Opinions on Standoff Episode 1 (*spoiler warning*)

[Eder]

What are the normal ordnance loadouts for fighter missions and bomber missions? The Sabre mission in episode one had it carrying a single torpedo. Also, does the Sabre's turret fire automatically like the turrets on the Shrike and Devestator do in SO, or is it manual only?

The turret fires automatically. The ordnance varies... Fighter loadout has 4 IR, 2 HS, and 2 FF (I think). Bomber loadout has 4 IR and 4 Torps. The one in the prologue was downgraded on purpose to try to make the Sparrow showdown a bit harder (also, it makes sense that a Sabre which just got recovered from a pirate base would have whatever loadout the pirates left it with).

The Gladius used in Standoff... is it meant to be fit into the light fighter role that the Militia use it in Gemini, or the heavy fighter role used by Special Ops aboard the Lexington? I can't remember its classification in the Tactical Database.

We tried to make both (radically different, I admit ) roles fit together, so we gave it the unique "fighter-bomber" designation. It's supposed to have the payload and survivability of a medium fighter, the speed of a heavy fighter, and carry a limited amount of torpedoes.

It was inspired in part by that mention of torpedo-carrying Epees in WC2... It's supposed to be, basically, a heavier version of that Epee. Since all the "light fighters" in Privateer seem more like medium fighters when compared to WC2 ships (we call our Talons medium fighters too, and come on, they're a lot heavier than our light fighters), I felt this was the best possible mix of both types of Gladius we see. It retains dogfighting ability slightly superior to the Talon, and it also retains the capship-killer ability which was its most important aspect in Armada (IMHO).

And most importantly, it remains inferior to both the Sabre as a bomber and to the Rapier as a fighter, which from the gameplay aspect of things is a great way to make use of it early in the game.

Edit: a note for the Gladius-haters... There are only another 2 or 3 Gladius-only missions in the game.

 

[Nomad Terror]

I didn't mind the Gladius personally. It was definately a step up from the Stiletto and it made me appreciate it more.

 

[overmortal]

I enjoyed both ships. The Stilletto had a good amount of AB fuel and was good for weaving around gunfire and picking your opponents apart. Even on more difficult settings, I had a fairly easy time doing it when I remembered to fly defensively instead of charge in.

The Gladius still wasn't a "charge in shooting" ship, but was much better than the stilletto and pounding an enemy when you got a bead on it. It made those Tarsuses a piece of cake (not that they were terribly hard anyway, but those mass drivers took time to take them out).

The Sabre . . . wow. What an improvement over the actual WC2 Sabre. It just feels more substancial. Then again, maybe that's because you only take on one ship in it. I can't wait to put the hurt on some Kilrathi.

 

[Nomad Terror]

it feels weird to be outgunned by talons in the stiletto

 

[cff]

As I said before - the Stiletto is a new star on my top 3 ship hate list for WC. Other stars are 1) Epee and 2) Scimitor. I am still not sure what spot the Stiletto will take however.
The Gladius is ok, nothing too fancy, but a solid ship one can work with. I didn't find the Sabre to be much superior however except in speed.

 

[Wedge009]

I wasn't aware of people disliking the Gladius... in fact, having a ship hate list seems a bit silly to me, you just have to work with what's available.

And it's quite clear the Talon has more firepower than the Stiletto, even in the original Privateer.

 

[Nomad Terror]

But we never flew the Stiletto before. Instead we flew ships where before too long we could eliminate Talons like nothing. But this time around the Talons are the ones with the big guns.

 

[Quarto]

But we never flew the Stiletto before. Instead we flew ships where before too long we could eliminate Talons like nothing. But this time around the Talons are the ones with the big guns.

If you look at your Priv manual, you will find that the Stiletto always had two mass drivers, while the Talon always had two mass drivers and one particle cannon. So, everything checks out - if anything, we've actually toughened the Stiletto up, by giving it four HS missiles instead of the textbook two.

In Priv, Talons were easy to kill because you were constantly improving your ship. But I don't think there's anybody here that will tell you they never had a near-death experience flying the initial-setup Tarsus against two or three Talons. They were always tough little bastards, it's just that you very quickly got tougher.

 

[Nomad Terror]

But that's what I mean. There's nothing wrong with the Stiletto, it's just that now we're on the receiving end of the punishment instead of the giving end.

 

[MamiyaOtaru]

Some sources claim they mount 2 meson blasters.. Still, those aren't a ton better than mass drivers (if at all) so it's still correct to say they aren't too heavily armed.

 

[poopnoodle]

i was looking at the killboard and i was wondering if there is going to be a seperation of squadrons later in the game, like in fleet action, there were 3 on the tarawa (ferret rapier and sabre i think).

just wondering, thanks
brad

 

[Tempest]

Yup. There will be squadrons.

 

[Eder]

The Firekka will have three squadrons, but their logos won't be visible on the Killboard like in WCP (because we can't edit those logos ). However, the pilots' names will be in a different color depending on which squadron they're a part of: white = Ghost Riders (Stilettos), blue = Valkyries (Rapiers), and red = Crusaders (Gladii, Sabres, or Crossbows, depending on where you are and how you're doing in the campaign). Bradshaw's name will always be in green, since he's the Wing Commander and can choose to fly with whatever squadron he wants to. Other pilots will generally stick to one of the squadrons only for the entire campaign.

 

[Wedge009]

But we never flew the Stiletto before. Instead we flew ships where before too long we could eliminate Talons like nothing. But this time around the Talons are the ones with the big guns.

If you've ever had the experience of being fired upon by Stilettos, you'll know that they can't do much damage on their own, even less than the Talon.

I know the manual lists the Stiletto as having mass drivers, but I always recall them having meson blasters in the actual game.

 

[Nomad Terror]

But that's what I mean. There's nothing wrong with the Stiletto, it's just that now we're on the receiving end of the punishment instead of the giving end.

Passing someone up on the road who is in a Pinto is a lot different from being in a Pinto and being passed up by everyone.

 

[Bugfix]

Awesome start of a long awaited WC game!

I bow my head deeply before you guys. Great game, its a travel back in times, into those great fantastic times of wing commander 2 and 3, where the dense atmosphere of the games would just grap you and not letting you go.

Yet I like to give a more detailed feedback. Hope that is more useful. Found good and not so good things. +++ for very good till + for OK good, and --- for really disappointing till - for the missing cream on the cake and -- for somewhat inbetween.

Starting with not so good so that I have to good points at the bottom to end positively:

---
intro: opening credits AND story beginning at same made it hard to concentrate on one. was expecting the WC usual FMV, hence laid back to enjoy the intro, but was troubled as thre was no relax enjoyment. So what I did then I quit the game, erased all save files and started anew this time concentrating on the story only. But that might just be me. Sorry.

--
for the most times somewhat monotonous/detached voice acting of the main character despite the great variety of situations and emotions he goes through
for not all comms coming with comm text lines. Or so it seemed to me at times. Can that be?
for not being able to understand the CPO after the first 2 or 3 missions due to the low volume of her voice

-
for the nowadays lookalike tables and chairs in the rooms. I would expect those rathermore to be build into the structure of the ship, at least for the tables, also those big monitors do look odd, flat screens be more fitting. Yet this whole point is just of minor importance, eye candy basically.

+++
for the HUDs
for the ships rendering and style
for the WC2 style of things, like story telling in rooms/screens from the CIC off, the talking heads, the after scene with the CPO
for the ingame fiction telling with the comm terminal
for the big technical database
for the creation of a main character with lights AND shades to his personality
for the great variety of different missions, also that scanning and tractor beaming - cool
for the comm videos
the relaxed jazz tunes
like to voice acting of Freyers a lot

Hope I did not sound too much nitpicking. I did not want to critizise but encourage and point out to where IMHO (very humble) things could improve.

 

[Lynx]

Ah yes the interface. While it's solid and all, I'd prefer a WC2 styled interface, employing similar colors to what we see in WC2(red, green as in the login screen) as the interface graphics you have now retain too much WCP elements that simply don't fit into the theme too good.

 

[Eder]

Yes, I'd gladly ditch all the cyan for green, all the blue for red, and all the white for yellow if I could, too.

Find a way to edit even just one of the RGBA components in just one of the graphics that make up just one of the menus, and I'll hand you over my most prized possessions, a Fender guitar and a Trainspotting DVD.

for the nowadays lookalike tables and chairs in the rooms. I would expect those rathermore to be build into the structure of the ship, at least for the tables, also those big monitors do look odd, flat screens be more fitting. Yet this whole point is just of minor importance, eye candy basically.

FWIW, all those things were intented as WC1/2/Priv references. We'd have chalk on the killboard if we could find a way to do it.

 

[Eder]

Find a way to edit even just one of the RGBA components in just one of the graphics that make up just one of the menus, and I'll hand you over my most prized possessions, a Fender guitar and a Trainspotting DVD.

Oh, scratch that, we just figured it out. Hopefully we'll have a WC2-ish set of menus in Episode 2.

 

[Aron Figaro]

Well, I haven't played Standoff yet (Joystick's on its way home) BUT...I do recall the Stilletto having Meson Blasters rather than Mass Drivers. Another thing I'd like to see is the Phantom-class Medium Fighter making an appearance, if only in the sim. That baby was the SHIZ in Armada.