TC
SubCrid
Originally posted by Penguin
Meson: If you're testing experimental weaponry, it would probably help not to test it on the enemy. If it works all well and good. But as you're pointing out, if it doesn't work then you've just told the enemy we've got a big gun that doesn't work. Also for an experiment they sure allowed those capships to get close to the Midway, and in a situation where the Midway's all we got, that's intolerable.
Wha? 'Testing it' on the enemy involved a situation where they felt the plasma gun was needed...
From the 'Painting the Target' Briefing
The size of the battle group which has gathered around the Kilrah jump point necessitates that the Midway employ its new weapon.
Secondly, the capships weren't allowed to get close to the Midway. Hrissith 5 : Plasma Gun Defense, the previous mission, was about keeping the bugs away... The Midway needed to get to the Kilrah system, so it needed to go through the jump point. The Nephilim were at the jump point. The Midway, therefore, needed to go near the Nephilim. You don't have a huge choice. The Midway stayed rather far away, actually, for a ship using it's offensive weapons. It would have plenty of time to scramble bombers and fighters if something went wrong. I will also point out that the Midway was not all Confed had. They were just the closest. It would have been more difficult if the Midway was lost, it wouldn't be the end by a long shot.
Wedge009: The bugs may have had a solid concentration of capships but by this time the player has ceased to fear overwhelming odds. Those capships really aren't hard to get rid of and its got nothing to do with computer capacity or AI limitations. They're designed poorly. The engines are big bull's eyes and seeing as how we have to kill engines to kill capships - well it just means the player has to take advantage of that. Plus the bug turrets aren't particularly fearsome, meaning that the bridge is vulnerable.
To be honest if that fleet had been composed of 5 Kilrathi corvettes I'd be running scared [/B]
The fact that there was a Triton, and Orca, a Leviathon and a Hydra would have made it, as far as I can recalll, the most difficult bombing in the game...