[Hyper Ion]

I'm currently on Mission 17 in the outline for a campaign I'm working on, but I have yet to fully introduce the infamous super destroyer of death that is iconic in almost every campaign (don't worry, it's on your side for once). I have yet to settle on an actual mission limit, but I'm shooting for high twenties, despite the difficulty in coming up with new ideas other than "Destroy this ship! Wait! Wrong target! Jump out and destroy that one!" (I have three endings in mind, if you must know). Although there are references to the ship as early as mission 10, I'm wondering if I'm bringing the ship in too late.

So then, to restate the question, how late do you think an iconic super destroyer should arrive? Please don't bring up the Hades example for when NOT to bring it in; I've been lurking long enough to figure THAT one out.

[Eviscerator]

Awwwww come on... be a rebel!

Design a campaign that does not incorporate a doomsday weapon, ship, bomb, beam, battle station, alien, and/or duck with a doomsday monkey wrench! 

just my opinion.

[Hyper Ion]

It's not like the ship is the only one. It's like the Yamato and her sister ship, the Musashi. Besides, the new ships only have impressive beam fire power and their original secret weapon isn't supposed to be much of a weapon anymore as it was retrofitted into its power source, hence the BFGreens. (Theoretically, it can still go doomsday on the enemy, but the targetting computers were never fine tuned)

[General Battuta]

Bring it in as early as possible - six or seven missions in, maybe? - but only allow the player glimpses of it. Save fighting alongside, or against it, for late in the campaign.

And mention it frequently. This builds up its presence.

[karajorma]

Bring it in during the parody campaign you make following the main one.

[Roanoke]

Give it a brief cameo at the start then leave it out for a while. It can then make a dramatic reappearance.

[NGTM-1R]

Superdestroyers of doom are for wimps. Or plot purposes. Under the right circumstances an Orion can make a pretty good superdestroyer of doom, too.

[Jeff Vader]

Hell, with some snappy table errors, even an Ulysses can be a Superdestroyer of Doom^TM.

Ok, bad one. But seriously. I share General Battuta's opinion on this matter. It is good to introduce it quite at the beginning, but only allowing the player to see it briefly and hear about it on certain occasions. In the end it's your choice but at least don't go Silent Threat on our asses.

[TopAce]

Superdestroyers of doom are for wimps. Or plot purposes. Under the right circumstances an Orion can make a pretty good superdestroyer of doom, too.

"Pilots, Terran Command has expressed its interest to send the GTD Galatea back to 1940 in order to prevent the Japanese to attack Pearl Harbor, and help Allied forces win the war even sooner. You objective is to escort the Galatea until it gets into the Gigantic Time Machine Portal."

[G0atmaster]

you forgot to trademark that one.

[karajorma]

you forgot to trademark that one.

Sorry but Kirk Douglas got there first.


As for the original question. The only sensible answer is "As late as plot demands." In general superdestroyer of doom campaigns tend to suffer from Battle of Endor syndrome to a certain degree. You sit there, not making a blindest bit of difference to the plotline.

If you've figured out a way to avoid that then you've probably got an idea when to introduce the destroyer too.

[Hyper Ion]

Well, I've managed to work in a way that shows the Unknown in-game in Mission 3, but it's going to be so dwarfed by that Whitehall installation that not a lot of people would notice. With the superdestroyer being owned by another government, it'll be difficult getting the player involved. Meh, I'll think of something.

[wdarkk]

you forgot to trademark that one.

Sorry but Kirk Douglas got there first.


As for the original question. The only sensible answer is "As late as plot demands." In general superdestroyer of doom campaigns tend to suffer from Battle of Endor syndrome to a certain degree. You sit there, not making a blindest bit of difference to the plotline.

If you've figured out a way to avoid that then you've probably got an idea when to introduce the destroyer too.

It seems like the most common/easiest method of solving that problem is "Alpha 1 will destroy the OMFGBEAMZ turrets before it tears apart the GTD Sitting Duck." In fact I haven't seen any other solution yet (then again, I haven't played every campaign yet).

[TrashMan]

It seems like the most common/easiest method of solving that problem is "Alpha 1 will destroy the OMFGBEAMZ turrets before it tears apart the GTD Sitting Duck." In fact I haven't seen any other solution yet (then again, I haven't played every campaign yet).

Then prepare to be amazed..

[Vidmaster]

Bring it in as early as possible - six or seven missions in, maybe? - but only allow the player glimpses of it. Save fighting alongside, or against it, for late in the campaign. And mention it frequently. This builds up its presence.

totally agree

[wdarkk]

It seems like the most common/easiest method of solving that problem is "Alpha 1 will destroy the OMFGBEAMZ turrets before it tears apart the GTD Sitting Duck." In fact I haven't seen any other solution yet (then again, I haven't played every campaign yet).

Then prepare to be amazed..

Would this be FOW CH1 or CH3? And what happened to CH2?

[Objekt]

I'd say a Super Destroyer of Death can arrive any time it wants to.

[Unknown Target]

Please don't bump old threads. It seems like this thread has long passed it's usefulness, so let's just let it die again. I won't lock it in case someone for some odd rason has something useful to add.