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FreeSpace Releases => Mission & Campaign Releases => Topic started by: Doko on December 06, 2015, 01:50:03 pm

Title: An old mission
Post by: Doko on December 06, 2015, 01:50:03 pm

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This is mission is set before Capella but requires Blue Planet Complete as I used their AI profiles and a couple other small assets.

Years ago I started working on some ideas for a campaign I wanted to do but ultimately I lost the drive to create. But whenever I come back to freespace I fred for a bit, learn new things and drop my jaw at some of the things that the freders for the main mods pull off with this editor. Whatever I learn that made sense for an escort, I put it in this mission.

Recently I decided to polish it a bit and while its not perfect I, I've spent a lot of time on it and feel it would be a waste to not release it. Bug reports are welcome!

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Title: Re: And old mission
Post by: FrikgFeek on December 06, 2015, 10:50:17 pm

It's pretty fun to play, a rather retail-like escort mission using furyAI instead of huge waves. Pretty basic, but the Maras are fun to fight and there's enough stuff to shoot to keep you occupied. It's a bit too easy though with the Sobek having great AAA coverage.
The setup makes no sense though. Why are 2 wings of Terran fighters escorting a zod corvette and cruiser? Why isn't there even a single wing of zods there? Why are there 5 Terran Maras available in the loadout?

The mission should also probably start with the ships already on the scene, having them intentionally jump in some 7km from the node seems a bit pointless. If they were already there the player could just fill the gaps and say he's been escorting them for some time or that his wing just jumped in to do their shift.
You could do other stuff like having a wing of zods there that get relieved and jump out as you jump in(just like the player in many retail missions).

The beam overload sequence lacks context. Using tutorial messages with no sounds means it's very easy to miss the 'overload failed' message and wonder why the **** that Sobek isn't using its beams on the Moloch until you press F4. Using messages would be preferable. And if you're using the BPC modpack anyway you can also use their sound effects for messages so the player gets a warning when something really important is being said.

Title: Re: And old mission
Post by: Doko on December 06, 2015, 11:50:47 pm

I'm not going to say that the mission makes much sense in some parts, because it doesn't. It never had a script beyond, MAKE MISSION, LEARN THINGS.

- Agreed on player sensory overload during that part.
- The maras on the loadout is a mistake that should not be there!
- The weapon overload sequence is a bit messy, originally you would have completed the bonus objective by sending beta to put some damage on it while more dangerous bombers attacked the Apophis, and if you did well enough, a wing of bombers would show up to finish the job. I quickly realized I must have been drunk when I thought of this as its dumb and would either make the mission ridiculously easy or too random to balance.

I'm glad you at least had fun playing it. Thanks for the feedback.