Wing Commander Secret Ops Replay Week 6
- Thread starter Dundradal
- Start date
DaveO
Rear Admiral
Sorry for not adding my screen shots sooner. I added 19 to Photobucket for this time. You can see the others at: http://s204.photobucket.com/albums/bb15/DaveO-MM/Wing Commander/
All eight of the Kreiger missions can be watched along with all the other WC game videos at: http://www.youtube.com/davecaspermeyer
All eight of the Kreiger missions can be watched along with all the other WC game videos at: http://www.youtube.com/davecaspermeyer
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Dundradal
Frog Blast the Vent Core!
So does that mean UE or Standoff might be next?
I'm not quite sure yet. To be honest, I've devoted myself to too many projects (Replay, WCPedia, Standoff testing, Standoff guide, new job, etc) and have let my own replay entries slack quite a bit (I'm still back in WC2). I'm thinking we could finish up SO and put the replay on hold for a bit.
That doesn't mean it would be the end though. I'd certainly like to replay some of the other games before we get to the fan mods.
What I would like to concentrate on is the WCPedia project. Finishing up WC1 is a daunting project that once we get done will make the other games seem almost like a cakewalk in comparison. The IRC meetings for the project have been great and have worked out a lot of the kinks that were holding us back at first.
I think after we've got WCPedia going strong I'll return to the replay.
Lt.Overload
Rear Admiral
I screwed up in the other missions and in Sirius just to get to see the Midway, I love that ship.
DaveO
Rear Admiral
First two mission journals from this system, along with the last two from Proxima for the finale.
Kreiger 1
We are put on the defense of Kreiger station right away in Wasps. I see a pilot in a Piranha forced to bail out just as I launch. Another defender of the station loses his life against the aliens just as I’ve closed the distance with the booster pack. Time to make the bugs pay for their attack on the station. I use one of the Swarmer missiles against a Manta to take it down. I check the radar for any other close Mantas to attack, and find a good target. It also takes a full salvo from a Swarmer launch, and ceases to be a threat to the station. I have to a bit of fancy flying around the station and then thru its ring to bear down on the next Manta. It’s able to evade some of the Swarmer missiles, but keeping the Manta in my sights lets the remaining missiles that initially missed to come back to finish it off. Two more Mantas follow the fate of the others to the Swarmers, and I quickly take down a Moray with the Dust Cannons. A Lamprey is right in front of my fighter, and it too is no match for the firepower of the Wasp. Two more Morays and a Lamprey are dusted, and Stiletto warns of reinforcements. More Mantas are around to attack the station, and one Manta is shattered by the Swarmers. For a second Manta, I thread the ring of the station to bring more Swarmers to bear. There look to be only smaller fighters left, with Morays and Stingrays. I shoot down one Moray since it’s closer, and turn my attention to a Stingray. Zero has that alien covered and takes care of it, and I attack and destroy a Moray. The Cerberus warns us of another round of attacking aliens. With the booster pack expended at the start of this mission, I have to use afterburners to close the distance. I use my last Swarmer missile against a Manta, and then switch to the Artemis enhanced long-range image recognition missiles. I use short bursts of the Dust Cannon to take down another Manta. Just as I look for another alien to attack, one of the Mantas launches a torpedo. I sight and shoot down the torpedo with time to spare, and nine more of the Mantas fall. There are no more waves of aliens jumping in, so we can mop up against the remaining fighters. Four of the Morays are finished by my fighter, and we can now get additional supplies from the station.
Kreiger 2
Friendly forces here report a large alien blockade leading up to the Proxima jump point. The first part of our attack will be to reposition the Cerberus. We launch in our fighters and begin our escort of the Cerberus. At the first nav point are Stingrays and Mantas along with one of the big alien capital ships. I take down two of the Stingrays to reduce the chance of clustering, and turn my attention to the Mantas. Two of those aliens are destroyed, and our bombers are doing good work against the Orca cruiser. I have to split a combined Stingray cluster, and use a missile to knock the numbers down. I take one Manta down with a combination of missile and guns, and pitch in to take care of the final Manta. At the next nav point, there are a few Mantas, Skate bombers, Lampreys, and a Triton transport. I take care of a Manta, and focus on eliminating those bombers. The Skate cluster jettisons its torpedo as it is split apart, and Stiletto warns us of another inbound wave of aliens. I decide to take out the rear turret of the transport along with one of its forward turrets. Maestro takes his cue and quickly disables the engines on the transport. I engage and destroy a second Skate cluster, and the transport is taken down by our bombers. One small Skate segment is shattered by a missile, and another one is taken care of by my guns. I handle one of the Moray fighters, and look for any threats after a second warning by Stiletto. Seeing nothing at the moment, I take care of three of the Skate clusters. I then see a Manta, and use a Mosquito to soften it up. I finish off that Manta, and a second one gets the same treatment. Two more Mantas are trashed, and Zero and I combine together to take care of another one. Two Moray fighters are finished off, and we can move onwards to the third nav point. There are a few Lampreys, Mantas, Rays, and Devil Rays here. I go after one of the Mantas since it is the closest threat. I handle that alien with no issues, and the other Manta follows its mate in extermination. I shoot down two of the Lampreys, and this gets the attention of one of the Devil Ray aces. Multiple Mosquitoes along with my guns take out the first one, and we combine our attacks on the remaining ace. It can’t withstand all that firepower for more than a few moments, and this mission becomes a memory.
Kreiger 1
We are put on the defense of Kreiger station right away in Wasps. I see a pilot in a Piranha forced to bail out just as I launch. Another defender of the station loses his life against the aliens just as I’ve closed the distance with the booster pack. Time to make the bugs pay for their attack on the station. I use one of the Swarmer missiles against a Manta to take it down. I check the radar for any other close Mantas to attack, and find a good target. It also takes a full salvo from a Swarmer launch, and ceases to be a threat to the station. I have to a bit of fancy flying around the station and then thru its ring to bear down on the next Manta. It’s able to evade some of the Swarmer missiles, but keeping the Manta in my sights lets the remaining missiles that initially missed to come back to finish it off. Two more Mantas follow the fate of the others to the Swarmers, and I quickly take down a Moray with the Dust Cannons. A Lamprey is right in front of my fighter, and it too is no match for the firepower of the Wasp. Two more Morays and a Lamprey are dusted, and Stiletto warns of reinforcements. More Mantas are around to attack the station, and one Manta is shattered by the Swarmers. For a second Manta, I thread the ring of the station to bring more Swarmers to bear. There look to be only smaller fighters left, with Morays and Stingrays. I shoot down one Moray since it’s closer, and turn my attention to a Stingray. Zero has that alien covered and takes care of it, and I attack and destroy a Moray. The Cerberus warns us of another round of attacking aliens. With the booster pack expended at the start of this mission, I have to use afterburners to close the distance. I use my last Swarmer missile against a Manta, and then switch to the Artemis enhanced long-range image recognition missiles. I use short bursts of the Dust Cannon to take down another Manta. Just as I look for another alien to attack, one of the Mantas launches a torpedo. I sight and shoot down the torpedo with time to spare, and nine more of the Mantas fall. There are no more waves of aliens jumping in, so we can mop up against the remaining fighters. Four of the Morays are finished by my fighter, and we can now get additional supplies from the station.
Kreiger 2
Friendly forces here report a large alien blockade leading up to the Proxima jump point. The first part of our attack will be to reposition the Cerberus. We launch in our fighters and begin our escort of the Cerberus. At the first nav point are Stingrays and Mantas along with one of the big alien capital ships. I take down two of the Stingrays to reduce the chance of clustering, and turn my attention to the Mantas. Two of those aliens are destroyed, and our bombers are doing good work against the Orca cruiser. I have to split a combined Stingray cluster, and use a missile to knock the numbers down. I take one Manta down with a combination of missile and guns, and pitch in to take care of the final Manta. At the next nav point, there are a few Mantas, Skate bombers, Lampreys, and a Triton transport. I take care of a Manta, and focus on eliminating those bombers. The Skate cluster jettisons its torpedo as it is split apart, and Stiletto warns us of another inbound wave of aliens. I decide to take out the rear turret of the transport along with one of its forward turrets. Maestro takes his cue and quickly disables the engines on the transport. I engage and destroy a second Skate cluster, and the transport is taken down by our bombers. One small Skate segment is shattered by a missile, and another one is taken care of by my guns. I handle one of the Moray fighters, and look for any threats after a second warning by Stiletto. Seeing nothing at the moment, I take care of three of the Skate clusters. I then see a Manta, and use a Mosquito to soften it up. I finish off that Manta, and a second one gets the same treatment. Two more Mantas are trashed, and Zero and I combine together to take care of another one. Two Moray fighters are finished off, and we can move onwards to the third nav point. There are a few Lampreys, Mantas, Rays, and Devil Rays here. I go after one of the Mantas since it is the closest threat. I handle that alien with no issues, and the other Manta follows its mate in extermination. I shoot down two of the Lampreys, and this gets the attention of one of the Devil Ray aces. Multiple Mosquitoes along with my guns take out the first one, and we combine our attacks on the remaining ace. It can’t withstand all that firepower for more than a few moments, and this mission becomes a memory.
Lorien
Rear Admiral
Phew, talk about a long system! Not to mention Target-rich. I'm up to 750-odd kills already, though I did take my time in some of the infinte waves missions.
Krieger 1:
The captain gives us a little bit of time during the jump to unwind and relax, giving me a chance to read my emails and collect my thoughts. The stress of our current campaign has started getting to me and I took it all out on Stiletto. I check my email as I gather my thoughts and try to work out how to apologise to her. The first item in my list is a lecture on using the Devastator. I only give that a brief skim, finding nothing that I haven't already found on the battlefield. At least those lessons are being passed on to the new pilots.
The Captin's pleased with our work in the Luyten system, but tempers it with two pieces of news. The first is that the Kreiger system is heavily infested with bugs, even with our forces clearing them down. That's not a problem, just more targets to take out. The second piece is slightly more sobering, whatever the aliens are doing in Proxima is fiddling with the output of the stars in that system. They might be gearing up to take the system out, making our success even more important.
Reading about the captain of the Twilight Purchase resigning in protest over the actions of his company finally gives me the gusto to put an email together for Stilleto. Her reply is a little emotionless, as is her style, but at least she agrees to meet me for a drink. Whenever we have time to, anyway.
The captin's prediction of plenty of action in the Kreiger system proves to be correct as we exist the jump point near Krieger station to find it under heavy attack. We rush into our Wasps to protect the station but even as we launch we're receiving word of the defending Piranhas being beat up on heavily. I engage my booster and set a course for the nearest bomber, arming my ELRIR missiles and firing as soon as I'm in range.
The bombers have a heavy escort, but it's not enough to stop us from savaging them with our missiles. Only one managed to get a torpedo off and I took that torpedo out with my dust cannons before it even got close to the Midway. With the bombers dispatched, we're working on taking out the escort as another wave of aliens arrive. There are only two bombers and three Stingrays in thise group to pose a threat to the station so the logical course of action is to use an ELRIR to keep the Stingrays from clustering and then go to work on the Red Mantas with my Swarmers.
The next wave of fighters is much more of a threat, 4 bombers with 15 escorts come out of the jump point and attack the Cerberus while our fighters are all clustered around the station. I lock my afterburners and move to intercept, positioning myself between the Cerberus' engines and the bombers, ready to take out any torpedoes. Fortunately, we arrived in time to get the bombers before they can launch anything at the Cerberus. We start clearing out the remains of the escort but I'm very careful to hold on to my missiles in case another wave of aliens attack.
None do, however, and the captin details two pilots onto shuttle duty to gather supplies from the station while the rest of us land for a little bit of rest before our next mission.
Krieger 2:
There are a large number of alien ships between the Cerberus and the Proxima jump point. We're going to take them down one by one to clear out path, but first we have to get the Cerberus in a good position to attack. Escorting her along this route is my wing in Vampires and a force of Black Devasators.
The Devastors worth is proved as we reach the first jump point and encounter an Orca Destroyer surrounded by bombers and corvettes. A large number of the bombers are Stingrays, so the first task is to use my guns and ELRIRs to reduce their numbers below two so that they can't cluster up and form a major threat. With the completed, step two is to stay near the Cerberus and defend anything that looks at her funny. The dogfight is intense enough to draw the aliens away from their Destroyer, leaving the Devastators free to take it out. We mop up the alien remains before moving on.
The second Nav point looks to be the remains of a convoy, a single transport with 2 Corvettes and heavy fighter escort. Strangely enough, the Skate B's in the area are ignoring the Cerberus, leaving the tiny guns on alien fighters that can punch through the Cerberus' shields to chip away at our home. With the temporary boon granted, we take full advantage and wipe out as many alien fighters as possible. It just seems like we've cleared a bit of a path when several more alien fighters show up for the party. The intense dogfight continues and I'm starting to run low on missiles before it looks like things have cleared up.
Checking on the bombers, they seem to be making the stupid mistake of attacking a Triton without removing the rear turret. I take a short break from the fray to do them this favour before returning to see the arrival of yet more alien forces. There's nothing heavy amongst these fighters, fortunately, so it's just a matter of time before they're taken out.
Our final location features a much heavier alien presence, two Red Mantas, two Rays, four Lampreys and to top it all off, two Devil Rays. The Cerberus takes out the nearest Ray, leaving the Remoras to bother me as I hunt down the Red Mantas. Once they're dispatched, I switch to pulse particle guns to swat Remoras before I attract the attention of a Devil Ray. Shaking him off and falling in behind him, the alien fighter falls quickly to guns and my last few Mosquitos. The next Devil Ray is finished off with a Pilum as it runs from the guns being focused on it. With the major alien fighters taken out, I swat the last few remaining Remoras and land aboard the Cerberus.
Krieger 3:
With a number of the large alien ships taken care of, it's time to take care of the swarming alien fighters. Our mission is to patrol the system, killing any fighters we encounter, and to strip the turrets from a carrier to make a follow-up strike easier. Establishing space superiority will make our lives in the Krieger system a lot easier.
The first fighters we encounter on our patrol are a small force of Morays in an asteroid field. We get to work quickly demolishing only to find that the entire setup was an ambush as a stronger force emerges from the asteroids. This simply makes our mission of clearing out the alien fighters easier, as they're now all concentrated in one location. Zero's looking a little worse for wear after the dogfight but the rest of us are untouched.
The next nav point features our carrier target, escorted by a Corvette and with two transports attending. I order my wing to break and attack and proceed to punch a hole through the carrier's screen. The carrier continues to launch fighters as they become ready, so there's no dedicated time to take out the carrier's turrets. Instead, I take strafing runs to remove one or two turrets before returning to the fray. It's a long battle but eventually the carrier's out of readily available fighters and usable turrets. I strip the guns from the transports using my Pulse Particle Guns before we move on, just to make life easier on the follow-up.
Our final encounter happens on our way back to the Cerberus. A few light fighters along with a Devil Ray jump us. While we may have been running low on missiles by that point, we have plenty of gun power as they quickly discover. I don't even get close to the Devil Ray during the dogfight as it's quickly taken out by my wingmen. We quickly return to the Cerberus and prepare to launch the finish off strike on the carrier.
Krieger 4:
There's little time to relax after landing as the scramble alarm tells us to get straight to our ships and prepare to finish off that carrier. As my Devastator clears the Cerberus, Zero passes word that pilots from Krieger base are already on their way towards the target. When we arrive at the target, their assistance is appreciated. The carrier has wasted no time in getting fighters ready to defend itself. I order a break and attack and being to cover my men as they attack the carrier, using the Devastator's big gun to the best of my ability to take out the bugs.
Opposition around the carrier is harsh and that carrier keeps launching fighters no matter how many we take out. I break from my anti-fighter role and make an approach on the carrier. My wingmen have already dealt with the engines, but the bridge is still intact. Firing the plasma gun continuously, I lock on a Light Torpedo and finish the carrier off. Without their base around to provide backup the remaining fighters and transports are easy bait and we head home to the Cerberus.
We don't make it through the asteroid field before encountering a second large alien force. Two cruisers, two transports and a lot of fighters and corvettes defending them. With the heavy fighter cover present, I order the usual tactics and move to cover my men, but I'm soon seperated from them by the melee. I'm taking out Lampreys and Mantas in quick succession and even take the time to wipe out a corvette but I still have to listen to the eject messages as they come in one by one as the cruisers throw more alien reinforcements into the fray.
Again, I'm force to break off and engage the cap ships myself, I try to maintian consistent afterburn towards them but an occasional wing forces me to turn around and deal with them before I can continue on. After far too much time, I'm finally within range of the trailing cruiser. Fortunately, the unshielded engines are towards, so I open up with the plasma gun from long range while locking on a Pike heavy torpedo, the gun causes some engine damage but the torpedo finishes it off. I pull up and take out the shields around the bridge and begin strafing it, but the alien CAP is battering my shields.
My shields are failing and armour is being chewed off my ship but I manage to hold to my attack run long enough to finish off the first cruiser. I turn to engage the fighters attacking me and quickly finish them off with the Devastator's gun and large Mosquito complement. With the skies clear, I move on to the second cruiser and repeat the same run. The aliens must have recognised my tactics and I'm subjected to much heavier fire that forces me to break off before I can finish off the bridge. I take out two Morays with some quick shots before returning my attention to the cruiser to finish it off.
That leaves a few Lampreys in my vincinity along with the two transports. The Lampreys are easy targets as they fly straight towards my big gun and I'm soon moving on to the first transport. I'm just taking out the engines on the transport when a Moray scores a lucky missile hit. My eject light turns on just as the transport detonates. The heavy alien presence makes ejecting a bad idea, so I stay the course and finish off my attackers.
The last tranport is a long distance away, forcing me to mostly drain my fuel tanks to reach it. Fortunately, the alien fighters are even further away and are unable to stop me finishing it off. With only a few fighters left, all that remains to do is point my gun at them as they charge straight at me and finish them off. Zero and a remaining Excalibur pilot assist me with my efforts, but we three are the only ships left out of a 15-fighter unit to make it back to Cerberus. I land my badly dinged up ship and try to cover my ears as the chief tech explodes.
Krieger 5:
Despite our heavy losses in the last mission, tactical has decided that the multi-stage assault we used against the carrier was a success and we're going to be doing it again. This time our target is an enemy capship blocking out path to the Proxima jump point but, before we can attack it, we need to move the Cerberus into a better position to launch the attacks. The bugs will no doubt object to this move, so we'll be providing escort as she repositions.
The aliens appear to be waiting for us at Nav 1 and a quick scan of the radar reveals why. They've managed to construct a Comm Facility in the this system and are no doubt intercepting our signals and directing their efforts based on that. A number of bombers are targetting the Cerberus and they're my first target as the Devastators move on to destroy the facility. It's a quick dogfight around the Cerberus, with most of my time spent hunting down the Remoras released every time the Cerberus or myself take out a Ray cluster. The Squids aren't able to stop our bombers from taking out the comm station and soon the skies are only filled with Confed craft.
We stumble upon an alien convoy at the second Nav, with two transports under a moderate escort. There's not much to do here except engage and destroy the fighters as they arrive with the occasional break to pump a light torpedo into the escaping transports, as well as breaking up the Stingrays before they can form into one of their deadly clusters.
Our final destination doesn't have any capital ships present, but there are still plenty of bombers to take out attention. I engage the Red Mantas and order my wingmen to take out the Stingrays. I manage to deal with my targets in time, but the Stingrays are able to cluster up and take out one the Cerberus' engines before being taken out. A pair of Devil Rays arrive far to late to change to course of the party and are quickly taken out by our forces. As I land, I'm glad that the Devil Rays aren't the threat that they used to be, the aliens seem to have a lot more of them now, than they did around Kilrah.
Krieger 6:
Our intense mission tempo continues with a scramble launch to take out the turrets on a carrier blocking the Proxima jump point. The carrier's escort and CAP is fairly light, with a few corvettes and fighter in attendance. Our strike force outnumbers them, so I order a break and attack to let my pilots do their job before moving to engage myself. The carrier was definitely caught by suprise, but still scrambles to launch fighters against us, seeming to launch a new wave of fighters every time we appear to be clear to launch our attacks against the carriers turrets.
Launched piecemeal as they as, the new fighters prove to be little threat to our attack force. The main hassle is hunting down the Squids that are luanched. The Vampire's new top speed means that careful throttle control is needed to prevent multiple collisions during the engagement. Eventually, the carrier seems to give up launching new fighters and falls back on it's turrets. These turrets are quickly dealt with by our Pulse Particle guns and we set a course back to the Cerberus to grab the bombers needed to finish the job.
Krieger 7:
Once again, there's little time for thought as we race from our Vampires into the waiting Devastators and set a course for the now defenseless carrier. When we arrive, they've obviously had time to put some fighters in the air, but there's a new problem. An enemy cruiser has joined in the defense of the carrier. The carrier can't defend itself, so our priority targets are the fighters and the cruisers. I order a break and attack and move to escort my wingmen. The alien fighters are obviously fresh and make the rookie mistake of chargin my Devastator head on, making them sitting ducks for the heavy plasma guns.
The carrier launches a few more waves of fighter to reinforce their cover, but they're no match for the Vampires and my plasma gun and soon the capships are left defenseless. Even the Devil Ray that was launched wanders straight into heavy plasma fire. As my wingmen attack the carrier, I move in on the cruiser, destroying it's shield generators in my first pass before pulling up and targeting the bridge. Alien turret fire is heavy, so I restrict my attack to the plasma gun and light torpedoes, so that I can quickly pull out if my shields get too low.
The Devastator's shields prove to be tought enough and I skim low over the surface of the cruiser and engage my afterburners as I break out past the engines, switching over to heavy torpeoes. The range is long and the cruiser is making good speed, meaning that it's two heavy torpedoes to the engines that take the cruiser out, with no gunfire required. After that, finishing off the carrier is almost anti-climatic. Our ships return to the Cerberus and prepate to smash through the alien forces guarding the Proxima jump point.
Krieger 8:
Our mission to jump into the Proxima system begins on a sombre note. Intel believes that the aliens are using the output of the binary stars in this system to power a new wormhole device. If they get this one open, it will remain open forever, plus we're up against at least two fresh alien cap ships from the Proxima system with plenty of fighter cover. Even with this bad news, Zero still can't resist needling Meastro about his rejection of the twin suns theory. Meastro's next theory, of capturing the wormhole and lobbing nukes through it, sounds a lot better to everyone involved.
Once everyone is settled down, we engage autopilot towards out destination. Fortunately, the alien force is lighter than expected, only a Cruiser and a Destroy with a few Mantas are there to greet us. Knowing that we can easily overwhelm such light forces, I order our ships to break and attack and move to engage the nearest target. There are a few aces up the alien sleeve, however, and as soon as the Mantas are dealt with a force of Stingrays jump in and make a beeline for the Cerberus.
A few ELRIRs chop them up enough to prevent any major threat to the Cerberus and makes the clean-up nice and easy. Just as our ships are rocked by the explosion of the Destroyer, another small force moves to enage. A few Squids prove to be an annoyance, but the Mantas are nothing but bait to our pilots. The attack against the Cruiser is just moving in to full swing as the aliens unleash their 3rd suprise, a group of 4 Covettes in support of the Cruiser.
They're out of place and too late, however, and as our Vampires begin to chop them up with Pulse Particle Guns and Mosquitoes, the bombers are finishing off the Cruiser. I look around for the next alien suprise and I'm not dissapointed. The aliens have pulled a very good trick and jumped a carrier in at point blank to the Cerberus to launch it's bombers while the Cerberus' cover is out of place.
The Stingray's don't seem inclined to cluster up too quickly, so we take advantage of the break to annihilate the Red Mantas. One manages to launch a torpedo at the hangar bay, but my guns intercept the torpedo before it even makes it halfway to the Cerberus. With the bombers taken care of, we move to cover the bombers as they take out the Carrier. This carrier seems to believe in quality over quantity, but the single Devil Rays with two Manta escorts barely make it out of the launch bay before being shot down. I even get time to put a light torpedo of my own into the carrier's bridge. Predictably enough, the carrier is easily dealt with and the Cerberus' fighters return to the hangar as we make our way into Proxima and the new alien wormhole gate.
Krieger 1:
The captain gives us a little bit of time during the jump to unwind and relax, giving me a chance to read my emails and collect my thoughts. The stress of our current campaign has started getting to me and I took it all out on Stiletto. I check my email as I gather my thoughts and try to work out how to apologise to her. The first item in my list is a lecture on using the Devastator. I only give that a brief skim, finding nothing that I haven't already found on the battlefield. At least those lessons are being passed on to the new pilots.
The Captin's pleased with our work in the Luyten system, but tempers it with two pieces of news. The first is that the Kreiger system is heavily infested with bugs, even with our forces clearing them down. That's not a problem, just more targets to take out. The second piece is slightly more sobering, whatever the aliens are doing in Proxima is fiddling with the output of the stars in that system. They might be gearing up to take the system out, making our success even more important.
Reading about the captain of the Twilight Purchase resigning in protest over the actions of his company finally gives me the gusto to put an email together for Stilleto. Her reply is a little emotionless, as is her style, but at least she agrees to meet me for a drink. Whenever we have time to, anyway.
The captin's prediction of plenty of action in the Kreiger system proves to be correct as we exist the jump point near Krieger station to find it under heavy attack. We rush into our Wasps to protect the station but even as we launch we're receiving word of the defending Piranhas being beat up on heavily. I engage my booster and set a course for the nearest bomber, arming my ELRIR missiles and firing as soon as I'm in range.
The bombers have a heavy escort, but it's not enough to stop us from savaging them with our missiles. Only one managed to get a torpedo off and I took that torpedo out with my dust cannons before it even got close to the Midway. With the bombers dispatched, we're working on taking out the escort as another wave of aliens arrive. There are only two bombers and three Stingrays in thise group to pose a threat to the station so the logical course of action is to use an ELRIR to keep the Stingrays from clustering and then go to work on the Red Mantas with my Swarmers.
The next wave of fighters is much more of a threat, 4 bombers with 15 escorts come out of the jump point and attack the Cerberus while our fighters are all clustered around the station. I lock my afterburners and move to intercept, positioning myself between the Cerberus' engines and the bombers, ready to take out any torpedoes. Fortunately, we arrived in time to get the bombers before they can launch anything at the Cerberus. We start clearing out the remains of the escort but I'm very careful to hold on to my missiles in case another wave of aliens attack.
None do, however, and the captin details two pilots onto shuttle duty to gather supplies from the station while the rest of us land for a little bit of rest before our next mission.
Krieger 2:
There are a large number of alien ships between the Cerberus and the Proxima jump point. We're going to take them down one by one to clear out path, but first we have to get the Cerberus in a good position to attack. Escorting her along this route is my wing in Vampires and a force of Black Devasators.
The Devastors worth is proved as we reach the first jump point and encounter an Orca Destroyer surrounded by bombers and corvettes. A large number of the bombers are Stingrays, so the first task is to use my guns and ELRIRs to reduce their numbers below two so that they can't cluster up and form a major threat. With the completed, step two is to stay near the Cerberus and defend anything that looks at her funny. The dogfight is intense enough to draw the aliens away from their Destroyer, leaving the Devastators free to take it out. We mop up the alien remains before moving on.
The second Nav point looks to be the remains of a convoy, a single transport with 2 Corvettes and heavy fighter escort. Strangely enough, the Skate B's in the area are ignoring the Cerberus, leaving the tiny guns on alien fighters that can punch through the Cerberus' shields to chip away at our home. With the temporary boon granted, we take full advantage and wipe out as many alien fighters as possible. It just seems like we've cleared a bit of a path when several more alien fighters show up for the party. The intense dogfight continues and I'm starting to run low on missiles before it looks like things have cleared up.
Checking on the bombers, they seem to be making the stupid mistake of attacking a Triton without removing the rear turret. I take a short break from the fray to do them this favour before returning to see the arrival of yet more alien forces. There's nothing heavy amongst these fighters, fortunately, so it's just a matter of time before they're taken out.
Our final location features a much heavier alien presence, two Red Mantas, two Rays, four Lampreys and to top it all off, two Devil Rays. The Cerberus takes out the nearest Ray, leaving the Remoras to bother me as I hunt down the Red Mantas. Once they're dispatched, I switch to pulse particle guns to swat Remoras before I attract the attention of a Devil Ray. Shaking him off and falling in behind him, the alien fighter falls quickly to guns and my last few Mosquitos. The next Devil Ray is finished off with a Pilum as it runs from the guns being focused on it. With the major alien fighters taken out, I swat the last few remaining Remoras and land aboard the Cerberus.
Krieger 3:
With a number of the large alien ships taken care of, it's time to take care of the swarming alien fighters. Our mission is to patrol the system, killing any fighters we encounter, and to strip the turrets from a carrier to make a follow-up strike easier. Establishing space superiority will make our lives in the Krieger system a lot easier.
The first fighters we encounter on our patrol are a small force of Morays in an asteroid field. We get to work quickly demolishing only to find that the entire setup was an ambush as a stronger force emerges from the asteroids. This simply makes our mission of clearing out the alien fighters easier, as they're now all concentrated in one location. Zero's looking a little worse for wear after the dogfight but the rest of us are untouched.
The next nav point features our carrier target, escorted by a Corvette and with two transports attending. I order my wing to break and attack and proceed to punch a hole through the carrier's screen. The carrier continues to launch fighters as they become ready, so there's no dedicated time to take out the carrier's turrets. Instead, I take strafing runs to remove one or two turrets before returning to the fray. It's a long battle but eventually the carrier's out of readily available fighters and usable turrets. I strip the guns from the transports using my Pulse Particle Guns before we move on, just to make life easier on the follow-up.
Our final encounter happens on our way back to the Cerberus. A few light fighters along with a Devil Ray jump us. While we may have been running low on missiles by that point, we have plenty of gun power as they quickly discover. I don't even get close to the Devil Ray during the dogfight as it's quickly taken out by my wingmen. We quickly return to the Cerberus and prepare to launch the finish off strike on the carrier.
Krieger 4:
There's little time to relax after landing as the scramble alarm tells us to get straight to our ships and prepare to finish off that carrier. As my Devastator clears the Cerberus, Zero passes word that pilots from Krieger base are already on their way towards the target. When we arrive at the target, their assistance is appreciated. The carrier has wasted no time in getting fighters ready to defend itself. I order a break and attack and being to cover my men as they attack the carrier, using the Devastator's big gun to the best of my ability to take out the bugs.
Opposition around the carrier is harsh and that carrier keeps launching fighters no matter how many we take out. I break from my anti-fighter role and make an approach on the carrier. My wingmen have already dealt with the engines, but the bridge is still intact. Firing the plasma gun continuously, I lock on a Light Torpedo and finish the carrier off. Without their base around to provide backup the remaining fighters and transports are easy bait and we head home to the Cerberus.
We don't make it through the asteroid field before encountering a second large alien force. Two cruisers, two transports and a lot of fighters and corvettes defending them. With the heavy fighter cover present, I order the usual tactics and move to cover my men, but I'm soon seperated from them by the melee. I'm taking out Lampreys and Mantas in quick succession and even take the time to wipe out a corvette but I still have to listen to the eject messages as they come in one by one as the cruisers throw more alien reinforcements into the fray.
Again, I'm force to break off and engage the cap ships myself, I try to maintian consistent afterburn towards them but an occasional wing forces me to turn around and deal with them before I can continue on. After far too much time, I'm finally within range of the trailing cruiser. Fortunately, the unshielded engines are towards, so I open up with the plasma gun from long range while locking on a Pike heavy torpedo, the gun causes some engine damage but the torpedo finishes it off. I pull up and take out the shields around the bridge and begin strafing it, but the alien CAP is battering my shields.
My shields are failing and armour is being chewed off my ship but I manage to hold to my attack run long enough to finish off the first cruiser. I turn to engage the fighters attacking me and quickly finish them off with the Devastator's gun and large Mosquito complement. With the skies clear, I move on to the second cruiser and repeat the same run. The aliens must have recognised my tactics and I'm subjected to much heavier fire that forces me to break off before I can finish off the bridge. I take out two Morays with some quick shots before returning my attention to the cruiser to finish it off.
That leaves a few Lampreys in my vincinity along with the two transports. The Lampreys are easy targets as they fly straight towards my big gun and I'm soon moving on to the first transport. I'm just taking out the engines on the transport when a Moray scores a lucky missile hit. My eject light turns on just as the transport detonates. The heavy alien presence makes ejecting a bad idea, so I stay the course and finish off my attackers.
The last tranport is a long distance away, forcing me to mostly drain my fuel tanks to reach it. Fortunately, the alien fighters are even further away and are unable to stop me finishing it off. With only a few fighters left, all that remains to do is point my gun at them as they charge straight at me and finish them off. Zero and a remaining Excalibur pilot assist me with my efforts, but we three are the only ships left out of a 15-fighter unit to make it back to Cerberus. I land my badly dinged up ship and try to cover my ears as the chief tech explodes.
Krieger 5:
Despite our heavy losses in the last mission, tactical has decided that the multi-stage assault we used against the carrier was a success and we're going to be doing it again. This time our target is an enemy capship blocking out path to the Proxima jump point but, before we can attack it, we need to move the Cerberus into a better position to launch the attacks. The bugs will no doubt object to this move, so we'll be providing escort as she repositions.
The aliens appear to be waiting for us at Nav 1 and a quick scan of the radar reveals why. They've managed to construct a Comm Facility in the this system and are no doubt intercepting our signals and directing their efforts based on that. A number of bombers are targetting the Cerberus and they're my first target as the Devastators move on to destroy the facility. It's a quick dogfight around the Cerberus, with most of my time spent hunting down the Remoras released every time the Cerberus or myself take out a Ray cluster. The Squids aren't able to stop our bombers from taking out the comm station and soon the skies are only filled with Confed craft.
We stumble upon an alien convoy at the second Nav, with two transports under a moderate escort. There's not much to do here except engage and destroy the fighters as they arrive with the occasional break to pump a light torpedo into the escaping transports, as well as breaking up the Stingrays before they can form into one of their deadly clusters.
Our final destination doesn't have any capital ships present, but there are still plenty of bombers to take out attention. I engage the Red Mantas and order my wingmen to take out the Stingrays. I manage to deal with my targets in time, but the Stingrays are able to cluster up and take out one the Cerberus' engines before being taken out. A pair of Devil Rays arrive far to late to change to course of the party and are quickly taken out by our forces. As I land, I'm glad that the Devil Rays aren't the threat that they used to be, the aliens seem to have a lot more of them now, than they did around Kilrah.
Krieger 6:
Our intense mission tempo continues with a scramble launch to take out the turrets on a carrier blocking the Proxima jump point. The carrier's escort and CAP is fairly light, with a few corvettes and fighter in attendance. Our strike force outnumbers them, so I order a break and attack to let my pilots do their job before moving to engage myself. The carrier was definitely caught by suprise, but still scrambles to launch fighters against us, seeming to launch a new wave of fighters every time we appear to be clear to launch our attacks against the carriers turrets.
Launched piecemeal as they as, the new fighters prove to be little threat to our attack force. The main hassle is hunting down the Squids that are luanched. The Vampire's new top speed means that careful throttle control is needed to prevent multiple collisions during the engagement. Eventually, the carrier seems to give up launching new fighters and falls back on it's turrets. These turrets are quickly dealt with by our Pulse Particle guns and we set a course back to the Cerberus to grab the bombers needed to finish the job.
Krieger 7:
Once again, there's little time for thought as we race from our Vampires into the waiting Devastators and set a course for the now defenseless carrier. When we arrive, they've obviously had time to put some fighters in the air, but there's a new problem. An enemy cruiser has joined in the defense of the carrier. The carrier can't defend itself, so our priority targets are the fighters and the cruisers. I order a break and attack and move to escort my wingmen. The alien fighters are obviously fresh and make the rookie mistake of chargin my Devastator head on, making them sitting ducks for the heavy plasma guns.
The carrier launches a few more waves of fighter to reinforce their cover, but they're no match for the Vampires and my plasma gun and soon the capships are left defenseless. Even the Devil Ray that was launched wanders straight into heavy plasma fire. As my wingmen attack the carrier, I move in on the cruiser, destroying it's shield generators in my first pass before pulling up and targeting the bridge. Alien turret fire is heavy, so I restrict my attack to the plasma gun and light torpedoes, so that I can quickly pull out if my shields get too low.
The Devastator's shields prove to be tought enough and I skim low over the surface of the cruiser and engage my afterburners as I break out past the engines, switching over to heavy torpeoes. The range is long and the cruiser is making good speed, meaning that it's two heavy torpedoes to the engines that take the cruiser out, with no gunfire required. After that, finishing off the carrier is almost anti-climatic. Our ships return to the Cerberus and prepate to smash through the alien forces guarding the Proxima jump point.
Krieger 8:
Our mission to jump into the Proxima system begins on a sombre note. Intel believes that the aliens are using the output of the binary stars in this system to power a new wormhole device. If they get this one open, it will remain open forever, plus we're up against at least two fresh alien cap ships from the Proxima system with plenty of fighter cover. Even with this bad news, Zero still can't resist needling Meastro about his rejection of the twin suns theory. Meastro's next theory, of capturing the wormhole and lobbing nukes through it, sounds a lot better to everyone involved.
Once everyone is settled down, we engage autopilot towards out destination. Fortunately, the alien force is lighter than expected, only a Cruiser and a Destroy with a few Mantas are there to greet us. Knowing that we can easily overwhelm such light forces, I order our ships to break and attack and move to engage the nearest target. There are a few aces up the alien sleeve, however, and as soon as the Mantas are dealt with a force of Stingrays jump in and make a beeline for the Cerberus.
A few ELRIRs chop them up enough to prevent any major threat to the Cerberus and makes the clean-up nice and easy. Just as our ships are rocked by the explosion of the Destroyer, another small force moves to enage. A few Squids prove to be an annoyance, but the Mantas are nothing but bait to our pilots. The attack against the Cruiser is just moving in to full swing as the aliens unleash their 3rd suprise, a group of 4 Covettes in support of the Cruiser.
They're out of place and too late, however, and as our Vampires begin to chop them up with Pulse Particle Guns and Mosquitoes, the bombers are finishing off the Cruiser. I look around for the next alien suprise and I'm not dissapointed. The aliens have pulled a very good trick and jumped a carrier in at point blank to the Cerberus to launch it's bombers while the Cerberus' cover is out of place.
The Stingray's don't seem inclined to cluster up too quickly, so we take advantage of the break to annihilate the Red Mantas. One manages to launch a torpedo at the hangar bay, but my guns intercept the torpedo before it even makes it halfway to the Cerberus. With the bombers taken care of, we move to cover the bombers as they take out the Carrier. This carrier seems to believe in quality over quantity, but the single Devil Rays with two Manta escorts barely make it out of the launch bay before being shot down. I even get time to put a light torpedo of my own into the carrier's bridge. Predictably enough, the carrier is easily dealt with and the Cerberus' fighters return to the hangar as we make our way into Proxima and the new alien wormhole gate.