[Spacemutiny]

I've been playing games for years and I think I'm pretty good at them, but I've been humbled by Freespace 2.  The specific mission is number 6, called "The Romans Blunder".  I have the game set at hard difficulty.  The first wave of enemies are two frigate like ships and two wings of fighters.  Those I can take care of with my wingmen.  The problem is with the next wave.  There are two capital ships with anti-fighter guns and two wings of fighters.  It says to lure the fighters out so that they guns can't get you, but the AI, even when I tell it to form up on me, goes on the attack.  They get chewed up in about 15 seconds, leaving me with at least 5 fighters to take care of.  I don't know if its the difficutly, but they pounce on me and their guns do so much damage I'm dead in less than a minute.  I've tried this mission like 15 times and I just can't do it.

I may just really suck, but does the hard difficulty give the enemy extra firepower? because it seems like their weapons just do an insane amount of damage.

[Droid803]

No, Hard difficulty makes your player ship have less health than easier difficulties. That's all.

[Jeff Vader]

Umm, wasn't it actually so that lower difficulty levels weaken the weapons used by the enemies. On the harder levels (at least Insane), the non-player ships carry weapons that are as powerful as the ones the player uses.

[blowfish]

Umm, wasn't it actually so that lower difficulty levels weaken the weapons used by the enemies. On the harder levels (at least Insane), the non-player ships carry weapons that are as powerful as the ones the player uses.

Lowering the difficulty reduces the amount of damage that is done to the player, as well as reducing the AI's maneuverability.  It has no effect on how much damage AI weapons do to other AI ships.

[BlackDove]

Nothing really to say other than the fact that you've gotta try harder.

Many of us went through it, so it is doable.

The way I remember that mission was to order one of the wingmen to attack an enemy fighter, and then I watch the enemy fighter focus attention on my wingman. As soon as he turns towards my wingman, I recall the wingman to form up on me, and then as the fighter (and his buddies come closer) I c31 on the lured sap, and essentially take them all down that way, being quite far from the cruisers.

Note, your wingmen will only attack if they're doing nothing. Which means you have to keep moving so that they have something to do (fly towards you) and thereby obey your command. If they form up on you and stand still for a second, the check for forming up on you clears, and then they decide to do something else, seeing how they've completed doing what you've ordered them.

[Jeff Vader]

Umm, wasn't it actually so that lower difficulty levels weaken the weapons used by the enemies. On the harder levels (at least Insane), the non-player ships carry weapons that are as powerful as the ones the player uses.

Lowering the difficulty reduces the amount of damage that is done to the player, as well as reducing the AI's maneuverability.  It has no effect on how much damage AI weapons do to other AI ships.

Ah. Guess I remembered wrong.

[Akalabeth Angel]

I've been playing games for years and I think I'm pretty good at them, but I've been humbled by Freespace 2.  The specific mission is number 6, called "The Romans Blunder".  I have the game set at hard difficulty.  The first wave of enemies are two frigate like ships and two wings of fighters.  Those I can take care of with my wingmen.  The problem is with the next wave.  There are two capital ships with anti-fighter guns and two wings of fighters.  It says to lure the fighters out so that they guns can't get you, but the AI, even when I tell it to form up on me, goes on the attack.  They get chewed up in about 15 seconds, leaving me with at least 5 fighters to take care of.  I don't know if its the difficutly, but they pounce on me and their guns do so much damage I'm dead in less than a minute.  I've tried this mission like 15 times and I just can't do it.

    Unlike a lot of games today, Freespace is one where you can't really coast through it and pass every mission on the first try. The one you're talking about isn't familiar, but just wait til you get to "Feint! Parry! Riposte!" that one, is a real ***** to get past for me. Sounds similar to the one you're playing now.

[Snail]

Feint! Parry! Riposte! is more or less a harder version of this one.

[Fenrir]

In "Feint! Parry! Riposte!" what I do is order everyone to protect the Rampart right when the mission starts. The first wing of Hercs automatically comes at you, so just retreat to the Fenris to take advantage of its antifighter cover. After that, I leave everyone at the Rampart and go lure the remaining Hercs from the cruisers myself. Once you get their attention, just put everything you`ve got into the engines and run away to the Rampart. They`ll follow you right over. From there the mission gets considerably easier.

[WMCoolmon]

The AI seems to do better if you tell them to "Engage enemy" than if you tell them to cover you.

[BlackDove]

The AI does best if you tell them to "attack that target". You have to micromanage though.

[Solatar]

I've fairly recently found it useful to take advantage of the "wing" hotkeys. It targets one of a wing in green/red/whatever and the rest in white. When you're micromanaging, it helps you gain a better sense of situational awareness to see where everyone is.

[Roanoke]

I'd also leave my wingmates behind when it comes to luring the fighter coverage. Max engines, fire off a few shots to get their attention, hopefully get the Command message confirmation as you're turning, burn back to the rampart and tell everyone to attack the hostiles fighters once they close with the rampart.

The clue is in the name. you guys do know what a rampart is don't you ?

[Androgeos Exeunt]

I'd also leave my wingmates behind when it comes to luring the fighter coverage. Max engines, fire off a few shots to get their attention, hopefully get the Command message confirmation as you're turning, burn back to the rampart and tell everyone to attack the hostiles fighters once they close with the rampart.

The clue is in the name. you guys do know what a rampart is don't you ?

The Leviathan, or the Leviathan with three wings of fighters escorting it?

I've tried playing Very Hard once; died within a minute. Although it's good practice for multiplayer, in my opinion.

[Akalabeth Angel]

The clue is in the name. you guys do know what a rampart is don't you ?

      Yeah it's that game where you build a castle and some pirate ships come and attack you right?

[Stormkeeper]

Uh. The rampart is the part of a castle from which archers fire arrows down at invaders, isn't it?

[Titan]

Stormkeeper's right. so it make's sense that the Rampart snipes its beams at the 'invaders'

[Snail]

Stormkeeper's right. so it make's sense that the Rampart snipes its beams at the 'invaders'

Invaders?

[Stormkeeper]

The NTF fighters...


.... Although, technically speaking, the GTVA fighters were the invaders ...

[Polpolion]

I've been playing games for years and I think I'm pretty good at them, but I've been humbled by Freespace 2.  The specific mission is number 6, called "The Romans Blunder".  I have the game set at hard difficulty.  The first wave of enemies are two frigate like ships and two wings of fighters.  Those I can take care of with my wingmen.  The problem is with the next wave.  There are two capital ships with anti-fighter guns and two wings of fighters.  It says to lure the fighters out so that they guns can't get you, but the AI, even when I tell it to form up on me, goes on the attack.  They get chewed up in about 15 seconds, leaving me with at least 5 fighters to take care of.  I don't know if its the difficutly, but they pounce on me and their guns do so much damage I'm dead in less than a minute.  I've tried this mission like 15 times and I just can't do it.

I may just really suck, but does the hard difficulty give the enemy extra firepower? because it seems like their weapons just do an insane amount of damage.

I have the game set at hard difficulty.

There's your problem.