[Snail]

I thought there was a GTD Washington closer to Earth, and therefore impossible to see out at that distance.

That's only in the FreeSpace Port (and thus non-canon) to my knowledge.

[Kolgena]

Wait what? FSPort should be canon in the same way that the FSU project is canon.

Unless there were significant changes in port that I'm unaware of.

[Snail]

Wait what? FSPort should be canon in the same way that the FSU project is canon.

Unless there were significant changes in port that I'm unaware of.

Uh. No. No. No, no, no, no.

Nothing is canon except for the original games. No. Just, no.

[Kolgena]

I do not understand. If the FSPort had a GTD Washington, then the original FS should have had a Washinton too. While the upgrade is not itself canon, it's based completely on canon.

[Snail]

I do not understand. If the FSPort had a GTD Washington, then the original FS should have had a Washinton too. While the upgrade is not itself canon, it's based completely on canon.

The mission in which the GTD Washington appeared actually didn't appear in the original at all.

[Kolgena]

...oh.

Well, that answers that

[Herra Tohtori]

I always thought they sent it because the player was stationed on it.

Excellent, practical application of anthropic principle.

[Timerlane]

...oh.

Well, that answers that

I'm pretty sure it was there to help provide a sort of ending for those who didn't have the cutscenes installed(Command Brief for that mission had all the text from Endgame, and reused the monochrome Lucifer explosion ani from the FS2 command brief files).

Would have been pretty anti-climactic without it(or possibly cause some to wonder if there was a bug), in that case:
~last Lucifer generator goes down, mission immediately stops~

~movie would play here, but doesn't exist~

~game drops you directly back to Galatea mainhall~

[-Norbert-]

Wasn't that last "mission" put in as an ingame credits sequence?

[Timerlane]

That too, but you have to admit that the potential abrupt end of the campaign is a pretty good reason to stick something there, as well.

There had to be a mission attached to the command brief standing in for the cutscene, so I honestly don't know whether the proverbial chicken or egg came first, in this case.

[ShadowWolf_IH]

There didn't necessarily have to be a mission attached....remember that neither campaign was built using fred.  hm....the plot thickens.  Fred was built for people who can't program.

[Snail]

Both campaigns were made using FRED. Volition used FRED to make all the missions. Even if Volition didn't use FRED to create the missions, that'd be irrelevant, since the FSPort team certainly did, necessitating the presence of the extra mission.

[ShadowWolf_IH]

i thought that neither used fred. I understand that port did.  I got lost in the convo...this is what 12 work days and rum will get you.

[Hippo]

The FS1 box had a picture of FRED on the back, and the manual included a section (albeit short) on using FRED, so one can assume they had it available to them.

[Klaustrophobia]

i've never seen anything in-game that would indicate V didn't use FRED.  they really wouldn't have a reason not to.

[ShadowWolf_IH]

I could have sworn that I read that they didn't.  Of course, I also could have sworn that my ex was "the one" and we see how that turned out.  But I guess I stand corrected.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

I thought FRED is the exact same tool uses to make FreeSpace missions.

[Jeff Vader]

Of course, I also could have sworn that my ex was "the one" and we see how that turned out.

You and me both, brother.

[BengalTiger]

"Why did command send the GTD Bastion after the SD Lucifer?"
If the plan to kill the Lucy in subspace failed, the GTA would have needed every available ship to evacuate each colonized planet in the Sol system.
They'd also probably try a last ditch kamikaze run or something. If that failed, they'd need another destroyer to keep following the Lucifer and destroying any transports, freighters and gas miners that might want to resupply the SSD. Those 5 external reactors must suck a lot of deuterium, and one day the Lucy would have to run out of gas.

[Snail]

Actually we don't know how Shivan reactors work. I think it's pretty clear they work differently from ours. We also don't know what those Rahu miners were mining for...

In fact, if you look very closely at the FS1 command briefing animations, you can see them labelled "Xenon-Zarium" reactors (on the Hades ani anyway). The Lucifer's reactors have bits labelled "Elemental Harvesters".