Author Topic: BtA: Slaves of Chaos Discussion Thread  (Read 46365 times)

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Offline mjn.mixael

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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?

Wow, Slasher snuck one in that mission and I never noticed! The not unlocking is definitely a bug and I can see why. It'll be fixed in the next patch. But yes, he and his 2 friends exist in missions that take place at Antares Station.
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Offline pim

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Re: BtA: Slaves of Chaos Discussion Thread
Such an unhappy companion. Peace for their souls...

 

Offline HLD_Prophecy

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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?)

Uh yeah, that's what I meant. Sorry, I was thinking Descent. :P

 
Re: BtA: Slaves of Chaos Discussion Thread
Finally finished this campaign!  I really liked all of the attention to detail.  I especially liked that you gave the Aldebaran star system so much depth.  It's the first time I've played a campaign (outside of those that focused on Sol) where star systems actually seem like proper systems with multiple planets and colonies and internal politics of their own rather than just monolithic bodies.  The consequences of the Great War and the T-V war seemed a lot more realized on a visceral nuts and bolts level rather than just as abstract political games played by the two cultures' political elite.

The overall story itself did not particularly grab me in and of itself (I am much more fascinated by stories about the Shivans), but the day-to-day tragedies, the hurt, frustration, and anger from the civilian population, the refugee camps... all that hits kind of close to home, doesn't it?  The details, the op-eds, the system map, the background chatter, the debris fields in the background, the utter impossibility of trying to protect a civilian population that large with resources that small... in the end, that's what drew me in more than anything else.

Well written, and very well executed.  My hat's off to you, sirs!
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Offline CT27

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Re: BtA: Slaves of Chaos Discussion Thread
If there is a sequel someday it will be interesting to see how we go from where things are at the ending to the GTVA.

 

Offline starlord

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Re: BtA: Slaves of Chaos Discussion Thread
Actually isn't BTA supposed to be a 3 part story, with SOC being number one?

 

Offline Thisisaverylongusername

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Re: BtA: Slaves of Chaos Discussion Thread
One small nitpick:
In Operation Templar, the Subach HL-7 was unavailable, yet it's available here. Had it not reached mass production by the time Operation Templar was conducted?
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Re: BtA: Slaves of Chaos Discussion Thread
Just finished playing, just chipping in to say: terrific work, guys! Great idea to build a story around the Terran blocs during the Reconstruction - it is a very underused piece of Freespace lore, despite offering so many possibilities. Interesting (risky?) choice to tie it up with the HoL this way - but the story really pulled it off, didn't need to suspend disbelief for a bit :) Even while at work, I found myself thinking of the campaign and how it would continue. The Newsroom was a great addition - it really helps to set the scene and background of what is happening, it's a really good way to communicate the events unfolding around the story. The System Map I found somewhat less useful, but it's a beautiful piece of scripting nonetheless.

Gameplay-wise, you really brought FS combat into 2016; instead of the classic "protect the ship" or "take out the beams" objectives, almost every mission offered something novel and interesting, and always perfected and balanced to very high standards. Good balance between fast-paced and 'suspense' scenarios too - it never got boring, and I really like how it heats up towards the climax. Even though I had to replay some missions 5+ times (being the terrible pilot that I am), I never once was tempted to skip a mission. I also loved the little touches ("Pilot, watch Cancer wing, they're getting too close") that really make a mission feel interactive, even if you stray from the set up mission path - it shows how much thought and testing has gone into all this.

Again: splendid work guys, I've had a really good time playing!  Here's hoping for a sequel :D

 
Re: BtA: Slaves of Chaos Discussion Thread
Hi! I've just finished playing Mephistoles* and I have started with Slaves of Chaos. I thus far have one little issue: I have a 1440P screen, and possibly as a result the text size of the fiction viewer/newsroom is very small! The briefing texts are fine, but the newsroom is a bit hard on the eyes.

*) Mephistoles was quite a lot of fun! I love what you did with the campaign, the very unusual mission design did a great job at breaking the usual pace of FS2. I did expect a little bit of a consequence for just shooting down the fighters at the debris field rather then doing what they asked of me, but that's the only tidbit I have and I could just have completely missed the consequences for pissing of a crime lord...

... Unless that stuff carries over into Slaves of Chaos somehow.

 

Offline Luis Dias

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Re: BtA: Slaves of Chaos Discussion Thread
Started Slaves of Chaos... I have to see if I did something wrong. Some texts overlap, and I'm pretty sure I am not playing it at 1920x1080 for some obscurious reason. (e: to be clear here: I'm 100% sure the wrongness is on my end, I paid little attention before jumping to the game)

Nevertheless, first mission was quite tight - there are obvious game mechanics whose job is to have you on a tight leash so you don't do anything other than listening or watching the visual goodies that you took so good care of ;), while placing you exactly where you should be before actual action starts off.

The backstory seems a bit hamfisted and stuffed into pilot chatter - I'm having trouble believing that all of this rehashing of what is going on politically would be revealed to you as a pilot only when you'd be up there on your ship, by your squadmates no less, but that's an ongoing problem of storytelling in freespace mechanics - but it is solid backstory. It has structure and meat, it feels like something that makes me interested in figuring out more of.

I enjoyed especially the tension you created between the Alliance and local governance, that not only makes the story interesting, it made gameplay interesting. Should I shoot those incoming wings or not? They are attacking but Command is telling me to wait. That tension is great. I ended up using the same mechanic as with the freighter - shooting in front of them so that they'd back off from whatever they were shooting at, but not directly at them, at least until I was given an order to do so. I liked that detail wherein Command gave the green light anyway. It's tension through bureaucratic shenanigans, endangering lives through lapses of time while these idiots are busy deciding whether if we should do our jobs or not. It also feels like something very topical...

And, as obvious, the production quality is just over the top. I'm enjoying it! I'll let you know my thoughts after playing mission 2 (which may well be just the next week, I'm sorry ;)).

 

Offline Novachen

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Re: BtA: Slaves of Chaos Discussion Thread
Because i am translating this campaign into german and translate the first act of this, so the first five missions.

I am asking, what happend to the three Bonus missions, you can unlock after you have find (nearly) all Snails? They have a loading screen, there are scripts for this missions, but actually there is no mission file :lol:

Were they forgotten? Was this idea scrapped and this files are only leftovers or are they planned only for a later update?


The last mission of this act, was the best one so far. Simply because of the multiple-choice communication after you reached the HoL base :).

Actually i think it would be better maybe if the missions have the active "Mission Ends to Mainhall"-flag, because there are changes on the System Map in every mission, you would miss otherwise. Also after nearly every mission there is a new entry in the News Room anyway.
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Offline mjn.mixael

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Re: BtA: Slaves of Chaos Discussion Thread
The bonus mission files are hidden. :) They are there, though.

You should also be able to access the System Viewer and the Newsroom from either briefing screen, iirc.
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Offline General Battuta

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Re: BtA: Slaves of Chaos Discussion Thread
The bonus mission files are hidden. :)

That's dope af

 

Offline Novachen

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Re: BtA: Slaves of Chaos Discussion Thread
The bonus mission files are hidden. :) They are there, though.

But not in the mission folder in the VP... so, there are spawing out of the scripts or they are so well hidden, that even the VP knows nothing about them. :)

Quote
You should also be able to access the System Viewer and the Newsroom from either briefing screen, iirc.

Oh, okay... i have to admit that i play the missions for spelling-testing reasons primarily in the mission simulator currently. So i was not aware of that until know. Good to know. Then that would be a different story. Sorry about that.
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Offline mjn.mixael

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Re: BtA: Slaves of Chaos Discussion Thread
The options to view the System Viewer and Newsroom only appear in the briefing room while playing from the Ready Room.
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Offline AdmiralRalwood

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Re: BtA: Slaves of Chaos Discussion Thread
The bonus mission files are hidden. :) They are there, though.

But not in the mission folder in the VP... so, there are spawing out of the scripts or they are so well hidden, that even the VP knows nothing about them. :)
Well, they wouldn't be very hidden if you could just open up the .VP and look at them, would they?
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Offline niffiwan

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Re: BtA: Slaves of Chaos Discussion Thread
The bonus mission files are hidden. :) They are there, though.

But not in the mission folder in the VP... so, there are spawing out of the scripts or they are so well hidden, that even the VP knows nothing about them. :)
Well, they wouldn't be very hidden if you could just open up the .VP and look at them, would they?

You've certainly aroused my curiosity as to how & where they have been hidden :)
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Offline Novachen

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Re: BtA: Slaves of Chaos Discussion Thread
The bonus mission files are hidden. :) They are there, though.

But not in the mission folder in the VP... so, there are spawing out of the scripts or they are so well hidden, that even the VP knows nothing about them. :)
Well, they wouldn't be very hidden if you could just open up the .VP and look at them, would they?

Actually... yes. For the normal user.

But i am not a normal user, because i have to translate even the most hidden missions if i want to release a translated version of this campaign  :nervous:
Female FreeSpace 2 pilot since 1999.
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Offline General Battuta

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Re: BtA: Slaves of Chaos Discussion Thread
I'm installing this **** RIGHT NOW, get ready for a full page of double druple quintuple posts.

 

Offline General Battuta

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Re: BtA: Slaves of Chaos Discussion Thread
U got some placeholder tech descriptions on the Exos, Acheron, Aurland, Nareos, and Neta. I am of course reading all the words first!

I thought the first mission of Mephistophele was quite pleasant on insane - reasonable loadout, no ****ty gotchas. The drones were maybe a weeee bit slow for a 'press butan to destroy' option, and I was sad I never actually got to see them work. The Apollos were also dumb as rocks, but hey.

I (of course) loved the CB for the second mission: thought it was the strongest writing so far. It sold me on the broader authorities and on the looming menace about to drop on our heads. These kinds of 'found document' styles really work for me.

I really like the Mako's defensive weapons!

Nice intro. The difficulty curve was pleasantly smooth. These missions remind of the derelict/sync days, in a good way.