[Kobrar44]

I read most of the material in the dreamscape

At this release I decided to investigate the plot carefully, which I usually don't do. Good choice, since the plot was very developed here, so I decided to read all this crap. To be honest, I found only the dialogs with Thorn as interesting, so I skipped the last dreamscape mission. Also, dreamscape missions have a terrible soundtrack, so I disabled music for them. And discovered a bug, where when you change music to 1 in F2, go back to the mission and press any F1-4 and back to mission again, music will turn on itself, and you will have to change it to >1 in F2 and back to 1 again to turn  the crap off. Forgot to turn it back on after 2nd or 3rd dreamscape and didn't turn it on until Her Finest Hour  And realised music there wasn't too great either.


I released the Gefs in 'Nothing is True'

Because why not? My attitude is to make as many allies as possible. Ungrateful fuuuers can always be dealt with later


I don't think the Ridwan pilots had to die

Don't like killing my own ppl when I am actually losing a war.


Those wingmen were not my favorite people

Thorn was the best, for stated reason.


I had a horrible time on the assassination

Well, I read the briefing carefully, but not enought it appears. It may be one of these few missions I'll give a replay.


I used the decoy transport during the assassination

Several times. Last one obviously succeeded 


I destroyed the Gef reactor in 'One Future'

Killed McDuff and cruisers, summoned transport when shooting a reactor, lost a transport and destroyed reactor. Someone survives in my Blue Planet? NO. Well, in fact, yes for most cases. But not when I wield the firepower on the field 


'One Future' didn't change my earlier decision about the Gef pilots

Umm, maybe not paying enough attention here because I don't know what are you talking about here, but since I haven't changed my mind, I guess no! But won't be giving a replay on this one.


I loved flying the Custos-X

Shooting the crap out of colossal metal bricks has a high level of fun indeed, despite feeling overpowered.


I was overwhelmed by 'Her Finest Hour'

Replayed it few times before developed some strategy. I guess its good. Ordered wingmen to shoot mjolnirs and radars, could kill auroras with them too[immortal wingmen FTW], took down transports with artillery, got artillery to finish off the fight, because tactical strike didn't seem to be effective. Whole mission[and act] didn't feel like winning a war like act 2 did. Something was wrong. Also, Solaris-class brick in my mission? HOW?


I took the Carthage's surrender

Because I'm a good person!


I had no trouble with the turret placement in 'Eyes in the Storm'

AND HAD FUN! I didn't get it on the first time, but succeeded the second one.


I wasn't bothered by 'Universal Truth'

Mission was kind of MEH, yeah, the plot was there, but who did you try to what exactly? It felt a little trash.


I'm uncomfortable with the Fedayeen

It's simply part of the plot I actually don't like. Well, it is a big part of the plot :/


I have supported the UEF, and still do

I like Steve's ships too much to support GTVA I guess.


Humanity is doomed!

I has it to be doomed! If it's not doomed in BP, I'll make my own mod where it finally is!

[LordPomposity]

I had some technical issues running Act 3

Noemi Ladrunk was seeing double in her HUD until I changed resolutions.

The Vikrant and Toreador stop accepting new targets a few minutes into "Her Finest Hour".

While playing Eyes in the Storm, I got messages about incoming torpedoes and stealth fighters, but they never showed up before I jumped. I also got two RTB directives and two largely-redundant debriefing stages.

I read most of the material in the dreamscape

Including button-mashing to get most of the one-liners. Never figured anything out with the jump gates, though.

I sanitized the Gefs in 'Nothing is True'

Stakes were too high to consider anything else.

I don't think the Ridwan pilots had to die

More accurately, I think al-Da'wa's conjecture on how the GTVA would interpret UEF fighter debris in the middle of their convoy wreckage was a little optimistic, and the GTVA's compliance was a little convenient. I would think letting them jump out would pose less of a threat to operational security than letting the GTVA find the debris and hoping that they come to the conclusion I want them to.

Vidaura was my favorite wingman

But not by much, and only because Laporte told me to think it. All the wingmen were well-executed, but I didn't connect to them the way I did to the Navajas and Wargods.

I had no trouble pulling off the assassination
I used the decoy transport during the assassination

First try. Disabled it with Shrikes and charged in with Gattlers blazing, then called in the decoy and pressed the magic button that makes physics work (and turns off the ship).

I captured the Gef habitat in 'One Future'

Only after blowing up my transport with my own turrets and restarting.

'One Future' didn't change my earlier decision about the Gef pilots

Nope. Glad they weren't there to give me any trouble.

I loved flying the Custos-X

Yep! The combination of pilot-triggered weaponry and script-controlled turrets worked really well.

I adapted well to 'Her Finest Hour'

I was intimidated by the briefing (which was true of every briefing in Tenebra ), but it all worked out pretty easily in play.

I took the Carthage's surrender

I wanted to capture the Carthage's technology, and I like Lopez. Blowing the Carthage up would also have set a horrible model for the GTVA to follow with UEF forces after the GTVA won the war, which still looked pretty likely as of "Her Finest Hour".

I had no trouble with the turret placement in 'Eyes in the Storm'

Well, the interface was a little jerky, but no real problems.

I wasn't bothered by 'Universal Truth'

I have the unfortunate tendency to laugh whenever a game, book, movie, or whatever tries to scare me. This makes playing/reading/watching many of them kind of pointless. Fortunately, creeping out the player was strictly secondary to "Universal Truth"'s purpose.

I met the face of madness in 'Universal Truth'

The first time I played through, I ran away every time I saw a subspace point form in the stage with the AoA fleet, thinking more Vishnans were jumping in. This rather inevitably resulted in me going insane.

I recognize the necessity of the Fedayeen

None of the atrocities they committed in Tenebra (at least the way I played it) were really anything special in comparison to how war is typically fought. When your enemy has established that nuking civilian cities is cool, breaking a guarantee of safety for six ecoterrorists doesn't cost you the moral high ground.

I have supported the UEF, and still do

The GTVA's real reason for going to war is considerably more legitimate than any of the ones presented in previous installments of BP, but not enough to win me over to their cause.

Humanity has a chance!

lol dunno

[Dark Hunter]

I had some technical issues running Act 3

Just one: a CTD when I blew up an Aries transport in "Eyes in the Storm" after it had docked with the platform.

I read most of the material in the dreamscape

Hell yes, I read the material! Why anyone would skip is beyond me.

I sanitized the Gefs in 'Nothing is True'

They knew too much. Simple as that. Personally, I would've flown the mission without involving them at all, but that choice wasn't available.

I believed the Ridwan pilots had to die

See above: they knew too much. Unfortunate, but that's Black Ops for you.

Those wingmen were not my favorite people

None of them really stood out to me. I think they were good characters, but I had trouble telling them apart. Maybe on subsequent playthroughs this will change (when I pay more attention to their dialogues).

I had no trouble pulling off the assassination

First try. Just be careful and have a plan and it's no problem.

I pulled that assassination off with NO ITEMS

MWAHAHAHA! 
Actually somehow managed to not take a hit on the way out too. I have no idea how that happened.

I captured the Gef habitat in 'One Future'

Seemed the thing to do. Kill of the radical leader and let the more rational minds among the populace have a chance to come to prominence.

'One Future' didn't change my earlier decision about the Gef pilots

Once again, they knew too much. The level of sympathy I had with them is irrelevant.

I loved flying the Custos-X

That was interesting.

I was overwhelmed by 'Her Finest Hour'

At first, yes. Took me a few trial-and-error runs to get the hang of it.

I adapted well to 'Her Finest Hour'

Once I stopped being an idiot and paid attention.

I took the Carthage's surrender

There are certain lines you do not cross. And Lopez isn't a bad person.

I summoned the Toutatis in 'Her Finest Hour'

MOAR NUKE SPAM!

Placing turrets was tricky during 'Eyes in the Storm'

Those top-down controls were clunky. Kudos on the programming to pull that off (seriously, that was impressive), but it's an interface I'd rather not see again.

I wasn't bothered by 'Universal Truth'

I've seen End of Evangelion, RahXephon, and played through Sync. It'll take more than that.

I met the face of madness in 'Universal Truth'

I escaped 'Universal Truth' with my mind intact

I'm not entire sure, actually. That's how mind screw-y that mission is.

I found the laughing man in 'Universal Truth'

Wait, seriously? As in, The Laughing Man? He's in there!?

I recognize the necessity of the Fedayeen

I'm uncomfortable with the Fedayeen

Not gonna lie, those guys are rather freaky. But an excellent organization to introduce into a story. I'm... split on whether or not they're necessary.

I support the UEF
I support the GTVA

I reject your binary options! There is always another choice.

Humanity has a chance!

The fact that we're so integral to the plans of the Shivans and Vishnans gives us power. Maybe we do not fully understand it yet, but that they're interested at all is power.

[Drogoth]

I missed the fact that I had to click multiple things, so now my survey only has one answer.

Either way, I went through all the dialogue in the dream space, but my only suggestion would be to let us cycle through targets and fire to talk to them regardless of distance. It was kind of aggravating to have to fly to the more distant ones.

I frequently increased game speed to close the distance out of annoyance.

That being said the story elements there were awesome! Top notch.

[bigchunk1]

Is this for real?

[General Battuta]

Is this for real?

what 

[bigchunk1]

I mean act 3, I'm guna download it and find out if this is for realz.

[General Battuta]

I mean act 3, I'm guna download it and find out if this is for realz.

Yes it is, why would you click on the thread titled 'BIG spoilers' though!

[LordPomposity]

I mean act 3, I'm guna download it and find out if this is for realz.

Yes it is, why would you click on the thread titled 'BIG spoilers' though!

because snape kills steele and we find out that the atreus is named after his sled

and then

rise.ogg

BLUE PLANET
WAR IN HEAVEN

aney.ogg

[bigchunk1]

Luckily, I didn't read anything before posting. 

[Flak]

I had some technical issues running Act 3
i had some crash when running the last mission, but I completed it.

I don't think the Ridwan pilots had to die

I released the Gefs in 'Nothing is True'
Because I am not one who like to pull back my promise

Those wingmen were not my favorite people
I still prefer Admiral Calder

I had no trouble pulling off the assassination
I finished it in just 2 restarts

I used the decoy transport during the assassination
Just a distraction for escaping

I captured the Gef habitat in 'One Future'

'One Future' didn't change my earlier decision about the Gef pilots
It's fine, I have a lot of fun with the Custos and at least I give those Gef pilots a honorable death in battle.

I had no trouble with the turret placement in 'Eyes in the Storm'

I loved flying the Custos-X

I adapted well to 'Her Finest Hour'
Took me a lot of tries, and another restart to get the best possible outcome, but I made it. I didn't call the Toutatis because those Narayanas are more than enough with the Carthage disabled.

I took the Carthage's surrender
As if there isn't too much blood already

'Universal Truth' really freaked me out
I almost went mad from the revelation

I met the face of madness in 'Universal Truth'

I recognize the necessity of the Fedayeen

They are all anti villains so I don't know which side to choose

Humanity has a chance

[aeon48m]

I had no technical issues running Act 3

I released the Gefs in 'Nothing is True'
Next time, I'll take the kill them option and see what happens.

I don't think the Ridwan pilots had to die

Those wingmen were not my favorite people
Not exactly because of the wingmen being bad or unlikable, but because I did not really pay much attention to the wingmen and thus really did not have much idea of who they were, therefore I am unable to pick which one is my favorite.

I had a horrible time on the assassination
About six tries were needed to finish it, give or take a few.

I hacked a Mjolnir during the assassination

I captured the Gef habitat in 'One Future'
The first time, I failed because of the time limit. The second time, I took the debrief recommendation advice and succeeded.

I loved flying the Custos-X

I adapted well to 'Her Finest Hour'

I took the Carthage's surrender
Mercy run! Next playthrough, I will take all the you are a terrible person options.

Placing turrets was tricky during 'Eyes in the Storm'
The camera and controls were quite finnickety and gimmicky and I did not adapt well to it.

'Universal Truth' really freaked me out
To the point where I had to press escape more than five times and said guys more than I had to.

I escaped 'Universal Truth' with my mind intact

I'm uncomfortable with the Fedayeen

Humanity has a chance!
What can I say, Earth is a nice place. I live there. Would be a shame to have it go kaboom.

[Buckshee Rounds]

Does "the laughing man" refer to a certain someone next to the Yangtze?

I don't see how it can unless I missed something in the hour long search to find him (my god will I feel stupid if he is there).

Incidentally, I've just realised there is an uncanny resemblance between Tachikomas and Shivans.

[TheDemon]

You can get the Toutatis killed by Sekhr? HOW? I must do this.

[LordPomposity]

You can get the Toutatis killed by Sekhr? HOW? I must do this.

Serkr will gank the Toutatis if you have fewer than ten points left, have taken more than 19 casualties, and goofed up so badly that both Narayanas had to withdraw.

[FIZ]

You can get the Toutatis killed by Sekhr? HOW? I must do this.

Serkr will gank the Toutatis if you have fewer than ten points left, have taken more than 19 casualties, and goofed up so badly that both Narayanas had to withdraw.

Hit a pilot when they are down!  Steele punishes mistakes.

[DireWolf]

I had some technical issues running Act 3
At first, serious framerate issues in Icarus and in the first dreamscape, despite having reasonable hardware. Using the new experimental builds and turning off shadows helped immensely. Also, not sure if it was intended or a bug, but when running from Bei's Vishnan friends in Universal truth, the red nebula had some weird artifacts (no problems in the other nebulae in the mission).

I read most of the material in the dreamscape
I ended up flooding my chatlog looking for unique one liners after the main dialogue bits were over (it was worth it. You rolled a two!).

I released the Gefs in 'Nothing is True'
Although a terrible decision considering the nature of the operation, I was annoyed by the grating "we are scum who perform operations of ... extreme sensitivity and which morality is not a concern (but you don't care, since you are a monster)" approach that the Fedayeen had taken in the fiction and dialogue in R2 up to that point. I understood the Fedayeen's purpose, and it makes sense, but the transition from the (relatively) subtle implications of Laporte's instability in R1 to  "YOU ARE A MONSTER" was jarring, and if anything, made the first part of my playthrough a bit unpleasant. I just picked this option to annoy my new superiors, and it appeared to have no real bearing on the outcome of the mission other than to judge how 'soft' you were.

I believed the Ridwan pilots had to die
Without a doubt. These pilots could not been allowed to escape and compromise the operations of the Fedayeen (and in turn, the war). To top it off, the potential disruption the debris could sow among the GTVA's intelligence was an opportunity too big to miss, even if it mean the sacrifice of three good UEF pilots.

Kovacs was my favorite wingman
Kovacs seemed to be the most human of Laporte's wingmen (as opposed to the sneering axe murderer and the collected killer). He really just seemed like a normal (if exceptionally skilled) pilot pulled from the Federation's ranks, but with an  understanding of the stakes at hand while at the same time not being overly melodramatic.

I had no trouble pulling off the assassination
Failed my first two attempts mostly due to shrike stupidity, but the third time was the charm (and even got away with no hits!)

I used the decoy transport during the assassination

I used the sensor flashbang during the assassination

I captured the Gef habitat in 'One Future'
I think even the Fedayeen wouldn't be willing to kill that many non-coms if an alternative was available (which it was).

'One Future' didn't change my earlier decision about the Gef pilots
I don't really see how that mission could have went much differently. Maybe some of the Gef pilots would have surrendered? Either way the Federation ended up with a major nuisance removed, and the GTVA was left with one less major asset.

I loved flying the Custos-X
The purpose of the Custos-X and the whole mission surrounding it seemed a bit ridiculous: A 150 year old radical preacher in a PIRATE ECOTERRORIST SUPERDESTROYER (though I suppose if the Kostadin Cell could maintain a cometary colony with upwards of 100,000 inhabitants they could build a destroyer, although that still doesn't explain where they got the know-how to build Federation mil-spec mass drivers, torpedo launchers and PD turrets when the rest of their forces were using blob turrets and Great war era Fighters, not to mention the ability to fling a several kilometer long asteroid across the Solar system and into Earth) is jeopardizing the Fate of the World, and only you in your experimental ultra-ship can stop him (by destroying the core!). Regardless, these are nitpicks: The mission was brilliantly executed, and the Custos was a joy to fly.

I was overwhelmed by 'Her Finest Hour'
I'm not cut out to be a commander. Lots of options, lots of forces available, but equally many ways for those forces to get killed. It took me a while to realize that forces that reinforcements warped in next to me, but knowing that made the mission considerably easier (as I was able to angle myself towards the Carthage's engine subsystem, making the strike teams' jobs easier). However even after disabling all of the sentry guns, and having my wingmates destroy the Mjolnirs and Electronic warfare units, I ended up with something like 40 fightercraft losses.

I took the Carthage's surrender
There was no point to destroying the Carthage. Capturing it gave the Federation one hell of a bargaining chip: 10,000 GTVA Officers and personnel, and an Admiral. Besides, losing a ship is one thing for GTVA morale, but having it captured would have to be utterly humiliating, showing just how outclassed they had been. Also of note, the dialogue in the following dreamscape mission by one my wingmates (forgot which, pretty sure it wasn't Kovacs though) references me 'taking 10,000 lives' despite having accepted the Carthage's surrender.

Didn't know I could have gotten the Toutatis killed. I just left it alone, figuring the artillery frigates had the situation covered and the destroyer's firepower was best utilized elsewhere.

I had no trouble with the turret placement in 'Eyes in the Storm'
Of all the things I thought might be in R2, I was not expecting tower defense. Loved every bit of it!

'Universal Truth' really freaked me out
Run.

I escaped 'Universal Truth' with my mind intact
One way or another, I'm seeing this through to the end.

I recognize the necessity of the Fedayeen

Humanity has a chance!
I have faith in our favorite mustached monologuer turned Shivan Hyper-intelligence.

[General Battuta]

The purpose of the Custos-X and the whole mission surrounding it seemed a bit ridiculous: A 150 year old radical preacher in a PIRATE ECOTERRORIST SUPERDESTROYER (though I suppose if the Kostadin Cell could maintain a cometary colony with upwards of 100,000 inhabitants they could build a destroyer, although that still doesn't explain where they got the know-how to build Federation mil-spec mass drivers, torpedo launchers and PD turrets when the rest of their forces were using blob turrets and Great war era Fighters, not to mention the ability to fling a several kilometer long asteroid across the Solar system and into Earth) is jeopardizing the Fate of the World, and only you in your experimental ultra-ship can stop him (by destroying the core!). Regardless, these are nitpicks: The mission was brilliantly executed, and the Custos was a joy to fly.

You can find answers to these questions!

The Custos-X is designed to project force in the 'littoral' environment at the edge of the system where larger warships can't effectively plot jumps.

The Morena MacDuff has an extensive tech entry explaining her development!

As explained, uh, somewhere, the Gefs received extensive handouts from Federation Intelligence early in the war in an attempt to lure them into support.

[MatthTheGeek]

They also spent decades raiding Federation convoys, without doubt including military logistics convoys. The mass drivers you see were probably raided and mounted on the warship, not designed by the Gefs. The Ouster torpedoes, IIRC, are Gef-make torpedoes made from raided Fed antimatter.

Also, the rest of the forces use blob turrets, what ? The GEC Ancanma has a mass driver and a ton of PDTs too. And Gef fighters ? They're all mounting UEF military-grade weaponry, usually Vulcans, but ranging as far as UX-Ax and Warhammers.

[DireWolf]

They also spent decades raiding Federation convoys, without doubt including military logistics convoys. The mass drivers you see were probably raided and mounted on the warship, not designed by the Gefs. The Ouster torpedoes, IIRC, are Gef-make torpedoes made from raided Fed antimatter.

Also, the rest of the forces use blob turrets, what ? The GEC Ancanma has a mass driver and a ton of PDTs too. And Gef fighters ? They're all mounting UEF military-grade weaponry, usually Vulcans, but ranging as far as UX-Ax and Warhammers.

All good points, and I didn't notice the Ancammas had mass drivers (by the way, your link goes nowhere). According to the Ouster techroom entry, they have fusion instead of antimatter warheads (which makes even more sense).
Reading the techroom entries clears up most of my questions on the MacDuff and Gaian Effort, but playing the mission for the first time just felt a little contrived. I know it sounds like a poor excuse, but without the proper background the mission feels really out of place IMHO.

As explained, uh, somewhere, the Gefs received extensive handouts from Federation Intelligence early in the war in an attempt to lure them into support.

IIRC, it was mentioned in the dreamscape a few times and by the SOC team inspecting wreckage of the Bellwether convoy.