Opinions on Standoff Episode 1 (*spoiler warning*)

Nomad Terror

Rear Admiral
I am so glad this is finally out.

Compared to standard Secret Ops, these models and textures are absolutely fantastic. There is noticable slowdown when the Lionheart is being rendered, both in mission and in briefings. My XP rig really isn't one to receive the best hardware, however, so this is understandable.

In-flight comms are absolutely amazing. Talking to the Lionheart is like WC3 all over again. Much better than the cookie cutter responses from the Cerberus. Other pilots are just great. Spoons is such a funny guy to listen to.

Between-mission e-mails... if you are skipping these then you are really missing out. Talk about a load of emotion there, especially with Spoons e-mailing Bradshaw about his supposed blackbox malfunction... he saw right through him and it made me think, "Wow, talk about a concerned friend."

The missions themselves are much harder than in standard Secret Ops. I feel like my stiletto is made of paper mache... those Talons really pack a whallop if you are in their sights. Not to mention the Sabres. If you're going head-on, you can't play chicken with the AI. You're got to fire off a few rounds and then veer away and hope his rounds miss you and your rounds hit him. It forces me to feel like less of a hotshot and more of a regular guy caught in a flying deathtrap.

I haven't gone back and done any more of the branches yet, but I will get to that eventually.

This is a masterpiece. Better than anything I could have ever expected. I commend you, Standoff team! :>

Sorry, Saga team, my vote had to go to these guys. :-P

EDIT: I should comment on the music. Somehow I missed that.

Very nice contrast of orchestral and jazz. Very good quality stuff. Excellent work!
 
This mod reminds me of everything I loved about the old WC games ... and everything I *HATED* about the old WC games ... If I ever have to fly the Stiletto again I'll track down the designers and STAB them ... the Gladius isn't much better - I must be spoiled on SO and Allegiance ships :/

This mod looks and plays excellent, even on my old Celeron 850mHz ... I do heavily wish I could play the music on my MIDI setup though - but it was still awesome to hear the WC2 torp run music :) ...

My favorite feature is the in-game fiction - it makes me actually want to take the time and read it, since I don't have to Alt+Tab out, remember a password, crash WinME, etc ...

The cutscenes are good too - the noir bits are interesting, and the mechanic, gazing upon my ship, it's volume doubled by all the debris hanging off ...

Great work! EPISODE 1, NOW!!!
 
What's up with the Asteroid Attack mission? This mission is impossible! My Gladius can barely make it past the first wave, and after that, the infinite waves of Talons really sucks. Other than that, this game is flawless.
 
Nomad Terror said:
Very nice contrast of orchestral and jazz. Very good quality stuff. Excellent work!

Thank you - that was the trick. To be able to contrast it without it seeming too random - make the transitions work out well (especially in the intro where we have the two styles in the same piece of music). I'm glad you approve of it :)

In the future episodes, there will probably be a chance or two to hear more jazz - and this time I might do some improv while recording the sax. Hell - I might even break out my tenor (rather than just sticking to soprano and alto). So if you liked that, you have more to look foward to.
 
Fatcat said:
What's up with the Asteroid Attack mission? This mission is impossible! My Gladius can barely make it past the first wave, and after that, the infinite waves of Talons really sucks. Other than that, this game is flawless.

You mean the mission where you find the enemy base, say 'There sure is a lot of bogies here' and Freyers then says, "Of course there is. Retreat. Now."?

..you should follow his advice. :)
 
Off we go, watch our smoke!!!

Boy oh boy...what a trip back in time this game is!!! I didn't understand what everyone was talking about when they said that standoff prologue "felt like wing commander"

Now

I

get

it

!!!!! :-D

WCP and SO were a lot about head-on runs and quick targetting as well as playing the missions a few times so you knew right when that bomber would jump in to nuke your landing bays...

This one's so much more like WC2 that it nearly hurts! :)!!!

This one's all about afterburners and tail sliding, tumbling furballs....getting good position for that one "lucky shot" blindly aiming at the ITTS diamond way out in dead space ahead of an enemy who is AB-ing and sliding as well. "Return of the Clawmarks" I deem you!

It was very interesting to see how important being a good wing commander was, though...you really DO have to look after your wingmen! If you carefully husband your resources through the first few flights...it comes in VERY handy during the big showdown.

Guys...this is most excellent...you deserve a HUGE "Well Done" from every WC fan who can get their hands on it!

Oh...one nitpick...and excuse me for being an aggravating nattler about stuff....it's D-E-F-E-N-S-E, not D-FENCE (D-Fence is around my yard!).... ;-) :p

Great job!
Floundericious-one
 
You mean the mission where you find the enemy base, say 'There sure is a lot of bogies here' and Freyers then says, "Of course there is. Retreat. Now."?

No, the one where you and the Lionheart assault the ASteroid base and you destroy Squealer. That one.
 
The day standoff appears, my joystick goes schitzo. At least the intro was cool. Also, I loved the retro-classic WC2 musical accompanyment (until my Stiletto spun off into oblivion and I was forced to postpone my playing). I hope everyone else is having fun though.
 
floundericious said:
Oh...one nitpick...and excuse me for being an aggravating nattler about stuff....it's D-E-F-E-N-S-E, not D-FENCE (D-Fence is around my yard!).... ;-) :p
Well now, that depends on whether you're British or American :p.

(in Standoff, we actually intentionally mix British and American spelling - for example, Bradshaw uses British spelling, for obvious reasons; however, I don't know if the 'defence' thing you mention is such a case, might have been a simple slip-up on my part)

Fatcat said:
What's up with the Asteroid Attack mission? This mission is impossible! My Gladius can barely make it past the first wave, and after that, the infinite waves of Talons really sucks. Other than that, this game is flawless.
All I can say is that they're not infinite :).

Nomad Terror said:
EDIT: I should comment on the music. Somehow I missed that.
Very nice contrast of orchestral and jazz. Very good quality stuff. Excellent work!
On that note, I sure hope everyone appreciates that's a real sax you hear playing, not MIDI :cool:.
 
Don't forget, the way WCP works, you'll have a higher rate of fire if you fire one mass driver at a time, instead of both.
 
In M5 (the base assault), remember that you're flying a fighter-loadout Gladius - the FF missiles, for example, can come in handy (mostly just to scare off Talons that are closing on you) since they don't require lock, and always home in on the closest enemy.

It's also wise to save AB fuel in the first wave, and to take good care of your wingmen in previous missions - I believe the Lionheart will launch all 12 ships on this mission if they're available.

As a final hint, your wingmen might have trouble taking out the heavier turrets (particle and flak turrets), so if you've got the courage, go and take those out yourself while your wingmen are still busy with Talons.
 
physics is a pain...I know we all wish that a mass driver "bolt" would move as fast as a tachyon beam...but it just isn't even fictionally possible to make an object with real mass move as fast as a FTL beam weapon pulse ;)
 
It is fun, no doubt about that. A little cruel to give us so much yet so little. The rest is very welcome now. It would be nice to have some really long and complex missions like UE. The kind that leave you feeling drained at the end. I like those. I do like that getting shot really means getting hit. It is not at all easy, a reason why secret ops was pants.

anyroad up, sort out that next episode and I shall be waiting
 
Oh man just got through the first Ep...and haven't played any flightgame for a long time the difficulty at normal...thing its called Ace..it was quite hard first but after I got used to it it was a great game...realy enjoyed the feeling to fligh again.

Still got problems with the sound..sometimes got a loop or its fitting to the pics, but beside that its technical a very good looking game and the new additions like scanning and rescueing pods (can't remeber it was possible in WCP or SO) are a good addition to the game. Also the new screens like the flightdeck where you can choose between the Sabre or Gladius is a nice addition and also a nice looking one.

The overall stile fits nicely to the WC2 graphics, even if they are more modern and make a good thing between the highend today graphics and the older WC2 feeling.

The talking heads and little animations...special liked the intro with the B/W part and old music was made very well IMO.

My fazit....can't wait for the next Ep to be released...beside WC Saga what you surely will understand ^_^

So keep up the good work.

@Eder...I think you made the talking heads...did you use Max for it or what prog?
Thought it looked like you where using somekind of morphing modifier for the heads...liek it could it be done in Max when you don't want to mess around with complex bone structures.

PS: Oh is their a possibility to release a special pack of the cutscenes in a higher resolution...something like 1024*786..cause I think they deserve abetter resolution ^_^
 
As long as they still have the scene files for the animations I'm sure they could just be rerendered in higher resolutions
 
Chernikov said:
Slow massdrivers of inadequacy!

That... and I think it's humiliating having your butt handed to you by a few Talons. :)

There were so many times when I was trying to fight those Talons that I wished I could have been in a Panther and laid waste to them all while barely getting a scratch.
 
Hi,
This mod is excellent!The pirate 'ending' was a nice touch, and I liked pretty much everything(Particularly Longshot's ejection speech :p )
If it helps at all, there's a typo/misspelling in the Gilgamesh-class destroyer description, at the very end.('attack strenght')
 
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