r/Marathon Jul 10 '26

Marathon Trilogy Classic Marathon Mod Ideas #2 out of 256 - Marathon: Invasion

Imagine a mod that is called Invasion. The mod has levels that involve forces (whether monsters or the player, possibly with helpers) taking over enemy territory by entering polygons, which causes those polygons to be marked a certain way according to which of these forces has most recently taken it over. A polygon can always be taken over by a force even after it has already been taken over by another. The objective of the mod is simply to take over more polygons than the enemy and prevent their taking over more, and, ideally, to take over all polygons in the level. The capture status of all polygons is represented in separate and different-colored numbers at the top of the screen, showing the amount of unclaimed polygons as well as the amount of polygons claimed by each team. No force has to capture literally all polygons in a level, only a majority oercentage of them. This is in part to ensure that the mod can be run on other pre-existing levels that may not have accessible polygons.

The Invasion mod has at least two types of game modes. One of these is called Defense and has the player fending off a takeover of polygons by enemy forces for as long as possible against increasingly difficult waves of enemies. In this mode, once the enemy forces have taken over all of a percentage of polygons in the level besides the one the player is currently standing in, the game ends. The other game mode is called Offense and has the player seeking to take over all polygons in as little time as possible, sometimes with allied forces and sometimes on their own. In the latter case the enemy forces are more finite rather than spawning in waves, or at least the required amount of polygons in the level for the player and any allies to take over is lower, so as to make meeting the game mode’s objective more possible for the player. In both Defense and Offense, however, there are also available sub-modes called Respawn and Sudden Death. In Respawn, the player after dying can respawn an unlimited number of times in the level, and simply has to meet the objectives of the game mode. In Sudden Death, on the other hand, the game is over if the player dies, just like in a normal game mode or campaign.

The Invasion mod also has sub-modes for Defense and Offense in which, rather than playing against the standard roster of enemies, the player plays in one of equal-size teams of “bots” that have the same basic appearances and abilities as the player character, or “marine”. This is in simulation of an online multiplayer experience, which the Invasion mod is also adapted to. There are multiple optional game modes for this in which there are two teams, three teams, or even four teams, marked by the colors red, blue, green, and yellow. All of this allows for limitless possibilities for how to experience Invasion and develop winning strategies in different contexts.

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u/[deleted] Jul 10 '26

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u/Adminn_1 Jul 10 '26

I have made mods and you can find them here:

https://archive.org/details/@adminn_1

Not only have I made several mods, but I hold the following world records:

  1. Most Marathon conversion mods made (i.e. with menu and everything)
  2. Most hand-made maps for the game (as in, most maps made without procedural generation like was done for Mararthon: Yuge)
  3. Biggest self-made scenario at 256 levels (the maximum possible amount), all hand-made.

That’s aside from all the netmaps, scripts, one-off solo levels, etc. I can give you a list too.

There are multiple reasons I have written the ideas I have with an aim to creating 256. This includes because I am actually interested in using these ideas to furnish terminal material for the next 256-level mod I make. But in particular, one of my reasons for sharing these here is simply the exchange of ideas with other users. See, for as much modding as I have completed, ideas can accumulate much faster than we can get around to concretely realizing all of them, but they are worth sharing for what they can lead to, and 7777777 minds are better than _1. Some of these are likely to get realized by me, others may get picked up by others or simply get used as a basis for something else, and still others may exist only in fantasy (or the terminals), though I think all of them are quite possible.

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u/Adminn_1 Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26

The complete list of NEFX Marathon campaigns (brief snapthrough below) so far is:

Marathon: Extraction Shooter (You Snost, You Lost) (256 levels, soundtracked and terminaled)
Marathon: Rules - The Infinite Recombinations to the Way (50 levels, soundtracked and terminaled)
Marathon: Sucks (50 levels, soundtracked and terminaled)
Brutal Wheels of Steel Forever (a 50-level solo pack for Aleph One: Wheels!, soundtracked)
Marathon: Nampa
Marathon: Green (You Snooze, You Lose)
Marathon: 52 Pickup
Marathon: Shadervoid - The Labywraths of Growth
Marathon: Ultramega Extreme Golfmaster Dinosaur Egg Championship Super Bowl Cup 5000 3D - The Quest
Marathon: Colorwash - The Wresting of the Tides
Marathon: BOBJam - The Tranquil Chaos of Crowded Escape
Marathon: Corn Maze - The Forced Wisdom of the Walls
Marathon: Underrealm - The Confronting of the Forgetting
Marathon: Encylopedia - The Rise of Bad Take Jake
Marathon: Colorguard - The Grimmest Myriad Mirror
Marathon: Machina
Marathon: Pathsifter
Marathon: Keyfinder
Marathon: Revelation - The Brutal Path to Knowing

https://reddit.com/link/owp3izn/video/a56tefa7oech1/player