[zugu]

Hello everyone!

This is my first post here. I recently discovered Freespace 2, bought it and continuously played for 9 hours straight. I would still play, but I'm stuck at the 21st mission of this amazing game.

This mission is called "A game of tag" and I have to protect a warship and a research ship, tagging enemies for the warship to shoot, while the research ship provides sensor data inside the nebula.

At first, there are two successive waves of enemies that I can easily destroy or tag. Then there is a huge wave comprised of at least three types of enemy ships, some of them are bombers.

I tried engaging them in countless ways, the commander doesn't even finish saying something about the research ship being under attack and it is utterly destroyed. I don't even have time to reach the ship, and in the rare situations that I do, it still doesn't matter, it is immediately destroyed.

I still don't know what ships are the bombers, so I tried engaging only ships of a specific class - to no avail, the remaining enemies still destroy the research ship as if it's made of paper.

And all of this while I'm playing on the very easy difficulty. I mean, there has to be something wrong, I'm always fighting some enemy, if I lose too much time I restart the mission and try again. Some enemy fighters are very fast and I can barely stay on their tail by continuously using my fighter's boost. It doesn't really matter, because if I get to follow one enemy ship for more than 30 seconds without catching it, I restart the mission. Once I managed to destroy all of the enemies while the research ship still had ~15-20 health, the "return to base" order appeared, so the mission was basically over, but right after I started the jump the research ship exploded! I'm telling you, it's driving me crazy!

I calculated the timing to the best of my ability but it's still not enough, anything less than perfect seems to be unacceptable. All previous missions were easy enough, but suddenly the difficulty curve went through the roof.

Any advice on how to finish this mission, please?

I'm playing the retail version of Freespace bought from GOG, with the FSOInstaller goodies strapped on it, on a WinXP 32 bit OS.

[FreeSpaceFreak]

Although the admins here don't like welcome speeches, jr2 has gathered some here. Enjoy!

Now, first thing: this shouldn't be mission 21, but 12. I'll assume it's a typo

Press the "B" key to target enemy bombs or bombers. The Morning Star is good to take out bombs, but use the Subach for the bombers. Heck, don't EVER take the Prometheus R, it's utterly worthless. And don't stray too far from the corvette, you'll need its fire support.

The research ship might have been hit by a piece of debris or so, don't worry about that unless it happens repeatedly.

And if you really can't finish this, you can skip it after dying five times in a row. But that's only a last resort.

Again, welcome to HLP!

[nvsblmnc]

That's right, the corvette is your most effective weapon.  Stay close and TAG the bombers fast.

[Jeff Vader]

Although the admins here don't like welcome speeches

Well, it has been explained numerous times why they don't like the speeches and I fully agree with their reasoning.

To business. Indeed, "B" targets enemy bombs, or if there are no bombs in flight, enemy bombers. In addition, the HUD displays the class of the ship you're cirrently targeting. You should notice that, for example, with Shivan Fighters it is SF and with Shivan Bombers it is SB. Remember to also use your wingman/men. If you order them to protect the Warspite or the Lucidity, they should also attempt to provide anti-bomb support. And keep tagging the bastards. The Warspite won't do a thing unless there's a tagged ship within weapons range.

The Morning Star is good to take out bombs, but use the Subach for the bombers. Heck, don't EVER take the Prometheus R, it's utterly worthless.

For this mission you won't be able to affect your loadout. IIRC, that is.

[terran_emperor]

Oh i remember this mission it was a real b**** to complete...

To advice that i can give, other than what has already been stated

[General Battuta]

It shouldn't be that hard.

Just hit 'b' and kill whatever pops up: bombs first, then bombers.

[Droid803]

I'd have to say A Game of Tag is the single hardest mission in the entire FS2 campaign if you want to save the Lucidity, HANDS DOWN.
You're stuck with one useless bank of primaries (Prom R's...you're better off just shooting the Subach), and a virtually useless bank of secondaries. TAG-1s take so long to reload that if you miss a Taurvi, you have no chance to tagging them all. Even if you do, the Warspite won't kill em all in time.

Sure, you've got a Corvette with Ultra AAA's but even those can't kill the damn Taurvis fast enough. While I'm busy tagging Taurvis, there are these Shivan Assault fighters just unloading on the Lucidity with swarm missiles >.> It goes down in a blink.
(I've also been killed by the Warspite's Ultra AAAs before >.>)

But yeah...target the bombs, tell your wingmen to protect the Lucidity (if you want it to live), or the Warspite (if you just want to pass).

I actually ended up cheating and going `I on the Lucidity and proceeded to just defend the Warspite (I was really...really pissed off). So much easier, as the Deimos isn't made of tissue paper and glue like the AWACs is.

[Mongoose]

Maybe my memory's completely shot, but...I don't ever remember having serious trouble with this one, and I was playing a difficulty level up on Easy to boot.  I haven't played the campaign in ages, though, so I have no idea of what I did or didn't do.  I do remember that I found the TAGs to be rather brutally effective, at least if your targets were relatively close to the Warspite.  If there are both assault fighters and bombers attacking the Lucidity simultaneously, I'd advise letting your wingmen handle the bombers, since they generally do a decent job at intercepting bombs.

[General Battuta]

I'd have to say A Game of Tag is the single hardest mission in the entire FS2 campaign if you want to save the Lucidity, HANDS DOWN.
You're stuck with one useless bank of primaries (Prom R's...you're better off just shooting the Subach), and a virtually useless bank of secondaries. TAG-1s take so long to reload that if you miss a Taurvi, you have no chance to tagging them all. Even if you do, the Warspite won't kill em all in time.

Sure, you've got a Corvette with Ultra AAA's but even those can't kill the damn Taurvis fast enough. While I'm busy tagging Taurvis, there are these Shivan Assault fighters just unloading on the Lucidity with swarm missiles >.> It goes down in a blink.
(I've also been killed by the Warspite's Ultra AAAs before >.>)

But yeah...target the bombs, tell your wingmen to protect the Lucidity (if you want it to live), or the Warspite (if you just want to pass).

I actually ended up cheating and going `I on the Lucidity and proceeded to just defend the Warspite (I was really...really pissed off). So much easier, as the Deimos isn't made of tissue paper and glue like the AWACs is.

Really?

I've never had that much trouble with it at all.

[tinfoil]

neither have i. what difficulty level is zugu playing at?

[Retsof]

And all of this while I'm playing on the very easy difficulty

[tinfoil]

Errr... that would answer my question.
i play on between easy and hard and complete the mission almost every time.

[eliex]

You might also want to note that GTVA reinforcements only arrive when Alpha 2 is dead. So if she is on really low health but not dying . . . just accidentally release a burst of plasma in her direction.

[AlphaOne]

Yeah that usualy work kill off you wingmen )))

I still have no idea why he ha so much trouble. I complete the mission hands down each time....! I mean i usualy try to tag as mani bastards as posbile and then observe the Warspite chew them up like there is no tomorrow.

God i love that ship. the GTCv Warspite ! OWNAGE YOU FREAKING BUGZ!

[Herra Tohtori]

You know, I always wondered why the AWACS is so vulnerable. I could understand it's lack of physical staying power against prolonged assault, but why not then utilize it's electronic warfare capabilities and, you know, make it more difficult to aquire a missile lock or better yet, target lock? In a nebula especially this would be very effective...

The Terran sensor tech was upgraded to Shivan level on a fast pace during the Great War so it would not be a stretch of imagination to think that what makes Terran sensors fail, could make Shivan sensors fail.

Or, if that is not possible, slap some armor into it for goodness' sake. It's not like mobility is the highest priority for a ship lilke that.

[AlphaOne]

You know, I always wondered why the AWACS is so vulnerable. I could understand it's lack of physical staying power against prolonged assault, but why not then utilize it's electronic warfare capabilities and, you know, make it more difficult to aquire a missile lock or better yet, target lock? In a nebula especially this would be very effective...

The Terran sensor tech was upgraded to Shivan level on a fast pace during the Great War so it would not be a stretch of imagination to think that what makes Terran sensors fail, could make Shivan sensors fail.

Or, if that is not possible, slap some armor into it for goodness' sake. It's not like mobility is the highest priority for a ship lilke that.

Thats what i was thinking. I mean the bloddy thing can see stuff through the nebula but can't jam up the targeting sensors of the shivan ships?? especialy since its tech is on par or even more advanced then shivan sensors..

[Rodo]

now that you mention this mission... did any of you guys saved Kappa wing survivor?? I just redyed but to no avail.. maybe it's meant to die

[Jeff Vader]

did any of you guys saved Kappa wing survivor?? I just redyed but to no avail..

Redied? K... I'd think that dying repeatedly doesn't solve a lot of problems.

Haven't familiarized myself with the structure 'n stuff of this mission but I'd bet that it's one of those "this is meant to happen so just sit down, shut up and play the next mission" sort of things.

[zugu]

Hey guys, thanks for the info. I managed to finish the mission and I also saved the AWACS, by chasing bombs and bombers.

Unfortunately, I don't play the game anymore. Bearbaiting has been enough for me. I have lost all faith and interest in the game because of this mission. I'm playing video games to entertain myself, not to get hours of frustration.

It's a pity, because the game has been extremely enjoyable up until now, way ahead of its time.

Cheers.

[FreeSpaceFreak]

You don't know what you're missing, the best part is yet to come...

If you decide to get on it again, you may find the Campaign Walkthrough useful, it helped me a lot as well when I was getting started.
Just don't read the walkthrough of a mission before you've tried to play it at least once, it can seriously spoil the fun. Trust me, I know

Oh, and you did pay attention during the training missions, right?