deus ex the cassandra project: episode 1 mod

In this mod for Deus Ex, you play Charlotte Williams, a new recruit for the mysterious "Cassandra Project". This mod features many changes to the gameplay in addition to the all new storyline.

[!] The Cassandra Project: Episode 1
www.deusex-machina.com/cassandra-project/
cassandrafeedback

******

The Cassandra Project is an episodic single-player add-on
for Ion Storm's game, Deus Ex. It includes the opening
segment of the game. As you approach its close you will be
reminded to save the game.

***
Content Warning
***

The Cassandra Project contains adult themes and dialogue
which make it inappropriate for the young. Through its
dialogue and certain scenes, it would result in the
equivalent of an eighteen certificate BBFC rating.

******
System Requirements
******

1) Deus Ex must be installed on your computer. Clearly.
2) Deus Ex must be patched to the latest Multiplayer
version available. You can locate links to patches from
Eidos' site at www.deusex.com/patch.htm. We repeat in case
you weren't paying attention the first time - LATEST
MULTIPLAYER VERSION. The single-player one is just not on.
Really. We mean it.
3) You must be playing on a PC, and not, for example, an
abacus or similar devices. It's not been tested for the Mac
version of Deus Ex, and the installation function in this
release does not operate with it. A future manual
installation will be made available for those who wish to
experiment with the possibility of getting it working.

*****
Installation:
*****

To install The Cassandra Project, double-click on
CassandraPart1Setup.exe and follow the prompts. An
Uninstall option will appear under "The Cassandra Project"
in you Start Menu programs.

Once installed, to launch the Cassandra Project,
double-click on the Cassandra Project icon. Don't try and
be clever and make it work another way - something will
just go hilariously wrong.

Upon launching, you should probably be able to figure it
out yourself. Playing the game isn't a bad idea, though
listening to the music while disco dancing is also
acceptable.

*****
Installation extra:
*****

* The installation program will copy a setting called
"CdPath" from your DeusEx.ini file to a Cassandra file
called Cassandra.ini. If that value in your DeusEX.ini
files is set to the drive letter of your CD-ROM drive, you
will still need the game CD in your drive when you play
Cassandra. If you've done a full install of Deus Ex, and
want to be able to play it without the CD in the drive, you
can do the following:

For Deus Ex itself, pull up the DeusEx.ini file that's in
your DeusExSystem folder and remove the drive letter
after "CdPath=". For Cassandra, do the same thing, but in
the Cassandra.ini file.

* To play the original game instead of Cassandra, simply
launch it with your normal Deus Ex icon. None of the
original game files are overwritten or altered during
installation. Thank Steve Tack for this cleverness.

*****
Primary Game notes
*****

1) The Cassandra Project, while bearing more than a few
stylistic similarities to Deus Ex, is not set in the world
of the original game.
2) We suggest that you are familiar with Deus Ex before
attempting to play The Cassandra Project. No effort has
been made to introduce the player to the essentials of Deus
Ex - just the alterations we've made to the system.
3) Once you approach the end of this segment of the game,
you will be reminded to save your game. Do so, and then
continue. If and when the next section is released, re-load
this save game and continue from where you've left off.
4) Press enter to skip the cut-scenes.

*****
The Story so Far
*****

You are Charlotte Williams, a lower-middle-class English
woman turned international Mercenary. With thirty inching
ever closer, she becomes disillusioned with her work and is
approached by one Nicholas Beckett. He offers her a new
job: field agent for a mysterious organisation known as
"The Cassandra Project".

She accepts. After all, what has she to lose?

Over the next few months, her body is modified with
technology beyond her experience or knowledge, boosting her
considerable natural abilities to posthuman levels. Today,
she leaves her London apartment for the last time, and
travels to Birmingham for her first day at her new work.

Problem: She doesn't actually know where the base is. Her
orders are to meet up with a man called "Johnny Casino" in
a bar called "Secrets and Regrets", who will give her the
location of the HQ.

She is, to say the least, more than a little anxious.

Further background information on the world and its
characters can be found at
www.deusex-machina.com/cassandra-project/

That's all for now. Everything else is explained in game.
Relax.


*****
Hints and Tips
*****

1) This section of the game contains a frankly ludicrous
amount of dialogue. However, like Deus Ex, it's possible to
play through the game without paying any attention to it,
and merely going on the orders your character receives. In
this way, players with no interest in social niceties can
buzz through the section with the minimum of fuss. We
apologise in advance for the more action orientated
players, as the initial segment of the game is heavily
weighted towards adventure. We hope the Danger Room proves
an adequate distraction.

2) For those who seek interaction, be sure to repeatedly
speak to characters and consider returning later once
gaining more information. Options open in the conversation
tree as certain facts come to light.

3) Despite all the technological fanciness, the Cassandra
Project is very much like a business. If you come across a
major problem with people you meet, it's worth going to
talk to your boss about it.

4) The Cassandra Project is, on average, deadlier than the
standard of Deus Ex. Weapons hit harder, both for you and
your opponents. For those who plan to engage in stand-up
fights, we suggest you choose to equip yourself with the
subdermal protection augmentation from Dr. Spake.

5) Augmentation's use of power is drastically lower than
Deus Ex. We encourage you to activate and experiment with
them.

6) There's only limited options to re-equip in the field.
What you take from the base is what you'll be using
throughout the entire mission.

7) Take the lockpicks, electronic tools and medkits.
Honestly - carrying three more sorts of grenades isn't
worth the loss.

8) Fill up your inventory with stuff. Yes, you may want to
pick up a couple of items in the field, but it's always
possible to drop things.

9) Yes, it's possible to break Cassandra if you try really
hard. Well done.

*****
Specific Modifications to Deus Ex
*****

As noted above, most of these are detailed in game.
However, for those who want things to print out, these are
ones which will actively effect how you play...

ELECTRONIC BYPASS: The electronic bypass system has been
completely altered. Tools are no longer disposable, but
re-useable. Upon activation, a sequence of numbers will be
displayed to you. You have to enter the sequence to break
the lock. The length of the string of numbers is
proportional to the difficulty of the system, and the speed
which they appear is inversely proportional to your skill
level (i.e. Higher skill=slower progression of numbers).
There is no penalty for repeated goes, but the sequence
will be randomly generated each time.

LOCKPICKING: The lockpicking system has been completely
altered. Lockpicks are no longer disposable, but
re-useable. Each lock in game has a number of tumblers and
a difficulty level. The time to open a tumbler is increased
by its difficulty level, but reduced by your skill in
lockpicking. The game does not tell you when a lock is
impossible for your character to pick.

EVIDENCE POINTS: This acts in a similar way to Gold in
Thief: The Dark Project and its sequels. In each mission,
there are things you can discover that give you evidence
points. The higher the evidence points at the end of the
mission, the better you've done and the more information
you'll get presented with in the debriefing about what was
*really* going on. Since this episode takes place prior to
the first mission, there's no evidence points secreted
about the level.

AIMING: The weapon system has been modified considerably,
to allow a greater degree of motion in combat. Rather than
describing them here, we recommend you progress through the
danger room and play around on the firing range in-game.

WEAPONS: You will, on average, carry fewer weapons than the
average Deus Ex Character. Also, the heavy weaponry
boundary has been moved drastically down - don't expect to
be carrying around the usual load of GEP Guns and what not.
What we've attempted to do is reduce the general arsenal,
and increase each weapon's utility. Each weapon has
multiple ammo types available to it, leading to be useable
in multiple niches. Equally, the amount of ammo of each
type available is limited to different degrees - for the
Sniper rifle, for example, you can only carry very limited
amounts of Depleted Uranium Ammo. For Grenades, the maximum
number of each type of grenade differs, according to its
speciality and power. For a single slot in your inventory,
you have to weigh up a choice between many of the standard
grenades, fewer of a specialised sort of a single extremely
powerful one. Note that all weapons can be examined in the
HUD to give further details.

AUGMENTATIONS: The Apollo Modifications, as they're known
to Charlotte Williams, are considerably more powerful than
those in Deus Ex. Her primary augmentations include
generally enhanced musculature, giving her the equivalent
of a speed and both strength modifications from Deus Ex
(Note that rather than activating separately, both the
increased melee damage and increase lifting capacity
activate on the same button). During this first episode she
will also be given the option to activate a secondary
modification, which are equivalent to the sub-dermal
protection, enhanced vision or environmental protection
augs. All of the modifications use up energy at a much
lower rate than in Deus Ex. Your Hyperadrenaline level
(what replaces the bioelectric gauge) can be replenished by
bio-patches, which are available at the start of the
mission.

SKILLS: Swimming has been dropped, with players swimming at
a set rate. Equally, environment protection has been
dropped. A stealth skill has been added, which acts in a
similar way to the silent running modification in the
original Deus Ex.

DRAWER CONTENTS: Many of the drawers in the base have their
contents detailed. By right-clicking inside you can get a
little text elaboration. Some other decorations also gain
similar comments upon right-clicking.

VOICE-OVER: Major character's first exchanges are fully
voiced. After that it's pure text. There's nothing wrong
with your sound-cards. (Note: Unless there actually is,
when it's nothing to do with us).

*****
Design Notes
*****

First thing's on your mind - what next? It's a big chunk of
mod and they aren't even at the mission yet. What are they
playing at?

It's like this. The original plan for the mod was a tightly
episodic game. In each episode, a conspiracy would be
introduced, investigated and uncovered. The idea was to
give closure tightly within a couple of hours.

And we cheerfully f__ked it up. Due to inexperience - isn't
it always? - we tried to cram far too much material into
the first episode's arc. This left us in something of a
pickle.

After much debate, we came to a decision. We'd split what
was the initial episode into four segments, and release the
separately. Adding a Danger-Room to the initial portion to
give the action fans *some* release, we polished up what
you now have on your hard-drive to what we considered good
enough for public consumption.

With some public evidence that we haven't actually been
smoking cigarettes and downing red wines for the last two
years, the team is now undergoing something of a re-jig.
This means that several positions for mappers have opened
up. If you're interested in helping bring the final part of
the rest of the first mission into existence, please
contact always_black with links to examples of your work.
Much of the design work, and considerable architecture, has
been completed for this, so it's hardly starting from
scratch.

Full credits are included in the mod. Thanks to everyone
for giving us support, and a big two fingers to those who
thought this was just some situationalist gag. It's not
*just* a situationalist gag. It's lots of other things too.

On a personal note, thanks to everyone who was involved
with the Narcissus Entity in the years since we started.
It's been a pleasure, of sorts.

All feedback appreciated either at our forum
(http://www.ttlg.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=89)
or by e-mail (cassandrafeedback).

All is well. We are not like the others.

*****
Legal Information
*****

This level was not made and is not supported by Ion Storm
and Eidos Interactive.

The Narcissus Entity grant Ion Storm and/or Eidos
Interactive the perpetual, royalty free right to use,
modify, license and distribute the level in any way they
choose.

The Narcissus Entity require this readme to be included in
any other distribution of this mod.

The Narcissus Entity assert the ownership of all characters
- with the exception of Johnny Casino, whose ownership
remains the property of his creator - presented in the
Cassandra Project and forbid any use without written
permission.

*****
Copyright: 2003 Narcissus Entity
*****

[!]

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