(phew... here goes again)
EPISODE 1: THE GHOST AND THE DARKNESSThe gTVa has survived 25 years of instability since the loss of Capella. Numerous border uprisings and rebellions have been quelled. Only one faciton, the Sons of Capella, remains. They have been forced back into the Ikeya system (some smaller elements have fled to border systems, mainly Vega). the GTVa now prepare to destroy the SCf once and for all... (and does - the last mission in this 'bit' was a big assualt on the SCf command Arcadia).
......
With the SCF reduced to guerilla attacks on small convoys, the GTVA is victorious. Meanwhile, in Vega, the gTVa is launching subspace 'hopper' probes to investigate the outer reaches of the Vega system, and hopefully better assess the state of Capella.
One of these probes comes across the derelict GTC Tarzus, floating in space (now closer to the Vega system, natch). The GTSC Pascal (Faustus) is asiogned to scan it, and reports back it's findings, which are immediately classified
.
Meanwhile, contact has been lost with a small (Valhalla) class research station in the Vega nebula. The player has to investigate the station. Batlling off the rogu SCf pilots who have fled to the nebula, the scout party finds the station crumpling and about to explode. The station commander manages to send out a few babbling messages before dying....
[SOC]
Command decides there must be a small SCP cruiser / corvette in the nebula... instead they encounter the SSD Diablo. The first scout party is incenerated, but the player (hopefully) protects the escape pods with the command crew.
The follwing missions see the SOC desperately trying to halt the Diablo (and gaining further intel through daring scouting missions
) before it reaches inhabited areas and panic ensues.
Needless to say, nae luck.
[/soc]
With the diablo in the Vega system, chaos ensues. The player escorts supply convoys away from installtions/ planets as the Diablo incenerates them. worse still, the Diablo is capable of summoning other capital ships from subspace, using its massive ULTRA BFRed beam to disrupt gravity fields and creat subspace rifts.
In one mission set, the GTCa Warlock comes under heavy attack. Escorted by the player, the Warlock suffers havy damage but survives. in the following mission, it encounters the Diablo. The player has to fly a small transport (GTT Kyoto) from the crippled carrier (containing the command crew0, and evade Shivna persuit until they reach the safety of an asteroid field (where support arrvies to help).
The heavily demoralised gTVa is facing armagheddon.... attempts to destroy the Diablo in subspace fail, as it can't disrupt tracking sensors.
But the OSC discovers the Diablo's shields can be disabled by successive eMP pulses. The gTVa forces the Diablo into an eMP nebula (to repair itself) through successive attacks. In the second last mission, the player leads a wing of Gagana / Scimitar bombers on an attack on the Diablos critical systmes in the EMP nebula. Using the new Helios dumbfire (remote detonate - no lock in nebs), the player must try and destroy the Diablos shield generators and, if possible, the reactors and main beam turret.
Fianlly, the Diablo is lured from the nebula for a final attack buy the ramins of the GTVA fleet. Depending on the number of suviving reactors, the Diablo summons help of varoius sizes (cain to Ravana size).
This is the last stand, now or never....
(end of episode 1)
(notes)
Last mision / missions against the Diablo were a problem, as it's hard to ensure player interaction against a shield protected capship.
Also, the Diablo
never regains full strength, so it can never reach the stage of being able to travel inter system without a node... this allows for some confrontations.
Finally, the Diablo has a massive beam weapon for one reason - to make it hard for other capships to destroy it. As beams pass through shields, thast advantage is lost against ships the size of the Warlock, the the ULTRA bFRed is used to give the Diablo the advantage. Plus it looks damn cool.
