Pro Tips to make you an Ace!
A collection of pro tips from FreeSpace veterans that will turn any player into an ace. This is a Work in Progress, and feel free to add yours 😊
NB – the tips below refer to retail FS 1 and 2 unless stated otherwise.
INDEX:
1: Before You Play - including game manual, optional hardware
https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=97961.msg1913166#msg1913166
2: Optional Software
https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=97961.msg1913167#msg1913167
3: Useful Settings
https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=97961.msg1913168#msg1913168
4: Cheats and Hidden Extras
https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=97961.msg1913169#msg1913169
5: Gameplay Tps - including the ETS system and advanced flying skills
https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=97961.msg1913170#msg1913170
6: Weapons
https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=97961.msg1913171#msg1913171
7: The Support Ship
https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=97961.msg1913172#msg1913172
8: Combat - General
https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=97961.msg1913173#msg1913173
9: Combat - Against Capital Ships
https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=97961.msg1913174#msg1913174
10: Combat - Escort Missions
https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=97961.msg1913175#msg1913175
11: Further Reading
https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=97961.msg1913411#msg1913411
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Combat - Against Capships
• AAA beams are a huge danger to both yourself and A.I. pilots. Ideally, try to take out a cap ship’s AAA beams from beyond the AAA beams maximum range – which is 1500 meters in most campaigns. Trebs and Maxims are perfect for this.
• Enemy Flack guns are very annoying, especially on bombing runs where they can make it almost impossible to gain missile lock. Again, snipe from a distance where possible.
• Capital ship fired anti-fighter missiles are less of a threat than you might think on most difficulties in most campaigns. Flack and AAA beams should be given higher priority. Thankfully, hardly anyone equips cap ship missile launchers with Trebs.
• Hardly anyone equips cap ship turrets with Maxims either, since this would make it almost impossible to hit them with bombs, and cap ships would defang each other in no time.
• ‘Blob turrets’ on capital ships are almost a zero threat. To easily avoid being hit by them, fly in a zig zag pattern, especially if flying away from one.
• What they are good at however is intercepting bombs, however their low rate of fire can leave them overwhelmed if they are saturated with warheads.
• The blob turrets of freighters, transports and the like are actually more of a threat due to their faster projectile speed and the concentration of them such ships tend to have.
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• Larger vessels, such as destroyers, tend to have proportionally fewer point defences than cruisers, corvettes and frigates. If you can take out some of them on one side it may create a blindspot where its other defences can’t hit you, especially if you are close to its hull.
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• In some campaigns taking out the ships engine subsystem/s will deactivate its weapons as well.
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• If expecting a BoE (Battle of Endor) type mission (i.e one with lots of capships) it is often best to swap the fighters in the other wings you control for bombers, then order them to ‘dogpile’ the enemy capships while you protect them from enemy fighters and defang the capships with Trebs and Maxims.
• If you want them to save their bombs for more important targets, then target the low priority capship and order them to ‘ignore my target’. You can always order them to attack it later once the higher priority threats are dealt with.
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• A capship with its main anti-capital weapons destroyed is no longer a major threat to allied cap ships, and can largely be ignored. Don’t waste time trying to kill it if other capital ships still have their anti-capital ship weapons functional.
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• The ‘threat hierarchy’ to allied capital ships is roughly as follows, in descending order (highest to lowest);
• Main 'Juggernaut grade' anti-capital ship beam weapons (Such as the four main guns on a Sathanas)
• Main ‘Destroyer grade’ anti capital ship beam weapons (Such as the LReds on a Ravana, Demon and Lilith).
• Heavy bombers and their bombs, and torpedoes fired from capital ships.
• Medium ‘corvette grade’ beam weapons.
• Medium bombers and their bombs.
• Light ‘cruiser grade’ beam weapons. (Such as those on a Cain, Rakshasa or confusingly, a Moloch)
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• The Lilith heavy cruiser, due to being armed with a destroyer grade beam weapon is a higher priority threat than the larger but under armed Moloch corvette.
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• Since light cruisers are quite vulnerable to fighter grade weaponry they can be taken out easily by dogpiling them with fighters. If you have three or more wings at your disposal this is often quicker than trying to completely ‘defang’ them first, although you should still try to destroy its beam weapons. (Perhaps defang its beams yourself while the rest of your fighters lay into it in general.)
• Note that due to a bug, the ventral (bottom) AAA of a Rakshasa can shoot through its own hull. (Unless the campaign creator/s have taken the time to fix it for their campaign.)
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• Heatseeker missiles are surprisingly good at taking out capital ship turrets, although you will have to get within AAA range to do so.
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