Omega Protocol: Sole Defender

Introduction

Our solar system has been invaded by an unknown alien force. Much of humanity has been wiped out by this relentless alien threat. Omega protocol has been initiated. The surviving greatest minds of humanity have come together in a last attempt to save humanity from total annihilation. You have been chosen to pilot the most advanced ship man-kind ever created to deal with the alien threat once and for all.

Strategically utilize the 12 different weapons at your disposal to defend space stations around the solar system.

or

Plan and execute tactical assaults on alien mother ships utilizing 12 different weapons.

Customize and upgrade your ship at each space station.

Planets and space stations are randomly generated along their orbital path around the sun making no two play-throughs alike. Planets are a near infinite resource for the aliens to harvest. Asteroids, which are a finite resource for the aliens, are also randomly generated around the solar system at the start of each game.

General Game play

This game is meant to challenge you so when you finally do save the galaxy, it is that much more satisfying. You are playing an action RPG while the aliens are playing an RTS. All while being Rogue like at the same time. If your ship explodes, you have to start with a stock ship once again losing all your purchased upgrades. You can keep retrying as long as you have escape pods remaining, similar to lives in old school games. But once you explode with no escape pods left or the aliens destroy all the space stations around the solar system, it's game over.

Do you want a heavily armored ship that can take every bit what you dish out? Do you want a fast, agile, ship that rarely ever gets hit? Or, do you want to lay down a mine field and lure alien ships into an ambush? 

All of these strategies and much more are possible as you take on the alien threat your own way.

Default Controls

Controls can be configured in the pause menu.

     W, A, S, D     move

Left mouse button     Fire primary weapon
Right mouse button     Fire secondary weapon
Mouse     Aim/move cursor
Space bar (hold)     Engage FTL engine
1-6 keys     Change primary weapon
1-6 keys + ALT     Change secondary weapon
Mouse wheel     Cycle primary weapons
Mouse wheel + ALT     Cycle secondary weapons
Control     Toggle shields
Z     Use battery to recharge weapon energy
X     Use battery to recharge shield energy
C     Use battery to recharge engine energy
Escape     Pause menu
F4     Toggle fullscreen and windowed mode

Energy Management

There are four bars at the bottom of your screen to keep an eye on.

Hull- HP (hull points) represent the overall health of your ship's hull. Once it reaches zero, your ship explodes.

Shields- SP (shield points) represent the strength of your shields. Shields, unlike your hull, regenerates over time. Incoming damage will deplete your shields before your hull starts taking damage. You can toggle your shields on and off. Shields recharge when deactivated.

Weapon energy- WP (weapon points) represent the level of energy available for your weapons. WP regenerates over time. Different weapons consume different amounts of WP when used.

Engines- EP (Engine points) represent your available energy for your FTL (faster than light) drive. EP regenerates over time. EP is consumed as you travel at FTL speed. Once you run out of EP, your FTL drive disengages and you can't re-engage the FTL drive until you recoup sufficient EP.

Batteries provide an instant 100 points of energy to your system of choice. By default, pressing the "Z" key will use a battery to recharge your weapon energy, "X" will use a battery on your shields, and "C" will use a battery on your engine energy. Available batteries are displayed at the bottom left of your screen. You can only carry a limited number of batteries at once. You can either collect batteries from destroyed alien ships or purchase them from space stations.

Here is a list of all 12 of the weapons at your disposal:

Primary weapons:

NOTE: primary weapons consume weapon energy, or weapon points (WP), upon use. WP regenerates over time.

laser- single shot, high damage energy weapon.

Scatter Laser- fires a spread of lasers. More lasers will hit a target the closer you are.

Auto-laser- High rate of fire, low damage laser weapon ideal for dispatching smaller alien ships.

EMP Cannon- Overloads target's shields with a high-charged electromagnetic pulse.

Particle Beam- Concentrated beam of energy rips through enemy shields and hull.

Energy Drain- siphon enemy's shield energy to replenish your own energy.

Secondary Weapons

NOTE:  Secondary weapons consume ammunition. Ammunition is purchased at space stations.

Torpedo- High-impact explosive munition. Can be upgraded to guided torpedo or homing variant.

Missiles- small, rapid fire missiles that are most effective for clustered groups of targets.

Magnetic Mines- when deployed, mines are  attracted to nearby targets and explode on impact.

Auto turrets- stationary sentry turrets that fire lasers at nearby enemies.

EMP Burst- Charge and release an electromagnetic pulse that drains nearby enemy ships' shields.

Wormhole Generator- First mark coordinates in space, then generate a wormhole at any location that will instantly teleport you back to those original coordinates.

Alien Ships

Collector- small, lightly shielded and armored ships that travel at FTL velocities to the nearest resource object such as an asteroid or planet in order to collect resources for its mother ship. Collectors have no weapons and will not attack you.

Scout- small, moderately shielded ships that only pose a threat in large numbers. Only equipped with a standard laser.

Cruiser-  Larger, more heavily shielded ships with a more damaging laser weapon.

Bomber- Large, heavily armored but slow ships that fire a moderately powered laser as well as torpedoes that home in on the nearest target. 

Tips and Strategies

* Collectors travel at FTL velocities to nearest asteroid or planet to collect resources and return them to their mother ship.

* Disrupting alien supply lines can be an effective way to starve alien mother ships of resources necessary for manufacturing new alien ships.

* A space station that spawns  close to two alien mother ships will get hit twice as hard as other space stations... plan accordingly.

* Marking coordinates near high-risk space stations with the wormhole generator can allow you to instantly teleport back in order to quickly  deal with alien assault fleets.

* Keeping your shield and hull bars high means alien ships are more likely to drop credits rather than hull repair pickups or batteries upon their destruction.

* There is no limit to the number of upgrades you purchase. This means the longer you keep a particular ship intact, the stronger you can make it.

* Auto-turrets are ideal for deploying near space stations for extra defense.

* The EMP cannon is good for knocking out alien ships with strong shields so you can follow up with more damaging weapons to their hull.