Author Topic: The Freespace Campaign Journey [Many Spoilers]  (Read 5336 times)

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Offline Cyborg17

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The Freespace Campaign Journey [Many Spoilers]
Played Campaigns in (Approximate) Chronological Order


Ancients Era
Ancient-Shivan War

Pre-Great War Era
Cardinal Spear
Cardinal Spear: Vega


Great War Era
Descent: Freespace the Great War (with FSPort and MediaVPS)
Trimuriti

Bem Cavalgar
Tango

Operation Templar


Reconstruction Era
Eagle Takes Flight
Destiny of Peace

Second Incursion Era
*Coming Soon*

Post Capella Era
*Coming Soon*

So, in honor of Knossos and the simplicty of using it, I am going to try to play the available campaigns in a semi-chronological order.  And say a few things about each on here, like why is this campaign unique, what there is to like, what to be aware of, etc.

I am not going to use spoiler tags, and neither should you!  I will keep spoilers light, but there will be some at least.  And I'm not going to limit spoilers from anyone else.  If you want to add any comments about any of the campaigns, feel free I will link to them as well.  If credits are included in the campaign, I'll try to include them, too, if time permits.

Campaign length, 1-5 missions is short, 6-15 is medium, 16-30 is long.  30+ is very long.

Hit list: Cardinal Spear
Frontlines 2334
Ancient-Shivan War
Ross 128
Rain on Ribos 4
Hellgate:Ikeya
Light of Antares

Any other FS1 style campaigns that still work.

Between the Ashes
FS2 main
Lightning Marshall,
Further FS2 goodness.
« Last Edit: August 04, 2018, 05:10:21 am by Cyborg17 »

 

Offline Cyborg17

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Re: The Freespace Campaign Journey [Many Spoilers]
Trimurti

Chronology: Great War

Quick impressions: Alien, Nostalgic, Polished, Mysterious, Deep, Inscrutable

Short Description:  This brilliant campaign is a journey through the highlights of Freespace 1 through the eyes of the helter skelter shivans.  Always wondered what it was like to play the destroyer?  Well, this is the campaign for you.

The good: The real strength of this campaign is its atmosphere.  Messages are scrambled both visually and audially, and you have to infer the general plan and objectives of the mission from the briefing, which is also in indecipherable shivan.  But even more than that, you hear the messages of the poor sods you are taking down. I finished the campaign wanting more.

The meh: it's still a newer campaign and it hasn't been around long enough to iron out all the bugs and spelling mistakes.

The bad? The lack of more concrete instructions can be confusing, and although it didn't bother me much, if you're that time of player, keep it in mind before you start.

What else:  If you hate feeling guilty, you may not want to play this campaign. The shivans do some eeeeeevil things.

Weapons are more unweildy than their Terran counterparts, but still usable and thankfully not what they would be if you were using retail.  I was able to play though on Medium without too much trouble.

Finally, keep on the lookout for the spoons.  I played through the whole campaign never knowing that they were even there.

Campaign length:Medium

Credits:
Author: Asteroth
The Scroll of Atankharzim team for the Vasuda Skybox
HerraTohtori for the Earth skybox
PVD_Hope for Dark, Ambient 0.1 (the mainhall music)
PIe and JSRNerdo for playtesting
Axem for a useful script to swap ship classes while preserving weapons
Esarai for the Skjoldr
The Blue Planet team for some sound effects, music, the Orion refit and cosmology

Release Thread
« Last Edit: July 17, 2018, 10:27:55 pm by Cyborg17 »

 

Offline General Battuta

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Re: The Freespace Campaign Journey [Many Spoilers]]
Wait grammar mistakes

 
Re: The Freespace Campaign Journey [Many Spoilers]]
If you're doing them in chronological order you should start with Ancient-Shivan War.

Shivans view most other species the way we view infectious diseases. They think they are doing good by curing the universe of them. After all, no one mourns the fate of smallpox.

The Final War For The Multiverse

 

Offline Cyborg17

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Re: The Freespace Campaign Journey [Many Spoilers]]
Wait grammar mistakes
I should really have said spelling.  Caught it because of microsoft sam sounding weird in-mission.  I'm going to send him some direct feedback soon.

 

Offline Cyborg17

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Re: The Freespace Campaign Journey [Many Spoilers]
Freespace: The Great War (via FSPort and FSPort MediaVPs)

Chronology: Great War

Quick impressions: Atmospheric, unpolished

Short Description: Freespace: The Great War is the story that started them all. The xenocidal Shivans are coming for Earth!

The good: Atmosphere is the strength of the first game.  While both FS1 and FS2 give you the overwhelming sense that you cannot win, FS1 (IMO) is the game that makes the Shivans feel more alien and mysterious at a basic level.  The music is eerier than in the sequel as well.

The meh:  Not as exciting to play as Freespace 2 era campaigns.  There are inconsistencies throughout the Command Briefing animations, and in other in-game text.  Don't trust the things you hear and read.

The bad:  There are quite a few missions that feel rushed in and unpolished.  One or two even lack messages that tell the player that they can leave.  Some can be quite difficult on medium or above without really needing to be and other missions will be way too easy. 

What else: No beams!  Also, to get all medals, there are at least two missions where you need to play on at least medium and do extremely well.

Campaign length: Long

Credits:
Voilition
FSU team
FSPort team
« Last Edit: July 17, 2018, 10:28:50 pm by Cyborg17 »

 
Re: The Freespace Campaign Journey [Many Spoilers]
You should do BTA next.

 

Offline CT27

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Re: The Freespace Campaign Journey [Many Spoilers]
I would recommend at some point doing "Destiny Of Peace".

 

Offline 0rph3u5

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Re: The Freespace Campaign Journey [Many Spoilers]
If you will play Rain On Ribos 4, Hellgate: Ikeya, or Light of Antares soon, drop me a line and I'll get you the updated versions (yet unreleased)
"As you sought to steal a kingdom for yourself, so must you do again, a thousand times over. For a theft, a true theft, must be practiced to be earned." - The terms of Nyrissa's curse, Pathfinder: Kingmaker

==================

"I am Curiosity, and I've always wondered what would become of you, here at the end of the world." - The Guide/The Curious Other, Othercide

"When you work with water, you have to know and respect it. When you labour to subdue it, you have to understand that one day it may rise up and turn all your labours into nothing. For what is water, which seeks to make all things level, which has no taste or colour of its own, but a liquid form of Nothing?" - Graham Swift, Waterland

"...because they are not Dragons."

 

Offline Trivial Psychic

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Re: The Freespace Campaign Journey [Many Spoilers]
You're forgetting "Silent Threat: Reborn".
The Trivial Psychic Strikes Again!

 
Re: The Freespace Campaign Journey [Many Spoilers]
You should do BTA next.
I would recommend at some point doing "Destiny Of Peace".
You're forgetting "Silent Threat: Reborn".

Well, I'd guess Cyborg17 knows these campaigns and can decide on his own what to write about next. :D

  

Offline Cyborg17

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Re: The Freespace Campaign Journey [Many Spoilers]
Yeah, this is a long term project, and I want to get to everything you're talking about.  My plan was to do Frontlines, but I still can't get it to work on knossos.  Is anyone else able to get it working?

It would make sense to do Silent Threat: Reborn, yes, but there's lots of other stuff, too.  I think I'll do random custom included FS1 campaigns until I can get Frontlines to work.  So Orph3u5, that sounds great.

 

Offline Cyborg17

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Re: The Freespace Campaign Journey [Many Spoilers]
Post for Operation Templar, Destiny of Peace, Tango, and Eagle Takes Flight

Operation Templar (FSPort version)

Chronology: Great War

Quick impressions: Action-Oriented

Short Description: Operation Templar is a campaign made by Volition.  It's the real reason to get the Silent Threat expansion pack. Further polish and balancing by the FSPort team makes it a pretty enjoyable play.

The good: The campaign doesn't stop delivering on what it does well, action.  It also gives you a lot of latitude on how to complete your objectives.  FS2 Command voiced all the command messages for these missions.  The cruiser in the last level actually has an impact in the last mission.

The meh: Thoth Spam and Prometheus-R.  A freighter shows up in the last mission that seems to have a guardian threshold of 9%, but destroying it would be completely possible. I was too lazy to look at the mission events to see what was really going on.

The bad: The missions repeat the "keep the fighters off the bombers while they finish off the destroyer" gameplay.

What else: You will not fail for losing allied cruisers, but if you're like me, the mission ain't done till they're safe.

Campaign length: Short

Credits: Volition
FSPort team



Destiny of Peace

Chronology: Reconstruction Era

Quick impressions: Big, a little macabre.

Short Description: A campaign about the resettlement and colonization of new systems just after the Great War.

The good: Varied mission structure, and a sense of scale.

The meh: Lots of gratuitous death and war.  Not very challenging.

The bad:  Feels like a fanfic sometimes.  Some implausible events.

What else: If you hate Vasudans, you'll like this campaign.....

Campaign length:  Medium

Credits: Justin Mills



Tango

Chronology: Great War (Concurrent)

Quick impressions: Inventive, long

Short Description: This campaign is somewhat unique in that its setting is one sector of space, the eponymous Tango sector.

The good: It's unique and well-Freded for the time.

The meh: First mission is more than 20 minutes long.  The campaign is pretty likely to have been balanced on Easy or Very Easy.

The bad: This is the first campaign to make me mad at the mission designer since starting this.  First and third mission have gratuitous asteroids being thrown at ships you are supposed to protect.  Imagine the original FS1 mission that did it, but 10x worse and while you're fighting multiple waves of fighters.

What else: Second mission has some world-building which is interesting, but Red-Alert into third mission is unnecessary.  Third mission is a little buggy.

Campaign length: Short

Credits: Julian Egelstaff



Eagle Takes Flight

Chronology: Reconstruction

Quick impressions: RPG-like, polished.

Short Description: Build up your own business as you take on pirates and shivans!

The good: You feel like you are really building a mercenary company.  Missions are challenging enough without being crazy.  Pirates that act like pirates and actually run away!

The meh: Campaign could have been longer.  Your firepower ramps up very quickly in mission 3 and 4, and I'm sure the author had plenty of other ideas when creating the story line. This is understandable though, since this is Freespace and modding in Freespace takes forever.

The bad: Some of the writing feels like it was written by a pre-teen. 

What else: If modding gets any easier in the future, the way the ships were customized in this campaign feels like how a Freespace RPG should be.  Finishing it, I wanted more missions and more choice in what weapons/systems we upgraded.

Campaign length: Short

Credits: Robert Carroll


Frontlines is fixed on Knossos and is next on the list.  :D

Is there any information that I should add to the write-ups?  Also, if anyone disagrees with anything I say, I welcome corrections and push back.

Any requests from this list? Mobius' List of Updated Campaigns
« Last Edit: July 20, 2018, 07:11:37 pm by Cyborg17 »

 

Offline Admiral Nelson

  • Resurrecter of Campaigns
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Re: The Freespace Campaign Journey [Many Spoilers]
Cardinal Spear would go with all of the campaigns in your last post in terms of the time it was made (c. 1998!)  You might want to try that one before a modern mod like Frontlines.

I like the small reviews...
If a man consults whether he is to fight, when he has the power in his own hands, it is certain that his opinion is against fighting.

 

Offline CT27

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Re: The Freespace Campaign Journey [Many Spoilers]
I was going to recommend Cardinal Spear but then I saw you already had it (it also has a sequel CS:  Vega) so a "Reconstruction" campaign I'd like to recommend would be "Shrouding The Light:  Origins" and its main campaign "Shrouding The Light".

 

Offline Cyborg17

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Re: The Freespace Campaign Journey [Many Spoilers]
I don't think I've ever seen the sequel before.  You wouldn't happen to know where to find it?

 

Offline Mito [PL]

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Re: The Freespace Campaign Journey [Many Spoilers]
The mod adds two campaigns - CS and CS: Vega, IIRC.
How do you kill a hydra?

You starve it to death.

 

Offline Cyborg17

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Re: The Freespace Campaign Journey [Many Spoilers]
And there it was.  I actually have played it before, and I think I just didn't remember switching between the two campaigns.  :nervous:

They were a quick play at only 4 missions each.

Cardinal Spear & Cardinal Spear: Vega

Chronology: Pre-Great War

Quick impressions: Primitive, Structured

Short Description: Cardinal Spear is perhaps the best known pre-FS1 campaign around.  It has been updated by the FSCRP and has a lot of strengths. 

The good: Well-structured, well-tested, very polished.  Not too short, not too long. The campaigns are really meant to be played together and work together well. The author also got really creative with their custom weapons.  They are primitive, but also fun.

The meh: You have to keep shock waves in mind since you have no shields.  The command briefing voice actor is little low, so you may have to boost the voice volume.

The bad: The last mission feels like it was designed so that you, yourself, would feel like a hero, which takes you out of the Freespace flow a little, since Fresspace is really about the squadron.

What else: This campaign features fleet sensible FS1 fleet combat, a rarity.  It also has an ensemble cast from the hard-light community as voice actors. Finally, the skyboxes were created by Herra Tohtori, who is our resident astronomer, and they look wonderful -- and accurate.

Campaign length: Medium

Credits:  Adam "Ace" Rorabaugh
High Poly Planets / High Rez Planet Textures: Herra Tohtori
New Suns: m2258734a
Hard Light Voice Actors:
freespacegundam
Darkblade
Killfrenzy
sphynx
azrael15
Getter Robo G
neoterran
Ransom Arceihn
Goober5000
Mongoose
Admiral Nelson

 

Offline Cyborg17

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Re: The Freespace Campaign Journey [Many Spoilers]
Frontlines 2334 (and 2335)

Chronology: Pre-Great War

Quick impressions: Complex, challenging,

Short Description: Frontlines 2334 is a mod which aims to flesh out the vague Terran-Vasudan war. It showcases new models and weapons, and even has some fancy scripted elements.

The good: You can feel the hard work that went into this campaign.  About a third of the campaign is made of missions with tiered outcomes, which are impeccably balanced.  Getting a perfect score on those really feels like an accomplishment.

The meh: As a Pre-Great War pilot, you are stuck without shields and shockwaves are deadly.  You may get discouraged if you try to get the perfect result from any of the tiered missions.  I could not do it (without cheating) for missions 3 and 10.  This campaign is probably best for veteran pilots.

The bad: Even with all the hard work, mission 3 had a few bugs for players who do well.  The testers probably didn't want to go insane testing all its possible outcomes. 

What else: Frontlines 2235 is a extended tutorial for those new to pre-shield combat. (And the kill-counter will inflate your ego - Nice touch!)  This mod works very well as a completment to FSPort MediaVPs. The custom weapons feel reasonably powerful, and the custom models are high quality.  It has the potential to birth many other mods from the same timeline.

Campaign length: Medium

Credits:
Matthew "Black Wolf" Weber
Joshua "Lepanto" Nelson.
Lorric
fightermedic
Admiral Nelson
mjn.mixael

Frontlines 2334 FREDding by Black Wolf and Lepanto
Frontlines 2335 FREDding by Black Wolf. Lorric and Lepanto

Beta Testing by Lorric, Lepanto, fightermedic and Admiral Nelson

Command Brief Animations by mjn.mixael

Head animations by Black Wolf

Turret hotkey script by m!m

All custom models by Black Wolf except:

GTG Brominos (TVWP Team)
PVG Oasis (TVWP Team)
GTB Mars (Original ship GTB Rhea by Col. Fishguts)

Wind.wav recorded by Mark DiAngelo, available from soundbible.com
Mars Skybox by the BP team
brightbluebox skybox by Axem
Other skyboxed by Black Wolf

Music:

AC4 OST - Mr. Adam
My Little Pony Fan Music - Lunar Republic Metal Cover - Freedom's Warcry: Arkane
AC4A OST - Today
AC4A OST - Water Down


Special Thanks to:
m!m
Vasudan Admiral
The FS Port team
The SCP and Media VPs teams

Release thread:
http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=87519.0
« Last Edit: July 25, 2018, 01:46:37 pm by Cyborg17 »

 

Offline CT27

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Re: The Freespace Campaign Journey [Many Spoilers]
In addition to "Shrouding The Light", which I mentioned earlier, another campaign I'd like to recommend for now would be "The Lightning Marshal".  It takes place at the beginning of the NTF war... relatively shortly before the main FS2 campaign.  If you want 'normal' FS2 physics for it, make sure you get the more recent FSCRP version.


BTW, I'll try to stick to one campaign recommendation per week to make sure your to-do list doesn't get too big.