[SF-Junky]

Yesterday I started playing the FS2 Main Campaign on hard for the first time. Really challenging, but a lot of fun again. Here a few impressions:

The first mission that was really annoying was "Slaying Ravana". Bah, what a bull****! On lower skills this mission is just boring, on medium or higher it's... *censored*
I also had a tough time of it with "...But Hate the Traitor" - at least, until I found out that I can kill my wingmen while they're still friendly. What almost drove me crazy was "Sicilian Defence". I had to fly a fighter, because my wingmen a just not able to give me some acceptable fighter cover. Thank God there is the Hyksos in this mission to finish off the rebel fleet!!

Now to the "I have to play it so often until I do perfectly" mission number one - "Bearbaiting". Yeah, played it some 10 or 15 times. On my second last run I managed to accomplish all the Sathanas' goals, but was killed by the Beleth then. On my last run I missed the bonus goal and the Demon's last beam. But I think for my first run on hard that's a good outcoming as well.

The last mission I played just now was "Straight, No Chaser". I'll finish the rest tomorrow.

[Mobius]

I agree on "Slaying Ravana". In "...But Hate the Traitor" I also used to kill wingmen when they were still friendly

And you became quite active. May I know why?

[SF-Junky]

And you became quite active. May I know why?

To be perfectly hones, I don't know why it took me so long to became really active here. It's a great community. And it also helps me to improve my english, or at least I hope so.

And btw what I forgot to add in my first post: In my last run of "Bearbaiting" Alpha and Delta wings have been finished off within a few seconds after I ordered them to destroy the aft beam cannon, although there were no shivan fighters around at that moment. Apart from that I just lost Epsilon 3 and Gamma 4. Confused me a bit...

[Mobius]

Well, the flak cannons are tough. Playing FreeSpace at anything above Medium is a true challenge

[Armareon]

I really dislike the fact that the afterburners are depleted very rapidly on the higher difficulty levels , since I place a greater premium on speed and manuverability in a fighter than any other factor.

[Fang_Taichou]

I really dislike the fact that the afterburners are depleted very rapidly on the higher difficulty levels , since I place a greater premium on speed and manuverability in a fighter than any other factor.

I prefer shielding and armor over speed/maneuverability because I hate getting 1-shotted by an AAA beam.  Plus, heavier fighters have more space for missiles, and that's important when you meet swarms of enemies.

For that reason, I hated 'Feint!  Parry!  Riposte!' until I saw I could choose the Herc 2 instead.  Those anti-fighter beams on the 2 Fenris cruisers always end up scoring kills because the 6 herc escorts force us to evade them and fly into LoS for the beams to hit, and Perseus interceptors aren't very durable.  Though, I wonder why you don't get to use the Stilletto II missiles for this mission and 'Into the Maelstrom', since they give you access to it at the same time you first fly the Perseus (when you defend Enif Station).  If I had Stilletto's those missions would've been so much easier.

[SF-Junky]

I really dislike the fact that the afterburners are depleted very rapidly on the higher difficulty levels , since I place a greater premium on speed and manuverability in a fighter than any other factor.

The rate of depletion grows not that much imo. What really grows is the rate of recharche.

For that reason, I hated 'Feint!  Parry!  Riposte!' until I saw I could choose the Herc 2 instead.  Those anti-fighter beams on the 2 Fenris cruisers always end up scoring kills because the 6 herc escorts force us to evade them and fly into LoS for the beams to hit, and Perseus interceptors aren't very durable.  Though, I wonder why you don't get to use the Stilletto II missiles for this mission and 'Into the Maelstrom', since they give you access to it at the same time you first fly the Perseus (when you defend Enif Station).  If I had Stilletto's those missions would've been so much easier.

In "Faint! Perry! Riposte" it's the best tactic (and commands advise btw. ;-))to lure the fighters away from the cruisers and on higher skill levels its anyway nearly impossible to fight the escort at close range to their cruisers. So the Perseus is the batter choice here in my opinion.

In "Into the Maelstrom" you can do the job with rockeyes as good as you could with stilettos.