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Also, there's zero reason to not completely disable a ship. You were getting pinged to hell and back by the Ronin's laser cannon after taking out their flak. I want to say it's also a good idea to keep moving, but I'm honestly not sure if that impacts the amount of damage you take.
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Jun 21, 2017 16:58
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Interesting. Kinda playing along and I got more RP (on Professional) to kit out the Angelwing, but I destroyed the Yamamoto. Been trying to figure out what drives XP for ship captains (to improve their "military/science/engineering" ratings) and RP. Near as I can tell, secondary objectives give XP (sometimes) and mission performance gives RP (ships destroyed). The manual also says priority and time influence it, but since these are elements entirely out of your control they only adjust the relative scale.
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Jun 26, 2017 16:58
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Lynneth posted:One big problem I have with this game is that the briefings don't often tell you accurately what you're up against. It's a pain to play it through without some foreknowledge of the missions, though it's much better the second time through. That's a feature, not a bug. The idea is that you need to be flexible in your loadouts and not min/max; of course if you know what you need then minmaxing gets easier. That said, I recall one mission in the far future where while it's always a critical thing to have flak, that mission requires you to have HOLY poo poo ALL THE FLAK! AND FIGHTERS! AND MORE FLAK! or you die horribly. Though if you have "reasonable" loadouts you'll probably eke by.
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Jun 27, 2017 15:37
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PurpleXVI posted:I seem to remember that my issue with that is the resource point system they use, where it's relatively easy to paint yourself into a corner early on. Buy the wrong equipment one mission, and you won't have the RP's to gear correctly for another mission. It's pretty hard to get a completely unworkable loadout though--there's only a few missions that massively switch it up on you. One is coming soon!
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Jun 27, 2017 21:48
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Yup. Here we are. The trap here is there's now a new combat dynamic. Namely, shields. The game really should give you one energy shell gun gratis along with the hidron shield. As it stands, you could freely neglect to get any of them (because you have no reason to know any better) and then be nearly useless for the next mission.
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Jun 28, 2017 16:03
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Veloxyll posted:I dunno if I'm just awful at this, but it seems the higher difficulties make the game brutally harder. Like, pretty sure it's on medium and all my spaceboats hulls are made of tissue paper. 4 or 5 hits and everyone legs it for the escape pods. And even without shields lasers seem somewhat disappointing. Preferring the heavies for greater shield pen. There's no good documentation as to what they do to make the harder levels harder--except the first missions in the Stiletto. On easy you have armor for both hull and devices. On Normal this is reduced, and on Pro To get the full benefit of lasers you need a ship that can keep its guns in the firing path of the bad guys' devices. This is not the Stiletto or the Angelwing. OAquinas fucked around with this message at 06:56 on Jun 30, 2017 |
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Jun 30, 2017 06:53
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PurpleXVI posted:Man, remembering this game just got more difficult. I feel like this was about where I gave up, due to annoyance with the RP system and not having saved for a couple of missions when I was completely screwed by it, but at the same time I can also remember some later bits. And it was way too long ago for there to have been an LP of it... maybe I just had a fever dream and hallucinated the rest of it. No, "fever dream" is actually a pretty good summation of the later plot. We're only just starting to fall down that wormhole! Edit: Just beat the next mission on Professional for my play-along. The lack of armor on ships really makes it hard; secondary objective is just this side of completely impossible on that setting. I'm sure Herp will have many kind words for it. 
OAquinas fucked around with this message at 16:08 on Jun 30, 2017 |
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Jun 30, 2017 16:03
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The key to that mission is if you kill the 3 small ships (poison, fist, misery) the other 3 stop attacking the freighters and focus on you. Nothing else deals hull damage, so if you can kill fast enough, you can save them. On easier difficulties the freighters seem to have a bit of armor so that gives you badly needed time. On pro they just die too fast--between their maneuverability and shield strength those small ships take too long to take down. My personal secondary objective was to save the Chrome. That's both trickier and easier--if you can kill the misery and the little gunboat fighters then its doable. You need the second L2 Fusion generator to keep your aux power charged. The Chrome is basically an inferior copy of the Raptor ships--fast, decent shields, fragile hull. It'll hold up for a bit, but once its aux energy depletes its shields will drop quick and then it'll probably die. Additionally, the raptor gunboats will go after it once they do a pass on the freighters--so it's critical you stay right next to it and provide flak and/or fighters. Through a bunch of playthroughs, it's always the Misery that seems to have a hate-on for Chrome, so initially focus on the ship the Chrome shoots first, then take the Misery out. If Chrome shoots les Mis first, then it has a good chance. Otherwise it's a race--not as bad as with the freighters, but still a tight one. After a few attempts with a 3 energy shell/2 GG setup I managed to kill all 6 ships and save the chrome (manatus was toast though). Netted me a crew promotion to "regular" right off the bat. That was decidedly not fun--just did it to see if I could. Oh, and as an aside: you can't kill the mothership in that mission. If you manage to take out its fighters (9 gunboats!) then attacking it just makes it spawn 9 more. Edit: I don't know if there's a difference between the Firecloud generator and the Weapon Generator you start with. They both have the same rating, so maybe not. OAquinas fucked around with this message at 02:45 on Jul 1, 2017 |
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Jul 1, 2017 00:53
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HerpicleOmnicron5 posted:In my experience it's only possible to save the whole convoy if the Chrome lasts at least 7 minutes. One way to overspecialise for this mission is to take as many energy shell guns as possible and knock out shields so the Chrome can kill. Oh yeah, it might be good to show that off next video--the Angelwing can't run out of equipment (fighters aside). For example, last mission you had 2 energy shell launchers available. For most ships, that's it--fit them and you can't get any more. Angelwing? Fit them (so it says "0 energy shell" in the list), then leave the screen (either by committing or by clicking the squadron tab) and when you return there'll be 1 new energy shell available to fit. Not a bug. It's the "equipment assimilation/growth" capability of the ship. Once you fit something, you can always make a single copy of it. So by this way you could ditch the datascanner and totally rock out with 6 energy shells and annihilate enemy shields (and your aux power) in record time.
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Jul 1, 2017 02:59
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VKing posted:Admiral Norbank Mild spoiler that comes to the surprise of no one, really....
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Jul 2, 2017 10:37
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As far as not going back immediately, when you came through the wormhole you were being attacked by a crazy advanced alien death machine. So they were a tad reluctant to jump back through without seeing WTF first. Hence the two probes and the scout ship. Interesting note for that last mission: any ships that weren't destroyed in "Raptor Raid" show up there. So if you barely eked by that mission you'll see a a massive wave of raptor ships just before the Rome pops in. If you cleaned house, it's actually a pretty manageable number.
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Jul 3, 2017 00:54
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Destroyed means "hull damaged to point of evac" aka 'When the icon goes dark.' Taking out subsystems will make that easier but it won't count. Need one hull busting weapon. Edit: some lasers will do minute amounts of hull damage, but goddamn that'll take forever.
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Jul 3, 2017 05:40
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SugarAddict posted:If you take out the support gen, it forces them to abandon ship I think? since it's life support. If all the engines are disabled, only support gens can do stuff, but if the engines are destroyed then it forces an abandon ship since the engines are the primary power source. Not sure if "disabled" counts as "destroyed" though. Probably worth checking. On Professional, you have enough time to scan the mechanoid....barely. It murders you amazingly fast. The datascanner juices it up, so it fires faster the more you scan. You need to take out the platforms in advance, then scan it, break off the scan to try and get your shield up to take the next shot, then scan some more. If you time it exactly right, you'll be able to wormhole out immediately after filling the secret bar with your hull likely half gone. The only good news is that it can effortlessly pace you, so while you're scanning it you can mosey on over to the wormhole so you only have to survive a few seconds after the scan completes to GTFO. If there's a common theme to be seen here, it's that the game was balanced around "normal" difficulty. Pro is basically an exercise in survival.
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Jul 4, 2017 04:05
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ldragon posted:So what does it say if it is scanned? Anything on our "Allies" the vardrags? Having never seen this game before I'm betting they are up to no good, they know too much. "Sir, the Vardrags were right! The reverse negative power coupling is leaking...blah blah" I think it was actually played in the clip--just got it as plot instead of from the scan.
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Jul 9, 2017 20:45
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Norbank is basically a blustering idiot. Thing is, the Vardrags like bluster because it sounds good and they're apparently suckers for it, so he was given a cushy back-line command to keep them happy (since they build all the toys for Noah Colony). That the Noah system developed a back-door wormhole actually put him in meaningful command of ships in combat, which he's so far used to destroy 4 battleships under his command. There's an interesting convo seen in the "disable the freighter" mission where if you try to follow the destroyers instead of staying by the freighter they go "look, I know you want to be in the thick of things but unofficially we'd really love to see you tweak Norbank's nose by succeeding in your mission, so please go back" As for the rest, most of Noah were frozen embryos, who were thawed and raised to be shock troops for an alien race. Decorum was probably not the primary focus of their education. OAquinas fucked around with this message at 23:57 on Jul 10, 2017 |
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Jul 10, 2017 23:54
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OutofSight posted:You get the Brutus A and Sparta A for the next mission. If at least 50% of your old crew successfully evecuates, you retain your crew experience. Otherwise you start with rookies. Not enough missions in the game to iterate that far. I lost my Brutus, Sparta survived, and I have yet to get it replaced 3 missions later. Another iteration I lost both and got the Brutus A the next mission. You eventually get replacements, but how fast (like with a lot of things in this game) seems inconsistent.
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Jul 11, 2017 16:44
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Could you imagine this game, with Norbank, and ramming being an option?
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Jul 12, 2017 07:51
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Wrong link, goes to pt 9. Probably want this one: www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzVz1psu_54
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Jul 12, 2017 18:29
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All good. You probably want to replace your SpaceTech™ ECM and sensors with the Adv Sensors and "Standard" ECM if you have the chance. Not much difference, but Resource Points don't carry over so may as well opt for incremental improvements. Also plasma battery cells--twice as good as electron ones. The worst part about the next mission is that the key part about it is on an invisible (ha!) timer. At least it immediately tells you if you're about to insta-fail so you can reload. Between that diary and the next mission dialogue, Cromwell definitely has a bit of a chauvinist streak in him. Probably more of a sign of "this game was written in 2003" than anything else. Edit: I haven't seen anything to indicate that RP do carry. The game is pretty pointedly opaque when it comes to how many you get. Can probably test this easily enough with the "save the scout" mission--it's a very easy one as long as the scout isn't killed off quickly (which can happen if you get screwed with their starting positions). OAquinas fucked around with this message at 18:57 on Jul 12, 2017 |
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Jul 12, 2017 18:50
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SIGSEGV posted:While the interface is very pretty is doesn't really make clear what is active, what isn't and what is activating. Actually, it does, though it is subtle. Inactive weapons are dull grey text. Active weapons are white text. Weapons are grouped in two columns, and charge is indicated by a light blue fill that starts from the center and builds to the outside. Shields use the same system, only their charge builds from left to right and the shield kicks back on at around ~35-40% charge. Active equipment (engines, ECM, etc) is either "on" or "off" in terms of appearing like weapons (either dark blue/grey text or light blue and white text). Really could be more obvious--especially when you're toggling between 5 ships to prefire heavy weapons during a pause and there's no charge built yet--but you can get used to it. Also not terribly obvious how much ammunition you have left if you're using missiles/torps--that's on a separate panel entirely. Edit: Just tested RP carryover. 10 RP in the mission after "Save the scout" in my "spend it all" playthrough. Loaded the previous autosave and left 5 RP unspent. Played through, and I got...10 RP to refit. So zero carryover. Smoke em if ya got em! OAquinas fucked around with this message at 05:55 on Jul 13, 2017 |
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Jul 12, 2017 22:03
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There are other ways to do it, too. The rules are: don't get too close to enemies (stay over 7km away) and your cloak will shut down "at some point" so you need to find a safe spot out of direct line of sight. The game, naturally, tells you none of these. If there was a countdown clock it would make eyeballing where you can go a LOT easier. Edit: Wait, there's a countdown clock in the video? That's...the hell? I looked all over for anything like that. OAquinas fucked around with this message at 21:32 on Jul 14, 2017 |
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Jul 14, 2017 21:04
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Two pieces of advice for the next mission: 1) Remember to click the screwdriver icon for the Sparta. The Angelwing autorepairs, but the Brutus/Sparta need to spend RP to get hull damage patched up. 2) Make sure to take at least one, preferably two squads of scimitars. Without them the first part of the mission is essentially an Impossible Task.
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Jul 14, 2017 22:04
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Polaron posted:Well, that's how it started out. By the time of the show it was Patronizing Fascism (Vorlons) vs Darwinistic Anarchy (Shadows). Not a bad thing. Even NASA hit up the show's creative dept for some ship ideas. "Drive core on a stick with rotating habitat" is a pretty solid design, and the hella-maneuverable star furies just looked fun. Vorlons were more "support and nurture" vs the Shadows' "growth through adversity and challenge" though yeah--by the end there they were pretty degenerate versions of those ideals, and if Sheridan didn't Angry Voice them into leaving, between them they would have blown up every populated planet in the galaxy to settle the score.
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Jul 15, 2017 06:03
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SugarAddict posted:I figured out how to cheese this mission: That's not cheesing it. That's the only sane way to do the mission...but I'll wait for Herp's update to discuss further.
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Jul 16, 2017 16:51
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 That's amazing if true. It'd also break the game tremendously if you're able to amass an armada--these missions are "balanced" on "experienced" for the angelwing and the support ships Noah gives you. I mean, you could conceivably get a Gorg heavy battleship really early on if true.
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Jul 22, 2017 18:46
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Just tried this several times. Unless there's an additional trick to this, it doesn't work in the SP campaign. Was plinging away with a single gatling, ceased fire when "target ship is being evacuated" mentioned, sent commandos. Engines and IP drive online at end of mission, didn't show up in the next one. Edit: also found why I didn't see the cloak timer. Apparently it disappears if you hit the "UI 1.4x" scaling button. Reverted to 1.0 (which is pretty small on a modern widescreen resolution) and the timer appeared. Psycho Landlord posted:I'm pretty sure the ship capturing thing is complete bullshit, just fyi. Seems that way. This game is so badly documented that it was plausible, but yeah--just YouTube commentary BS. OAquinas fucked around with this message at 04:52 on Jul 23, 2017 |
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Jul 22, 2017 21:19
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IF you can get them on board through the flak, they're absolute murder on devices. You can usually get them to disable/destroy 2-3 before they all die. This is really useful for those hard-to-kill systems like weapons gens or shields. Of course, you need to get them on board, and usually they get priority for flak.
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Jul 23, 2017 19:39
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I've found that it's a bit easier when you use the energy bombs (they aren't ammunition-limited torps, just explosive energy shells). 2 of them will immediately strip shields of the smaller ships, and multiple ones if they're close together. The only caveat is that they're AoE, so your ships can't be too close to them or their shields get hurt. Still, it's great for shredding the support craft in a hurry, especially if you follow it with missile/torp fire.
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Aug 1, 2017 21:59
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HerpicleOmnicron5 posted:I despise energy bombs, they always kill my ships faster than they kill the enemy. Not much of a mass artillery guy in this game outside of certain levels. Agreed on the other artillery items, and while it's definitely easy to screw yourself over by accident with energy bombs, they have great range and couple well with loading up other ships with hull breakers. Plus other weapons we may see later. Extra great for when you're in a fort shield.
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Aug 1, 2017 23:21
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berryjon posted:At least Norbank was smart enough to realize that this was probably a trap, and went in loaded for bear, ready for it. Too bad he got the target of the trap wrong. "Clearly, this is a trap to eliminate the finest military mind Earth has ever produced, and not the key support lynchpin of our forces in this system."
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Aug 21, 2017 08:28
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To recharge Mechanoid Angel faster, you can manually turn off the ECM and Sensors and keep weapons offline. Also have max energy cells and support generators--this maxes out your aux energy, which in what she feeds on. Not sure if setting weapon recharge affects her any more or not. If you're sitting in space with everything off and upgraded, you can spam her almost every minute.
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Sep 23, 2017 21:01
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