Centrixo,
As you probably expected, there are a lot of spelling and grammar mistakes. I can tell English isn't your native language. No problem at all if you can get someone to "translate", which I'll be happy to do.
As for the actual mission design, it will dissapoint people used to the quality of mission design in most campaigns. With Sync, PI, JAD, and so on, people have gotten used to a fairly high standard of campaign quality. Realize that famous (more like HLPBB-famous) designers like Goob5k, Blaise Russel, and LGM are FRED
masochists. You've said you don't have much time for this. If that's true, you're probably not going to be able to release a campaign that the community will actually play. It takes work. Put my suggestions into that context. The mission is enjoyable and the campaign concept is good, but there are certain things that the HLP community expects in a mission. So go ahead and call me a nit-picker, but this mission could use work. Anyway, some advice:
- Use more radio messages. I looked at the mission in FRED; there are only two radio messages in the whole mission, only one of which is used. This is a pretty complex mission and should have a good deal of messages, simply for the sake of 'realism'. Your wingmen or Command is going to say something when a major friendly ship is destroyed, the primary mission goal is failed, and so on. You should have messages in all the following points, at a minimum:
1. During the long lull before combat takes place. No hostiles appear until almost five minutes into the mission. This is fine, just have a little wingmen chatter to make the mission feel more natural. Something along the lines of, "Alright, no hostiles on scope, but stay alert. We're going to be here for a while."
2. Any time a capital ship arrives or is destroyed.
3. Any time a mission goal is failed or succeeded.
- Give initial orders to all the friendly wings. This is a convenience normally given to the player. Rather than sitting still in space until the player gives them an order, the wingmen should be guarding the Tu'Brak, protecting the bombers, or doing something useful. It's just more natural than having them sit in space until springing into action when Alpha 1 gives them an order.
- Add some nebulas. I didn't mind the lack of scenery. Personally I don't like nebulas much because they can cause lag, but go into the background editor and add a few mid-size nebulas here and there just to cover up the blank space. You don't need to have a ton, just cover up some of that big blank space. If you haven't used the background editor before, don't worry, just experiment a bit until you understand it.
- Are you fine with the way the mission is balanced? I can't finish it on either Hard or Insane, although I could probably beat it after playing it a few more times. Anyway, I find the mission a bit difficult, but I'm a n00b. As long as you think the mission has an enjoyable level of difficulty, you're fine. Just make sure.
All in all, original and good campaign idea. The whole Shivan bioweapon thing has never been done before. The FRED Academy is a good place to go if you want playtesters and advice. It's a subcategory of this forum. But if you want to talk more with me, I'd be happy to. Best luck.
