Welcome to the Aeos Archeological site.

Story

Long ago, the Ancients built an outpost here on this icy world. A maze of tunnels and chambers have been mined into the ice and rock. Not much is left except for blasted artifacts and frozen debris. We came here looking for answers that might help us survive this war. After some time, a small outpost of our own developed; Aeos Base. We have a goldmine here, but it will take years to discover what secrets are held by this cold rubble.

Elsewhere, the war is going well. The NTF has been defeated. The Shivans are threatening Capella, but the Colossus is on station there. There are rumors of a massive Shivan invasion force looming beyond GTVA system, but rumors are a dime a dozen in this place. Altair is about as far away from the front lines of the war as you can get. We have no significant military presence here. All of our fighting ships are on the front or elsewhere where they are needed more. We have only a token force of patrol fighters and various civilian support ships. But that's alright with us. Nothing ever happens out here. We expect to continue our work here in peace.

Not much is out this far. Only a jump node to unexplored territory is of any additional interest in this system. It's a perfect setting for a surprise Shivan incursion. Nobody would know they were here until it was too late. Who would suspect the Shivans to establish a foothold on the far side of the galaxy, leapfrogging us entirely?

But we were here. We were too close for comfort for the Shivans. A GTVA base in this system could not be tolerated. The Shivans know that in order to keep their presence a secret they must not allow us to escape. We have monitored a fleet of vessels taking up encircling positions around our base. They have cut us off from all help or rescue. We thought we were safe from bombardment within our warren, but the Shivans have launched what we can only assume are troop transports for a planetary assault. They will be coming for us soon...

We don't have the men, weapons or equipment to fight a war out here. All our resources are tied up on the front lines on the other side of the galaxy. How can we hopeto fight off an entire invasion with a handful of garrison fighters? We are lost...Unless a miracle occurs.

Overview

This is a series of ten missions based on the 5 star mission "Exodus of Force".

No Mods! Everyone can use it! However, it includes new tech like:

Minelayers

Artificial jump gates (NOT a Knossos)

New AI behaviors

Many other surprises…

These missions were designed to be much more difficult than standard Freespace 2 missions. These missions are meant to be hard, but not impossible.

These missions were created to challenge elite players. The recommended difficulty setting is "Easy". Crazy people with suicidal tendencies may attempt the missions at higher levels, but be advised that your chances are slim. Note that all of the missions have been tested and all are winnable. On the "Very Easy" level, all objectives of all missions can be completed. Are you good enough?

Here's a few helpful hints:

1) Use your wingmen wisely. They can perform tasks that you may not have time to work on. Don't let them get killed off since you may need them later.

2) Pay attention to briefings and in flight messages. They will often offer hints that can ease your tasks. There are shortcuts, if you can find them.

3) Prioritize. Some things are more important than others. Don't get distracted.

4) You are not all powerful. You must work as part of a team to get the job done. Don't expect to single handedly win the day.

5) Some tasks cannot be completed all at once. Do what you need to so that you can come back to a problem later, if needed.

6) Have Fun! Knock the difficulty down to "Very Easy" if you need to.

Reviews

Volition Watch Archives

“Bottom Line: A well executed, carefully thought out campaign, even if it is incredibly hard. Download this only if you think that you can handle it.”

“Click 'download' now. This is a superb campaign that nobody should be without. If you find it difficult to complete, then try, and try again. It'll be fun...”

ferrit @ 08/12/00

People who expect to finish this in a weekend will be in for a big surprise.

PaulCharcoalMan @ 07/27/00

Review... A very well crafted campaign, to say the least. The person who made the Aeos Affair definitely knew what they were doing. The result? A campaign that rivals even that of Volition's FreeSpace 2 campaign. The mission design is superb, and there is a sense of urgency in each mission that is missing in a majority of other available missions. There is also an insane amount of action in most missions in the campaign, which I like. My only single complaint is that the campaign is hard. Very hard. This is the way it should be though, and I appreciate playing missions where you really feel like a very small part of a large force. Again, this campaign is hard, and is intended to be a challenge to those wanting something more difficult than Volition's FreeSpace 2 campaign. I highly recomment downloading this campaign. It is well worth the time and will provide you with hours of fun.

bernie2000 @ 10/21/00

A brilliant campaign, I had loads of fun playing it. The missions were excellent, lots of fun capital ship scrappin. The first mission in the campaign is so well balanced! its a classic indeed. Playing this mission has tought me the comms menu inside out! :-)

jpgarner @ 12/14/00

This is only for people who like a challenge. Some missions are fiendishly difficult, but that's half the fun. To have any chance of completing this campaign you need to a) not be the type that charges in head-first all guns blazing b) have messaging down to a fine art, and also appreciate when it is and when it is not a good idea to have every bomber protected by a fighter c) be a really cunning bugger. My personal favourite of hanging off at 2000m and whumping beam and flak turrets with trebuchets worked well... when there was time, i definately had to come up with alternative strategies in other missions. I think this is the first time i have ever actually had to pull a flanking maneuver to take down a convoy (that is a giggle in itself with 3 wings in tow) rather than just going at it head on. Definately more thinking than average required here. all in all i loved it. oh and the plot hung together well too.

New In Version 2.0

Three totally new missions

Final mission completely reworked

New Command Briefings

Updates to briefings and debriefings

Numerous new "Chatter" messages added

Numerous bug fixes

Several gameplay issues addressed

All missions spell checked

Credits

PickleHead - (AKA Derek Pickering) - All Design and Implementation.

Kellan - Lots of good advice.

Zileas - Thanks for the support.

Fantomeye – Killer walkthroughs and screenshots!

Setekh – Awsome graphics for this site.

All those FS2 fans who sent in their bugs and comments. I used them all. Thanks.

Special Thanks the Descent Chronicles, Science Station Andromeda and Ross128. Keep up the Great Work!

Contact Information

E-mail address

PickleHead - picker@home.com

Last revised: March 5, 2001