[OverDhill]

Is this going to be included in the FSOInstaller? Don't think I saw it there

[CT27]

Is this going to be included in the FSOInstaller? Don't think I saw it there

That's up to Herkie and Goober I believe.

[herkie423]

Recently I just started Act seven.

I just got done with the mission "Torpedo Chasers" (where you defend a weapons facility from a lot of Shivan bombers).  This isn't a bug report but more of a minor suggestion. The mission was defending against wave after wave of bombers for the most part.  It took about 13 minutes.  It is just my opinion but I think that mission should be cut back a few minutes or so.  The difficulty of the mission isn't the problem but doing the same thing over and over again can sometimes be tedious.  The mission is fine for the most part.


Overall I've noticed a big improvement from the first "The Aftermath."  You've done good work here with your reboot.

In the original version, that mission went around 17 minutes but I cut to 12 mins (13 mins in your case) which is the average length of all the missions. I will cut it to 7 or ten but that means it will be more difficult. Because I have to reduce the number of wings but armed them with more powerful bombs and reduce the station hitpoints... adding to the panic.

[herkie423]

Is this going to be included in the FSOInstaller? Don't think I saw it there

I will work that out sometime next month. After the second update I am currently working on. I have the Installer text file already thanks to Tomimaki.

[herkie423]

Guys, I will have the second update ready in the first week of February.  These past days, I have devoted my time hunting down those pesky grammar issues (They are actually missing words) and doing some mission polishing and considering all your recommendations.

[CT27]

Recently I just started Act seven.

I just got done with the mission "Torpedo Chasers" (where you defend a weapons facility from a lot of Shivan bombers).  This isn't a bug report but more of a minor suggestion. The mission was defending against wave after wave of bombers for the most part.  It took about 13 minutes.  It is just my opinion but I think that mission should be cut back a few minutes or so.  The difficulty of the mission isn't the problem but doing the same thing over and over again can sometimes be tedious.  The mission is fine for the most part.


Overall I've noticed a big improvement from the first "The Aftermath."  You've done good work here with your reboot.

In the original version, that mission went around 17 minutes but I cut to 12 mins (13 mins in your case) which is the average length of all the missions. I will cut it to 7 or ten but that means it will be more difficult. Because I have to reduce the number of wings but armed them with more powerful bombs and reduce the station hitpoints... adding to the panic.

You don't have to change it if you don't want to.  It is better than the previous version...this one didn't have that spinning station after all.

Maybe instead of making the fighters deadlier just keep the mission as is...but have a destroyer come in at the end and attempt to destroy the station and you have to disarm its beams so your escorting capships (I believe you had two corvettes protecting the station in that mission) can take it out (of course if you do that then I would suggest you allow the player to be able to select Widowmakers for that mission).

So either that^ suggestion or leave the mission as is I'd say.

[herkie423]

Oh,  you mean more surprises? Now, that's a good idea. I will get to it. I did cut the number of enemy bomber wings though.

[herkie423]

Guys, I made a terrible mistake.

It seems that the 2 missions in the Capella system doesn't have their skyboxes or backgrounds, just pitch black. Thr background should have a bright yellow colored nebula which I painstakingly made. It did not reflect in my end because I have placed a Skybox VP in my MediaAVP folder and named a different background name but the Capella skybox is present in my VP file under a different name. I kinda altered the Freespace main campaign backgrounds. I discovered that when I reinstalled my Freespace 2. I have fixed those and it will be included in the update. If you want to see how I intended it to look like, replay the missions "Into the Unknown" and "The Hornet's Nest."

[CT27]

I forgot the name of it but it's the mission right after "Torpedo Chasers" where you're chasing a fleeing Shivan fleet.


Two minor suggestions:

1-Maybe there should be one of the new Shivan Garuda (spelling?) destroyers in that mission?  In the act's opening cutscene three of those came in the with Lucifer and I thought that would be the fleet you were chasing.

2-Just my opinion, but I think you should be allowed to pick Widowmakers for that mission.


I'm not making too many suggestions overall am I Herkie? 

[herkie423]

I forgot the name of it but it's the mission right after "Torpedo Chasers" where you're chasing a fleeing Shivan fleet.


Two minor suggestions:

1-Maybe there should be one of the new Shivan Garuda (spelling?) destroyers in that mission?  In the act's opening cutscene three of those came in the with Lucifer and I thought that would be the fleet you were chasing.

2-Just my opinion, but I think you should be allowed to pick Widowmakers for that mission.


I'm not making too many suggestions overall am I Herkie?

It's the mission "New Weapon." A taste of the Shivan new weapon of mass destruction. Regarding the Garudas, I reserve those in an upcoming mini campaign. Actually Shivans in the cutscene were not the only ones who breached Adhara. There were hunted down by the Vasudan Battlegroups and the 7th BG finally destroyed the last of them but the Shivans went down with vengeance; unleashing their terrible weapon. Sorry, I can not allow the Widowmaker. I tried that but it made the mission ridiculously easy. You actual mission objective in the middle of the chaos are just freighters. The Widowmaker is a rare and expensive resource and High Command limits their distribution.

...And your suggestions are fine. I am considering every suggestion posted here. But there are only few. Is that a good thing or bad?

[herkie423]

NEW UPDATE AVAILABLE

I made another update. The changes covered an extensive spelling and grammar check (I hope). They are quite rare but not few. At least one in every mission! Can you believe that? and these errors are very small; missing a's and the's, double words and missing words. It's like finding a dozen of needles in a warehouse full of hay stacks.

There is also one hiccup I easily overlook. The missing Head Anims. There are quite a number of those. I fixed them. There are suggestions posted here and I considered them. I incorporated them in tweaking the missions. I also fixed the missing skyboxes; now this error shocked me to the core and I dropped my jaw and.... cried! Grrrr.....!

So the update is ready. Check the opening post.

[Mito [PL]]

About hitting the freighters...

Well, I think this was the mission where I was annoyed by the lack of a decent interceptor the most. While it is very possible to chase down them with provided fighters, if any Astaroth fighter gets on your back, you either try to kill it, wasting A LOT of time, or just restart the mission right away, since you can't outrun them (usually 4-6 fighters harrasing you). And going around the battlefield to avoid attention also takes a lot of time.

[CT27]

A couple comments

1-I downloaded the new update file and put it in, however in the mission "Torpedo Chasers" the Mara wing at the beginning was just labeled "SF Mara" with no wing designation in the lower left targeting window.  However all the bombers in the mission had wing designations

2-In the mission after "New Weapon" ( I think it was called 'Snickers', it was where you had to follow Snipes and scan a Lamia comm craft)...all the capships were just labeled by their class "SD Ravana" "SD Demon" etc.  Was that how you meant it or should they have had specific names?

[praseodym]

Hi,

after updating the root.VP the campaign doesn't show up anymore in the campaign room. Using Ubuntu 64bit with the 3.7.4 engine. I changed the file names from capital letter to none. Any idea?

[praseodym]

Re-downloaded, now it works. Sorry.

[Mito [PL]]

Well, CT27, with the amount of fighters thrown at you even in the beginning, and capships later in the campaign, there's no way to really label the wings and ships conventionally. I think there's even something about thatin some in-mission dialog ("We ran out of names!"). So that's rather meant to be like that.

[JSRNerdo]

Cargo: Sex toys 

[JSRNerdo]

The number of ships you're having me destroy is downright ridiculously excessive. I count at least 20 wings in Avenging Adhara. Why do we have to destroy soooo many?

[herkie423]

The number of ships you're having me destroy is downright ridiculously excessive. I count at least 20 wings in Avenging Adhara. Why do we have to destroy soooo many?

Well, it is an intergalactic war. A head to head battle with the Shivans and most of the encounter is chaos. Like I said in the OP, you will not be dealing with wings but squadrons. The GTVA is dealing with an entire race and it is actually outnumbered significantly. It will not be plausible if there are fewer ships and I intend to let player feel the gravity of the situation. What you felt is actually what I intended. I based this on actual experience. Just take it as an opportunity to rack up your kill count and adding destroyers and Juggernauts to your tally.

In fact in key epic missions, I reached the 400 limit in FRED. I want to have more.

There are hostiles that are not designated (named) because these are not your priorities. Your ship Nav Com take this into account. It is explained in the in-game dialogue in "Escaping Pirates." But in "Torpedo Chasers," that is an actual limitation. The Maras are involve in a cutscene. I want them to jump in one at a time for effect but I can not have them do that if they are part of a wing. My solution is to hide their names.

And JSR, your kill count of 20 wings (60 fighters) is impressive. Did ALL of Aquitaine's corvettes survived? If so then you did get the medal.  My kill count is only 10 in that mission but I got the best debrief. I was focusing in knocking out the shivan beam cannons which is my actual objective in order for them to survive. Remember, your CO does not always give you the exact scenario in the briefing room. There is always bad intel which is true in real life.

In some missions, there are levels or degree of success. In most cases, if you get the best debrief, you get a medal. Always check the recommendations. If you get all the medals upon completion of the campaign (this is visible if you start a new profile), then you got it right.

The missions are designed to give players more freedom in-mission hence the levels success.

[CT27]

In the "Avenger" mission (the first mission where you can pilot a Boreas cruiser...you fly near to it to take it over) there was a minor technical issue.  When I was flying the Boreas cruiser and firing the main gun, the gun energy always stayed the same...whether I held the primary button down or tapped it slightly once in a while.  It made it difficult to see how much weapon energy I had left.

In the previous "Aftermath" the primary weapon energy bar would work for the Boreas and Avenger.