[Black Wolf]

How would you believe nodes would be blockaded in FS?

Currently I'm doing it like this -

_ _ _ _ _     Blockade

O           Node


But logic in a 3d environment would suggest I do it like this

|--------|
|---O---|
|--------|


However, that'd take more ships in FRED and turn the mission into a nondirectional mess. I've put a planet in front of the node (Behind the blockade) to make it appear like the rest of the system is in that direction, but that doesn't seem to mean a lot to subspace. So, is the first option acceptable to a mission player, unrealistic as it may be, or would realism be more important to you?

[Knight Templar]

Make up some nonsensical rule, like a ship can't come any further than 500m past the node and figure it from there.

That's if you use subspace as say a dorr. You can only come into the room by opening the door. Some missions have doors all over and already int he room with a door.. but going in the same direction.


Keeping with the door theory, best bet is a wall vertical wall. Another tactically sounder perhaps way would be be a semi circle (facing the planet) so ships appear get nuked by the maximum amount of fire power.. too be more fancy.. do A Semi sphere in the same fashion.


Make sense?

[Stealth]

actually as a player, i'd probably enjoy having a few ships (big ones, and a few fighters... perhaps some of those mjolnir or whatever) very close to the node or portal or whatever the hell it is (FS1 player here... heh) ... don't put a 'wall' of them, cause what if the player comes from the other direction  i'd say rather just have a little cluster around or in the actual note/portal/whatever.

hey... what is it?  a node?  or a portal?  in FS1 it would be a node, but in FS2 they have that Knossos device or whatever (portal?) with those ships flying in a circle around each other...

in one of the FS2 missions it got destroyed (purposefully... to stop the Shivans entering the system or something), and all the 'ships' like flew into space as debris... is there a sexp to 'destroy knossos device' or something?


Also... the 'mjolnir' (is that right?) that portable beam cannon that was extremely effective in one mission where you had to like kill all NTV ships that entered through the node (portal? )... can those work against enemy fighters?  like multiple fighter beam mjolnirs?

[mikhael]

I'm with stealth. Englobe it with Mjolnirs, and then put a task force on alert-5 nearby. They don't need to BE THERE. They just need to GET THERE. The Mjolnirs SHOULD keep things under wraps until the cavalry arrives.

[Black Wolf]

Unfortunately, Mjolnirs are not an option - this is an illegal civillian blockade.

Give you any hints about my secret project VA?

[Tiara]

Civvies have crappy ships. No way they have military grade vessels. If they do they can also have Mjolnirs

[Black Wolf]

Who said they had military hardware? The biggest ships in the Blockade are Zephyrus and Hippocrates class, mostly it's Freighters and transports - there's just a lot of them.

[Tiara]

...

1 bomber can break a blockade of freighters...

You'll have to take into account that these pilots (civvie pilots) are not as good as military pilots as well so you'll have to set their AI low.

[Black Wolf]

All that is taken into consideration - they actually have some very inventive ways of evening the odds a little, plus there's reluctance on the part of the GTVA to attack them because... well, that'd be telling, but trust me, it's all thought out.

All I really need to know is how they should have deployed themselves.

[Darkage]

Since the civies use allot of transport and cargo units why not setup cargo containers near the node and put bombs in them. 4 per ship. And put around 30 of them sort of like mines and make 4/5 explode by sexps or each ship to criple or destroy the cruisers corvettes whate ever you put in it. And then some bombers can clean it up by giving it the final blow to the ships that get past the mines, it's onnoying to set up but fun to watch.

[Stunaep]

why not blockade a node by simply putting a capship inside it.

[Black Wolf]

Originally posted by Black Wolf
Who said they had military hardware? The biggest ships in the Blockade are Zephyrus and Hippocrates class, mostly it's Freighters and transports - there's just a lot of them.

[Stealth]

Originally posted by Stunaep
why not blockade a node by simply putting a capship inside it.

exactly what i was thinking

but what if a ship wants to jump in or out

[Tiara]

Originally posted by Stealth

but what if a ship wants to jump in or out

Jumping in: A sub space vortex opens inside the other vessel and the crew will have to share thee already crappy quarters.

Jumping out: No sane captain would jump out through a ship.

[Stealth]

Originally posted by Tiara


Jumping in: A sub space vortex opens inside the other vessel and the crew will have to share thee already crappy quarters.

Jumping out: No sane captain would jump out through a ship.

exactly my point!

well, i guess that's one hell of a way to blockade a node

[Bobboau]

try a few dozen cargo pods loaded to the brim with high explosives

[mikhael]

Now there's a question. In Iwar2, popping out of a LaG into occupied realspace makes the new arrival go boom. That's the whole point of portcullis/spider devices.

Does FS allow for ships to know if there's mass on the other side of the subspace tunnel? How much do nodes really matter? Are they the ONLY possible jump, or are they the BEST possible jump? Does space around the node offer the same jump possibilities but with higher risks/lower efficiencies?

If its the only possible jump parking a cap in the node effectively locks the node and makes blockade running foolish at best. Not much of a mission to be had there. i'm I correct that the mission you want to do involves running the blockade? If so, bombed cargo containers, decommed cargo ships and englobing is probably your best option.

Tiara made another good point: if its blockading an outgoing node, bombs, and a couple freighter hulks in the node proper will afford for a great mission: take disable civvies, destroy mines, and move/destroy those hulks. Of course, smart civvies will use live ships, not hulks, and will disable the engines so they can "rightfully" claim that they "just broke down, could you come back later"?

[karajorma]

Originally posted by Stunaep
why not blockade a node by simply putting a capship inside it.

It depends on how you think Subspace works but I get the feeling that something really bad would happen to any ship that attempted to sit in a jump node from the fact that at no point in either FS1 or FS2 did anyone try it.

[CP5670]

I think we need to know if a node can only be used from one (general) direction or all directions. As far as I can remember, the main campaign had ships mostly entering from the same direction (and leaving in the opposite one) in a node, which would mean that the node is more of a normal 3D door than a spherical 4D one.

This is only a problem when using Mjolnirs though, since the other sentries can fire in any direction and everything else is mobile. I simply use the "wall" blockade with those in my missions since, although enemy ships can come in from any side, I have it so that it is possible to track the movements of incoming ships a few minutes ahead of time, so the sentries can just be repositioned around as necessary.

why not blockade a node by simply putting a capship inside it.

or put in a meson bomb instead...

[Nuclear1]

Illegal civvie blockade?

Probably might have them hijack some GTVA cruisers (refers to Derelict mission "The Number of the Beast) such as a few Fenrises, Leviathans, or Aeoluses.

But that's just me:D