[Cobra]

New and improved. The Shivans have no choice but to use their Cyclops bombs now.

C2M9

I'm wondering if I should make new waypoints for the the freighters and transports, it's just so funny watching the convoy smash into each other.

Oh, and I still can't resolve the problem where if you're within 500m of the center of the node node and you try to jump out, it aborts, like it should when you're at least 500m away from the center of the node, and the red alert starts. Any suggestions? (oh, and I used never-warp instead of break-warp. )

[karajorma]

I'll take a look into it. Downloading

EDIT : Zip file seems to be corrupted/empty.

[Cobra]

erg. i'll re-upload it.

[EDIT]well, it's not empty, that's for sure.

[EDIT2] Mission re-uploaded. See first post.

[Shade]

Looked it over in FRED, and spotted a few things. In no particular order:

1) Admittedly a very minor nitpick and not one that affects the mission. There's no need that I can see for 4 seperate events to cap waypoint speeds, you can just use 'add operator' to fit all 4 of them into the same event. Makes it easier to get an overview of the events if you later revisit the mission if there are less of them. But really, I guess this one just comes down to personal preference.

2) AI-chase has a tendancy to cause a nasty mess when used for capships. It's preferable to script any capship encounters instead of letting the AI sort it out.

3) I'd also advise against using are-waypoints-done-delay for capital ship, as they sometimes miss them due to poor turning rate and end up circling the same point in space forever. Using a distance check against the last waypoint is safer.

4) Nice to see properly done directives

5) Everything is on a 2d plane. Don't forget that space also goes up and down. Only possible exceptions are the random arrival locations of two wings (which, btw, I was very happy to see... people too often keep them all fixed making things just a bit too predictable on later tries). Even just shifting a few of the civvies a bit up or down would be nice for effect, and would be enough to make it not very noticable.

6) Another minor nitpick. There's no need to turret-free ships unless you locked them previously - They're free by default. It's just beams that need it.

Sorry... I just can't help myself when I see FRED topics

**slinks off, hoping Karajorma doesn't mind the intrusion too much**

[karajorma]

Actually the whole point of the Academy is for people to intrude. It won't work if I have to do everything myself

[Shade]

Yay.

[karajorma]

To be honest the main reason I started the Academy was cause no one ever posted anything about FRED back when I started it. The idea is to have people discussing FRED and passing around tips, tricks and ideas on events and what is good mission design. The more people who join in and playtest the happier I am

[Cobra]

heh. shade, this was originally done in retail FRED, so there may be some discrepancies. when i played through, i found nothing wrong, though i didn't try to break any of the SEXPs. (well, except that annoying never-warp thing. maybe i should take that out.) but i do appreciate the suggestions though. the lock turret things were there from retail because half the time the turrets never worked when i just left it. that was there as a precaution.

tell me, how did the Julius fare?

[EDIT] and bah. i'm never good with the whole "IT'S A 3D PLANE!!!" thing. i did it pretty well in one of my Pathways missions, but i never got around to fixing the 2D problem in this mission.

[karajorma]

Oh, and I still can't resolve the problem where if you're within 500m of the center of the node node and you try to jump out, it aborts, like it should when you're at least 500m away from the center of the node, and the red alert starts. Any suggestions? (oh, and I used never-warp instead of break-warp. )

You haven't put a repeat count on those two events. Not certain why it would cause the problem you describe but it's a vital part of getting things to work.

You also need to add something to the event that allows Alpha to jump that ensures the Julius is alive and has departed via the node. Cause at the moment there is nothing stopping the player heading straight to the node and jumping out.

[TopAce]

Actually the whole point of the Academy is for people to intrude. It won't work if I have to do everything myself

Now that you mention working alone, have I promised you to do something?

[karajorma]

No promises beyond that you'd help the Academy when you were needed

I know you're busy so thanks for the offer