[Lepanto]

What missions/campaigns, through their skillfully-woven combination of FREDding, aesthetics, assets, narrative, etc., really reached new heights of the FSOpen experience? And why? How did the individual elements combine to form that experience? What lessons can these missions teach FREDders about how to be truly awesome?

For an easy first example, Delenda Est. Spoilered primarily for the Steam newbie influx.

Spoiler:

I'd already read BP spoilers by the time I actually played WiH, so I never felt the intended impact of the core twist firsthand, but it's still a hats-off exercise in mission design. The music track screams "epic". Solid and rapidly-changing gameplay gives you an exciting challenge without being sadistic - you're splashing fighters, killing SSM spotters, intercepting bombers, and disarming beams with a fighter capable of doing all that. An intricately-plotted sequence of tactical maneuvers and narrative sequences lets the player play a key part without (usually) making their allies look incompetent. All this pumps the player up for the key narrative turning point, where the Imperiuse cuts your hard-earned victory right out from under you without feeling too cheap about it. It's a big, climactic mission done well; not all good missions have to be this complicated, but it's a standout example of how to combine aesthetics, narrative, and gameplay to give the player a glorious FS experience.

[CT27]

"Siege" from Shrouding The Light.

[niffiwan]

Con Fuoco from Vassago's Dirge.

Continuing the spoilers:

Spoiler:

This mission just blew me away the 1st time I played it. It was very different to standard gameplay, you're delivering TAGs for warships 50 kms away and it was just so awesome seeing the 7-8 beams cannons firing from further away than I'd ever seen them fire before. It was a bit tricky to get the hang of making it feel urgent/rushed (in a good way) but you're doing your job and massacring the Shivan capships, and it all seems cool and you've got them beaten.  Then Vassago jumps in, deflects/warps the beam fire and then returns fire on the Carthage, it's a huge wtf moment and so perfectly Shivan, turning the tables on you in an instant. So you're left with the panic of waiting for your friendly beam "artillery" to recharge so you can deliver your TAG at the exactly the right time, dodging the hordes of Shivans firing at you the instant you go too close to the Vassago.  Pure panic, exhilaration, then relief as you tag the Vassago and down it goes from friendly beam fire.

And the music, so perfectly timed and appropriate, and I'm a sucker for great classical music anyway.

[mjn.mixael]

Anything from VD... Or JAD...

Really, anytime Axem FREDs, you can expect something impressive.

[niffiwan]

Hahaha, yes, I laughed so hard the first time I saw that gigantic friendship wand appear in JAD 2.21

[mjn.mixael]

I just love how we have gigantic friendship wands in FS at all.

[bigchunk1]

For some reason Windmills comes to mind. It was set as a training exercise for a Terran officer where you had to give orders to capital ships. There was theme of being psychologically prepared for war and remembering who your true enemy was. All of this while teaching you the unique RTS elements involved with playing the game.

I thought it was pretty creative, fun to play, and the story elements were interesting at the same time.


Also what was that one WIH mission where you had to run a blockade through the GTVA Hood? I liked that one. That was an entertaining escort mission.

Then there was that last mission in spoon's WOD where you

Spoiler:

Had to fly inside the main flagship and blow up the reactor only after clearing out the surrounding fleet. I remember it was a pretty desperate moment story wise.

[Spoon]

Aside from the Axem mentions already made (JAD22.2 contains so much goodness too, maybe someday Axem will release it). I'm personally super fond of the design of the missions in WiH Act 3. The way how pretty much every mission has multiple ways of completion and the overal super high quality of those missions. It's just splendid.

Then there was that last mission in spoon's WOD where you

Spoiler:

Had to fly inside the main flagship and blow up the reactor only after clearing out the surrounding fleet. I remember it was a pretty desperate moment story wise.

To be brrrutally fair, none of the last WoD missions were actually amazing, design wise. 

[Torchwood]

Gonna have to go with Axem when it comes to sheer innovation. Wings of Dawn and Blue Planet have some pretty inspired stuff, too. Who would have expected something like

Spoiler:

Tower Defense in Freepsace

?

[bigchunk1]

Well SOMETHING about that campaign was good geez. 

[Spoon]

Let's talk instead about how well designed The Antagonist was!

[Axem]

To be brrrutally fair, none of the last WoD missions were actually amazing, design wise. 

Nonsense! Flying into giant motherships to blow them up were always talked about but never really done before! And why would I steal borrow the idea for JAD:XA if it was so bad! (Also that asteroid beam gauntlet was so amazing)

I've got too many other fine examples of FreeSpace mission design. Real quick, the Antagonist's final boss: your skill with all your accumulated abilities and weapons are put to the final test. BP:AoA, Forced Entry, which is like the whole of FreeSpace in 1 mission. Running from Shivans, fighting Shivans, mysterious Ancient Knossos, beams everywhere. So fine.

But I think the best two linked missions for me was in WiH, For the Wrong Reasons and What Binds Us.

Spoiler:

In the first one, the tension is ratcheted up so high when you're "dogfighting" against the gefs. On my first play through I actually pulled the trigger too early, starting the firefight. I really didn't want them to get the first shot off. Alas, things didn't turn out so well and I kept my cool on the second run through. Then on What Binds Us, we're placed into almost the same situation, mock dogfight, look but don't touch! And then the feelings that maybe we could just put aside our differences and end the war. Until the UEF frigate arrives and grinds everything into dust. You just expect things to go so well like the last time you held off the trigger, but they don't. So tragic.

EDIT: Also, Between the Ashes, demo: first mission. Keeping those civvies quiet. You know what I'm talking about.

Too much to list!

[AndrewofDoom]

Let's talk instead about how well designed The Antagonist was!

I was gonna mention the Antagonist, and then Spoon beats me to it.

[Kolgena]

BP:Age of Aquarius ending. Nuff said.
All of War in Heaven Pt 1. has some of the tightest narrative and world-building in all of FS mod history. It also helps that it has some damn good mission design.
WiH Pt 2. has a lot of interesting FREDing, but personally I enjoyed it less (although I still loved it) because I felt like it was a showcase for all the crazy things FSO could be bent into doing and strayed a bit too far from the kind of gameplay I feel FS excels at. But then again, how often do you find 761 armless and legless corpses floating inconspicuously inside of hangar ninety six?

Transcend was great, but you're forced to use the terribad hornets and prom R. Best played late at night when you're already a bit sleepy.

[InsaneBaron]

Best missions I've ever played? Hm...

Forced Entry from BP: AoA. Just the right balance of HARD, but BEATABLE, and FUN mixed with a great soundtrack. It took me four tries to beat it, yet it never got boring.

The fight with Osmund from The Antagonist. Probably the single most challenging mission in that whole campaign, at least for me. That artillery... gulp. The duel with Cornelius was also epic- who new ONE fightr could be so hard to kill? Probably the only mission where I've ever felt I was up against a true counterpart to myself.

The attack on Raider's Pride from Shadow Genesis (there were a lot of great missions in Shadow Genesis). Really big battle, first chance to use the Ezechiel (I'm a heavy fighter guy) and the Slayer/Hellion combo. Helped that I snagged both achievements in the process.

@Kolgena: Thing about Transcend... I absolutely LOVED the story/presentation. But IMHO, the actual gameplay/mission design was terrible.

[Lorric]

To try and go somewhere that hasn't been mentioned yet, Unification War has some missions where you're basically driving a fleet through these huge depots with stations, trying to do as much damage as you can as you punch through. It's quite a spectacle. I don't remember it particularly well, it was a long time ago, but the mod is getting some sort of revamp in the near future, so could be well worth checking out.

[Rodo]

Are cutscenes a valid option? cause I'd say those are among the most tricky things you can pull off in FRED. Specially knowing how hard it is to actually get them to look how you want them to.
Intro to WiH 2 is a good example.

[Scotty]

Pawns on a Board of Bone (Blue Planet: War in Heaven) for the dev team thinking of everything.  Delenda Est (same) for sheer mind-numbing FRED.  Her Finest Hour (Blue Planet: War in Heaven part 2) for the same.  Vassago's Dirge for putting everything together beautifully enough to make me tear up.

There's dozens more, but those are the few that come to mind immediately.

[procdrone]

Are cutscenes a valid option?

I think yes, they ARE missions after all.

I really like the opening to WiH Chapter 3 (The summary of the whole plot in few scenes), camera showing fighters so close, torpedos everywhere, that just kills me (and my computer too )

And since as FRED'er im still to learn to make great cutsceenes, that one remains my top example.

The hell, all opening and ending cutscenes for WiH are awesome.

[Colonol Dekker]

The first time I saw

Spoiler:

the Pegasus strike against the elder in WIH

I was all whoaaaaaaaaaa..........

The original credits for derelict pre SCP.

Derelicy PRE SCP as a whole really.

They innovated the SHIZZLE out of FS2.