[Scotty]

Why would I want to kill my commanding officer?

/true colors.

[Logistics]

After digging through my old CDs and installing Freespace Open over 2 years ago, I finally decided to systematically try all of the various campaigns that had mysteriously been downloaded to my computer. The majority of them seemed to rehash the same general feel of FS2 - high on explosions, beams of death, and low on plot. With the possible exception of Derelict, Blue Planet was the only one of the bunch that actually had me thinking about the story, rather then just mentally checking off ways to complete a mission. After another 3 months of randomly looking around, I finally managed to blunder into Hard Light and find the forum here through TV Tropes, of all places. Before I add any silly opinions, I just want to convey my respect for everyone involved with this project. It is easily the equal of professional work, and honestly surpasses the original games by an order of magnitude.

Spoiler:

I identify with the Federation

Having freshly played the original games immediately before sinking into Blue Planet, my sympathy towards the GTVA was limited. The GTVA as conveyed through the 'command talking head', was sterile and arrogant. They went looking for trouble in the Nebula, and bit off far more then they could chew. The idea of the  GTVA as a better governing body better equipped to handle the threats of Shivan incursions seems laughable after seeing how badly they miscalculated. As far as the argument regarding the 'Ubuntu' socioeconomic philosophy not being exportable beyond Earth, I have to wonder whether that is really the question to ask. The minds behind the Ubuntu revamp of Earth proved themselves able to adjust to a fundamental shift in priorities after the collapse of the node without letting the situation devolve into chaos. Exporting workable ideas to gradually transition over to a less militaristic economy doesn't seem too crazy to work. In the long run, a larger and more efficient economy would likely result in a far larger and formidable fleet in any case then the GTVA's current impersonation of Juche.

   
I used a checkpoint at least once in the campaign

On my first playthrough, I managed to miss the idea of the checkpoint system entirely. After running through the campaign a few times, I found the system invaluable at the higher difficulty levels.

I called the bluff in M05

I called the bluff during the first playthrough. Unfortunately for me, I did this while flying directly towards the main Gef formation which promptly went hostile and blew me into flaming scrap. It was this situation that finally conveyed a much better sense of realism towards combat then the original game ever possessed. I could no longer get away with taking on 15 opponents at once and manage to plow through them as a nigh-invincible player avatar.
 
I thought Darkest Hour was just right

I killed Xinny and Zero

At this point, I had become rather cynical towards the AI of the game in regards to my old 'charge in head first' approach and threw my wingmen at my opponents as a needed sacrifice to get into position. Oddly enough, the wingmen managed to confuse the situation enough to allow me to mop up with without much trouble and save them to boot. Repeated the same pattern with the 2nd wave and lost 1 wingman.

I found the Simms conversation easy

I didn't have any particular trouble with the Simms dialog. Not because I actually followed the psych advice, so much as the direct approach is generally how I deal with things in real life, and I managed to luck out.
 
I thought the Nyx dogfight was okay

Never had a particular problem. Without the artificial shutdown of the primary weapons, it seemed a fairly even fight. The frustrating thing was toggling through the reset options via the keyboard while dodging.
 
I understood the pointbuy system in Aristeia

The pointbuy system seemed fairly straightforward. The first time through I ending up blowing most of the points on the upper options simply because I knew what they were, but it didn't take long to convey the basic idea that the farther down the list you went, the bigger gun you got.

I thought the Vasudan logistics incident was a terrible accident

Couldn't see it as much more then bad communications. The gains to be made with a better relationship with the Vasudens would seem to massively outweigh any advantage to taking out 1 Deimos and a neutral logistics ship. 

I felt bored in One Perfect Moment

While I enjoyed the scenery, the setup to the mission proper did seem to take a bit longer then would have liked.

I was shocked and appalled by the assassination

Well, more 'surprised and irritated' then shocked and appalled, but I don't see the immediate war aims of the assassination unless the Elder was in possession of knowledge that was dangerous to the GTVA. If anything, I would think such an act would harden UEF resolve.

I thought Delenda Est was just right

Didn't have a real problem with Delenda Est, though at that point I had cheated by using the interceptor instead of the gunship.

I love Admiral Steele

Steele is a great character, and it's wonderful to have an enemy finally worthy of the term 'admiral'.

[General Battuta]

You are an awesome poster and should stick around please. Glad you enjoyed it!

[Nuclear1]

Spoiler:

I love Admiral Steele for being such a tactical genius, but I still want to see him dead for assassinating the Elder, and for killing off the Wardogs.

I loved carbonised and machineamb in Pawns.

I thought the Simms conversation was easy once Battuta told me how the scripting worked.

The pointbuy system was one of my favorite parts of WiH and I think it was implemented quite well.

The Vasudan logistics incident was a tragedy as a result of the fog of war and both sides having jammed each other's transmissions.

Because I <3 character development, I loved the back-and-forth in One Perfect Moment.

And though I didn't enjoy doing it, I killed Xinny and Zero.

[PsychoLandlord]

Spoiler:

I identify with the Federation, if only because I feel the GTVA was hasty and foolish in it's attacks. Call me Naive, but I believe a peaceful dialog would have gone better for them in the long run. As alien as Ubuntu and the Elders may seem to be to the Security Counsel, surely a simple relaying of experiences and a few recorded accounts of the Second Shivan Incursion would at least convince them that it is right to arm themselves, and allowing the leaders of Ubuntu to aid the GTVA structure of Government would be immensely helpful, mass exodus to Earth be damned. But I suppose this is par for the course for the GTVA.

I never once used a checkpoint, more often than not because I forgot they were there.

I threatened the Hostage in M05. And oh how tense that sequence was the first time around.

Darkest Hour was fine.

I killed Xinney and Zero. However, and I felt like an asshole for this, when I first played that mission I didn't realize who they were. Cue a shocking moment of realization halfway through the briefing.

The Simms dialog was easy. Simply paying attention to the briefing is all that's required, and it was an engaging setpiece the first time around.

The Nyx Dogfight was okay. I never had any particular trouble with it on any difficulty, and until I read all the consternation with it I thought that whole sequence's sole purpose was to convince you of how massively powerful the Kent was.

I understood the pointbuy system in Aristeia, it was built fairly straightforward and I hope to see more of its kind in the future.

I thought the Vasudan Logistics ship was an act of treachery. I would expect someone in command of a military vessel to have the perception to notice that the two sides involved in that incident were not shotting at each other, and to deduce from there what was happening. The "Gung-Ho Cowboy" excuse doesn't hold up very well when you think about what somebody in command of a large and important military asset like a Narayana is supposed to be capable of.

I felt good in one perfect moment, though it is a chore to play through a second time should you restart the campaign.

I thought Delenda Est was perfect, and it remains one of the greatest FS missions I have played, as well as being a kickass climax.

And, finally, I love Steele. Much as I dislike the GTVA in this instance, I really hope nothing terrible happens to him. He's the kind of leader Humanity will need in the inevitable next battle with the Shivans.

[-Norbert-]

Spoiler:

And, finally, I love Steele. Much as I dislike the GTVA in this instance, I really hope nothing terrible happens to him. He's the kind of leader Humanity will need in the inevitable next battle with the Shivans.

Spoiler:

I'm not so sure about that. He is so effective, because he's fighting other Humans and ones with a rather naive approach to war. He understands them and plays them.
The Shivans on the other hand are pretty unpredictable and prone to pulling unbelievable stunts out of their hats at the worst possible moment.
Those high risk stunts (or should I say gambles, since they might easily have turned out fatal against the UEF too) that worked so well against the UEF might very well turn into suicide if tried against the Shivans.
But I agree. As much as I like to see him punished (for reasons that have already been discussed to death in other threads), seeing him pitted against the Shivans is something I'd liek to see too.

[SpardaSon21]

The Shivans on the other hand are pretty unpredictable and prone to pulling unbelievable stunts out of their hats at the worst possible moment.

And Steele doesn't do that sort of thing?

Spoiler:

The end of Delenda Est proves otherwise.

[PsychoLandlord]

Spoiler:

I'm not so sure about that. He is so effective, because he's fighting other Humans and ones with a rather naive approach to war. He understands them and plays them.
The Shivans on the other hand are pretty unpredictable and prone to pulling unbelievable stunts out of their hats at the worst possible moment.
Those high risk stunts (or should I say gambles, since they might easily have turned out fatal against the UEF too) that worked so well against the UEF might very well turn into suicide if tried against the Shivans.
But I agree. As much as I like to see him punished (for reasons that have already been discussed to death in other threads), seeing him pitted against the Shivans is something I'd liek to see too.

The way I look at it, the GTVA has tried to fight them with a guarded stance for too long. All of this Stumbling around whenever the Shivans DO actually drop some crazy new toy or tatic on the table. Steele, on the other hand, would probably be the kind of guy to simply stop and actually do something about it. Is there a risk that this something will backfire horrendously? Yes. Welcome to warfare.  But two wars later and the alternative method hasn't exactly proven itself effective, IMO.

The GTVA cant decide to play offensively or defensively. I'm pretty sure Steele would pick one of those and go for it.

[Logistics]

The way I look at it, the GTVA has tried to fight them with a guarded stance for too long. All of this Stumbling around whenever the Shivans DO actually drop some crazy new toy or tatic on the table. Steele, on the other hand, would probably be the kind of guy to simply stop and actually do something about it. Is there a risk that this something will backfire horrendously? Yes. Welcome to warfare.  But two wars later and the alternative method hasn't exactly proven itself effective, IMO.

The GTVA cant decide to play offensively or defensively. I'm pretty sure Steele would pick one of those and go for it.

Steele is precisely the kind of commander the GTVA needs in the Sol theater. Prior to Steele's ascendency to commanding operations, both the UEF and GTVA hamstrung their commanders over political considerations. The UEF is (whether justified or not) still doing this for the most part. Steele has used this to steal the initiative and keep his enemies 1 step behind his own plans.

He would be precisely the wrong commander to throw in against the Shivans. There is no infrastructure to cripple, no naive mindset to exploit, no discernible strategic weakness to undermine. The Shivans don't have a soft throat to tear out. His tendency to react quickly and aggressively is novel, but also too risky to commit against an enemy that the GTVA still does not understand properly. His actions in Darkest Hour against Rheza station nearly commited his ship to an untenable position. If that fancy jump drive of his had malfunctioned, after commiting his ship unescorted, he would have thrown away a good portion of the GTVA advantages in the system, along with his own life. If commited against the Shivans, he'd probably succeed brilliantly, until taking half his command with him with a false step.

[Scotty]

Most of the entire new GTVA tactical doctrine against shivans calls for shock jumping in with short-term unbearable firepower, destroying the largest or most powerful target of opportunity, and then leaving to do it again.  Steele has this down to an artform.  I'd contend he'd nearly be the perfect admiral to fight Shivans as well.

Plus, remember that malfunctioning jump drives and **** like that are entirely up to the writers.  Steele will be as successful or dismal as the plot demands.  So far, the plot has demanded his success.

[PsychoLandlord]

My point still stands as well. He's aggressive enough to know what to hit and when to hit it, and has the tools to do so. Plus, we don't actually know how unreliable the sprint drive is, beyond "experimental."

I'd even be willing to bet that if other GTVA admirals adopted some of his strategies, even the dreaded Sath-spam would take tremendous damage getting to their objectives, for a comparatively low loss of Human (and hopefully Vasudan) assets.

[-Norbert-]

The problem with shockjump tactics is, that the enemy needs to commit his forces first and you know about it.
The Shivans have struck without any forewarning quite often in both FS campaigns, so it would come down to losing a ship or group to shivan shock jumps and coutnering them with your own team.
That kind of warfare would come down to attrition. Something at which the Shivans excell due to their seemingly limitless ressources.

That is, if the shockjumps succeds in the first place. The Shivans might be gone by the time the strike team arrives. Or the Shivans might keep a 2nd team in reserve, jumping the GTVAs response team and taking them in a pincer. And I doubt the GTVA can afford to equip all their shock jump teams with sprint drives, to immediately jump out of such a trap.

It might sound fine on the assumption that the Shivans play strictly by the rules, never changing their tactics. But they don't. They learn and adapt.

[Mars]

Remember, this is the NEW GTA ships we see, so there's a good chance sprint drives are going to become standard issues. Also remember, the new ships are faster and have longer beam range than any Shivan ships we've seen so far. Although I agree the Shivans could well pull out some sort of stop and become more dangerous, the "current generation" of ships really are ideally adapted to fighting them.

[-Norbert-]

That's what they thought about the Lysander and Actium too....

[Destiny]

Well, the Lysander and Actium were in a nebula! With TerSlashes! Against a Ravana's front with XXXRed beams. Plus, there were no beams (Shivan Super Laser is not counted~!) in FS1, so they really did teach Great War relics 'what firepower is all about'...I guess.

[Logistics]

That's what they thought about the Lysander and Actium too....

That's what it seems to boil down to for me.

The Shivans have the resources to field at least 100 Colossus-class vessels. They could possibly field far more then that, the GTVA doesn't have reliable intelligence on Shivan reserves. They don't know where Shivan supplies are kept beyond their immediate front lines. They don't know where said ships are constructed, or even how long it takes them to construct them. The GTVA is massively ignorant of their enemies capabilities. Given that position of ignorance, the GTVA would be ill advised to attempt an offensive.

"Shock jump" tactics may increase the efficiency of GTVA vessel engagements against Shivans, but a mere tactics change is not going to overcome such a large numerical advantage. Any Admiral in charge of defense against Shivan incursion is going to have to play conservative with ships to minimize casualties and not commit to fights without overwhelming advantage or great need. Steele's actions just don't show the kind of mindset needed to do that. There is no way for him to end the fight decisively unless the Shivans decide to let him. Honestly Byrne seems far better suited to this kind of fight, going from the evals from the tech room.

[Scotty]

You don't minimize casualties when every ship spent means you save a hundred million more civilians because the time you gained with it sealed another node.  If it gains enough time, any admiral worth being called such would send every ship they have into the meatgrinder to see those hundred or two hundred or four hundred million civilians to safety.

[The E]

But the problem is that you can't tell if a sacrifice is effective, not when fighting the Shivans. There is no way to tell if a given ship actually saves anyone, or just weakens you.

[Mars]

Since Shivans pioneered shock-jump tactics, I very much doubt holding ships in defensive formations would be effective. The GTA has developed ships that are designed to perform escort, and hold off / destroy as many ships as possible.

If you have a Deimos escorting a convoy, a Lilith will easily destroy the convoy and the corvette, if you have a Chimera tasked with destroying said Lilith, the Shivans need to bring in another one. It's not like the Shivans brought in 80 Sathanas's all at once, it took time.

But the problem is that you can't tell if a sacrifice is effective, not when fighting the Shivans. There is no way to tell if a given ship actually saves anyone, or just weakens you.

You can, the Colossus did this in FS2. It (was supposed to have) distracted Shivan forces long enough for the Bastion to get to the node.

[The E]

Was the Phoenicia's (potential) sacrifice necessary?