[SL1]

So just so I know, can anyone tell me if I'm the only one with this problem?

Also, the arrows that tell you what weapons you have selected - and whether your secondaries are in single-fire or double-fire mode - seem to be missing for some reason.

It's turning out to be an even bigger annoyance than I thought, and I'd at least like to know if it's normal for this campaign or if something in my setup is causing it. I'd also greatly appreciate if someone could tell me how to make the HUD font bigger. I figured out a way to make the message gauge font more readable, but no luck so far on the rest of the HUD.

[Mito [PL]]

@CT27:

Giving the player a miracle weapon when the mission is too hard to pass normally is an option, but you could as well not have the missions be that hard in the first place. This calls for a large rebalance, that's it.

[Nightmare]

I think adding a weapon isn't a big deal compared to rebalancing a mission, or in this case 37 IIRC.

[Mito [PL]]

Having the player rely on a crutch weapon all the time in order to progress in the game is a... cheap and boring move. Having actually balanced missions is - should be - the goal for mission designers. That is, unless you want to have some of the power fantasy as seen in AF1, using overpowered weapons every once in a while is sweet.

[CT27]

I talked with Herkie on FB about the overall difficulty of TBG and this was his response (he gave me permission in the past to say here what he says in FB PMs):

"I wonder why its difficult in your end when it is easy here. I even played hard. And the fact that I had tone down the difficulty factor in the AI profile.  That may be attributed to the FSO build. Remember, I said that FSO 374 has better AI than 372. That could be it. Have you tried using 372 so that you can see what I really intended. I cannot really balance it unless I am using your FSO build and, for some reason, the new FSO 19 and Knossos does not work for me. Partly because Knossos is dependent on the internet and my PC is isolated and offline."

[Urbana]

Ok i have been playing and uploading to Youtube but am currently stalled as im stuck on missions that would require the cheats to get past. Not sure if i can discuss here as i dont want to spoil anything here

[Bossman]

I never really thought I was particularly good at Fs2 -- just a normie who enjoys playing and a writer who desperately wants to help out with more mission writing. But hearing everyone's complaints about how impossible everything is, I've gotta say I'm super proud of myself for getting up to Solar Eclipse Part 2 all on my own (besides the mission with the debug message, which i assume is objectively broken.) Early on, i was annoyed, but due to quarantine, actually had some fun re-doing the missions until I could get that random trick just right.

But Solar Eclipse 2, as far as I've seen, is absolutely impossible. My wingmen just aren't aggressive enough to achieve any individual objective on their own, so I'm afraid this is where the road ends for me.

I also wanna add, like everyone else, the "horny" line is so, so bad in that moment. I've never cringed so hard during a campaign over the years, and as y'all know, theres been a lot of hilariously bad campaign moments over the years.

THAT SAID! The makers of this clearly are very talented, and I congratulate them on the accomplishment -- for real, I really did enjoy the hours and hours of fun I got out of this, and it brightened up my days for sure. Thank you so much for this!

I suppose my broader feedback is, this needed more testing. I'd love if this could be a campaign where it is reasonably possible to complete the average mission on the first try on Medium, or even on Very Easy, for that matter.

[neoterran]

Hey I just played this and I haven't gotten very far in yet but so far I'm having a blast. This is a really cool campaign, thanks for putting it together ! It's up there with my favorites so far

I can see some others have some philosophical issues but I just gotta say it's nice to be playing with fighters and weapons that can kick some shivan butt . So sick of firing off hornets and never having them hit so it's a nice change of pace :0

I've played a lot of mods over the years, some better, some worse. Some people love, and some people love to hate. Pretty much all of them have some problems. I think the attention to detail you did was great.

Cool thing is that at least it's out I hope you continue to work on it and improve it

[herkie423]

I am finished with my tweaking and testing with TBG. While there is very little change in the missions and no change with regards to hit points, things are easier now (at least on my end, send me feed back if it is still difficult and I will tweak some more.)

The trick was adjusting the difficulty factors in the AI table. Damage factor, shield recharge factor, and others but most importantly, the number of fighters allowed to attack the player and the number of turrets allowed to target the player. So only 2 hostile attackers will harass you at any given time and 3 turrets (I think it is 2) will target you. I am not sure if newer FSO will implement this, I hope it does.

In general, you will mostly survive. Attacking an Anubis or Hathor with their long range flaks will not be a deadly proposition. Flaks have little effect in your shields now just like in AF.  Your damage factor to hostiles are increased and damage received reduced. It will feel almost like AF now. I say "almost" because there is still the difficulty of finding the correct strategy and vasudan fighters will take a little bit more time to kill, just a bit, since they are a agile.

By the way, the speeds of Shivan Cap ships are still fast. And so as the Terran and Vasudan Cap ships. But you only notice this in the second and third mission and the last mission of Act 1. Everything after that are controlled by cap ship way point speed SEXP, at most 70 and one or two instances, 90 if I need a ship to go from one place to another without taking too much time. This was done in PS1's Colony Wars. I hope this is still forgivable.

[herkie423]

I honestly say with regards to FS canons and tradition, it is true that The Aftermath universe picks up from FS2 but AF was a step drifting away from FS (I mention that in "Words From The Author" text file that came with the release and previous update). TBG, on the other hand, is a complete separation from the FS Canon.

By the way, the Shivans were not defeated and can never be defeated. You will learn this at the end of the campaign.

[herkie423]

For those who have trouble with the Num Pad option, only usable up to 4, read the Read Me file. You will find important instructions there in setting your controls.

Also this mod must be played with1366x768 resolution. There will be HUD indicators that will not display correctly if played in different or higher resolutions. This is also in the Read Me file.

[herkie423]

And lastly, forgive me for taking too long.

I did all the technical job of both mods all by myself. Solo. Until now.

[CT27]

We're all glad you're recovering Herkie.   Good to see you around.


A number of people have played that mission (Long Shot pt. 1) and found 5 and 6 broken.  I know technically there's a workaround, but that's not going to be obvious for most people.  They'll just think the mission's broken (though it's still beatable).

I would suggest just taking out cannons 5 and 6 and then doing one of two things:

1-Keep the same amount of bad guys (however this would require increasing the range/damage/refire rate of the remaining four cannons to compensate).
2-Lessen the number of bad guys by one-third to match the one-third reduction in cannons.

[herkie423]

We're all glad you're recovering Herkie.   Good to see you around.


A number of people have played that mission (Long Shot pt. 1) and found 5 and 6 broken.  I know technically there's a workaround, but that's not going to be obvious for most people.  They'll just think the mission's broken (though it's still beatable).

I would suggest just taking out cannons 5 and 6 and then doing one of two things:

1-Keep the same amount of bad guys (however this would require increasing the range/damage/refire rate of the remaining four cannons to compensate).
2-Lessen the number of bad guys by one-third to match the one-third reduction in cannons.

It is not broken. You have not assigned the Controls for Num 5 to 6. It's in the Read Me file. You should set it because there are mission that option up to Num 7.

Plus, it will be difficult to have only 4 Atlas cannons which originally did but difficult to beat. So I added 2 more.

EDIT: And it is also better to leave cannon 5 and 6 there. They can still fire even if you cannot control them.

[herkie423]

ONE QUESTION:

Did the text files, Words From The Author (for AF) and Read Me, came with the Knossos installation? People should read it before playing.

[herkie423]

With the mission Solar Eclipse part 2 I will reduce the number hostiles in the initial wave especially the attacking bombers and slightly increase the hit points of the portal and station.

I haven't realised that it is a red alert mission. You may have expended your missiles in part 1.

[herkie423]

I just wish that someone can post a video of an actual mission so that I will know how it looks like on your end.

[Nightmare]

ONE QUESTION:

Did the text files, Words From The Author (for AF) and Read Me, came with the Knossos installation? People should read it before playing.

Even if it did it probably ended up in Knossos folder, meaning most likely nobody who just installs it and hits play will see it.

[herkie423]

Yeah... Well I just have to post it here.

EDIT: I think I have to insert a command briefing at the very start of the campaign to give these very important instructions.

[herkie423]

VERY IMPORTANT:

You must set the Key Bindings for the following controls according to the reference below. These controls are used in some missions for in-game choices or options. You can set this in the "Options" screen in the game.

       FUNCTION         DEFAULT KEY   ASSIGNED TO

   (Multiplayer)Message All      1 ------------>   Num Pad 1
   (Multiplayer)Message Friendly      2 ------------>   Num Pad 2
   (Multiplayer)Message Hostile      3 ------------>   Num Pad 3
   (Multiplayer)Message Target      4 ------------>   Num Pad 4
   (Multiplayer)Observer Zoom to Target   Alt-X -------->   Num Pad 5
         |
   (Multiplayer)Toggle Network Info   Shift-N   ------>   Num Pad 6
   (Multiplayer)Self Destruct      Shift-End ---->   Num Pad 7

The mod has to be set in 1366 x 768 resolution ONLY as there are HUD indicators that will not appear right if set to other resolutions. But you can set it if you prefer otherwise. There are only 2 missions that requires this resolution.