Poll

What did you think about BPC difficulty

Consistently too easy
1 (1.3%)
Consistently too hard
5 (6.4%)
Generally balanced
36 (46.2%)
Some missions were too hard(post which)
34 (43.6%)
Some missions which were supposed to be hard were too easy(post which)
2 (2.6%)

Total Members Voted: 78

Author Topic: Thoughts on Blue Planet Complete difficulty [POLL]  (Read 30400 times)

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Offline General Battuta

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Re: Thoughts on Blue Planet Complete difficulty [POLL]
Correct. There are no stats or telemetry, I'm just going off mission feel.

 
Re: Thoughts on Blue Planet Complete difficulty [POLL]
UEF Interceptors feel like they're made of tissue paper and shielded with hopes and dreams. While this is somewhat expected for an interceptor, I've always felt a lot tougher in a Perseus every single time I've flown one compared to the Kentauroi

This is in large part because the Kent's target profile is absolutely massive next to the Perseus, which is about the size of a Dragon.
The good Christian should beware of mathematicians, and all those who make empty prophecies. The danger already exists that the mathematicians have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and to confine man in the bonds of Hell.

 
Re: Thoughts on Blue Planet Complete difficulty [POLL]
This is in large part because the Kent's target profile is absolutely massive next to the Perseus, which is about the size of a Dragon.

Well that explains it then -- definitely highlights how important ship dimensions are in this game! I guess the only real answer would be to boost its armor or shield strength to compensate, but you don't want to give it too much armor since its design doesn't make it look like a heavily-armored beef machine. Unless you handwave it away with carbon nanotube filaments in the armor, or something. Tougher shields would be welcome, though.

 

Offline General Battuta

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Re: Thoughts on Blue Planet Complete difficulty [POLL]
It's fast as **** though.

 
Re: Thoughts on Blue Planet Complete difficulty [POLL]
Speed and reverse thrust are nice features, but I haven't had much luck exploiting them when the enemy sports weapons which have a high ROF (Balor) and thus can lay down enough fire to be difficult to dodge, or the cruisers' AAA beams just blast you right in the face no matter how fast you're going. :(

 
Re: Thoughts on Blue Planet Complete difficulty [POLL]
I mean, I could just suck. I haven't ever played FS2 retail on Insane, and don't know if I could hack it. And retail campaigns are almost universally easier than good mods that come out later, because the mods are built by vets who want a challenge that the retail game just can't deliver anymore. So playing on a lower difficulty than usual is perfectly acceptable to me.

I just am surprised by how huge of a difference it's been from the previous mission to this one. I didn't even have that much difficulty fighting the Nyx wing (and found it really enjoyable) in the mission where you try out the Kent for the first time, even with the weapon lockup stuff.

That and there aren't as many ships / weapons for me to try out lots of combinations and approaches, so I'm scratching my head trying to figure out what I should be doing differently.

 
Re: Thoughts on Blue Planet Complete difficulty [POLL]
Well, the difficulty of this mission has leaped compared to previous releases. It used to be one of the easier ones in fact. The Paveway isn't invulnerable anymore, then there's the whole jamming business... And I feel like the new Hyperions are more dangerous (better profile/turret placement maybe ?).

I think the reason the scalpel feels weaker against subsystems is that it is no longer a specialist weapon, it got retooled to be usable in dogfights as well. Also, I think turrets in WiH are generally tougher compared to retail (could be wrong, though).

As others have mentionned, the Kent isn't so much fragile as it is massive. Its greatest asset is its massive speed and afterburner reserve, which makes it great for interception or hit and run attacks. Hit and run is in fact probably the best way to use the paveway in this mission : don't shoot anyone until you get a lock, then afterburn to fire the thing point blank - as if you were firing a bomb, then run like hell. The Kent's a great ship, but it's not meant for up close dogfighting, it's more of a stand off fighter.

Reverse AB is absolutely awesome in dogfights with big fighters like the Kent or Uriel, it really adds a lot of mobility, but it takes a while to get the hang of it.

Speaking of the Uriel, for all intents and purposes, gunships are the Federation's heavy fighters. As for why you can't fly one here ? Errm, not really sure there, maybe Laporte isn't allowed to fly one, and giving one to the player would make the mission too easy or something (are there any gunships on the other wings ?).

 
Re: Thoughts on Blue Planet Complete difficulty [POLL]
I completed The Plunder on insane after about 10 tries, and I thought it was one of the easier WiH missions for some reason.

I haven't played it since the update so I may have forgotten some things, but here was my approach:  Ignore the Siren completely because the Uriels are able to reliably take out two beams.  Devote your full attention to disarming the Hyperions with Paveway spam.  Do not try to conserve ammo, just make sure the target is dead.  Forward beams first, then all the point defenses along one side.  Keep your wingmen on a tight leash so they can contribute to Paveway volleys from the right angle and so they don't wander into the killing fields.  If an enemy fighter even glances in your direction cry for help and run back to the frigates, jinking like mad and not even attempting to fight back.  You'll probably have to restock Paveways several times.  After the Hyperion fire pocket is thinned out, everything else becomes easier and you can begin hunting fighters.  Hopefully that helps!

The Kent can be very frustrating to use in this type of fight.  You have to abuse your top speed to survive.  I probably spent half of the mission running away from something.

 
Re: Thoughts on Blue Planet Complete difficulty [POLL]
Good advice, thanks guys!

And yeah, Gamma wing has Uriels, though you can't swap with them (sadly :p). I can buy the argument that the Uriel is the UEF heavy assault fighter, but to me the Uriel feels much more like an upgunned Ares given it has the Gattler and Archer, firepower I'd never expect to see in a Herc.

I'll try ignoring the Siren and going for the Hyperions. Oddly, though, I can only give orders to Gamma wing in this mission, but I can probably just order one of each to take out a specific beam cannon and then focus on the dirty cruiser work.

[Edit] OK wow, one Gamma per beam cannon is a tremendous improvement so far. Siren gets defanged within a couple of minutes while I focus on the cruisers' main beams. I've still gotten plastered the few times I've made an attempt, but doing better than before!
« Last Edit: August 02, 2016, 03:25:55 pm by Buff Skeleton »

 
Re: Thoughts on Blue Planet Complete difficulty [POLL]
the Ares is a heavy assault fighter too though

e: oh technically it's strategic assault but if the ares is strategic then the uriel is downright logistic

(fs2 has too many ****ing heavy assault fighters)
The good Christian should beware of mathematicians, and all those who make empty prophecies. The danger already exists that the mathematicians have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and to confine man in the bonds of Hell.

 

Offline General Battuta

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Re: Thoughts on Blue Planet Complete difficulty [POLL]
In the last (currently broken but soon to be fixed!) patch I snuck in a stealth buff to all GTVA bombers and UEF gunships. GTVA bombers regen shields more rapidly. UEF gunships regen guns more rapidly. Total energies have not changed.

 
Re: Thoughts on Blue Planet Complete difficulty [POLL]
God, I am still getting my ass kicked left and right in this mission. Taking out the Siren's beams goes well, but then everything else goes to **** as soon as I try to take out the cruisers' beams or weapons subsystems or engines or anything like that. It feels like they each have more turrets than an Orion what with all the pulse lasers going off everywhere. Then every single interceptor ever gets me in their sights as soon as I start making progress.

I actually did manage to get to the stage where the Agincourt was being boarded, and then I died to the goddamn fighters that launched :banghead:

If all else fails, though, I can always count on one of my friendly frigates to go down, even if I take out every single turret I can. Crazy,
« Last Edit: August 02, 2016, 04:23:35 pm by Buff Skeleton »

 

Offline General Battuta

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Re: Thoughts on Blue Planet Complete difficulty [POLL]
God, I am still getting my ass kicked left and right in this mission. Taking out the Siren's beams goes well, but then everything else goes to **** as soon as I try to take out the cruisers' beams or weapons subsystems or engines or anything like that. It feels like they each have more turrets than an Orion what with all the pulse lasers going off everywhere. Then every single interceptor ever gets me in their sights as soon as I start making progress.

I actually did manage to get to the stage where the Agincourt was being boarded, and then I died to the goddamn fighters that launched :banghead:

Oof! That's bad luck. The opening is the hard part so once you're through that you should be okay.

(I think I added a skip to bring you right to the action — I should do that for Post Meridian too, if I didn't already...)

 
Re: Thoughts on Blue Planet Complete difficulty [POLL]
HOLY GOD DAMN, FINALLY

Managed to keep the Yangtze alive with 9 hull and the Indus with about 20, took out the escape pods and wingmates splashed the fighters. That was one of the tensest Freespace moments in a long time.

I ended up not trying to take out the main beams at first, and instead focused on destroying each cruiser's Weapons subsystem. This doesn't stop their main beams from firing (like it should IMO), but it slows down the turrets in FS2 retail so I figured it might help here. It seems like it did, which I think is what gave my frigates a chance to survive the endless onslaught of lasers. My wingmates / frigates took out the Siren's Weapons subsystem as well. Felt like this made it a lot easier to hunt down individual turrets that were busy hammering my ships.

Those Hyperion cruisers are tougher nuts to crack than a damn Aeolus! Seriously dangerous from their weaponry and most of all, their shape. They can focus so much firepower in so many different directions. Really good design, albeit not so much for the offender :)

I definitely think this mission needs some help, though, and many of my opinions are unchanged. Also, that I have to specifically order Gamma 1 to take out Cannon 1, Gamma 2 for Cannon 2, etc. on the Siren is kinda annoying -- would be better if those gunships started with those orders. If they do, then I think something goes wrong ingame, because if I don't issue the orders myself, those turrets take a lot longer to go down and can get a couple of shots off. How quickly the Siren's beams go down makes or breaks your entire attack.

Now I'm wondering how I managed to beat this the first time, WOW. It must have been on the lowest difficulty!

 

Offline General Battuta

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Re: Thoughts on Blue Planet Complete difficulty [POLL]
IIRC it's Simms' wing that starts out with orders to hit the beams.

 

Offline Mito [PL]

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Re: Thoughts on Blue Planet Complete difficulty [POLL]
A question.
How do you guys take out that Hyperion cruiser in the Dreamscape training before One Future? (Totally not mentioning the fact that it jumps in when you still have to splash half of the remaining fighters)
My method is to glide a circle around it while trying to snipe its beams and using repair all the time - gliding sideways really helps here to reduce beam damage a lot. And when the beams are dead, I just come close enough for my brute-force primaries to be in range. But it tends to take a lot of time, so maybe someone could share their ideas? Approaching this thing closer than 2 clicks is an immediate death sentence...
How do you kill a hydra?

You starve it to death.

 
Re: Thoughts on Blue Planet Complete difficulty [POLL]
IIRC it's Simms' wing that starts out with orders to hit the beams.
Their ability to carry out those orders is rather variable though. Sometimes, their first wave of paveway's gonna hit and take two of the beams out, other times they're not gonna do jack to the beams and the it's mostly up to you to take them out, which usually attracts hostile fighters.

 
Re: Thoughts on Blue Planet Complete difficulty [POLL]
I've played The Plunder a bit and the big problem, as far as I'm concerned, is still that the antifighter weapons on the Siren and cruisers can kill you within about a second of focusing fire, which makes it very tricky to do anything interesting or useful.
The good Christian should beware of mathematicians, and all those who make empty prophecies. The danger already exists that the mathematicians have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and to confine man in the bonds of Hell.

 
Re: Thoughts on Blue Planet Complete difficulty [POLL]
It's definitely substantially harder than when I played it before. Paveways are effectively useless against anything other than the Siren's main beams; they get shot down as soon as they clear your missile tubes (this was an issue before, though; it's just exacerbated by the generally increased difficulty). Consequently the only way to hit the comms systems is to fling Gamma at them or to go in for a suicide attack with Scalpels.
« Last Edit: August 03, 2016, 09:24:30 am by Phantom Hoover »
The good Christian should beware of mathematicians, and all those who make empty prophecies. The danger already exists that the mathematicians have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and to confine man in the bonds of Hell.

 
Re: Thoughts on Blue Planet Complete difficulty [POLL]
Gamma also almost never manage to take out the comms systems at all, let alone in a timely fashion. This leaves the player with almost no agency in the critical warship battle. I had a fairly good run where the frigates managed to take a cruiser out very quickly, but that was complete luck that I had no control over. I then died trying to destroy a comms system.
« Last Edit: August 03, 2016, 09:54:37 am by Phantom Hoover »
The good Christian should beware of mathematicians, and all those who make empty prophecies. The danger already exists that the mathematicians have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and to confine man in the bonds of Hell.