[Androgeos Exeunt]

HOSTILE TAG ACTIVE

Standard Flak has always been a major pain. Among the flak series (the others being Heavy and Long Range), it has the fastest refire rate (about twice that of the others, I think), which more or less offsets its lower damage per shot.

Or anything with TerPulse, holy ****

One-hit-kill?

[X3N0-Life-Form]

Or anything with TerPulse, holy ****

One-hit-kill?

Three and a half on most fighters, actually. 4 or 5 for heavy fighters & bombers (if I got the figures right from memory).

[LordPomposity]

HOSTILE TAG ACTIVE

Standard Flak has always been a major pain. Among the flak series (the others being Heavy and Long Range), it has the fastest refire rate (about twice that of the others, I think), which more or less offsets its lower damage per shot.

Also, whatever you do, do not focus your shields toward the attacking warship while being targeted by flak. A lot of the flak projectiles detonate beside or behind you, and you will die.

[-Sara-]

I always imagined the successor of Flak would be some kind of energy or plasma blast shockwave, maximizing the chance of hitting the target with its large surface. A sort of flat bubble cut in half. It'd be impenetrable by missiles and bombs also, making it a strong capital ship defense. But that's no fun for a game.

Bit like:

[Commander Zane]

But that's no fun for a game.

The horror that is the Phased Shockwave Generator.

[-Sara-]

But that's no fun for a game.

The horror that is the Phased Shockwave Generator.

Had to google for that. The idea came after playing Tyrian on my iPhone, the sonic cannon blasts resemble a split bubble.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

Ah, the Sonic Wave. Forever a devastating weapon regardless of whether it's Trent or Microsol using it. Alternate fire makes it shoot four gigantic waves forward at maximum Level, making it one of the most versatile and devastating rear weapons you'll ever find in the game.

Speaking of shockwaves, is it possible to create shockwaves that can wipe out a cluster of warheads at once?

[MatthTheGeek]

Yes. And they already exist. In retail.

It's called EMP Missile.

[General Battuta]

Thanks to recent SCP additions we can now create flak and bomb shockwaves which deal area damage to warheads.

[Scotty]

Thanks to recent SCP additions we can now create flak and bomb shockwaves which deal area damage to warheads.

Could this be causing some of the extra damage to the frigates in Delenda Est?  If a Tev bomb gets to close and detonates, it would also touch off their in flight missiles, and any other warheads potentially close enough to damage them and set off more, which damages and sets off more, etc.

[General Battuta]

Seems unlikely. Shockwave damage to warheads should only appear when specifically enabled in the weapon.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

Yes. And they already exist. In retail.

It's called EMP Missile.

...I should have known.

Does it work in practice?

Could this be causing some of the extra damage to the frigates in Delenda Est?  If a Tev bomb gets to close and detonates, it would also touch off their in flight missiles, and any other warheads potentially close enough to damage them and set off more, which damages and sets off more, etc.

On a related note, imagine flying into a maelstrom of Shivan warhead shockwaves...

[Commander Zane]

Yes. And they already exist. In retail.

It's called EMP Missile.

...I should have known.

Does it work in practice?

Yes it does, though oddly. On a mission that I slapped together just now, I hit the first bomb of a salvo of 12 and it destroyed ten of the other 11 bombs that were behind it, but not the bomb that I actually hit with the missile. The bomb closest to the one I tried to shoot down also survived.

On a related note, imagine flying into a maelstrom of Shivan warhead shockwaves...

I would imagine that unless you have no shields it would do absolutely nothing but make the ship shake around.

[NGTM-1R]

I would imagine that unless you have no shields it would do absolutely nothing but make the ship shake around.

BP likes to make torps hurt fighters, I believe.

[Commander Zane]

I thought the Director's Cut of AoA nerfed those shockwaves so they wouldn't vaporize fully-shielded/armored ships?

[Black_Yoshi1230]

I thought this is why we had long-range machine guns that double as an AMS (Anti-Missile System).

... anyway, I'm getting a major headache with Delenda Est. I figure Beta 1 and 2 are always invincible on lower difficulties, and when it comes time to disarm the two capital ships' beams marked by F9 and F10, I send them (having the first primary bank to have Scalpels, and swapping one set of Slammers for Paveways) to deal with the F9, and I deal with the F10...

... either I'm a crap pilot (I am HORRID at using the Archer because of massive recoil, so I use the Scalpel and Paveways), or something unintended happens, as by the end, the Katana has about 9% AP left, and when the Imperieuse shows up, the Katana dies first and I get a game over. Aren't one of the UEF frigates scripted to die?

It's always the Katana or Altan Orde that frequently dies. I feel like I'm working too hard to earn an ending.

And a stupid question I'm gonna ask and gonna see shot down, making me look like a clown:

+ Are we ever going to see stealth bombers in any future installments? I mean, we have stealth fighters, but not bombers. I looked in one of the single missions in the tech room and saw the UEF has a stealth fighter that kinda resembles the fictional F-19 from MicroProse. Seeing how bombers are always sighted far off, and they launch their ordinance at a range an interceptor with Trebuchets can catch, I would have thought the idea of having a stealth bomber come in and drop ordinance point-blank. (I was gonna suggest an abominable cross between the SR-71 Blackbird and B-2 Spirit.)

[General Battuta]

There's something in the 3.6.14 RC candidates which makes the Katana and Altan Orde take much more damage than they're supposed to, rendering that mission insanely hard. It's not you, there's actually something that has changed in the mission balance since it was designed and released. It's been giving us fits trying to track it down; right now we think it's a bug in the armor code.

You can feel free to cheat them invincible until the Imperieuse arrives.

Trick with the Archer: it does not actually have any recoil, only screen shake. Wait for the shake to die down and your reticle will be right back where it started.

[Alex Heartnet]

Or you could edit the mission files and give the Katana and Alten Orde a SMALL boost above 100% hull. Sounds like 125% would be enough to get you through the mission, and it's not enough of a boost to break the event at the end.  But on this particular mission, don't set the Katana's hull integrity to 999%.

[Black_Yoshi1230]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I was gonna just go for the "fail five times and skip" option, but my ego wants me to see this through.

... it's sad, even on Very Easy, the Katana and Altan Orde die as fast as even Easy or Medium. I even read the issue on the RC5 thread about how basically the mission is forced to a near unwinnable situation.

I would have thought you'd have put in the Recommendations tab, "if these ships keep dying on you, the team's working on it. Your best option right now is to cheat or skip."

And funnily enough, I was able to get the Ace medal for this campaign... and got it with Admiral Petrarch's voice.

[Scotty]

The mission worked on release of the campaign.  The release of 3.6.14 RCs is what's managed to break it.  The Recommendations are part of the campaign, and would require another release to either change or update back to working.

They probably would if they could do it without repackaging the whole campaign.