I think the issue I have so far is that the missions feel like the kind of 'puzzle' missions as the old X-Wing games have. In order to beat them, you MUST have foreknowledge of what will happen and order your wingmen or change your course in ways you would not do unless you know what is coming.
I imagine Alphakiller was thinking of Slipping the Noose in his comments about the wingman loadout etc... I agree entirely. There is no way to accomplish this mission unless you behave abnormally. E.g. once the PSI Corps fighters attack, just motor towards the Gibraltar. You have to disable it yourself as your wingmen to an extremely poor job themselves. Meanwhile order, Delta wing to close the GOD sat. If you don't it absolutely instantaneously, you have no chance. There isn't even any dogfighting to do really. Its just a test of if you can hit the right commands at the right second. Whether you are Chuck Yeager or Grandma Moses flying the fighter doesn't matter... :)
The same is true of the PSI Corps shuttle mission, where you have to know exactly which shuttle has the bomb to have any chance of stopping it. I beat this one by scanning all the craft in advance. Once the 'bomb' threat came across, the shuttle instantly turned red and was destroyed by the cruiser.
Likewise again, the 'stop the Narn from killing the Centauri mission.' You have to know to tell your wingmen to protect the centauri ship (which is an EA frieghter, for some reason) or you can't stop the Narn from blowing it. No dogfighting here either, really, since the Narn fighters just fly in a straight line at max speed towards their target.
Hence, I think, the 'gimmick' complaint is justified. Not to bash this campaign, as it has great atmosphere and style, but I agree that this is not ideal mission design. A good test is (IMO), can a skilled pilot beat the mission THE FIRST TIME through, if he is both clever and a good dogfighter.
Thanks for listening.
Completed in roughly four hours of play time. The regular build doesn't like As The Wheel turns, the debug doesn't like the mission right after that. Go figure.
Oh, and I must commend you. Flying the Thunderbolt was a real step up from flying the Aurora and Badger, as it should be. It wasn't like that for R2.
But shouldn't the surface of Shattered Star have been white, not brown?