finished yet. It apparently has 2 more parts to even be done, and Part 3/5 isn't even voice acted yet (which imho added to its value, I personally hated Laporte's entire character in WiH, but Penumbra is way better for my perception of the character) it's a very character driven story, so it might look more like your Wing Commander videos. Also they are a very preachy and 'fragile' dev community imho, so I would tread carefully when it comes to Blue Planet. Derelict doesn't have that problem because its a old ass mod originally from 2000 AD, it was last updated in 2016, and its a finished masterpiece. Another angle is that you could use the ending for buildup of the future Blue Planet video.

[@michaelandreipalon359]

Derelict does feel a bit unfinished though, what with it setting up the still unreleased Blackwater Operations.

[@renardnoir2581]

​@Jsay18 is it really that messy behind the scenes? I respect Blue planets writing alot. But for all intents and purposes. I've not heard anything about active development. I'd considering it a dead mod at this point. Which, in fairness. The main writers probably went on to do professional work. Which he was already doing when that mod started.

[@renardnoir2581]

​@@michaelandreipalon359 I'd disagree. Derelict is a very self contained story for the most part. The loose ends are a hook for the set up of Black Water Operations. Specifically the Auriga and it's ties to the Hades Rebellion, and the GTFr Enigma. But outside of their optional SOC (I unironically called them ONI, haha) plot line, they don't have any direct bearing on the campaign, or it's conclusion.

[@cptmaxson]

Betac was a mistake!

[@Aristocles22]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who remembers Freespace.

[@maxpayne930]

This master peace of the game must have anime. So say we all : )

[@michaelandreipalon359]

A Western animated mini-webseries would be good for me.

[@Aristocles22]

@@michaelandreipalon359 They'd likely turn Admiral Wolf black, make the Vasudans gay, depict the Shivans as speaking, and get everything 100% wrong. Halo was clearly and obviously influenced by Freespace. Just look at the space flight mission in Halo: Reach. The live-action "Halo" show is the cheapest-looking, wokest, most hated show Paramount+ has, a soulless husk of a product which almost no one watches or likes.

[@michaelandreipalon359]

@@Aristocles22 ...Right. (Wait, don't the Shivans speak in the Blue Planet mod?)

[@michaelandreipalon359]

A great fanwork that deserves to completely replace the original official work in the proper canon, ST: R. You gonna check out FS2's Operation Templar next, Mac's Lore? If so, you gonna do it via the official co-op version or Blue Planet's singleplayer version? Edit: OK, finally subbed! Oh, and am surprised that you didn't hint that this Reborn's Alpha 1 is implied to be a young Aken Bosch. Also, you didn't mention the importance of the Orff as the very first ship encountered in the FS series proper.

[@kulehulfer4385]

Love your videos but the way you pronounce jotunheim annoys me 😂