I love you guys! You are all awesome.
I feel the same way about everyone on the dev team; the quality of your work is astounding in both intent and execution.
Though I will admit that I'm deeply exasperated at some of the discussions still going on. Ramming the Carthage would not have worked in a million billion years and I actually spent a ridiculous amount of development time making sure Delenda Est had to play out the way it did.
Erm...look, ramming or not, the question I was trying to convey was 'why not just take the Carthage down with you (and maybe just have the Indus and Yangtze retreat, though they could still spam their Apoc torpedoes while running) instead of rushing to knowingly commit suicide against the Imperieuse and Hydra?' The Wargods knew/believed strongly that killing the Carthage would have a dramatic political and morale impact on the war, beyond just killing a military asset, and they were certainly not afraid to die (Katana and Altan Orde were practically Death Seekers...), so why not take the certain major victory to balance out the certain major defeat instead of throwing away a major victory so that a certain major defeat wouldn't be quite as major (though the morale blow would still be huge)? Especially when it would probably divert the Imperieuse's attention far more effectively than lining up for a BBlue and MBlue shooting gallery at optimum range (did the Imperieuse even have to slow down?), a fleet carrier's fighter and bomber wings, dozens of pulse turrets, and salvos of Supernova torpedoes (can the TerSlashBlues also fire at them too? If so, it almost feels like overkill at that point).
Not that, of course, the mission itself wasn't a masterpiece of setting, mood/tone, unpredictable twists and turns with your emotions and expectations in the face of extraordinary risk and gain, brilliant characterization/development/death, and spectacle. And music. THE MUSIC. And it still works plot-wise, this is more of a curiosity than anything.
-----
Also, I happened to finish up the first real 'mission'/map I tried making with FRED, and put a little bit of polish and tweaking into it in order to make it passable for use outside of my own. I'd largely forgotten about it for weeks/months, but now that my FRED 'skills'/knowledge have grown enough to make something functional, I thought I'd at least put the question out there--it's a quirky/humorous Tev guantlet mission that doubles as a playground for trying out various FS2, BP, and BP2 craft, weaponry, etc. Successive waves of common and advanced Tev fighters, many (and diverse) options for assistance in the reinforcements menu, a UEI Bretonnia instillation for some fun/cover/diversity, and way, way too many Starfox 64 jokes.
...come on, you know you've always wanted to see BALLSOFSTEELE Spacesuit kamikaze stealth warriors with Helios-scale special explosions upon death. You know you do.
Seriously, though, if there's any interest in trying it out, let me know. I'll figure out some way to host it, then (can I make it an attachment?).