Standoff

[Nomad Terror]

I always see the sabres heading straight for the Lionheart, dumping their load, and then going to attack the fighters. If you see sabres attacking fighters, that means they've already unloaded their torpedoes into the Lionheart already.

 

[Eder]

Yup, that's usually it. Their AI has the Lionheart as a priority target, they won't get distracted from the Lionheart unless they're attacked. Maybe you're just being lucky enough that the Lionheart shoots down the torpedoes every time.

 

[Wedge009]

Trouble is, the WCII Rapier has a difficult energy management. If you miss a few times, you're screwed.

I don't recall having any problems like that. Too, the laser was supposed to have the lowest drain on energy while the particle cannon supposedly matched the best features of the laser and the neutron gun. But I guess that was long-range and damage potential, not energy use.

 

[Iceblade]

Yep, UE is certainly harder, but this is just the first episode.

So, really it should be a comparision between the kilrathi missions in UE and the pirate missions of SO. Still, UE is harder, but only because of that Ralari sneak attack--ouch, it hurts being in that Gartha with so little escort.
--IMHO, the last mission was easier compared to that--

 

[Lazy Panda]

Yep, UE is certainly harder, but this is just the first episode.

So, really it should be a comparision between the kilrathi missions in UE and the pirate missions of SO. Still, UE is harder, but only because of that Ralari sneak attack--ouch, it hurts being in that Gartha with so little escort.
--IMHO, the last mission was easier compared to that--

I disagree, in the last mission you can't do anything after the Eisen group arrives except carrier hugging, the Gratha simply cannot withstand the big battle, just let the Devastators handle it, which are too dumb to actually USE their plasma gun for capship attack. In Mission 2A, the key rule is to use afterburners a lot and the big frontguns to blast your way through the attackers. When you return, let your wingmen handle the torp runs and killl some turrets (easy if you have dumbfires left) or kill some fighters.

Anyways, my favourite mission which makes the A path so much easier is the one in which you fly...
*SPOILERS AHEAD!*



The K'ha'haf, AKA asteroid fighter, which can wreck havoc on anything short of a capship, 'cuz it has six guns and a nice rack of heatseekers. In a sequel, I have we can use the more often for heavy fighter duty, camouflage or not, this ship rules.



*SPOILERS END!*








Anyways, back to topic. My problems with the Rapier II mainly occur because I always use full guns and have no ITTS... good shields seem to be nothing because they're gone in a few salvoes and recharge awfully slow.

 

[PopsiclePete]

Anyways, my favourite mission which makes the A path so much easier is the one in which you fly...

Glad you appreciate all the hours I've put into this mission's code !

 

[Lazy Panda]

Glad you appreciate all the hours I've put into this mission's code !

Well, the scanning style in UE was tedious (C'mon, what crappy scanners do the Border Worlds have, 30 seconds at point blank to get a visual?), but I wounder how you did it that the Nephilim won't find you 'til you get up close?

Standoff got a nice mechanism for scanning. Jump drive is IMHO a bit flawed as I can jump from 20000 metres or so.

 

[Eder]

Don't worry, there will be no more jumping in the game.

 

[Lazy Panda]

What? Oh, loved that feeling of pursuing(sp?) a destroyer all the way through the next system. Oh well, you don't have all the mission pre-planned, do you?

 

[Starkey]

Jump drive is IMHO a bit flawed as I can jump from 20000 metres or so.

Considering that you couldn´t jump in WCP or SO, I think that jumping in Standoff was a great feature.

Also, in WC2 you could also jump when far away from the jump point

 

[Eder]

What? Oh, loved that feeling of pursuing(sp?) a destroyer all the way through the next system. Oh well, you don't have all the mission pre-planned, do you?

We certainly do have all the missions planned out already... and there's just no room for the player jumping out in any of them.

 

[Lazy Panda]

We certainly do have all the missions planned out already... and there's just no room for the player jumping out in any of them.

Wow! I guess I underestimated you quite a bit. You are making me worried though, as I don't get to see any advancement in the progress display on the Standoff HP.

Edit: Hmm, something is bothering me in those Standoff E-mails. The mail before mission 1 tells you that the Lionheart got only enough heatseekers and torpedoes for 10 sorties. Why to the Gladii in all their sorties carry FriFoe missiles when the mail tells you that you only get HS?

 

[Eder]

Wow! I guess I underestimated you quite a bit. You are making me worried though, as I don't get to see any advancement in the progress display on the Standoff HP.

Well, for one thing, updating the homepage is something done only by me, and only when I have nothing better to do... so it's not *that* accurate a progress display

Second and more important, though, is the fact that all of the global variables we can use in the whole campaign have to be included in the files since the first episode... or else savegames would be incompatible with the episodic add-ons. That means we've already had to go over all the missions in the game and make sure to include all the variables we figured we'll need already in the first release, or else our other episodes would require people to start the game all over again.

Edit: Hmm, something is bothering me in those Standoff E-mails. The mail before mission 1 tells you that the Lionheart got only enough heatseekers and torpedoes for 10 sorties. Why to the Gladii in all their sorties carry FriFoe missiles when the mail tells you that you only get HS?

I'll check that out and add FFs to the e-mail if that's really the case. The purpose of that bit of the email was just to dramatize the peace time budget cuts a bit, while also explaining why the Gladius wing assigned to de-turretize the pirate base won't be carrying DF missiles which would make the job easier.

 

[Lazy Panda]

I'll check that out and add FFs to the e-mail if that's really the case. The purpose of that bit of the email was just to dramatize the peace time budget cuts a bit, while also explaining why the Gladius wing assigned to de-turretize the pirate base won't be carrying DF missiles which would make the job easier.

May I humbly suggest to remove the torpedoes from the list in favour for the FF? You never use them, and for what reason should you have them in Gemini anyway? No confed ship in Privateer has anti-capship-torpedoes after all.

 

[Quarto]

MaY I humbly suggest to remove the torpedoes from the list in favour for the FF? You never use them, and for what reason should you have them in Gemini anyway? No confed ship in Privateer has anti-capship-torpedoes after all.

Hehe, yeah, what possible use could you have for torpedoes, going up against a massive pirate base?

Incidentally, originally we were going to give the player torpedoes on that base assault, so that he'd be the one to destroy the base after the rescue. IIRC, there's even a comm message in the game of Freyers screaming his head off if you destroy the base before the hostages are rescued. Ultimately, we scrapped that idea, because early tests revealed that flying that mission with just torpedoes and DFs results in very low chances of survival .

 

[Lazy Panda]

Hehe, yeah, what possible use could you have for torpedoes, going up against a massive pirate base?

Incidentally, originally we were going to give the player torpedoes on that base assault, so that he'd be the one to destroy the base after the rescue. IIRC, there's even a comm message in the game of Freyers screaming his head off if you destroy the base before the hostages are rescued. Ultimately, we scrapped that idea, because early tests revealed that flying that mission with just torpedoes and DFs results in very low chances of survival .

Too bad you didn't keep the message, I'd love to hear Freyers making himself worthy of taking the callsign "Squealer". I tried to nuke the pirate base via debug, but nada, the shuttles just sat where the hangar should be. Besides, if you can't survive with DFs and torps, how about heatseekers and torps? If you give each of the 2 brigdes the base has a strengh so one torp kills it or have the wingmen assist in the assault, you could just give the Gladii heatseekers and torpedoes.

Anyways, lots of smoke around nothing (German idiom): The explosives charges idea with antimatter-guns as backup seems smarter anyway, I just want a link to the mad Freyers sound

 

[Eder]

May I humbly suggest to remove the torpedoes from the list in favour for the FF? You never use them, and for what reason should you have them in Gemini anyway? No confed ship in Privateer has anti-capship-torpedoes after all.

I don't think Confed would send light bombers out on assignments if they didn't have any torpedoes.

Also, don't worry, you'll all get a chance to make torpedo runs in a Gladius soon enough.

 

[Lazy Panda]

I don't think Confed would send light bombers out on assignments if they didn't have any torpedoes.

Also, don't worry, you'll all get a chance to make torpedo runs in a Gladius soon enough.

Not that Privateer's Gladii carry any Shipkillers...

Oh yeah, I've seen the screenshot story in which you get to torpedo a Ralatha. I think the topic name was "A day on the life of Mr. B"

Edit for GreyViper: I'm very certain the Ferret's massdrivers just fired as fast as a Scimitars. It might seem slower for ships with multiple guns because the salvo adjusts to the slowest gun in WC2. Besides, don't you think the Banshee's lasers fire fast enough?

Another edit, I hope you actually read: I've just experience that WC1 salvo shots adjust to the FASTEST gun. That's what makes the Raptor so bad-ass: Imagine neutron guns firing as fast as mass drivers...

 

[GreyViper]

It might be that the Stiletto's gun pool is smaller than the WC2 Ferret's, I don't remember... but the speed and refire rate of the Mass Drivers are the same in Standoff and in WC2 (in single shot mode anyway... the Vision engine doubles the refire delay if you're shooting 2 guns of the same type).

Hmm, correct me if I am wrong, but didnt the WC2 Ferret have gattling version of Mass Drivers . Wonder why they never used gattling lasers on ships like arrow or banshee?

 

[Eder]

Not that Privateer's Gladii carry any Shipkillers...

This is not Privateer, though - Shipkillers kill ships, and nothing else does.
(In other words, we once considered adding Proton Torpedoes to Standoff, but scrapped the idea).

Oh yeah, I've seen the screenshot story in which you get to torpedo a Ralatha. I think the topic name was "A day on the life of Mr. B"

Yup, that's the one.