Five Nations (video game)

Five Nations
Developer(s)	SilverForge
Publisher(s)	SilverForge
Director(s)
Producer(s)
Programmer(s)
Artist(s)
Writer(s)
Composer(s)
Series
Engine	Chromium/Javascript
Platform(s)	PC
Release	May 4th, 2021
Genre(s)	Real Time Strategy
Mode(s)	Single player
Cabinet
Arcade system
CPU
Sound
Display

Search Five Nations (video game) on Amazon.

Five Nations is a military science fiction real-time strategy game developed and published in May, 2021 by Silverforge (Formerly known as Webellion Ltd.). Originally started as a Chromium browser HTML5 game combined with Javascript, it evolved into a full product released for Microsoft Windows in it's final development stages. The game is recognized for it's space-exclusive scenario and it's five distinct races. While drawing close comparison to popular real-time strategy franchises such as StarCraft and Command & Conquer, for it's use of isometric perspective and similar designs of the races, it's space-centered gameplay which includes asteroid fields and nebula makes the game closer to titles such as Homeworld, Star Trek: Armada and Conquest: Frontier Wars.

Gameplay

The player starts with a base (being a central space station, a mining facility and some workers) with which must then expand by mining resources, building more facilities and assembling units to eliminate the player's opposition. The resources utilized in the game are Metal, Helium-3, Tachyon, Supply and Energy. With the exception of Energy (which automatically produces itself by the number of power stations) and Supply (increased by building the according supply related structures), the other resources must be extracted from mineral asteroid fields and delivered at a mining station. Afterwards, depending on the chosen race, the player must transport the resources from the mining station to the central building using a cargo vessel. These resources can then be used by the player in the he/she sees fit, building structures, units or researching upgrades or abilities that may directly influence combat conditions.

There are five races which the players can choose - The Federation (which represents the human race), the highly intelligent, though theocratic Athrael aliens, the militaristic Thorun aliens, the robotic Sylons and the extremophilic Zhogarn creatures. While most of the race's units may appear under the same categories (fighters, corvettes, frigates and so on), the racial differences are evident in both combat units, infrastructure and economy: for an example, while the Federation, Athraels and Sylons utilize worker units for construction and mining duties, the Thoruns' worker units are split between exclusive miner and construction units (whom can also repair friendly units), while the Zhogarn morph so much workers as structures from Spawns, jellyfish-like creatures bred from their primary creatures, called Argus. On the other hand, while most races have separate structures dedicated to generating supply and energy, the Sylons need only their support center to produce both, and unlike other races whom have dedicated defensive structure types, the Athraels upgrade their energy and supply structures to form defenses.

Despite being a space game, natural terrain features are relevant in the form of asteroid fields and faction-related walls which block all movement except for fighters, nebulae which can slow down enemy units or drain their energy and shields before draining health, and astral volcanic fields which deal direct damage to passing vessels.

Single-player Modes

Apart from the story-driven campaign mode, which encompasses 56 missions divided in five chapters (including it's prologue and tutorial), players can access a skirmish mode against artificial intelligence players as well as a custom game mode in which custom scenarios can be played. An ingame map editor is also available to edit the current maps or create new ones.

As of currently, there is no mentioning of multiplayer mode currently in development.

Story

Setting

Five Nations is set in the year 2232, in which humanity, following a devastating war between Earth and the Democracy of Mars (DEMA), was united by the United Human Federation and started mass colonization of neighboring star systems, as the Federation's economy is dependant on the resources of the fringe regions. The colonizations were made possible by the discovery of extraterrestrial technology capable of generating artificial Einstein-Rosen Bridges, discovered by the Federation's lead scientific branch, the Extraterrestrial Intelligence Research Admninistration (EIRA).

Plot

In 2223, Commander Anton Vargas, a veteran of the Earth-DEMA war, is reassigned to the Hathor system to lead a military expedition ordered by EIRA Agent Jacques Boyer after a second expedition which observed a newly-found alien species, the Sylons, failed to return to Earth. As Vargas comes across the supposedly passive Sylons on the way to the second expedition, he is attacked by them, and later is dismayed to learn the Sylons' hostile behavior was triggered by Boyer's capture and vivisection of Sylon ships. As the number and technology of the Sylons proves too much for the expedition to handle, Vargas orders an evacuation until he's assisted by Nephral of the dwindling Athrael race, but Vargas is still forced to sacrifice himself to fend the Sylons off. As the expedition and the Athraels part their separate ways, it's discovered Boyer had secreted away Sylon technology back to Earth, securing himself a position of director within EIRA, and dismissed all the events as a fruitless expedition mission, with Vargas' sacrifice declared as a heart attack. While the recovered Sylon technology proves beneficial, it also sends a signal to the Sylons, exposing Earth.

Nine years later, Commander Benjamim Colburne is assigned to a war fleet at the Caribou System, being riddled with piracy, especially by the Black Swan, a paramilitary organization made of former DEMA members. As Colburne relieves the attacked mining stations headed by Vera Vargas, Anton's daughter, he comes across Salomon Zamor, the head of the Black Swan, whom warns him of a growing Sylon presence in the system. The warning comes too late, however, as the Sylons overwhelm and destroy the Caribou fleet, including the flagship of Colburne's superior officer, Admiral Sterling Buckner. Knowing their next target might be the Sol System, Colburne gathers the survivors and departs for Sol, assisted by Zamor whom discloses a jumpgate gifted to the Black Swan by DEMA. Colburne's forces arrive at Sol to find it under attack by the Sylons, but Colburne manages to relief the Federal High Command and proves instrumental in mounting the defense of Earth and neutralizing the Sylon presence on Sol. Meanwhile, the Athraels, following an incident with the Zhogarn creatures which led them to prohibit expeditions into the Izlar (The Zhogarn home system), return contact with the Federation by establishing a bridge between Nephral and Vera Vargas, whom in turn persuades the new Admiral Colburne into following the Athraels' plans against the Sylons. In a joint assault, the Federation and Athrael forces destroy a Sylus core in the Hathor system, getting all Sylons to either deactivate or fight each other in the Sol, Caribou and Hathor systems, allowing the Humans and Athraels to reclaim territory and rebuild.

Following the Athrael/Human victory, Sylus (The Sylon's prime artificial intelligence) activates a new Praetor unit with limited independence to reclaim the Caribou system, with the aid of Cura, the advisor of the Praetor's predecessor. At Cura's advice, the Praetor diverges from it's original mission and departs to the Hathor system where it recovers the plans of the previous Praetor, based on information from an extracted human under life support, revealed to be Admiral Buckner. The plans depict a campaign of deception by stealing Athrael technology and ship schematics and deploying them remotely against the unaware Thorun Empire, prompting a retaliation which would leave the Athrael unable to support the Federation at the next Sylon invasion. The Praetor successfully executes the plan, with the Thorun Emperor Tyran ordering a campaign led by his brother Bleda and son Thalok culminating in the capture and incineration of the Athrael homeworld of Venama, despite the attempted assistance of Colburne's forces. Colburne survives, but the Athrael survivors flee away to remote systems, breaking their alliance with the Federation. As Thalok returns to Thorun space, he discovers the Emperor had deceased and Bleda, whom fled the campaign after his disastrous leadership, blaming Thalok for the results, is the new Emperor. A civil war erupts at the Thorun Empire.

Using the chaos of the Athrael-Thorun war to their advantage, the Sylons under Cura and the Praetor steal the Cradle Stone, an artifact acquired from the Izlar, to force a merge between the Praetor and Buckner, allowing them to acquire their independence from Sylus, whom dominates all Sylons (once biological creatures whom were forced to transfer their consciousness to machines) with an iron grip. The successful merging, a cybernetic creature named Unizar, takes control of the renegade Sylons and uses them to capture the Thorun's communications relay, the Aether Horn, contacting the Federation forces under Colburne and establishing a Human-Sylon alliance in exchange for granting passage to the Dagon system, where Unizar established an independant manufacturing complex. Meanwhile, the Athrael survivors, after securing the Ark containing their seventy-two genetic lines past the Thorun battlefields, decide to support Prelate Zeraphim's idea to return to the Izlar and tame the Zhogarn utilizing a Psychic Dominator. Unknown to them however, the Zhogarn, already awakened since the first incursion, expected Zeraphim's arrival and feigned being dominated and deployed against the Thoruns in Vemana before turning on their masters, killing both Zeraphim and Thalok's lieutenant, Kagan, in the process. Nephral, on the other hand, rejects the original idea and departs to the Krios' system to reawaken a lost manufacturing complex, but his disobedience causes him to be cast out of Athrael society.

At the command of an entity known as the Source, the Zhogarn form an assault on the Sol system, perceiving the Humans as threats. Despite the valiant counterstrike from Admiral Colburne and a promising front between Humans, Athraels under Nephral and the renegade Sylons under Unizar, more Zhogarn appear in overwhelming numbers, forcing Nephral and Colburne's superior officer, Sky Marshall Komarov, to sacrifice themselves to buy time for Earth and the Athraels to evacuate, as Unizar's Sylons vanish in the battle. Despite the victory, the Source recalls the leading Zhogarn, Karak, to protect it as Karak's lieutenant Mondor continues the invasion unsuccessfully, allowing Colburne, now the Sky Marshall, to counter-attack. Unizar, though directly blamed for abandoning the alliance's efforts, recovers a technology from Zeraphim's derelict ship and performs a raid at Sylus' home system, opening portals to the Izlar, drawing both Sylons and Zhogarn into conflict as Unizar dispatches Cura to look for both Colburne, Nephral's successor Adikara and Thalok as he finishes the Thorun civil war with the death of Bleda.

Summoning all into the Izlar, Unizar and Cura admit to thier acts and amend the disparities between the Humans, Thoruns and Athraels and elaborates the Source must be eliminated for the Zhogarn invasion to cease. Using Sylus' forces as a distraction and spearheaded by Thalok, the allied forces push through the Source and destroy it's outer shell, retreating before Sylus arrives. As Sylus contacts the Source, it discovers the Source as an Eternal One - The species the Sylons once assimilated - whom created the Zhogarn and other species, although it considered the Sylons their greatest failure. The Zhogarns under the Source and Sylus' forces fight one last battle before the Eternal One dies.

As the allied forces return home, they discover victory to be bittersweet - Boyer wrests control of the Federation, dismissing Colburne and replacing him for a more loyal Sky Marshall, many Zhogarn remain in Athrael space for Adikara to fight, and Sylus remains in control as Unizar and Cura had vanished. The Zhogarns themselves divide in smaller tribes to fend for their own (unaware this was the Eternal One's final wish) as Thalok restores order to the Thorun Empire.

References

This article "Five Nations (video game)" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Five Nations (video game). Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

📰 Article(s) of the same category(ies)

• NTS-KEM
• Belgrade Assembly (1–2 January 1810)
• Rohit Srivastava
• The Falcon 147
• Feedzai
• The Epistles
• Gail Cramer

---