-A Game of TAG:
This is the big one for me. The first part is fun; Ulysses is a joy to fly and we get a generous amount of TAG missiles. However when something like 15 Shivan fighters jump in later I get absolutely swarmed. That mission forever ingrained the missile alert sound into my brain as I try desperately to land a TAG hit (I'm not very liberal with my weapon usage; those TAGs HAVE to hit. Can't blame anyone but myself there :rolleyes:).
FreeSpace 2:
High Noon
Unfortunately a very boring and anti-climatic mission. Kill two beams without any pressure... okay, you have two shivan wings that protect it, but these are not a real challenge at all.
Clash of the Titans II
Well, you can not use such name for this mission... there is only one Titan... and no clash at all, because a Demon/Ravana is missing.
Bonus Round - because its still canon:
Secrets Revealed (Silent Threat)
- Proving Grounds/Argonautica : These two kinda ex-aequo in terms of badness. Argonautica is lengthier and a blatant filler mission, and features a friendly Aeolus, which is always good. Proving Grounds is more of a missed opportunity with the stealth fighters, as you never do anything worthwhile with them afterwards beyond scanning the Sathanas, and flying them would have made PG a bit more interesting.
- A Game of TAG : Another mission that feels much worse on higher difficulties. I think it could have remained quite fun if they didn't slave ALL of the corvette's guns to TAGs. Overall, I think :v-old:'s implementation of TAG missiles is rather underwhelming.
- A Game of TAG : Another mission that feels much worse on higher difficulties. I think it could have remained quite fun if they didn't slave ALL of the corvette's guns to TAGs. Overall, I think :v-old:'s implementation of TAG missiles is rather underwhelming.
Proper implementation of TAG weapons can be quite overwhelming though, and probably requires New features that aren't even present in FSO yet.
- A Game of TAG : Another mission that feels much worse on higher difficulties. I think it could have remained quite fun if they didn't slave ALL of the corvette's guns to TAGs. Overall, I think :v-old:'s implementation of TAG missiles is rather underwhelming.
Proper implementation of TAG weapons can be quite overwhelming though, and probably requires New features that aren't even present in FSO yet.
Not at all, it's pretty trivial. FS Blue has TAG support available on a lot of missions and it doesn't require every turret on a ship to be slaved to the TAG.
The stealth fighters non utilized falls under the same category as FS2's elastic timeframe and turning capshipt into sound-and-fury-machines artistically - it's to illustrate that all these things mean nothing as far as ending of the story is concerned. Bigger or smarter, guns & ships and ship & guns are not saving you from the shivans; failure to understand that leads disaster.
Follow-up to this (I am not going to edit it in because the discussion moved along)The stealth fighters non utilized falls under the same category as FS2's elastic timeframe and turning capshipt into sound-and-fury-machines artistically - it's to illustrate that all these things mean nothing as far as ending of the story is concerned. Bigger or smarter, guns & ships and ship & guns are not saving you from the shivans; failure to understand that leads disaster.
To understand this point, it might be important to look at FS2 as processing then contemporary (read 1998/99) views on then-current/recent UN peacekeeping mission and their efficacy (e.g. Somalia, Rwanda) as well as the NATO military actions in the Kosovo War.
- A Game of TAG : Another mission that feels much worse on higher difficulties. I think it could have remained quite fun if they didn't slave ALL of the corvette's guns to TAGs. Overall, I think :v-old:'s implementation of TAG missiles is rather underwhelming.
Proper implementation of TAG weapons can be quite overwhelming though, and probably requires New features that aren't even present in FSO yet.
Not at all, it's pretty trivial. FS Blue has TAG support available on a lot of missions and it doesn't require every turret on a ship to be slaved to the TAG.
I do think in the long run bomber tactics would need to change, and that in the even longer run fighters and bombers would take on a role closer to their modern antiship duties — attacking from outside a warship's defensive perimeter with standoff weapons. Beams are just too good at nullifying a fighter's defensive advantages (agility and shields). As they improve, it would become suicidal to get within their range.
They are pretty strong, but they do come with disadvantages (at least the way I implemented them). When a ship's firing on your TAG target it's not using its antifighter beams in its own defense.
I do think in the long run bomber tactics would need to change, and that in the even longer run fighters and bombers would take on a role closer to their modern antiship duties — attacking from outside a warship's defensive perimeter with standoff weapons. Beams are just too good at nullifying a fighter's defensive advantages (agility and shields). As they improve, it would become suicidal to get within their range.
However, overall normal point defense and flak still remain against untagged stuff and bombs so having the AAA fire on certain ships shouldn't be a weak point.
*mumbles something about failures of imagination*
*mumbles something about failures of imagination*
That, or a really short development cycle. I'm guessing the crunch time was pretty intense given FS2 came out only a year after FS1.
FS2 suffers from a lot of great ideas with poor execution. We all love the game to death, but methinks it could have used more polish regardless :P
pretty sure the mission designers didn't coordinate their efforts as much as they should have too
Ultra AAA is pretty good at killing bombers before they can launch any nukes though.
I find Battuta's "let's make post-capella warfare all realistic warfighty"-stick both tedious and besides the point. I already elaborated on the whole "beams and flak have symbolic meaning in the narrative beyond their gameplay dimensions of shaping battle-space and elvating cruiser+ ships from being large targets", so nothing more to say really...
@Orpheus: Could you put your ideas into a new post instead of editing them into older ones if you want them to be read?
you don't need to pair them with the suggestion that I'm bad at imagining things.
Especially if your showcase of 'better' imagination is Blue Planet plus apos'trophe ali'ens!
Especially if your showcase of 'better' imagination is Blue Planet plus apos'trophe ali'ens!
I've only played through FS1 a couple of times, so nothing stands out, and the original ST bugged half-way through so I never finished it.
As for FS2, let's see what stands out (note: most of my playthrough are on insane, so that colors my experience a bit) :
- The Romans Blunder : It's well known that FS2's early missions are among the most difficult when crancking up the difficulty, this one has the first obvious difficulty spike, as you are forced to battle a superior force of more agile crafts while your wingmen get whacked around by AAA beams from the Fenris & Leviathan.
You just happen to be the first target I find when trying to punch up. It "helps" that your default short-cut always seems to be the emulation of reality with no regard to a layer of Superstructure.
There is an assload of subtext in BP. Ever wonder why the Erebus is hard and angular and difficult to pin down, while the Titan is curved, supportive, and literally has a womb?
I've only played through FS1 a couple of times, so nothing stands out, and the original ST bugged half-way through so I never finished it.
As for FS2, let's see what stands out (note: most of my playthrough are on insane, so that colors my experience a bit) :
- The Romans Blunder : It's well known that FS2's early missions are among the most difficult when crancking up the difficulty, this one has the first obvious difficulty spike, as you are forced to battle a superior force of more agile crafts while your wingmen get whacked around by AAA beams from the Fenris & Leviathan.
The Romans Blunder gets a lot easier on insane once you figure out that Rockeyes do great subsystem damage, and have more range then AAA beams. Snipe the beams, and you have an easier time.
Slaying Ravana is also my least favourite mission of the FS2 campaign. In vanilla it's mainly just you lobbing missiles at a hull you can't see. It's like a throwback to Secrets Revealed! The Blue Planet remix is a lot better: More ships in play, more radio chatter, more of that sense of desperation. And the mission is shorter becuase you have more people helping you.
On a side note, one mission I actually love - Exodus - is also one of the most frustrating.
Because I make it a point to save the Nebtuu.
The first 40 seconds of the mission require incredibly precise actions and a bit of luck when that first Seraphim wing jumps in.
1: Target the moloch's beam turret, fire trebs at it.
2: Call in Theta Wing reinforcements
3: target each individual Nahema next to it, fire trebs at each.
4: Turn to take out the Seraphims jumping in
5: kill the 3 Seraphims before they launch bombs because of their invulnerability preventing you from intercepting them until they hit the Nebtuu. (besides, you'll kill the Nebtuu yourself with your Kaysers if you try...)
6: Get Theta to protect the Nebtuu for the rest of the mission.
7: Wipe out the next 2 Nahema wings really fast because they also target it.
If you did all that, THEN it'll survive because :v: didn't expect anyone to do that and no enemy will target it anymore :P
And it's obvious :v: expected the Nebtuu to die because there isn't a bonus objective for saving it.
But I make a point to do it each time :D
The Cain jumping in is one of the moments :v-old: screwed upOh, yeah that makes more sense. It wouldn't be the first time that happened; GTVI retrieving the NTT Sunder by sending it into Regulus comes to mind.
The Cain jumping in is one of the moments :v-old: screwed upOh, yeah that makes more sense. It wouldn't be the first time that happened; GTVI retrieving the NTT Sunder by sending it into Regulus comes to mind.
Actually on easy the Nebtuu safes itself from time to time.
Yeah, but who among us still plays on Easy?Yo!
Yeah, but who among us still plays on Easy?Yo!
(Well I haven't played in a while but it was almost always on Easy.)
What SOC isn't telling you is that the Regulus node actually has a two-way split in the subspace tunnel with one of them leading straight to Beta Aquilae :P
My takeaway [engage Trek-ish technobabble here] is that a hyperspace corridor contains a near infinite number of phase planes of subspace, and a particular setting in the subspace drive (call it the "resonance frequency" or something) dictates what phase plane you enter. That way a ship can be safe once it entered hyperspace, because unless the enemy knows what phase you're entering, they can't pursue you. Furthermore, I think that the GTA-PVN gained the technology to identify a ship's subspace resonance from the Ancients, allowing them to track the Lucifer's jump and pursue it into the same phase and engage.This makes a lot of sense. I like it. :yes:
Yeah, but who among us still plays on Easy?Yo!
(Well I haven't played in a while but it was almost always on Easy.)
I mostly play for story rather than challenge, and I hate restarting missions, so that's my choice most of the time.
That would absolutely undermine the game's narrative and ending, though. The Colossus is supposed to be the incarnation of the GTVA's mistakes. It's the Yamato.
That would absolutely undermine the game's narrative and ending, though. The Colossus is supposed to be the incarnation of the GTVA's mistakes. It's the Yamato.
Still, its end was almost ridiculous. The Colossus was disabled, dead in the water, than finally murdered by a Sath with the dialog telling you "we buy time for the Bastion" when the delay was about 30 secs and Command screaming "GET OUTTA HERE!!!" to a disabled ship.
Oh well, as far as canon missions go I think Their Finest Hour is in the top five missions I enjoyed.
Must. Steal. Trivial Psychics. Subspace Explination.I used it in a FS fan story I was writing several years ago, but never finished. Not that it was a critical plot point, merely that the story was a platform to promote my subspace theory when it was appropriate to the story.
I kinda wish the Colossus did more in that mission. Throwing a couple of cruisers or corvettes at it before the Beast arrived would've been cool.
Oh well, as far as canon missions go I think Their Finest Hour is in the top five missions I enjoyed.
That would absolutely undermine the game's narrative and ending, though. The Colossus is supposed to be the incarnation of the GTVA's mistakes. It's the Yamato.
Still, its end was almost ridiculous. The Colossus was disabled, dead in the water, than finally murdered by a Sath with the dialog telling you "we buy time for the Bastion" when the delay was about 30 secs and Command screaming "GET OUTTA HERE!!!" to a disabled ship.
I tweaked that sequence for FS Blue so more dialogue would play but really I think the original holds up pretty well. It goes out about as meaningfully as the Yamato did.
Maybe it could do the baseball bat thing and fling the Sathanas into the Cappelean sun. :DFound this while browsing around just now. :lol:
(http://fc05.deviantart.com/fs7/i/2005/191/7/8/Bat_of_Capella_by_WMCoolmon.png)