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General FreeSpace => FreeSpace Discussion => Topic started by: azile0 on June 15, 2009, 06:58:26 pm

Title: Some things I discovered while playing Freespace.
Post by: azile0 on June 15, 2009, 06:58:26 pm
So- most of you already know of the things I'm going to say. But they're new to me.

Pitching and yawing. Depending on your ship, this can save your life. In a compact ship like a Herc 1, this won't help much, because the hitbox is so centralized. But on, say, a Ulysses, or Athena, the hitbox moves so dramatically, most enemy shots go right past you. Saved my arse when flying away from cap turrets.

In the intro movie, I just noticed that it's the Hades' wreck. After playing through ST and ST:R, I recognize it.  :lol:

I put two Sathanes against two Hecates and three Deimos ships. Both Sathanes suffered less than 20% damage. And all the Terran ships were flanking the Shivans. :|

And I'm off like a light, into the night!
Title: Re: Some things I discovered while playing Freespace.
Post by: Blue Lion on June 15, 2009, 10:06:24 pm
Yea I didn't know what the wreck was because I never played ST so it just looked like rubble to me.
Title: Re: Some things I discovered while playing Freespace.
Post by: Androgeos Exeunt on June 16, 2009, 03:42:08 am
Pitching and yawing. Depending on your ship, this can save your life. In a compact ship like a Herc 1, this won't help much, because the hitbox is so centralized. But on, say, a Ulysses, or Athena, the hitbox moves so dramatically, most enemy shots go right past you. Saved my arse when flying away from cap turrets.

I know this, but I tend to think of the hit box as my screen size, so it makes little difference if I flew a Ulysses or Pegasus in battle. :lol:


In the intro movie, I just noticed that it's the Hades' wreck. After playing through ST and ST:R, I recognize it.  :lol:

That took me three and two-third years to figure out. :p


I put two Sathanes against two Hecates and three Deimos ships. Both Sathanes suffered less than 20% damage. And all the Terran ships were flanking the Shivans. :|

If the Terran ships were obliterated, it's because of the rear-facing LReds on both Shivan juggernauts. One LRed alone is a serious enough threat to even the GVD Hatshepsut.


And I'm off like a light, into the night!

That was me hitting you with an LRABeam. :drevil:
Title: Re: Some things I discovered while playing Freespace.
Post by: azile0 on June 16, 2009, 06:57:18 pm
Something else...

If you fly inside a Karnak, and blow up the reactor and stay inside when it explodes, you pong around the inside like a rubber ball. Alternatively, if you're in one of the exhaust tunnels in the Karnak, you get fired like a cannon. I'm going to try and stuff an Aeolus in there and see what happens.
Title: Re: Some things I discovered while playing Freespace.
Post by: ssmit132 on June 16, 2009, 08:36:38 pm
Really? I would try that if the HTL Karnak didn't cause my computer to choke/slow to a crawl.
Title: Re: Some things I discovered while playing Freespace.
Post by: Androgeos Exeunt on June 17, 2009, 12:33:22 pm
I'm going to try and stuff an Aeolus in there...

The entryway's wide enough to fit an Aeolus? :wtf:
Title: Re: Some things I discovered while playing Freespace.
Post by: Blue Lion on June 17, 2009, 06:35:35 pm
Isn't an Aeolus like 6 feet wide?
Title: Re: Some things I discovered while playing Freespace.
Post by: Kolgena on June 17, 2009, 07:03:57 pm
Judging by its size compared to fighters, I'd have to say that it's probably closer to 60 meters wide.

However, if you manage it, I'd love to see a vid of that.
Title: Re: Some things I discovered while playing Freespace.
Post by: jkalltheway on June 18, 2009, 11:19:35 am
Aside from the subtle sexual references in this thread, i've noticed that sometimes i wish that when ships crash into each other they explode.
Title: Re: Some things I discovered while playing Freespace.
Post by: Androgeos Exeunt on June 18, 2009, 11:47:50 am
Aside from the subtle sexual references in this thread...

There are no sexual references. You must be dreaming. :p

Or I'm oblivious. :D

...sometimes i wish that when ships crash into each other they explode.

It would be more realistic if they did ... in the same sense as DoDonPachi Daioujou has gameplay similar to a real one-against-all situation.
Title: Re: Some things I discovered while playing Freespace.
Post by: azile0 on June 18, 2009, 04:03:40 pm
I'm still running a pretty crappy computer. FRAPS takes me below 10 fps. I managed to get an Orion to jump INTO that hole in an Arcadia. They both blew up because I gave the Orion kamikaze orders and a special explosion. :D
Title: Re: Some things I discovered while playing Freespace.
Post by: jkalltheway on June 18, 2009, 08:25:14 pm
Maybe all this talk about stuffing things into entryways is just getting to me...
Title: Re: Some things I discovered while playing Freespace.
Post by: azile0 on June 18, 2009, 11:09:01 pm
Hush. I found a grammar error (maybe?) in the main campaign. The Debriefing to "The Sixth Wonder" the debriefer says, "An historic moment..." Well, shouldn't that just be "A historic moment..."?
Title: Re: Some things I discovered while playing Freespace.
Post by: ssmit132 on June 19, 2009, 01:26:08 am
'a/an' and words starting with 'h' are ambiguous, as far as I know.
Title: Re: Some things I discovered while playing Freespace.
Post by: Darius on June 19, 2009, 01:40:34 am
An historic is correct.
Title: Re: Some things I discovered while playing Freespace.
Post by: Killer Whale on June 19, 2009, 06:46:27 am
... sometimes i wish that when ships crash into each other they explode.
I'd like that, just multiply all density numbers by five or something. I could probably do it if I could be bothered.
Title: Re: Some things I discovered while playing Freespace.
Post by: redsniper on June 19, 2009, 10:45:42 am
Noooo, then it'd be like Tie Fighter, and if you've played that you'd know it's a real pain to die just by brushing up against a capship or station or whatever.
Title: Re: Some things I discovered while playing Freespace.
Post by: jkalltheway on June 19, 2009, 01:30:57 pm
Oh and is it possible to block a helios with your ship? if not, then i've just noticed that too.
Title: Re: Some things I discovered while playing Freespace.
Post by: mxlm on June 19, 2009, 06:49:07 pm
Noooo, then it'd be like Tie Fighter, and if you've played that you'd know it's a real pain to die just by brushing up against a capship or station or whatever.

IME, collisions are geometrically more frequent in FS than in the TIE and X-Wing games. Which is probably why they aren't so damaging.
Title: Re: Some things I discovered while playing Freespace.
Post by: Spoon on June 19, 2009, 07:21:52 pm
Oh and is it possible to block a helios with your ship? if not, then i've just noticed that too.
If you gave me a dollar for every time I collided with a Helios...
Title: Re: Some things I discovered while playing Freespace.
Post by: Goober5000 on June 19, 2009, 09:51:40 pm
An historic is correct.
Depends on how you pronounce "historic".
Title: Re: Some things I discovered while playing Freespace.
Post by: Killer Whale on June 20, 2009, 02:57:27 am
I remember chasing down bombs once, I collided with one. I've veered off as soon as I get to close ever since. Do they ram into your fighter like a ship if you ram them or do they simply wipe your shield out a lot?
Title: Re: Some things I discovered while playing Freespace.
Post by: Androgeos Exeunt on June 20, 2009, 05:51:46 am
Bombs don't seem to work very well against small ships. Presuming that it actually manages to find its target, the ship in question will only have its rear shield quadrant depleted if it's fast enough.
Title: Re: Some things I discovered while playing Freespace.
Post by: Killer Whale on June 20, 2009, 06:27:38 am
No I meant that I flew into the bomb.
Title: Re: Some things I discovered while playing Freespace.
Post by: Androgeos Exeunt on June 20, 2009, 10:34:23 am
Ooh, ow. That's a different matter then. :ick:

Speaking of flying into bombs, is it possible to actually kill an enemy fighter by shooting a warhead at it during a head-on pass?
Title: Re: Some things I discovered while playing Freespace.
Post by: Galemp on June 20, 2009, 11:24:36 am
Noooo, then it'd be like Tie Fighter, and if you've played that you'd know it's a real pain to die just by brushing up against a capship or station or whatever.

Not to mention that TIE Fighter had, you know, respawns.

Speaking of flying into bombs, is it possible to actually kill an enemy fighter by shooting a warhead at it during a head-on pass?

Absolutely. One of my favorite games when playing the Gauntlets is to disable the enemy fighters, then launch bombs at them and imagine them watching helplessly as the slowest, fattest, most immanouverable warhead in the game comes lumbering towards them.
Title: Re: Some things I discovered while playing Freespace.
Post by: Goober5000 on June 20, 2009, 12:51:58 pm
Absolutely. One of my favorite games when playing the Gauntlets is to disable the enemy fighters, then launch bombs at them and imagine them watching helplessly as the slowest, fattest, most immanouverable warhead in the game comes lumbering towards them.
Heh heh heh.  Sounds like that would be fun to try in multi. :D
Title: Re: Some things I discovered while playing Freespace.
Post by: colecampbell666 on June 20, 2009, 12:59:28 pm
Kind of hard considering that people in multi are actually people. I'm trying that next game, should go well with my Sekhmet.
Title: Re: Some things I discovered while playing Freespace.
Post by: Snail on June 20, 2009, 01:11:16 pm
Absolutely. One of my favorite games when playing the Gauntlets is to disable the enemy fighters, then launch bombs at them and imagine them watching helplessly as the slowest, fattest, most immanouverable warhead in the game comes lumbering towards them.
Heh heh heh.  Sounds like that would be fun to try in multi. :D
I'd take away all your fun by pressing Shift+End.
Title: Re: Some things I discovered while playing Freespace.
Post by: Androgeos Exeunt on June 20, 2009, 08:02:29 pm
I'd take away all your fun by pressing Shift+End.

Self-destruct?
Title: Re: Some things I discovered while playing Freespace.
Post by: colecampbell666 on June 20, 2009, 09:05:56 pm
Yup.
Title: Re: Some things I discovered while playing Freespace.
Post by: Blue Lion on June 20, 2009, 09:18:08 pm
Most people self destruct when they're disabled like that.
Title: Re: Some things I discovered while playing Freespace.
Post by: redsniper on June 22, 2009, 12:14:25 pm
Not to mention that TIE Fighter had, you know, respawns.
:wtf:

Tie Fighter, not XvT.
Title: Re: Some things I discovered while playing Freespace.
Post by: Renegade Paladin on June 24, 2009, 12:41:37 pm
I've noticed that a direct hit from a Cyclops won't kill a Nahema bomber.  Found that out quite by accident; I had the wrong missile bay selected, and was wondering why it was taking my Tornadoes so long to achieve aspect lock.   :lol:
Title: Re: Some things I discovered while playing Freespace.
Post by: Polpolion on June 24, 2009, 09:58:50 pm
I remember playing a shivan gauntlet with... I think it was snail and cobra, a long time ago. Both of them were in Ursas and I was in an Enrynes or Perseus or something, and half the match was them telling me "Don't kill it, don't kill it - I want to shoot it with my Helios!" Course, that's what happens when you try to do that with Manticores.

I don't think I'd be able to get a lock on any non-bomber closer than 600 or so meters with a bomb, much less hit anything that's trying to maneuver. And I tend to die when I charge enemy fighters head on in bombers.
Title: Re: Some things I discovered while playing Freespace.
Post by: Renegade Paladin on June 25, 2009, 12:03:59 am
You'll never, ever get a lock on a fighter with a Helios; a Cyclops can do it if you manage to keep it in sight long enough, but if it's maneuvering, the bomb won't hit.  I only (accidentally) pulled it off because the Nahema was on a bombing run and not jinking. 
Title: Re: Some things I discovered while playing Freespace.
Post by: Droid803 on June 25, 2009, 12:05:07 am
You could disable the fighter.
Then you can hit it with whatever.

But still, bombs do very very little shield damage, so they rarely kill fighters, forget bombers.
If you up the shield damage ratio in the tables, bombs become a whole lot more lethal if a fighter is caught in the shockwave.
Title: Re: Some things I discovered while playing Freespace.
Post by: Androgeos Exeunt on June 25, 2009, 12:19:44 am
You mean a la Blue Planet? :drevil:
Title: Re: Some things I discovered while playing Freespace.
Post by: eliex on June 25, 2009, 12:23:00 am
Precisely.
Title: Re: Some things I discovered while playing Freespace.
Post by: Dragon on June 25, 2009, 12:43:01 am
In BP (and in INF when it came to Shivan Ultra Bombs) it was possible to eliminate a bomber wing simply by shooting warhead just after it left launch tube.
Retail warheads have much lowered shield damage though.
Title: Re: Some things I discovered while playing Freespace.
Post by: eliex on June 25, 2009, 01:13:38 am
Yeah, it has been a tactic I now always use when it comes to replaying BP; Forced Entry in particular.  :nod:
In INF, Shivan Ultra Bombs were odd in the sense that the AI fires the bomb at the maximum range - 3000m IIRC so they never really kill their intended target.
Title: Re: Some things I discovered while playing Freespace.
Post by: Dragon on June 25, 2009, 01:30:11 am
Quite fortunately ,a few of those was enough to blow up any target smaller than Sathanas ,and even for Sathanas you wouldn't need much of them.
The Icalus you was defending in "El Diablo" never stood a chance of survivng more then five hits ,not to mention that there was other ships firing on it ,so it really could take around three.
Title: Re: Some things I discovered while playing Freespace.
Post by: eliex on June 25, 2009, 04:32:05 am
This is another example of Inferno overpowering a ship's weapons; it's one of the main criticisms from the FSWiki.
However, have you ever tried out the secondary weapon "Armageddon"? You need to cheat to obtain it but upon impact that bomb really creates a bang.
Title: Re: Some things I discovered while playing Freespace.
Post by: ssmit132 on June 25, 2009, 05:12:04 am
It also flings smaller targets at a high rate of speed towards you. So look out if you use them on cruisers and the like. :p