Author Topic: FreeSpace Blue: FreeSpace 2 as it should've been.  (Read 102141 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Re: FreeSpace Blue: FreeSpace 2 as it should've been.
The stats are absolutely the problem in the sense that it would make more sense to boost the Prometheus damage rather than change the command briefing to say "It's kind of beside the point now that we have the Avenger, but our scientists invented this!"

Swap The avenger and Prometheus stats?

 
Re: FreeSpace Blue: FreeSpace 2 as it should've been.
If anything like this is ever done(and it would require a lot more polish and rebalancing than FS2) swapping the Prom and Avenger stats definitely isn't the way to do it. Almost all FS1 primaries and even missiles do pitiful shield damage which leads to dogfights dragging on without the player being in any danger. The prom could probably use a big damage buff at the cost of fire rate, make it what the promS is in Fs2, the big alpha weapon. Maybe increase the range to match the Avenger as well.
The Avenger could also be slightly buffed to do a bit more shield damage at the cost of some hull damage, bringing it close to the DPS of the buffed prom without making either the obviously "best choice".

The problem is that the Avenger and Prometheus are very similar in what they do and the Avenger does it slightly better, giving you no reason to take the Prometheus.
[19:31] <MatthTheGeek> you all high up on your mointain looking down at everyone who doesn't beam everything on insane blindfolded

 

Offline Goober5000

  • HLP Loremaster
  • 214
    • Goober5000 Productions
Re: FreeSpace Blue: FreeSpace 2 as it should've been.
The fsport team has not generally followed that ideal, radical change isn't something the fsport team really like to do.
If that were true, the Typhon and at least one other ship wouldn't have been given check hull flags on its turrets, they're perfectly willing to bend gameplay when they want to

The "check hull" flag can be found on the Typhon, the Typhon Hulk (which is probably a mistake), and the Ankh, but only in the FSPort MediaVPs.

And regardless, I would hardly call the "check hull" flag a "radical change", which was Mars's point.  The flag was introduced as a way to avoid certain model problems that were present in mediaVP models but not present in the original retail models.  (Come to think of it, updates to the collision code in recent years may mean the flag is no longer required.  This bears reinvestigation.)

 

Offline General Battuta

  • Poe's Law In Action
  • 214
  • i wonder when my postcount will exceed my iq
Re: FreeSpace Blue: FreeSpace 2 as it should've been.
How's the TAG balance in the latest iteration?

 

Offline Trivial Psychic

  • 212
  • Snoop Junkie
Re: FreeSpace Blue: FreeSpace 2 as it should've been.
I recently completed FSB for the first time.  I believe that I hadn't updated to the very latest iteration, as I got a lot of in-game warning messages regarding missing weapons, which I believe were the Piranha#bomber.  I expect that if I were to replay these missions with the latest iteration, these messages would disappear.

Anyway, on to the awesome.  Love the new Kayser and Prom-S.  The beam-spam in High Noon when you hit a ship with a TAG is overwhelmingly AWESOME! :yes:

There is one thing that I am surprised that you haven't appeared to have changed, is the rogue transports in Into The Maelstrom.  By the Colossus' message, I would expect that these ships were intended to arrive just after it sends its I-Am-Here message.  Unfortunately, their initial orders are to dock with the 2 gas miners, and then the Colly.  Unfortunately, due to the imprecision of waypoint following, these ships never actually reach the end of their waypoints and sit there spinning around a spot they can never seem to get to.  I decided to make an altered version of the mission, having those transports arrive when prompted, having the convoy clear their orders when they get within 25m of their waypoint.  I also moved their destination waypoint closer to the jumpnode so they get less battered by rocks.  I also gave the two transports different dockpoints on the Colossus to go for.  The default mission orders has them going for the same dockpoint.

I'm also disappointed by the limiting ammo capacity for the Maxim.  :ick:
The Trivial Psychic Strikes Again!

 
Re: FreeSpace Blue: FreeSpace 2 as it should've been.
Overall, Blue is fantastic. But a few polish things to perhaps take a look at.

I still have difficulty getting the Aquitane to destroy either Shivan corvettes in both evac from nebula missions. It would be nice if these missions were slightly modified so that destruction of these ships is at least possible. Such as allowing Alpha wing to fly bombers. And yes, this was on Medium difficulty. Each corvette always survives with around 15% health left.


During Apocalypse, the dragons are a nightmare if you pick a slower craft, and since it's a red alert mission. Yeah, it's not great. My usual strategy of using the Lemnos as a fire base didn't work until I picked a Eyrinres and trebbed the Rakshasha before it did too much damage.

It would also be nice to select the Pegasus again, I love that fighter, and you never get to use it after that one mission where Bosch runs the blockade.
« Last Edit: June 06, 2016, 05:38:37 pm by manwiththemachinegun »

 

Offline General Battuta

  • Poe's Law In Action
  • 214
  • i wonder when my postcount will exceed my iq
Re: FreeSpace Blue: FreeSpace 2 as it should've been.
Overall, Blue is fantastic. But a few polish things to perhaps take a look at.

I still have difficulty getting the Aquitane to destroy either Shivan corvettes in both evac from nebula missions. It would be nice if these missions were slightly modified so that destruction of these ships is at least possible. Such as allowing Alpha wing to fly bombers. And yes, this was on Medium difficulty. Each corvette always survives with around 15% health left.

Did you try TAGging them?
« Last Edit: June 06, 2016, 08:28:28 pm by General Battuta »

 

Offline Trivial Psychic

  • 212
  • Snoop Junkie
Re: FreeSpace Blue: FreeSpace 2 as it should've been.
In regards to the second Moloch... I always load-out with one bank of Trebs so I can take it out by myself.

BTW, Battuta, your end quote tag turned out to be an end QUITE tag, so your own reply ended up within the quote brackets.
The Trivial Psychic Strikes Again!

 

Offline deathspeed

  • 29
  • i can't think of a good avatar
    • Steam
Re: FreeSpace Blue: FreeSpace 2 as it should've been.
How's the TAG balance in the latest iteration?

"A Game of TAG" was actually fun this time through, and i even purposely selected TAG missiles in later loadouts.
Maybe someday God will give you a little pink toaster of your own.

 
Re: FreeSpace Blue: FreeSpace 2 as it should've been.
Overall, Blue is fantastic. But a few polish things to perhaps take a look at.

I still have difficulty getting the Aquitane to destroy either Shivan corvettes in both evac from nebula missions. It would be nice if these missions were slightly modified so that destruction of these ships is at least possible. Such as allowing Alpha wing to fly bombers. And yes, this was on Medium difficulty. Each corvette always survives with around 15% health left.

Did you try TAGging them?

Nope, I'll give that a try. The results were pretty spectacular in High Noon!

I'll also come in favor of, "fire all batteries" at once does look really cool.

 
Re: FreeSpace Blue: FreeSpace 2 as it should've been.
I think I found an easter egg. The briefing animations are now much more high-rez than retail FS2's, and the text is now readable. In the first mission, we get to read some of Bosch's crimes:

- No permit for lemonade stand
- Withholding logs from The E
- Attempted takeover of HLP
- Stockpiling Bosch Beer
- Getting Goober drunk

I cannot help but wonder what other easter eggs exist within Freespace Blue!
"Obviously the meson bomb is a form of cat-toast-device, with the buttered toast inverted, so that the cat and toast both fly in the direction of gravity much faster than expected. By introducing artificial gravity, a pair of cat-toast perpetual motion accelerator units can be made to collide with one another, and they produce an unimaginably devastating explosion. Both cats are named 'Meson'."

 - Wikileaks 2383

 

Offline ssmit132

  • 210
  • Also known as "Typhlomence"
    • Steam
    • Twitter
Re: FreeSpace Blue: FreeSpace 2 as it should've been.
That's an easter egg in the high-quality CB animations from the MediaVPs, not from FS Blue.

 

Offline AtomicClucker

  • 28
  • Runnin' from Trebs
Re: FreeSpace Blue: FreeSpace 2 as it should've been.
Well, I'm playing my 2nd run of FreeSpace Blue... with a mouse.

In all madness, I'm a nutcase, but hell, the Perseus is awesome and a TAG missiles are great.

I really don't have many nitpicks aside from realizing how quickly I plowed through it the first time.
Blame Blue Planet for my Freespace2 addiction.

 
Re: FreeSpace Blue: FreeSpace 2 as it should've been.
Playing through Freespace 2 Blue, I just did the Great Hunt. The mission went normally and the Shivan cruisers were destroyed, as well as the Lysander. As soon as it did, I jumped out and got the "you retreated without authorization, and will be put on trial" debrief. That being said, when I clicked accept results, I was able to proceed with the campaign normally with no additional retries.

Which objectives in FS2 will actually cost you the mission? Are there objectives you can fail and still proceed like in Wing Commander? I'd test it myself, but I'd have to restart the campaign.

 

Offline General Battuta

  • Poe's Law In Action
  • 214
  • i wonder when my postcount will exceed my iq
Re: FreeSpace Blue: FreeSpace 2 as it should've been.
You probably returned to base before authorization but after the mission had registered the "okay to go to next mission" event in the campaign file.

 
Re: FreeSpace Blue: FreeSpace 2 as it should've been.
Didn't even realize that was possible. Pretty cool, it's nice to be able to throw one in command's face once in while. Given they'll shoot you and only you most of the time after failing against impossible odds.
« Last Edit: June 08, 2016, 03:29:51 pm by manwiththemachinegun »

 
Re: FreeSpace Blue: FreeSpace 2 as it should've been.
I love what you did with Slaying Ravana! Although the starting position of Epsilon wing needs a look.

Just curious: Has the Boanarges changed at all? It seems just like the deathtrap it always was.

 

Offline eicca

  • 26
Re: FreeSpace Blue: FreeSpace 2 as it should've been.
This has probably been asked (and it might have been me that did it) but why is all of Blue Planet required to play FS2Blue? I think it'd be quite nifty to be able to play the remastered campaign without needing the 4GB of Blue Planet along with it.

 

Offline General Battuta

  • Poe's Law In Action
  • 214
  • i wonder when my postcount will exceed my iq
Re: FreeSpace Blue: FreeSpace 2 as it should've been.
Partly for development reasons. FS Blue was a last-month crunch addition to the project (because when we're done with all our blocking issues on BP, instead of releasing like sensible people, we go insane with bonus features). We didn't want to take time to disentangle all the dependencies.

Partly because FS Blue relies on BP content such as ship, weapon, and AI tables. Which I guess is the same reason. It's work to sort all that **** out.

I feel like Slaying Ravana might be too quick now; although, does that just put it in line with the early game difficulty curve? Probably, yeah...

 

Offline AdmiralRalwood

  • 211
  • The Cthulhu programmer himself!
    • Skype
    • Steam
    • Twitter
Re: FreeSpace Blue: FreeSpace 2 as it should've been.
Well, the campaign itself is a single less-than-5MB VP file called "bpc-fs2blue.vp", and "bpc-core.vp" is around 21 MB and contains all the tables. I'm not sure if anything relies on changed model files, though (for extra turrets, for instance). If it did, though, they'd probably be the MediaVPs' models, and therefore combining those two VP files with the 2014 MediaVPs could, theoretically, be all you need to play FS: Blue by itself. I would just note that I obviously haven't tested this myself, and do not really recommend it if you have the space/bandwidth to download all of BP Complete.
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Codethulhu GitHub wgah'nagl fhtagn.

schrödinbug (noun) - a bug that manifests itself in running software after a programmer notices that the code should never have worked in the first place.

When you gaze long into BMPMAN, BMPMAN also gazes into you.

"I am one of the best FREDders on Earth" -General Battuta

<Aesaar> literary criticism is vladimir putin

<MageKing17> "There's probably a reason the code is the way it is" is a very dangerous line of thought. :P
<MageKing17> Because the "reason" often turns out to be "nobody noticed it was wrong".
(the very next day)
<MageKing17> this ****ing code did it to me again
<MageKing17> "That doesn't really make sense to me, but I'll assume it was being done for a reason."
<MageKing17> **** ME
<MageKing17> THE REASON IS PEOPLE ARE STUPID
<MageKing17> ESPECIALLY ME

<MageKing17> God damn, I do not understand how this is breaking.
<MageKing17> Everything points to "this should work fine", and yet it's clearly not working.
<MjnMixael> 2 hours later... "God damn, how did this ever work at all?!"
(...)
<MageKing17> so
<MageKing17> more than two hours
<MageKing17> but once again we have reached the inevitable conclusion
<MageKing17> How did this code ever work in the first place!?

<@The_E> Welcome to OpenGL, where standards compliance is optional, and error reporting inconsistent

<MageKing17> It was all working perfectly until I actually tried it on an actual mission.

<IronWorks> I am useful for FSO stuff again. This is a red-letter day!
* z64555 erases "Thursday" and rewrites it in red ink

<MageKing17> TIL the entire homing code is held up by shoestrings and duct tape, basically.