[Mars]

I just had to get a good ship with Slammers. Because there's no zooming with the Archer (or any long-range weapon for that matter), I can't snipe properly so I got some Grimlers. Had to run it a few times though, the corvette charge was pretty deadly.

I had that problem with the Archer at first, using your mouse might help actually. The reticle is fine enough to make the shot on a Deimos beam from quite a distance.

[Pred the Penguin]

A zoom function would still be nice though.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

Using the mouse does help. If you run FS2_Open on a laptop, the trackpad's great for Archery.

[Buckshee Rounds]

What made Delenda Est hard for me was not the sheer number of hostiles, but the fact that they usually came in from opposite vectors.

Yeah. They just always seem to jump in at the more inconvenient positions or attempt to fray your nerves by jumping in with another wing at the same time. I'm always rattled whenever I have to deal with more than one warship threat.

For me, I also have the frame rate to deal with, although it's no longer a really big issue after I got used to playing FS2_Open at 10-25 FPS throughout.

Running this should give you another frame or two, at the very least make your computer run smoother: http://www.iobit.com/gamebooster.html

[The E]

That won't help. Intelgrated is just a performance sucker. Also, it doesn't work on Macs.

[Luis Dias]

That won't help. Intelgrated is just a performance sucker. Also, it doesn't work on Macs.

I've a good laptop with a good gpu (it plays masseffect2 with all things on without any lag whatsoever) and still suffered same framerates' issues. Is it a laptop thing? It doesn't happen in a desktop?

[Mars]

That mission runs so slowly because it has a ****ton of Karunas, a bunch of Federal weapons going off at once, a whole lot of ships, a whole lot of fighters - a whole bunch of performance suckers basically.

It should get better when the Karuna is optimized I think.

[Destiny]

The UEF fighters and bombers too, I hope.

I just had to get a good ship with Slammers. Because there's no zooming with the Archer (or any long-range weapon for that matter), I can't snipe properly so I got some Grimlers. Had to run it a few times though, the corvette charge was pretty deadly.

I had that problem with the Archer at first, using your mouse might help actually. The reticle is fine enough to make the shot on a Deimos beam from quite a distance.

I do use my mouse, but...I catfight with it, so I don't wanna change the sensitivity just for the Uriel. I use the numpad for fine tuning, but...it's too responsive. I guess relying on secondaries is still my playstyle.

[Luis Dias]

Don't know what the fuss is about... while I sometimes lose my reticle in the midst of all the fury, it's pretty easy to snipe with the mouse with it. Well, "pretty easy" might not exactly cut it, but it's a game and *some* level of difficulty is to be expected. It's a strange weapon though.

[Mars]

Well, it has the feel of a sniper rifle, and I think a zoom feature would befit it quite well. On the other hand, that might indeed make things too easy.

[Destiny]

I'm going to bet y'all are snipers in CoD or Battlefield.


But really, sniping a stationary subsystem/turret is easy, but when it starts moving diagonally to you and when the turret in question is extremely small like the TerSlashes at the front of a Deimos...I'd prefer a ［ · ］ reticle or even the stock FS2 one, over that...obstructive one BP uses currently.

I think there are upsides and downsides to being able to zoom, such as inability to see anyone coming at you outside your zoomed in field of view, not accounting for 2D/3D radar. And a general 'don't move a lot while zoomed because it really messes up where you wanna aim at'. The upside is that, you can literally wait until you can see the whites of the enemy pilot's eyes before firing from 3 klicks away.

[-Norbert-]

If it ever get's implemented, maybe the HUD, with the exception of the recticle and target brackets, could be deactivated, while zoomed in.

[Rodo]

zooming would add a new edge to the gaming experience in freespace, but IIRC this is already possible with m!m's zoom script right?

[General Battuta]

Yep.

[Pred the Penguin]

I'm going to bet y'all are snipers in CoD or Battlefield.


But really, sniping a stationary subsystem/turret is easy, but when it starts moving diagonally to you and when the turret in question is extremely small like the TerSlashes at the front of a Deimos...I'd prefer a ［ · ］ reticle or even the stock FS2 one, over that...obstructive one BP uses currently.

I think there are upsides and downsides to being able to zoom, such as inability to see anyone coming at you outside your zoomed in field of view, not accounting for 2D/3D radar. And a general 'don't move a lot while zoomed because it really messes up where you wanna aim at'. The upside is that, you can literally wait until you can see the whites of the enemy pilot's eyes before firing from 3 klicks away.

I don't play CoD or Battlefield... More like I'm too lazy to focus on sniping.

On a more serious note, perhaps I should try to implement zoom myself. Would that be hard to do for BP?

[Logistics]

That's exactly my point - but the first thing the Sobek does is destroy the Shivan warship.

The emphasis on shock jumps and massive forward firepower is a favored tactic in situations like the one in AOA - a hostile warship is threatening a friendly force, so the Temaraire and battle group perform a shock jump and immediately destroy it. It's not the ONLY tactic, but it's a good one. The new ships also have a much better fighter screen than any previous ships, so I think they're probably intended to be used for escort as well.

I'm not arguing that the GTVA intends to stand up and fight the Shivans, but I think they're certainly trying to have a military that can hold them off for a brief period of time until they can evacuate a system.

No, but I think the Colossus's sacrifice was clearly meant to be portrayed as effective (in the dialog, and in the next mission briefing.)

I'm not sure what the argument is here. Unless the Shivans literally send a continuous, solid wall of pure Sathanas through a given jump node, destroying their ships and / or delaying them will certainly lighten the load on convoys, whereas simply parking ships in a convoy and defending them is a much worse idea (because of the overwhelming firepower of Shivan ships). One has a good chance of delaying a large number of Shivan forces for at least a few minutes, the other could be easily resolved by a single Lilith.

Well, fair enough.

I was originally trying to argue more from a strategic perspective, while this seems to be turning into a tactical discussion. To clarify, I wasn't trying to suggest a defensive posture of ships sitting by in convoys. As you mention, that would clearly result in them being destroyed. My original point was more along the lines that Steele was unsuited for overall command because his command style is too willing to commit to aggressive maneuvers in the hopes of achieving decisive victory. With the Shivans, there is no decisive victory, barring some further revelation in the plot. I feel that would eventually result in Steele losing ships he wouldn't otherwise have to.

I have to comment a bit on the proposed GTVA's apparent strategy as a whole. The overarching goal of the fleet is merely to slightly delay the Shivan war machine while a given system is isolated from the node network and an evacuation implemented? While it's certainly a preferable contingency against the destruction of a system, I don't see how this is anything but a delaying tactic, scorched earth in a universe that has precious little real estate to scorch. The GTVA's supposed reason for war against SOL relies on the superiority of its fleet in defending humanity, but when you get right down to it, the GTVA fleet is only a slightly larger speed bump, not a barracade that humanity can safely hide behind.

[The E]

I was originally trying to argue more from a strategic perspective, while this seems to be turning into a tactical discussion. To clarify, I wasn't trying to suggest a defensive posture of ships sitting by in convoys. As you mention, that would clearly result in them being destroyed. My original point was more along the lines that Steele was unsuited for overall command because his command style is too willing to commit to aggressive maneuvers in the hopes of achieving decisive victory. With the Shivans, there is no decisive victory, barring some further revelation in the plot. I feel that would eventually result in Steele losing ships he wouldn't otherwise have to.

There's a reason why Steele was only brought into the Sol theater relatively late. Much of it has to do with the GTVA Security Council and the Admiralty agreeing with you.

I have to comment a bit on the proposed GTVA's apparent strategy as a whole. The overarching goal of the fleet is merely to slightly delay the Shivan war machine while a given system is isolated from the node network and an evacuation implemented? While it's certainly a preferable contingency against the destruction of a system, I don't see how this is anything but a delaying tactic, scorched earth in a universe that has precious little real estate to scorch. The GTVA's supposed reason for war against SOL relies on the superiority of its fleet in defending humanity, but when you get right down to it, the GTVA fleet is only a slightly larger speed bump, not a barracade that humanity can safely hide behind.

But what else is there in the fight against the Shivans? Until the shivan goals and capabilities are ascertained, fighting to delay them is the only thing that makes sense. Now, interestingly, Steele agrees with you here, he wants to take the fight to the Shivans whenever possible, but he doesn't know how to do that exactly.
I would argue however that in an operation like the Sol war, Steele is the guy you want in charge.

[General Battuta]

Logistics posts are good posts, never stop posting

[PsychoLandlord]

I would like to add an addendum to my original point about Steele being sent against the Shivans. As Logistics stated, inevitably, the GTVA simply will not be able to stop the Shivans barring plot-****ery, due to the various reasons posted. This is yet another reason the Sol War seems so short sighted and stupid, seeing as how it wont really achieve anything.

I, however, am firmly of the opinion that said Plot-****ery has already occurred. I think the GTVA does actually have what they believe to be a viable, possibly even offensive, strategy waiting for the next Shivan incursion. My reasoning for this is simple - yes, the security council has proven arrogant and foolhardy in the past. Yes, the GTVA as a whole is mad with fear at the very thought of Shivans, and allows that to be the driving force behind their existence, but surely even they must realize that their empire is not infinite. They wont be able to play the game of containment for very long. Yet here they are, heaving their bulk around, loudly proclaiming themselves the true protectors of Humanity and waging war on their ancestral home for it's resources. We already know why the war was perpetrated, but if the GTVA didn't believe themselves capable of actually fighting off the Shivans then I doubt they would have gone to war so willingly.

I will also mention the possibility that said plot card is  in Sol and that this is just one of the less spoken of reasons for the GTVA incursion.

Anyway, on the subject of the original point about Steele, my belief is that, come the next fight, the GTVA will actually have a workable plan or gadget for once, and Steele will have a set of rules to operate by,  hopefully meaning he'll be doing less jumping at the unknown and more ... well, being Steele.

(I also feel like an idiot for never having posted this earlier. I have no idea why I did not.)

[Luis Dias]

I will also mention the possibility that said plot card is  in Sol and that this is just one of the less spoken of reasons for the GTVA incursion.

The simplest of reasons could be the industrial capacity of sol, since it has, at least potentially, mostly the same capability of the whole GTVA.

Or there could be a hidden card, which is what perhaps you are implying... which is always more interesting, plotwise.