Difficulty of Standoff

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I discovered Standoff not too long ago, and WOW! This game is better quality than a lot of commercially produced games, and better than any WC game since WCIV. Hats off to you guys! I've only played a little bit into the first episode past the prologue yet, but I can't wait to get further...

I had a somewhat philosophical question, though. I love the fact that the game keeps track of how many ships have been lost, and that missions get harder if you did badly in earlier missions and lost a chunk of your wing, and that one way to lose is to have your wing lose all its ships.

However, I'm having the worst time keeping my wing-mates alive--a lot of them just don't seem to have enough survival instincts, especially when flying Stillettos (I learned very quickly that, when in a Stilletto, if someone is shooting at you, drop everything and be somewhere else very quickly, but my wingmen apparently missed that memo). The pilots in other wings are even worse. I find that sometimes the only way I can keep their ships whole is to be constantly checking the nav map, seeing which wingman is being targeted the most, and afterburning over to him/her, taunting enemies along the way, and trying to pick them off. Then repeat. And in Stillettos, you don't get a lot of time to respond. Now, that's great and noble and all, and I know the Wing Commander is supposed to be responsible for the welfare of his pilots, but I'm not Paladin, and it would be nice if my wingmen could survive on their own long enough to actually let me think about the mission objectives. Isn't that the way it's supposed to work? The wing leader takes care of the mission objectives and the wingmen watch his back?

I wonder if anyone has any suggestions. Is it more effective to keep people in formation on your wing, and only release them when there are multiple critical objectives at once (e.g. multiple wings of torpedo bombers coming in)? I can't do this with the other wings. The SecretOps wingman commands aren't sophisticated enough.

I have noticed that turning the difficulty UP actually helps in this regard--do your wingmen become better pilots at higher difficulty along with the enemy? -- but this makes already challenging missions very hard.

The mission that's especially giving me trouble is the one with the huge furball of Stillettos versus Gothris (I think its the second or third mission after war with the Kilrathi breaks out again). I've tried it multiple times, but even when I win, I lose ~75% of my fighters every time, which I assume won't cut it for later missions.
 
I always got my butt handed to me on that mission... it is just difficult. Not to spoil anything, but don't worry to much about losing stilletto's :)
 
I've mever really had any problem with my wingmen. I just burn in and blow stuff up, and most of them seem to be able to take care of themselves without my help.
 
Sir,

I'm forced to agree with Dyret, most of the time in the Gothri mission I'm too busy trying to hold my own ship together without worrying about the others.

"Ah, a deadly blow...."

KvK
 
I think the reason why the game is easier on higher difficulties is that the higher up you go, the more likely it is that an enemy will latch onto you rather than one of your wingmen
 
Unregistered said:
I discovered Standoff not too long ago, and WOW! This game is better quality than a lot of commercially produced games, and better than any WC game since WCIV. Hats off to you guys!
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Thanks, glad you like it! :)

Unregistered said:
I wonder if anyone has any suggestions. Is it more effective to keep people in formation on your wing, and only release them when there are multiple critical objectives at once (e.g. multiple wings of torpedo bombers coming in)? I can't do this with the other wings. The SecretOps wingman commands aren't sophisticated enough.
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The only suggestion I have other than not playing in the easiest difficulty (which you already figured out) is to avoid being outnumbered. Your wingmen have considerably more trouble staying alive when outnumbered... I find that it usually pays off to blow some of your missiles right at the start of a big fight to quickly dispatch some enemies, so that your wingmen have some extra breathing room.

As a general rule, the first few seconds are the most important part of any given fight in Standoff.

Unregistered said:
I have noticed that turning the difficulty UP actually helps in this regard--do your wingmen become better pilots at higher difficulty along with the enemy?
Click to expand...
Yes, that's precisely it... the difficulty setting just scales the AI skill as a whole.

For the record, we really intended those first few missions in Episode 2 to make people scared of the Kilrathi. :p

Gothri really are overkill for Stilettos, but you don't have to be too zealous about your Stilettos at this point.

Stiletto missions become less frequent as you progress along the story and, if you are successful enough that the Firekka doesn't remain isolated from the rest of the fleet in the middle of nowhere, there will be periodical refits - unlike the whole Lionheart situation, this is war time now, and the Firekka is a carrier (as opposed to a lowly destroyer).

It's also worth mentioning that the Firekka has a relatively large fighter wing... usually, not all fighters are sent out at the same time, so coming back with almost no wingmen doesn't necessarily mean you'll be in trouble for the next mission. This is also a lot different than in the Prologue, where usually all of the Lionheart's fighters were at risk.

Also, the thing you mentioned about using the nav map to figure out who to babysit next... That'll help a LOT once you have more important buddies to worry about.
 
In Standoff, even more so than in WCP/SO the Navmap is your greatest wingman. Use it often and wisely and you should do alright.
 
Unregistered said:
I discovered Standoff not too long ago, and WOW! This game is better quality than a lot of commercially produced games, and better than any WC game since WCIV. Hats off to you guys! I've only played a little bit into the first episode past the prologue yet, but I can't wait to get further...

I had a somewhat philosophical question, though. I love the fact that the game keeps track of how many ships have been lost, and that missions get harder if you did badly in earlier missions and lost a chunk of your wing, and that one way to lose is to have your wing lose all its ships.

However, I'm having the worst time keeping my wing-mates alive--a lot of them just don't seem to have enough survival instincts, especially when flying Stillettos (I learned very quickly that, when in a Stilletto, if someone is shooting at you, drop everything and be somewhere else very quickly, but my wingmen apparently missed that memo). The pilots in other wings are even worse. I find that sometimes the only way I can keep their ships whole is to be constantly checking the nav map, seeing which wingman is being targeted the most, and afterburning over to him/her, taunting enemies along the way, and trying to pick them off. Then repeat. And in Stillettos, you don't get a lot of time to respond. Now, that's great and noble and all, and I know the Wing Commander is supposed to be responsible for the welfare of his pilots, but I'm not Paladin, and it would be nice if my wingmen could survive on their own long enough to actually let me think about the mission objectives. Isn't that the way it's supposed to work? The wing leader takes care of the mission objectives and the wingmen watch his back?

I wonder if anyone has any suggestions. Is it more effective to keep people in formation on your wing, and only release them when there are multiple critical objectives at once (e.g. multiple wings of torpedo bombers coming in)? I can't do this with the other wings. The SecretOps wingman commands aren't sophisticated enough.

I have noticed that turning the difficulty UP actually helps in this regard--do your wingmen become better pilots at higher difficulty along with the enemy? -- but this makes already challenging missions very hard.

The mission that's especially giving me trouble is the one with the huge furball of Stillettos versus Gothris (I think its the second or third mission after war with the Kilrathi breaks out again). I've tried it multiple times, but even when I win, I lose ~75% of my fighters every time, which I assume won't cut it for later missions.
Click to expand...

For my machine, it depends on how fast you kill your opponents, what their target objective is and how much you break them apart from each other in a fight. For some reason, if I'm charging one enemy craft constantly and not giving it a moment's respite other than the few seconds it'll take for me to turn around and start another run, it seems that my set of wingmen don't get capped quite so easily...possibly because the AI-enemy's wingmen are trying to scramble to get me off of THEIR wingman's back. Oh sure, when that happens I'll duck, dodge and weave and get some taunts pointed in my direction to try to goad me off of the one I've locked onto...sorry, as I'm not the AI and taunting me is only a waste of breath! :D

The only time I've ever lost my entire wing was going after the Fralthi (if I remember correctly) in Ep 3. My Sabre was the last fighter standing on both sides by the time I started pitching the torpedoes into the Fralthi's strike zones (read: Engines and bridge) to take her down. And that was one HELL of a tough fight...among many others before that one.

In the later missions, the numbers just flat overwhelm. But in the earlier missions, at least for me, giving one fighter a hard time tends to do the trick for keeping wingmen alive. It also serves to whittle down the enemy wings faster.
 
I wish to congratulate the creators of Standoff, it's a great game. And mine is a simple question:
I noticed that the difficulty is harder than other games, even at the beggining, and stilletos shields and armor are incredibly thin (when i played privateer, they were tougher to kill :p ).
I play with the mouse, because i have no joystick. Is it possible that i get to play any better buying a joystick? right now, i get whacked a lot in the second mission (against the talon and sabres).
Thank you very much, and congratulations again.
 
Chaosbringer,

I have always found a joystick to be much better than any mouse when playing any type of flight simulator. Even a simple $20 or $30 dollar one will make all the difference. Most people, myself included, seem to demonstrate finer control over their craft with a joystick versus a mouse. Also, it allows for a greater range of movements without having to use additional buttons on the mouse/keyboard or the scroll wheel.
Playing Standoff you'll find a joystick is a good investment.
 
Bombadier said:
Chaosbringer,

I have always found a joystick to be much better than any mouse when playing any type of flight simulator. Even a simple $20 or $30 dollar one will make all the difference. Most people, myself included, seem to demonstrate finer control over their craft with a joystick versus a mouse. Also, it allows for a greater range of movements without having to use additional buttons on the mouse/keyboard or the scroll wheel.
Playing Standoff you'll find a joystick is a good investment.
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I'll second that, especially when you get further into into the missions.

I've never found that a mouse makes a good controller for a flightsim. You have a lot finer control with a joystick over your craft when you play.
 
Well, i'm starting to get better in the game (still with a mouse), and my survival rate has increased a little (specially since i started using the gladius instead of the stiletto). Still, i'll try the joystick. Is there any that you recommend?
 
Saitek Cyborg, any version. I have the Evo wireless. Avoid the wireless if you can. Pain in the neck, needs to be reset every time I pick it up. Doesnt eat too much in the way of batteries though, not compared to my mouse.

If you can find a store which still has a joystick display (My local PC World doesnt. They have room for PS3 games, but not PC joysticks. ) then get down there and get your mitts on all of the sticks, find the one thats most comfortable. And remember that it wont be a miracle cure, your skill will drop sharply until you are used to it, and standoff is a difficult game no matter what you use.
 
Sao Paulo - How Do I Save You?

Anyone else had any problems saving the Sao Paulo? No matter how many of them Kitty bombers I knock out, the screen still seems to go white at some point with the Sao Paulo blowing up.
 
lewi82 said:
Anyone else had any problems saving the Sao Paulo? No matter how many of them Kitty bombers I knock out, the screen still seems to go white at some point with the Sao Paulo blowing up.
Click to expand...

A lot of us had this problem:) If you do a search for Sao Paulo for should find a thread that discusses the way to beat this.

IIRC the fighters that are your biggest concern come from behind the SP. Use your nav map to jump target the bombers that are going after it and you should an easier time. Just kill everything with torps.
 
Yep, the Sao Paulo is pretty painful to save without aid of the navmap - you have to hang around its engines and periodically check the nav map to see which bombers are targetting it.
 
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