[Iain Baker]

Hi all, I got a BP AoA question.

I’m playing mission 16 ‘The Great Preservers’ - the first one as a Vishnan. Is it normal for the ship's hud and targeting to go all screwy? The effect is similar to the interference you get in the nebular missions in retail FS2, except it is quite persistent.

*Edit* - I have seen a few lets plays on YouTube. Older versions of BP didn’t do this, but a lets play from 2018 did. You can see it here: https://youtu.be/Arg4vZffYwU?t=7721

Is it due to getting hit? Is the psychic link to the ship being disrupted? Or is it some of the fighters or bombers that are doing it? I notice some of the Maras are the assassin intron which gives them temporary cloaking ability. Is there an intron that scrambles sensors etc?

Ok, so actually two questions, sorry.

Is there any data on the two other primaries on offer, the gravity spike and the cluster shot? The standard Vishnan primaries suck, so I’m trying to work out if the others are any better.

Cheers 😊

[AdmiralRalwood]

*Edit* - I have seen a few lets plays on YouTube. Older versions of BP didn’t do this, but a lets play from 2018 did. You can see it here: https://youtu.be/Arg4vZffYwU?t=7721

Is it due to getting hit? Is the psychic link to the ship being disrupted? Or is it some of the fighters or bombers that are doing it? I notice some of the Maras are the assassin intron which gives them temporary cloaking ability. Is there an intron that scrambles sensors etc?

You can clearly see the player getting hit by a missile at the start of the effect; Arjuna wing, at the very least, is loaded with "EMP Adv.#Shivan" secondaries, so... avoid the EMP missiles and your HUD won't go screwy, pilot!

There is an intron that can cause EMP effects, but it's not used in that mission.

[Iain Baker]

Thanks for the heads up.  Looking over the video again I can see it now. Those sneaky Shivan bar stewards ;-)

Still doesn't explain why the Vishnan primaries are so crap considering they are supposed to be so advanced...unless they have been deliberately nerfed for 'balance reasons', so you stand a chance when you have to fight against them in a future act...humm...now that would be interesting

[General Battuta]

Huh, I thought they were ridiculously good. Aren't they? Plus you have the flak and beam options...

[QuakeIV]

They aren't especially good to my recollection at this point in time.  I was kindof under the impression that it was because vishnans have to fight full throttle shivans most of the time, hence the degraded apparent performance.

Spoiler:

If I'm remembering right the bloody nahemas are moving around like fighters and lobbing instalock missiles, its kindof terrifying.

[FrikgFeek]

Compared to any GTVA gun they're totally ridiculous, especially the flak and beam. However their rapidfire heatseeker isn't as broken as the Tempest so you're losing some DPS there and you're fighting Shivan introns with massively buffed health so it seems as if you're doing no damage even though you're still doing loads of it.

[Iain Baker]

Compared to any GTVA gun they're totally ridiculous, especially the flak and beam. However their rapidfire heatseeker isn't as broken as the Tempest so you're losing some DPS there and you're fighting Shivan introns with massively buffed health so it seems as if you're doing no damage even though you're still doing loads of it.

That's interesting, I didn't realise the introns had HP buffs too. It is also possible my aiming was off due to the HUD going mental from the EMP missiles, so perhaps I was not landing many hits. I'll try again later now that I know what's going on and see if I have more luck this time.

Thanks everyone :-)

[Iain Baker]

Ok, just played it again, this time ordering the missionaries to cover me whilst I was concentrating on the bombers. That worked. And I take it back, the Vishnan primaries don't suck, especially the gravity spike 

I suspect I was correct in thinking I was missing the target much of the time before due to the screwy HUD and general chaos.

Of course, I'm going to miss using the gravity spike now