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FreeSpace Releases => Mission & Campaign Releases => Topic started by: DefCynodont119 on December 15, 2017, 12:42:16 am

Title: RELEASE: Legion's Demise- a playable FS2 Intro!
Post by: DefCynodont119 on December 15, 2017, 12:42:16 am
(https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/919162814698646318/BC48FE6E45F7D9E46DC2F290A164CCA1F5C45BDF/?interpolation=lanczos-none&output-format=jpeg&output-quality=95&fit=inside%7C*%3A0)


Description:

The Lucifer has just entered Deneb. Now the GTI has been mobilized to defend Deneb from the Shivans and to look for a weakness in the Lucifer, and you (Iota 1) find yourself at the forefront of disaster. Can you command your squadron, save the Intel, and minimize the damage? Or will you fall onto Deneb III with the rest of the space junk?
(for plot purposes we will assume it's one of your wingmen who gets shot down in the cutscene, and not you.)
This is a two mission FSPort mini campaign set around the Battle of Deneb. In it, you will take part in GTI's last-ditch plan to destroy the Lucifer's escort fleet, assist the Vasuden evacuation of Deneb III, REDACTED, and brake the Superdestroyer's shields.
What could possibly go wrong?

Features:
Two action-packed, well Fredded missions with clear win/fail states. Balanced for play on (More or less) all difficulties.

Modded HUD elements.

Railgun and Prometheus-A.

The 1st mission is a Playable recreation of Freespace 2's opening video, and the 2nd mission involves escorting the GTC Juggernath!

Full briefings and story with (hopefully) no plotholes.

CLASSIFIED, DATA EXPUNGED, REDACTED.

Things getting shot with beams.

and Minor visual enhancements.




Screenshots:
Hidden Text: Show
(https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/872995837435754218/0AB75D4AA4D79FF508327B428EE84E93C90A1308/?interpolation=lanczos-none&output-format=jpeg&output-quality=95&fit=inside%7C*%3A0)
Hidden Text: Show
(https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/888763074295478266/78405800C3BD51C761064A8A763AB44D4B5B8956/?interpolation=lanczos-none&output-format=jpeg&output-quality=95&fit=inside%7C*%3A0)




Credits:
Missions Design: Defcynodont119

Background Images: The Blue Planet Team, and Space Engine.

Testing: Defcynodont119. Lapanto. Black Wolf. Spline64.

Special Thanks:
Lapanto,
AdmiralRalwood,
Black Wolf,
TNathan475,
Spline64,
The FSPort Team,
And to Everyone who posted all that useful information on the FS Wiki.

Canberra and Hemsut Models: Black Wolf.

Subspace vortex textures: Ancient-Shivan War
(I spent hours looking for the individual who made them but found nothing, please tell me who it was so I may give proper credit.)


Based on the intro to Freespace 2, a game made by Volition.



Download link >>>> https://drive.google.com/open?id=1RJh0wgHvMTSdIoZQFJFIxeO4qIIi77gh



Requires FSPort and MediaVPs
Recommend recent build, make sure FSPort is installed correctly before you play this mod!


If you encounter any bugs, report them here!


note: I consider this mod in an endless state of development, if you want to help me make it better, IE: add voice acting, improve balance, proofreading, Ect. post in this thread or PM me.
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(12/14/2017) Current Legion.vp checksum is 0xd6a91d42
Title: Re: RELEASE: Legion's Demise- a playable FS2 Intro!
Post by: mjn.mixael on December 15, 2017, 12:48:45 am
Oh neat! Will check this out for sure.
Title: Re: RELEASE: Legion's Demise- a playable FS2 Intro!
Post by: Colonol Dekker on December 15, 2017, 02:06:08 am
 :yes:

Well I look forward to getting time to try this out.
Title: Re: RELEASE: Legion's Demise- a playable FS2 Intro!
Post by: Nyctaeus on December 15, 2017, 06:22:53 am
Something playable!

...and looking promising!

Congratulations. I will check it out soon :D
Title: Re: RELEASE: Legion's Demise- a playable FS2 Intro!
Post by: DefCynodont119 on December 15, 2017, 07:40:05 pm
Sorry if this is rude but, Any chance this could get highlighted? or am I not supposed to ask?

Title: Re: RELEASE: Legion's Demise- a playable FS2 Intro!
Post by: Axem on December 15, 2017, 08:05:08 pm
No, not rude at all to ask. We're just not as quick as we should be sometimes. :)
Title: Re: RELEASE: Legion's Demise- a playable FS2 Intro!
Post by: praseodym on December 16, 2017, 07:36:18 am
Hi,

campaign doesn't start under Ubuntu 14.04 64bit with 3.7.4 (can't run 3.8.0 here for dependency problems of the compiler). Log attached

THX

[attachment stolen by Russian hackers]
Title: Re: RELEASE: Legion's Demise- a playable FS2 Intro!
Post by: ngld on December 16, 2017, 08:08:53 am
What are the dependency problems you have with 3.8.0? Did you try the AppImage build? You should be able to download that from the release thread and run it without having to compile or install anything else.
Title: Re: RELEASE: Legion's Demise- a playable FS2 Intro!
Post by: Nyctaeus on December 16, 2017, 08:41:22 am
Heh... Where can I get FSPort MVPs 2014 :P? I wasn't even aware they exist. 3.4 is the last version on FSPort forum.
Title: Re: RELEASE: Legion's Demise- a playable FS2 Intro!
Post by: AdmiralRalwood on December 16, 2017, 08:59:49 am
Heh... Where can I get FSPort MVPs 2014 :P? I wasn't even aware they exist. 3.4 is the last version on FSPort forum.
...No it's not? (https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=89121.0) You can also get it through the FSO Installer or Knossos.
Title: Re: RELEASE: Legion's Demise- a playable FS2 Intro!
Post by: Nyctaeus on December 16, 2017, 09:23:04 am
Heh... Where can I get FSPort MVPs 2014 :P? I wasn't even aware they exist. 3.4 is the last version on FSPort forum.
...No it's not? (https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=89121.0) You can also get it through the FSO Installer or Knossos.
Yeah... So that's why I wasn't able to figure out where FSPort is based, after rearrangement of HLP forum structure :P. Checked only subforum of FSU instead.
Title: Re: RELEASE: Legion's Demise- a playable FS2 Intro!
Post by: xenocartographer on December 16, 2017, 10:41:16 am
Hm, something about this intro looks... familiar...



Hidden Text: Show
Item #: SD-001

Object Class: Lucifer

Special Containment Procedures: SD-001 is currently uncontained. Research is currently focused on developing a way to bypass the object's overdriven shield matrix. MTF-70 ("Blue Lions") is on 24-hour standby should an effective means of damaging the object be discovered. Until such a mechanism is found, any engagement with SD-001 is strongly discouraged.

Any personnel encountering SD-001 are to report to GTA Command immediately. Accurate monitoring of the object's location and heading are essential to preventing a second [REDACTED] scenario.

Description: SD-001 is a ████-meter-long Shivan destroyer of [DATA EXPUNGED] origin. The vessel is employed as a raider, using its air wing and high-alpha [REDACTED] cannons to devastating effect against targets of opportunity. SD-001 houses the equivalent of at least ██ GTA fighter squadrons. At this time, it is unknown how the vessel can host such an overwhelming number of spacecraft. When not active in this role, SD-001 appears to act as a central [DATA EXPUNGED] for Shivan operations. MTF-99 ("Skulls") is investigating means to disrupt this capability. Per Order-001-NOOS, research into Shivan communication procedures has been suspended.

SD-001 integrates two unique technologies not seen in other Shivan specimens. The first is a pair of [REDACTED] cannons located in the ship's bow. These cannons have been employed to overwhelming effect against targets ranging from cruiser-size to [REDACTED]. It is suspected that SD-001 may use [DATA EXPUNGED] to mitigate the heat dissipation issues associated with such weapons. The second is a destroyer-scale shield system, similar to that seen on Shivan strikecraft but massively scaled up. This shield is impervious to all known GTA and PVN weaponry.

Following operation [REDACTED] in the █████ system, Dr. ████ of Galactic Terran Intelligence has proposed that a reverse-engineered version of SD-001's own cannons may be sufficient to penetrate its shields. Research is ongoing.

Addendum: Do we really need to redact ██████ █████? It's not exactly a secret. ~Captain ███████

In light of the ██████ incident's effect on morale, disinformation campaign STONE RAIN is in effect to downplay 001's significance. The redaction has been deemed necessary. ~GTI-██

Addendum: Regardless of what the ████████ say, this ship is an opportunity! Imagine the potential - a beam-equipped destroyer in every GTA fleet! Permission to detach the Repulse for independent reconnaissance is hereby requested. ~Admiral Glaive

Request denied following considerable discussion. Giving up even more to your pet warship isn't an effective use of our resources at this time. ~GTI-██



I'll definitely be checking this out :)
Title: Re: RELEASE: Legion's Demise- a playable FS2 Intro!
Post by: DefCynodont119 on December 16, 2017, 02:50:35 pm
Hi,

campaign doesn't start under Ubuntu 14.04 64bit with 3.7.4 (can't run 3.8.0 here for dependency problems of the compiler). Log attached

THX

FSPort itself has strange problems with 3.7.4,
3.8.0 should have it's source built-in, installing 3.8.0 is going to be a different process then the older ones. If you have too, use this: https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=92196.0


Hm, something about this intro looks... familiar...



Hidden Text: Show
Item #: SD-001

Object Class: Lucifer

Special Containment Procedures: SD-001 is currently uncontained. Research is currently focused on developing a way to bypass the object's overdriven shield matrix. MTF-70 ("Blue Lions") is on 24-hour standby should an effective means of damaging the object be discovered. Until such a mechanism is found, any engagement with SD-001 is strongly discouraged.

Any personnel encountering SD-001 are to report to GTA Command immediately. Accurate monitoring of the object's location and heading are essential to preventing a second [REDACTED] scenario.

Description: SD-001 is a ████-meter-long Shivan destroyer of [DATA EXPUNGED] origin. The vessel is employed as a raider, using its air wing and high-alpha [REDACTED] cannons to devastating effect against targets of opportunity. SD-001 houses the equivalent of at least ██ GTA fighter squadrons. At this time, it is unknown how the vessel can host such an overwhelming number of spacecraft. When not active in this role, SD-001 appears to act as a central [DATA EXPUNGED] for Shivan operations. MTF-99 ("Skulls") is investigating means to disrupt this capability. Per Order-001-NOOS, research into Shivan communication procedures has been suspended.

SD-001 integrates two unique technologies not seen in other Shivan specimens. The first is a pair of [REDACTED] cannons located in the ship's bow. These cannons have been employed to overwhelming effect against targets ranging from cruiser-size to [REDACTED]. It is suspected that SD-001 may use [DATA EXPUNGED] to mitigate the heat dissipation issues associated with such weapons. The second is a destroyer-scale shield system, similar to that seen on Shivan strikecraft but massively scaled up. This shield is impervious to all known GTA and PVN weaponry.

Following operation [REDACTED] in the █████ system, Dr. ████ of Galactic Terran Intelligence has proposed that a reverse-engineered version of SD-001's own cannons may be sufficient to penetrate its shields. Research is ongoing.

Addendum: Do we really need to redact ██████ █████? It's not exactly a secret. ~Captain ███████

In light of the ██████ incident's effect on morale, disinformation campaign STONE RAIN is in effect to downplay 001's significance. The redaction has been deemed necessary. ~GTI-██

Addendum: Regardless of what the ████████ say, this ship is an opportunity! Imagine the potential - a beam-equipped destroyer in every GTA fleet! Permission to detach the Repulse for independent reconnaissance is hereby requested. ~Admiral Glaive

Request denied following considerable discussion. Giving up even more to your pet warship isn't an effective use of our resources at this time. ~GTI-██



I'll definitely be checking this out :)

Not bad, but you should read the new techroom entry this mod has!

Hidden Text: Show
The Repulse dose not need to take scans of the lucy's beams because, well. . . This mod explains all that! Not to mention Alpha 1's scans.
Title: Re: RELEASE: Legion's Demise- a playable FS2 Intro!
Post by: xenocartographer on December 16, 2017, 03:52:01 pm
I'm not even going to contemplate downloading FSPort over Amtrak onboard wifi. :P
Title: Re: RELEASE: Legion's Demise- a playable FS2 Intro!
Post by: praseodym on December 17, 2017, 03:44:38 am
Hi, I am running the native Linux build, not Wine
Title: Re: RELEASE: Legion's Demise- a playable FS2 Intro!
Post by: ngld on December 17, 2017, 07:22:24 am
That... doesn't answer my first question and the AppImage build I mentioned is a native Linux build. Here's the download link (https://github.com/scp-fs2open/fs2open.github.com/releases/download/release_3_8_0/fs2_open_3_8_0-builds-Linux.tar.gz).
Title: Re: RELEASE: Legion's Demise- a playable FS2 Intro!
Post by: praseodym on December 17, 2017, 07:52:16 am
I do have it, however it doesn't work at all (3.8) because I am running wxlauncher 0.9 and cannot upgrade it because of dependencies. And: Yes, it is executable
Title: Re: RELEASE: Legion's Demise- a playable FS2 Intro!
Post by: DefCynodont119 on December 17, 2017, 05:23:54 pm
Still no feedback here, anyone play this yet?
Title: Re: RELEASE: Legion's Demise- a playable FS2 Intro!
Post by: xenocartographer on December 17, 2017, 07:01:36 pm
Any possibility of getting this on Knossos? It's on my radar (duh), but an easy way to play it without futzing about with too many settings manually would probably bump it up a few notches in priority, if you know what I'm saying.
Title: Re: RELEASE: Legion's Demise- a playable FS2 Intro!
Post by: tomimaki on December 18, 2017, 09:06:07 am
It's nice short campaign. It takes another aproach on known events.
First mission keeps me occupied all time. I wonder
Spoiler:
if it's possible to save all cruisers.
Second mission is interesting too with some plot twist. Btw why not to make to use support ship later if departed and successfully landed on Thylacine? :P

Well done.  :yes:


I suggest -mod.tbm to hide other campaigns. ;)
Code: [Select]
#CAMPAIGN SETTINGS
$Default Campaign File Name: Legion's Demise camp

#Ignored Campaign File Names
$Campaign File Name: FS1Templar
$Campaign File Name: SilentThreat
$Campaign File Name: freespace

#END
Title: Re: RELEASE: Legion's Demise- a playable FS2 Intro!
Post by: DefCynodont119 on December 18, 2017, 02:18:52 pm
Any possibility of getting this on Knossos? It's on my radar (duh), but an easy way to play it without futzing about with too many settings manually would probably bump it up a few notches in priority, if you know what I'm saying.

I too would like to know if this can be done please . .  :)




It's nice short campaign. It takes another aproach on known events.
First mission keeps me occupied all time. I wonder
Spoiler:
if it's possible to save all cruisers.

Spoiler:
It can be done on very easy,but it's really hard even then. I'm not sure if it's possible on hard/insane tho.
The crux of this mission is that you need to use your wingmen to mutitask, most of them have general-rank AI so they do help you.

As for the support ship being reusable after departing, If I knew how to do that FREDding wise, I would have.  :blah:

This mod replaces some of the stock visuals so I'm content to let players play the retail campaigns with them. :D
Title: Re: RELEASE: Legion's Demise- a playable FS2 Intro!
Post by: tomimaki on December 18, 2017, 03:07:46 pm
Ah, ok then :p
Title: Re: RELEASE: Legion's Demise- a playable FS2 Intro!
Post by: AdmiralRalwood on December 18, 2017, 03:46:42 pm
Any possibility of getting this on Knossos? It's on my radar (duh), but an easy way to play it without futzing about with too many settings manually would probably bump it up a few notches in priority, if you know what I'm saying.

I too would like to know if this can be done please . .  :)
Anyone can upload a mod through the Knossos client; if you want help figuring it out, hop on the HLP Discord server (https://discord.gg/YNVP3WR) and ask in the #knossos channel.
Title: Re: RELEASE: Legion's Demise- a playable FS2 Intro!
Post by: xenocartographer on December 18, 2017, 09:46:56 pm
Alright, some thoughts... Take this all with a grain of salt; I'm a pretty blunt critic, and also not the greatest player out there.

Right from the get-go, I started noticing grammatical and tonal mistakes. Now, missing a comma or using the wrong "there" isn't the worst thing in the world, but I recommend anyone without a very solid command of English mechanics get a proofreader. I'm emphasizing this because it was a major issue throughout every briefing, debriefing, mission, and the
Spoiler:
tech room entry
, and also because it's relatively easy to fix. The briefings were generally serviceable at getting the gameplay across, but as a result of the aforementioned issues, they didn't contribute anything to the campaign's tone.



Right, individual missions...

Spoiler:
The first mission felt disorganized. I think it was supposed to feel chaotic, but between the lack of dialogue and long stretches with nothing in particular going on, it fell flat. For example, the player's first objective is to escort Delta as they try to penetrate the Lucifer's shields. It's a neat idea, and should have emphasized Command's desperation regarding the Lucifer, but the player ends up shooting at some random Shivan fighters while Delta sits there going pew pew for a bit. The player's actions are too decoupled from the interesting part. Putting Delta under more direct pressure and adding status messages would have gone a long way towards making it work; the former re-couples the gameplay with Delta's survival, while the latter helps them feel connected while also adding to the chaotic feeling.

The part with the cruisers was better. I actually want to talk about the bombers gauge a bit here, since it was a nice quality of life improvement, but also because it went a ways towards rectifying the decoupling problem. Why do we care about that destroyer wot's sitting there, not actively messing with our objectives? 'Cos it's spewing bombers, of course! Unfortunately, the cruisers fell victim to the same lack-of-messaging issue, which made it difficult to prioritize targets in the heat of battle; at the same time, however, the Shivan attack never felt organized enough to make me really care. The briefing emphasized how I'd have to make tactical decisions, but in the actual battle, it felt like repetitive, mindless bomber-killing. Also, I'm pretty sure that a Hemsut was referred to as a cruiser, which threw me off for a bit.

The part with the escape pods was probably the mission's strong point. Defending a bunch of small ships while bombers and cruisers duke it out is pretty challenging, for obvious reasons, especially with my wings messed up by the previous cruiser action. The gimmick with the beacon was cool, but I'm pretty sure the correct solution is always "fly away from the destroyer a bit".

The actual Legion's demise was something of a let-down. It just happened too quickly, and the hulk afterword looked weirdly intact. Once again, more dialogue would have saved the day. (In fairness, my comm system was in the low 20s here, so it's possible that I missed a message.) My playthrough ended with me timeskipping while a single Osiris solo'd a disabled Demon for several minutes, which is probably worth having some sort of contingency for. (What if a player disabled the Demon only to find all their bombers down? Would the mission continue indefinitely?)

Spoiler:
Mission 2 is where the campaign redeems itself. The gameplay was pretty standard stuff, and honestly, that's a good thing. After the disorganization of the first mission, a simple escort mission was welcome. The story elements, however, were very well-done. The implications for ST:R and Blue Planet are both neat, Iota 1 became an intriguing character out of nowhere, I really want to know what the deal with the phasing node is, etc., etc. I do want to point out, though, that if the player follows Intelligence 3 too closely, and turns back immediately when ordered, they'll miss the phasing node message. That's pretty suboptimal.

I don't want to sound like too much of a broken record, but mission 2 needs more dialogue. In particular, Theta 1's message about the Idun jamming sensors should really have been followed up on. Also, "some kind/sort of" is an extraordinarily weak phrase; repeating it in so many messages is a tonal disaster. The gimmick where the jamming doesn't shut off properly had me rolling my eyes - yes, I can understand why intel spooks would have that ability, but implementing it so badly strains plausibility to the breaking point. That said, the jamming does do a lot for the mission's intrigue, so I can see where that's coming from.



Well, that's my review, such as it is. Try not to take it too harshly - there's definitely potential, and I absolutely admire the story, especially in the second mission. Oh, and just out of curiosity,
Spoiler:
is there any deeper significance to the HOL freighters
?




EDIT: As for the support ship in mission 2... You can detect a support ship dying with when-argument, if that helps.

Code: [Select]
( when-argument
    ( any-of "Support 1" "Support 2" "Support 3" "Support 4" "Support 5" )
    ( is-destroyed-delay "<argument>" 0 )
    ( invalidate-argument "<argument>" )
    ( set-support-ship <appropriate arguments to disable further support ships> )
    ( send-message "#Command" "support dead oh noes" )
)
Title: Re: RELEASE: Legion's Demise- a playable FS2 Intro!
Post by: woutersmits on December 19, 2017, 06:26:00 am
of was hun iv e besteld with 2 cruiser lost the 2nd mission is protect mission iets maken dure you meet the transports its good to gaurd but none fall and you win it but then i thought the story continues but its enjoyble
but afther the escape return to base nothing more
Title: Re: RELEASE: Legion's Demise- a playable FS2 Intro!
Post by: DefCynodont119 on December 19, 2017, 10:07:56 pm
Thanks for the feedback!


First off,
You defiantly missed a few dozen messages, and the thing with the mission having to be time-stepped to be finished, should NOT have happened. The mission force-ends after a little over 20 minutes, so unless you were accidentally ignoring a jump-out objective- something is wrong. I never had that happen in testing before. Can you tell me more details? what was the health of the Barbatos at? did the Anhur jump out? What build?

I've actually had a proofreader go over the mod, but finding a good proofreader is dang-near impossible.  :blah: If you are offering/think you an do it, please PM me.

About the first mission:
Spoiler:
This was the first mission I ever made, (aside from the walkthough) so it was bound to be imperfect, :rolleyes:

The idea of the mission is that the player has more then one means to complete each objective, and tons of side goals, sort of like "Her Finest Hour".
The other thing about this mission, is that it was made to follow the FS2 intro, even if it's somewhat inconvenient to the gameplay, I will look into adding more messages tho. But do to limitations with the AI I can't make the bombers do anything other then sit and go pew-pew.

mission two:
Spoiler:
I was actually worried that this would be a weakpoint, but you have alleviated my concerns!  :) good to know this mission was liked!

About the players sensors not turning back on correctly: The plot demanded that Iota 1's sensors stay down longer then the other ships,
Making the players fighter reboot due to damage was the only way I could think of doing that, the thing is; your wingmen/cruisers need to be able to use their missiles, so I can't have the jamming stay on longer without either making a plothole (by letting them fire anyway) or braking mission balance. But if the effect only lasts for the time the jamming stops, then the players sensors will be back on by the time they fly back, so there would be no point in having it.

Oddly enough, more then one tester that I gave this to never followed Intel-3 despite being instructed to, because they assumed it would be killed by plot and thus did not bother protecting it,   :doubt: :lol: So I can't force the player to go to the Idun or to find the phasing node, I can however delay the arrival of the Shivans by a few seconds so the player's more likely to get the node message if that's what you mean.


I'm glad you liked the story! the
Spoiler:
ST:R and Blue planet
connections are definitely there! And the
Spoiler:
Mission 2 Failure debrief
is much more revealing!
Title: Re: RELEASE: Legion's Demise- a playable FS2 Intro!
Post by: rubixcube on December 21, 2017, 01:53:05 am
I'll give this a try sometime tomorrow, nice choice of subject to base your first campaign around, I'm surprised nobody did this yet.
Title: Re: RELEASE: Legion's Demise- a playable FS2 Intro!
Post by: Colonol Dekker on December 24, 2017, 05:04:26 am
There was an actual playable FS1 intro way back when.   
Title: Re: RELEASE: Legion's Demise- a playable FS2 Intro!
Post by: woutersmits on December 24, 2017, 06:57:39 am
coorect i expacted that you play through cutscenes campaigns it will be nice
but thats not so easy as i thought
Title: Re: RELEASE: Legion's Demise- a playable FS2 Intro!
Post by: Snarks on December 31, 2017, 05:43:37 am
Cool idea for a mission. I'll check it out.
Title: Re: RELEASE: Legion's Demise- a playable FS2 Intro!
Post by: Rhymes on December 31, 2017, 10:03:05 am
There was an actual playable FS1 intro way back when.   

Goober made a single mission out of it--it's in the fsoinstaller download as Ross128.
Title: Re: RELEASE: Legion's Demise- a playable FS2 Intro!
Post by: DefCynodont119 on January 14, 2018, 02:44:00 pm
So any new reviews? I still want some input before I do any updates.
Title: Re: RELEASE: Legion's Demise- a playable FS2 Intro!
Post by: xenocartographer on January 14, 2018, 03:44:51 pm
You've already seen my review, but I just wanted to say, I'd be down for proofreading, if you'd like that.
Title: Re: RELEASE: Legion's Demise- a playable FS2 Intro!
Post by: DefCynodont119 on January 14, 2018, 04:20:37 pm
You've already seen my review, but I just wanted to say, I'd be down for proofreading, if you'd like that.

Sending PM soon. . .  ;)
Title: Re: RELEASE: Legion's Demise- a playable FS2 Intro!
Post by: MC_Kejml on March 31, 2018, 01:24:21 pm
Hey DefCynodont, I have just finished your campaign and man, did I like it. I played it on hard; the thing about the first mission is that it is a working BoE where you can both enjoy the "huge battle atmosphere", but you also have an influence of how it turns out.  I love well-made BoEs which neither depend on you almost solely (Delenda Est), nor leave you a useless peon in the overall chaos. I played it about 16 times and after 14 years of playing FS2, I finally learned to use the "J" key. :D I am kind of disappointed you can't save all the cruisers (the Elko dies pretty fast), but that is a minor quib.

The second mission was less immersive, although I have enjoyed
Spoiler:
the phasing node and the implications on BP and Silent threat
. I am looking forward to more missions from you; if this really was your first, then good job.

Pretty cool seeing another SCP Foundation fan around here, too!
Title: Re: RELEASE: Legion's Demise- a playable FS2 Intro!
Post by: DefCynodont119 on March 31, 2018, 04:16:51 pm
Hey DefCynodont, I have just finished your campaign and man, did I like it. I played it on hard; the thing about the first mission is that it is a working BoE where you can both enjoy the "huge battle atmosphere", but you also have an influence of how it turns out.  I love well-made BoEs which neither depend on you almost solely (Delenda Est), nor leave you a useless peon in the overall chaos. I played it about 16 times and after 14 years of playing FS2, I finally learned to use the "J" key. :D I am kind of disappointed you can't save all the cruisers (the Elko dies pretty fast), but that is a minor quib.

The second mission was less immersive, although I have enjoyed
Spoiler:
the phasing node and the implications on BP and Silent threat
. I am looking forward to more missions from you; if this really was your first, then good job.

Pretty cool seeing another SCP Foundation fan around here, too!

Glad You liked it!  :nod:  I actually remade the main mission from scratch 2 or 3 times during development, so you could say it was and wasn't my first.  :lol: 
I only did so once or twice but It should be possible to save every ship on very easy, but you have to go out of your way and ignore all other objectives to do it.

Sorry if my writing/spelling was sub-par at any point, (and I know it was lol) I will patch that once I get everything set up.

Spoiler:
The New Intel entry (if you haven't read it) and the 2nd Mission's failure debriefing have more plot stuff as well. hint hint.


I have lots of mission ideas still floating around, but I tend to dream a little too big sometimes, hehe, I will make new missions at some point don't you worry.

Thanks!
Title: Re: RELEASE: Legion's Demise- a playable FS2 Intro!
Post by: Goober5000 on April 19, 2018, 11:44:14 pm
Finally made time to play this.  Good work!  A fun set of two missions, and I was quite looking forward to comparing this vision of how the intro might look play in-game to my vision.

Xenocartographer said a lot of what I wanted to say, but I'll add in my two cents.


The Good

The first mission did a good job at fleshing out the intro cutscene.  Story-wise, the fleet engagement felt meaningful, and the player had some tasks to accomplish instead of just sitting there and watching things happen.  And I loved the very first clip before the action starts.  You did a great job of actually matching up that shot with the cutscene.

It was fun to see the excerpts from the FS Reference Bible and the FSPort tech entries for the Railgun and Prometheus A used in the briefing.

The second mission was quite imaginative.  I liked the subterfuge of the GTSC Idun and the phasing node, and was curious what that was supposed to connect to in the larger FreeSpace universe.  Also it's always a pleasure to see ST:R references.

I liked seeing the two new tech entries, and props for mentioning them in the debriefing, otherwise I wouldn't have known to check.  The first entry provided some interesting depth to the second mission, but unfortunately left the Idun a loose end.

It's nice to see some less common mission concepts like sniping the HOL cargo without actually attacking the convoy.  This is particularly commendable for a beginning FREDder.

I assume the GT Intelligence 1, GT Intelligence 2, and GT Intelligence 3 ships are a nod to the Avenging Angels mission in FS1.  Similarly, I assume the Juggernath is a nod to the FS1 prototype mission that Selectah discovered.


The Bad

The missions were pretty busy.  There was a lot of stuff going on simultaneously which could have easily been taken out with no impact on gameplay -- the Karnak evacuation in the first mission and the HOL attack in the second missions, to give two examples.

In the first mission, it was very difficult to keep track of what was going on.  Despite the briefing's emphasis on strategy, I didn't do much other than order my wingmen to attack the Shivan cruisers.  In fact, I was kept occupied for several minutes before getting a chance to deploy the virtual nav buoy, only to find out that I no longer needed to deploy the buoy because Intelligence had gone ahead and done the rendezvous without me.  Similarly, the escape pod sequence happened entirely without my involvement.  And although I tried to coordinate an attack on the Barbatos using what little remained of my forces at that point, we could neither destroy nor disable it and it managed to escape.

The second mission, while great story-wise, was badly balanced.  The HOL attack was a little too much, and it was all I could do to fight off all the Shivans more or less single-handedly.  I lost the Juggernath and the Thylacine made the rendezvous at 5% hull integrity, and that only by the skin of its teeth because I forced all the enemy fighters to attack me instead of it.

I didn't get the supposed Blue Planet references, though it's been a while since I played BP.  Was the loose end of the GTSC Idun a reference to BP?


The Ugly

So many spelling errors...


I'll give this a try sometime tomorrow, nice choice of subject to base your first campaign around, I'm surprised nobody did this yet.

Have you played Deneb III? ;)