Author Topic: BtA: Slaves of Chaos Discussion Thread  (Read 46361 times)

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Offline CT27

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Re: BtA: Slaves of Chaos Discussion Thread
Your list says the optional 720 and 1080 movie packs were updated 10-25-16.  I just downloaded them a few hours ago and the actual vp files for both say 10-23-16.  How did that happen?


FYI, I used the Installer for my downloads.

 

Offline DefCynodont119

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Re: BtA: Slaves of Chaos Discussion Thread
I just finished "Bringing down the Gavel",

. . .

This is, This is the most enjoyable mission in Freespace history.   :drevil:


Also I like how the background shows what room you are in, Eg, ship selection is in a hanger, weapon selection has crates with guns in them in background, Ec. . .
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Offline mjn.mixael

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Re: BtA: Slaves of Chaos Discussion Thread
I’m up to the first (only?) Loki stealth mission, I think about a third of the way through the campaign, give or take. I’ll do a full review when I complete the campaign, but for now, spoiler free initial impressions:

The most impressive thing that I’ve noticed so far is the level of detail in the release – it is remarkable. By far the most impressive, immersive Freespace campaign I have ever played, including things like BP and ST:R. In my mind, this comes from two things. First, the absolute attention to creating a universe for the player to inhabit in mission – the mods chosen, the mission designs, the priorities given to the player, even the visual palette changes – these all feel like a campaign focusses on a world we hadn’t previously seen in FS1 or 2 – the civilian world where most people would be living their lives. It still feels like Freespace, but it puts serious meat on the bones of the universe established in the first two games.

This is also helped in a big way by the newsroom and system viewer. Antares feels big and complicated and real – almost a character in its own right, in a way that, location wise, FS2 only ever managed with the nebula.

The voice acting is generally pretty great (if there are a few jarring mispronunciations here and there, but that’s unavoidable), and the missions are tightly FREDded (I’ve had one where it stalled on me – obviously a ship got destroyed unexpectedly or something, but it went fine on my second run through) and diverse enough to keep me interested, both in terms of challenge level and what you’re doing in the mission.

The story so far has been good – I’m enjoying the evolving smuggling/corruption storyline and the Hammer storyline and wondering if/how they’re going to come together. But I felt elements were a tad... rushed isn’t the right word, maybe undersold? I’m thinking mainly about the detour out of Antares; I got the impression that we were being ordered out of Antares permanently, but then we were back within a mission, apparently against order. It didn’t quite feel like the motivations (or the repercussions) for this were explained much at all. Perhaps later in the campaign?

If I were picking things to gripe about, I’d say that I’m not really loving the battlesnails. I get that they’re supposed to be a fun achievement type thing, but I feel like they’d be better suited to a feature you only get when you’ve beaten the campaign and are playing through again, but I recognise that that’s a personal stylistic choice each campaign creator will make differently.

The one thing that I do have a bit more of an issue with (and don’t get me wrong, I’m still loving the campaign) is the tech room. I really enjoy scrolling through the tech room as a way to get a feel for the worldbuilding, but that doesn’t quite work in BtA. Several of the ships have blank (or near blank, “Blah Blah”) tech descriptions, or descriptions that are obviously anachronistic (the one that jumped out to me was the Endymion, which still has the description I originally wrote for it, which is only appropriate for the very early TV War). Slaves of Chaos and the demo both did such a fantastic job of worldbuilding in other ways, to have it be neglected here was a little disappointing. And, utterly, utterly minor though it is, I also kind of wish the ships were in a logical order, as opposed to new ones being tacked on the end.

To be 100% clear though, the issues I’ve come across have been extremely small, and haven’t prevented me from enjoying what is an extremely polished, high quality Freespace experience. Based on what I’ve seen so far, BtA has earned its place in the rarefied company of the very best examples of what the FS engine and the people behind it can do, along with ST:R, VD, BP and the like. Congrats to Mjn and the rest of the team - I’m really looking forward to the rest of the campaign.

Thanks for the kind words! Your work has been a major inspiration (and what also made it really possible) for the world building that we worked on. :)

Per the trip out of Antares and suddenly being back. I always wish I had handled that better. I really needed the player to visit a particular couple of systems in order to add in a couple story threads that I'll follow up on should I make the next couple chapters. It also gave me a reason to add in a familiar weapon.. but you're right, the trip back to Antares isn't very well explained. Oh well!

Battlesnails are pretty easily skip-able, though, right? You might bump into one or two on your first playthrough and then go find them the next time around. But I guess since they also grant a slightly extended ending, it creates a higher motivation to find them the first time? I understand how that can be annoying.

I really wish I hadn't overlooked the tech room. I'll fix it up soon once I've had a chance to follow up on reported bugs and issues. For all the work we did to make it feel polished, missing this is a bummer! But it's also something pretty easy to remedy. :)

But I'm glad you're enjoying it!

I just finished "Bringing down the Gavel",

. . .

This is, This is the most enjoyable mission in Freespace history.   :drevil:


Also I like how the background shows what room you are in, Eg, ship selection is in a hanger, weapon selection has crates with guns in them in background, Ec. . .


Bring down the Gavel has been a standout for most players so far. It's definitely one of my favorites. And I'm happy someone noticed the backgrounds!
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Offline Thisisaverylongusername

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Re: BtA: Slaves of Chaos Discussion Thread
Bringing down the Gavel was definitely one of my favorites from this mod, and my second favorite FS mission so far (behind Con Fuoco from VD).
If the opposite of pro is con, then is the opposite of progress Congress?

  

Offline Solatar

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Re: BtA: Slaves of Chaos Discussion Thread
I like what you did with the Prometheus R, it's super useful against bombers in Camp Angel. :yes:

 

Offline Black Wolf

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Re: BtA: Slaves of Chaos Discussion Thread
The Angel One mission has given me a new appreciation for sentry cannons. I tried being thematic and using all the tools available multiple times and couldn't beat the mission. Eventually, annoyed with the number of bombs that were getting through, I invested all of my points into spamming sentry cannons around the outpost.

Stopped the bombs (and the bombers) very effectively. :)
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Offline DefCynodont119

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Re: BtA: Slaves of Chaos Discussion Thread
The Angel One mission has given me a new appreciation for sentry cannons. I tried being thematic and using all the tools available multiple times and couldn't beat the mission. Eventually, annoyed with the number of bombs that were getting through, I invested all of my points into spamming sentry cannons around the outpost.

Stopped the bombs (and the bombers) very effectively. :)

I have found that a large maze of armor panels is useful too, the cruisers are just not maneuverable enough to avoid them if you spam panels all over the entry points.*

You can also be quite tactical in this mission by ordering your fighters too play offensive, and using only the automated turrets for defense, or vice-versa. 



*HOL Captain: Prepare to meet your doom and die a horrible de- hey, what the?
Oh fudge, I should not have cheated in the slalom part of my flight exam. . .
Uhh, All hands brace for-
ah forget it. PRAISE THE DESTROYERS!
[Ramming sound]
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Re: BtA: Slaves of Chaos Discussion Thread
Is there an option to skip all the Artillery practice in "Groundhog Day" and go straight to the mission? Thanks

 

Offline mjn.mixael

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Re: BtA: Slaves of Chaos Discussion Thread
If you have previously completed the artillery practice, it will create a checkpoint and you can skip it. This only works when playing in the campaign though. For various reasons, in BtA, checkpoints do not work in the tech room.
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Re: BtA: Slaves of Chaos Discussion Thread
I've completed the practice two times but died in the mission later and one time failed to protect the masada redoubt, but no checkpoint was created. I'm playing the campaign.

 

Offline HLD_Prophecy

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Re: BtA: Slaves of Chaos Discussion Thread
I haven't even started the first mission yet.

All I did was watch the cutscene and roam around the menu and watch the first briefing.

I'm already blown away.

BLOWN AWAY this is totally rad awesome! I dunno what else to say, this is super neat! Thanks a ton, BtA team!  :D

 

Offline Lepanto

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Re: BtA: Slaves of Chaos Discussion Thread
I haven't even started the first mission yet.

All I did was watch the cutscene and roam around the menu and watch the first briefing.

I'm already blown away.

BLOWN AWAY this is totally rad awesome! I dunno what else to say, this is super neat! Thanks a ton, BtA team!  :D

Thanks a bunch! :D Nice to hear that people love BtA! Would like to hear your full opinions once you're done!

Please do check the system viewer as it updates during the campaign. It really fleshes out Antares as a living, breathing, developing entity, and shows you the consequences of your missions. /shamelessselfpromotion


P.S. mjn, could you please get back to me about the project I'd PMed you about?
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Offline HLD_Prophecy

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Re: BtA: Slaves of Chaos Discussion Thread
System viewer, Newsroom - I'm stunned by the amount of work you guys put into this! I'm dealing with a real, fluid, human crisis here, and my actions affect how civilians view the GTA.

I finished the second mission already. Thanks for all the targeting aids, that made finding my objectives a lot easier. Mission layout is awesome, you guys have a real grip on 6DOF.

And pre-rendered cutscenes! ZOMG I feel like I'm playing FS1 (my favorite of the two games) all over again. Thanks, this is like an early Christmas gift!  :D

 

Offline mjn.mixael

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Re: BtA: Slaves of Chaos Discussion Thread
I got a little lazy with the later cutscenes... hope that doesn't disappoint. I just really needed to get this mod finished as it had taken 5 years of my modding life. :)
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Re: BtA: Slaves of Chaos Discussion Thread
Quote from: PVD_Hope
  Mission layout is awesome, you guys have a real grip on 6DOF.

6DOF is a measure of movement, so I'm pretty sure you just meant 3D space. No ships in BtA have 6DOF, the most you get is 4DOF.
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Offline mjn.mixael

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Re: BtA: Slaves of Chaos Discussion Thread
What he likely means is that we actively tried to avoid the usual space-sim "gotcha" where all the ships and objects, more or less, exist on a single plane on the Y axis.

In our missions, Slasher and I actively tried to make sure our characters would be aware they could go up, they could down, the could attack from any direction. (Camp Angle kinda defies this, but whatareyagonnado?)
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Re: BtA: Slaves of Chaos Discussion Thread
Camp Angel can't not defy that as you only have 2 entry points. Whichever 2 you select will only form 1 plane and all ships will have to come out and be on that plane. The only way to defy that would be to have 3 or more entry points but that would probably just be evil.

Though it doesn't defy it in the sense that putting your 10 cost defence stations "above" that plane is rather effective compared to only thinking inside of it.
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Offline pim

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Re: BtA: Slaves of Chaos Discussion Thread
Hi.
 Just finished your champaign. Well matured, well served. Creamy, with full and complex taste. First choice for each connoisseur:-).
 Last quick check of your western back yard if your harvest hasn't been contested by snails but what do I see there? How did dead ZOD get into your industrial waste cargo:-o ?

I really enjoyed playing. Both play wise and story wise it was wonderfully mixed and balanced. Each small detail was perfected and new features like system map reflecting recent events added to the story so much depth. I almost felt like beeing in Antares:-). Thanks.

 

Offline mjn.mixael

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Re: BtA: Slaves of Chaos Discussion Thread
I"m glad you liked it!

The uh... zod in the waste can exists around Antares Station somewhere. Find him during a campaign playthrough to unlock a bonus arcade mission. :)
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Offline pim

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Re: BtA: Slaves of Chaos Discussion Thread
Oh, really? I saw it just in
Spoiler:
How the West was lost near Midwinter station
and it didn't unlock anything I'd noticed. So there is somewhere else another one?