[yuezhi]

Story:
The year is 2366. The reconstruction era is about to come to an end and anti-vasudan sentiment is reaching its peak. Polaris is ready to erupt in revolution, but many systems and nodes away, a small team of pilots and cruisers handpicked by Admiral Aken Bosch himself are on a mission of great importance that could shift the tide of the coming war in favour of the rebellion.
Only two weeks away from the actual rebellion of Polaris starting, the team are not in hot water but they will soon be neck deep in enemy territory, watched at every angle by an enemy who is just as familiar with war as they are.

Missions: 18 including RAs

Download Link:
http://download620.mediafire.com/57j4s8po9xeg/4y1xubdbk8m54lt/greattincanrun.rar

This is the first campaign i've ever made so i'm willing to believe there are a lot of fredding mistakes that i overlooked. Constructive criticism is welcome and please keep it at that.

Note:
For anyone suffering from lag due to an unbearable amount of objects, feel free to remove the mod.ini, but be prepared to look at the vast emptiness of space; from personal experience, there will be no backgrounds without mediavps.

Also if anyone spots the same file on freespacemods.net then do not waste your time with that. That file was uploaded while the site was suffering problems and the download link will lead to nowhere.

The command briefing animations may feature a high-texture GTVA logo. It may be caused by mjn.mixael's fs2 command briefing anims which for some reason overwrite some files when used. to view it properly for the moment, remove the CB_ANI_VP from mediavps. Otherwise, it will look out of place.

revised version includes:
--reworked escort missions to save your time
--topace's bugfixes
--new landing SEXPS
--minor grammar corrections
--lots of brand new nameplates
--NTF interface by galemp and flaming_sword used in crossing the styx by FSF

[Deadly in a Shadow]

Hello there, congrats for releasing your first campaign.
BTW, there seems to be a little overlook in the first mission. You have to scan the comms of the Shipyards, but unfortunately I can't scan it. Instead I scanned the "new" stuff. A message occurs but as long as I can't scan the comms I can't proceed with the mission.

[TopAce]

You have to give some kind of cargo to the station's comms in order to make it scannable.

I'm at mission 4 now. I'll post some compliments and nitpicks once I'm finished.

[Spoon]

I too, can't proceed past the first mission because I can't scan the comm system of the station.
Also, the models that show up in the briefing when you click on the briefing icons don't quite seem correct.

[TopAce]

Yes, mission 1 is bugged. Here's a quick-and-dirty fix. See fix below.

Let's give some compliments before the criticism starts.

The mission backgrounds (with the exception of mission 1) are quite good. It doesn't look as if they were made of multiple separate bitmaps, which is the impression nebula backgrounds must receive. So you deserve a thumb up here
Difficulty is on the easy side, which is a big plus in my book. As a consequence, all available ships and weapons are usable in the missions.
There are some cool moments in the campaign, most notably

Spoiler:

Escorting the train of Aeolus cruisers in mission 7

.

As for the negative side, I'd just mention some of my personal nitpicks. The others will certainly make most of the more general points I would, so there's no need for repetition, is there?

My biggest complaint so far is mission length. The first 6 missions were okay in this regard, but missions 7-8-9 are well above the recommended 10-minute optimum. In mission 7, I turned on invulnerability when in the 15th minute

Spoiler:

The Hecate arrived from behind with lots of fighters.

My other nitpick is spelling. Most specifically, the use of commas. Please, please, if you include the name of who you're addressing, use the comma before, and if the sentence continues, after it. So like this:
"Return to base, everyone." Where "everyone" is addressed to return to base.
or
"See in the afterlife, traitor" instead of "after life traitor." I kept wondering who the "after life traitor" is until I realized what it's about.

[EDIT]What am I supposed to do in mission 12?

Spoiler:

Judging from the debrief, the NTC Vasily is meant to be lost. However, the campaign only lets me proceed if the Vasily reaches its waypoints, which just won't happen. I'm gonna assume the campaign file is bogus, so I'll edit the mission to make campaign progress possible.

Finished it. Unfortunately, there were a couple show-breaking bugs that required some fixing in FRED. I quickly fixed these dead ends. Get the files here. This includes the fix for mission 1.

[yuezhi]

Hello there, congrats for releasing your first campaign.
BTW, there seems to be a little overlook in the first mission. You have to scan the comms of the Shipyards, but unfortunately I can't scan it. Instead I scanned the "new" stuff. A message occurs but as long as I can't scan the comms I can't proceed with the mission.

i definitely overlooked that and i'm well aware that all the other scannables in the campaign are missing cargo.

Yes, mission 1 is bugged. Here's a quick-and-dirty fix. See fix below.

Let's give some compliments before the criticism starts.

The mission backgrounds (with the exception of mission 1) are quite good. It doesn't look as if they were made of multiple separate bitmaps, which is the impression nebula backgrounds must receive. So you deserve a thumb up here
Difficulty is on the easy side, which is a big plus in my book. As a consequence, all available ships and weapons are usable in the missions.
There are some cool moments in the campaign, most notably

Spoiler:

Escorting the train of Aeolus cruisers in mission 7

.

As for the negative side, I'd just mention some of my personal nitpicks. The others will certainly make most of the more general points I would, so there's no need for repetition, is there?

My biggest complaint so far is mission length. The first 6 missions were okay in this regard, but missions 7-8-9 are well above the recommended 10-minute optimum. In mission 7, I turned on invulnerability when in the 15th minute

Spoiler:

The Hecate arrived from behind with lots of fighters.

My other nitpick is spelling. Most specifically, the use of commas. Please, please, if you include the name of who you're addressing, use the comma before, and if the sentence continues, after it. So like this:
"Return to base, everyone." Where "everyone" is addressed to return to base.
or
"See in the afterlife, traitor" instead of "after life traitor." I kept wondering who the "after life traitor" is until I realized what it's about.

[EDIT]What am I supposed to do in mission 12?

Spoiler:

Judging from the debrief, the NTC Vasily is meant to be lost. However, the campaign only lets me proceed if the Vasily reaches its waypoints, which just won't happen. I'm gonna assume the campaign file is bogus, so I'll edit the mission to make campaign progress possible.

Finished it. Unfortunately, there were a couple show-breaking bugs that required some fixing in FRED. I quickly fixed these dead ends.

1. I don't deserve credit for those backgrounds. All of them were provided by someone else (whatsisname?) and places seen in the fs2 campaign were taken from the actual missions when i realized the backgrounds provided didn't match. I had to take liberties in the first mission because it's set in laramis which is completely fictional. It wasn't lightspeed who made those backgrounds because his nebulas are inconsistent with canon.

2. Also well aware of that since i playtested the missions themselves. Mission 7 is embarassingly long. As an experiment, i put the cruisers in rows of twos for mission 10 and onwards.

Spoiler:

mission 9: you have full command of your cruisers. The option to order them to depart is entirely your own not just because they trust you, storywise, but really because i don't know how to get them to execute an action when they're damaged to a certain percent. Even if i knew how, Beams don't stop for anyone so they can end up dieing when they really need to leave.

3. English was never my best subject even as a first language.

4.

Spoiler:

There's suppose to be an escape pod that appears and your suppose to escort to the waypoint when the vasily is wrecked. This was a fredding nightmare for myself; originally, i wanted to get the pod to appear in the exact spot the vasily explodes. some things i tried was having it docked already but it looked ugly and was too vulnerable to the beams, and i tried making it spontaneously appear where i wanted it too and that was pointless because when using that SEXP, the new ship can't have any immediate orders. In the end, i chose to just make it warp in front of the cruiser without a warp effect.

5.

Spoiler:

mission 12 is just a story mission. Thought i'd make it a simple break since it followed right from another red alert mission.

Thanks for the file ace. All these tips are what i've been hoping for and i must say that you guys are the best. So tell me ace, what exactly did you do?

EDIT: It was difficult in my opinion because i kept dying when playtesting the missions so i don't understand how it can be so easy for everyone.

[Scotty]

For number 2, in the depart box:

 "<"
-->  Hits-left
   --> <cuirser's name>
--> <percent hull you want it to leave at>

[yuezhi]

For number 2, in the depart box:

 "<"
-->  Hits-left
   --> <cuirser's name>
--> <percent hull you want it to leave at>

much thanks.

Now for my questions to everyone:
1. The campaign editor was the last thing it used. Has the campaign proceeded smoothly for everyone, as in are you passing because you at least completed primary objectives or just because (jumping out without RTB directive and pass anyways)?

2. Anyone feel the missions were too BoE style? I definitely had some guilt especially in the missions involving escort and mission 9 and 15.

3. does the dialogue feel empty or too long?

4. question feels kind of dumb. anyways, is it taboo to talk about the NTF within the 19-month gap before the main FS2 campaign? The only other mods i can think of within this time period is Crossing the Styx which took place far far away.

[Scotty]

I haven't played it yet, so I can't answer 1-3, but I can answer 4 simply enough.

No.  It is not taboo.  Anyone who tells you differently is wrong.

[yuezhi]

I too, can't proceed past the first mission because I can't scan the comm system of the station.
Also, the models that show up in the briefing when you click on the briefing icons don't quite seem correct.

i didn't even know you could click icons.

Spoiler:

The Hecate arrived from behind with lots of fighters.

what's so bad about the that? They're pretty far away to begin with and the one that can potentially KO you to fail is out of range.

[TopAce]

Spoiler:

mission 9: you have full command of your cruisers. The option to order them to depart is entirely your own not just because they trust you, storywise, but really because i don't know how to get them to execute an action when they're damaged to a certain percent. Even if i knew how, Beams don't stop for anyone so they can end up dieing when they really need to leave.

Well, being able to order cruisers to depart yourself is unusual. It just occurred to me that maybe I could try the comm window before declaring the mission broke and take a look at it in FRED. I imagine that without a briefing line/mission message/developer note that brings attention to this way to winning the mission, it could be considered a bug.

4.

Spoiler:

There's suppose to be an escape pod that appears and your suppose to escort to the waypoint when the vasily is wrecked. This was a fredding nightmare for myself; originally, i wanted to get the pod to appear in the exact spot the vasily explodes. some things i tried was having it docked already but it looked ugly and was too vulnerable to the beams, and i tried making it spontaneously appear where i wanted it too and that was pointless because when using that SEXP, the new ship can't have any immediate orders. In the end, i chose to just make it warp in front of the cruiser without a warp effect.

Spoiler:

Yes, I saw the escape pod, and it jumped out successfully. The problem is not with the escape pod, but rather the SEXP that handles it. The SEXP requires the Vasily to reach its waypoint, which its doesn't.

So tell me ace, what exactly did you do?

With the fixes? Fix the station's comm, the Vasily thing mentioned above, fixing the victory condition of the "Typhon attacks Arcadia" mission (I don't remember its number now), and fixing the friendly destroyer jump out conditions for the last mission.

Spoiler:

The Hecate arrived from behind with lots of fighters.

what's so bad about the that? They're pretty far away to begin with and the one that can potentially KO you to fail is out of range.

In terms of FREDding? Nothing. It's psychology. I had my fair share of "Lose an extremely long mission in the last minute" moments in some other user-made campaigns, and I thought it would be the case here. Fortunately, it wasn't, but since I played the mission for the first time, I didn't know how much a threat it was to the convoy.

[yuezhi]

Spoiler:

mission 9: you have full command of your cruisers. The option to order them to depart is entirely your own not just because they trust you, storywise, but really because i don't know how to get them to execute an action when they're damaged to a certain percent. Even if i knew how, Beams don't stop for anyone so they can end up dieing when they really need to leave.

Well, being able to order cruisers to depart yourself is unusual. It just occurred to me that maybe I could try the comm window before declaring the mission broke and take a look at it in FRED. I imagine that without a briefing line/mission message/developer note that brings attention to this way to winning the mission, it could be considered a bug.

I've added some lines to the mission remind everyone about this liberty. However, i'm sure i wrote at least one briefing page dedicated to telling you about this

[Nemesis6]

I'm only a few missions in. The only annoyance I've spotted is spelling/grammar. One recurring problem within that realm is not differentiating between "your/you're" - "Your in a restricted area" for example.

Not to focus too much on a minor point, but wasn't there talk at some point of maybe having a place that authors could submit their missions or text tables to be corrected for common grammar and spelling mistakes? Anyway, back to the campaign. Looking forward to seeing where this leads!

Edit: I'm at the "Land of the Free" mission, and this mission seems a bit bugged -- I cannot engage the enemy cruiser's weapons, because as it's moving to intercept, it keeps snapping back and forth. Combined with the lag of the mission, this makes engaging it impossible, at least the way I want to. I'm gonna try to just spam rockets at it now! 

[yuezhi]

I'm only a few missions in. The only annoyance I've spotted is spelling/grammar. One recurring problem within that realm is not differentiating between "your/you're" - "Your in a restricted area" for example.

Not to focus too much on a minor point, but wasn't there talk at some point of maybe having a place that authors could submit their missions or text tables to be corrected for common grammar and spelling mistakes? Anyway, back to the campaign. Looking forward to seeing where this leads!

Edit: I'm at the "Land of the Free" mission, and this mission seems a bit bugged -- I cannot engage the enemy cruiser's weapons, because as it's moving to intercept, it keeps snapping back and forth. Combined with the lag of the mission, this makes engaging it impossible, at least the way I want to. I'm gonna try to just spam rockets at it now! 

are you sure you named the right mission? the one you mentioned is a nice break from fighting.

Spoiler:

its just an asteroid blasting mission. there aren't suppose to be any enemies.

[Rodo]

Ok, I donwloaded the original missions and the patch and something is still wrong.

On mission 2 timings are off, the enemy cruiser and fighters jump in right after the Faustus jumps, also the thing that is supposed to happen to the first wave of fighters doesn't.

Also, I cannot proceed cause (I guess you have a distance-sexp with the node) the jump out sexp is not working.

EDIT: cannot provide a real feedback right now, I'll do that after a playthrough.

[Nemesis6]

I might have gotten the mission names confused. Anyway, the one I was complaing about was the one where you

Spoiler:

steal a load of Aeolus class cruisers from the GTVA scrapyard.

I've since completed the mission by turning difficulty to easy and flying a bomber loaded with only hornets.

[yuezhi]

whoever reads this please, go back to the top and re-download the link. GTCR has been revised based on your assessments and includes some extra fixes by myself. new version includes topace's fixes and a fixed mission 2. there will be more fixes to come; in the mean time, please don't  click the briefing icons.

[achtung]

I'll be mirroring this on FSMods as soon as its reached something like a "final" release. Of course, that's only if it's okay with you yuezhi.

[yuezhi]

I'll be mirroring this on FSMods as soon as its reached something like a "final" release. Of course, that's only if it's okay with you yuezhi.

feel free to do that anytime swantz. the only thing the new release could possibly need is grammar checking; most fredding and texturing is final. if the proofreading passes then it's final. There's not much point anyways since the long anticipated release of freespace 3 has totally ruined the chance of this campaign being successful.

[Rodo]

Thanks, will continue the playthrough later this week.

EDIT: Now I get a no-defriefing legend at the end of m2 and I cannot proceed further since it warns me that I lost the mission when the two cruisers were kept alive, that might be related to the campaign file more that to the mission itself.