Let's Play Freespace! (The GTVA asks if you would like to know more) NSF56K

manwiththemachinegun

The end is here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ-xcgBL1mY

There were plenty of ways the human race could have ended. War. Disease. A simple asteroid rolling the dice and making the odds.

But no one could could have foreseen this.

Billions are going to die, and never know why. Wiped from existence by an enemy with motives we can't even comprehend.

Maybe nothing lasts forever, but we've chosen to fight the odds. Humans have always believed we were, in some way, special.

Time to prove it.




******

Welcome to Let's Play Freespace! Where Manwiththemachine fights cosmic horrors for the sake of all life and tries not to die. Freespace is considered one of the best flight sims ever with good reason. It's complex enough to have depth, but arcadey enough to just enjoy flying around and blowing things up. I considered doing this a video series, but there are plenty of those, and this way we have a bit more time for interaction, story depth, and random facts. The goal is to complete all of Freespace 1 and 2 using Freespace Open. If things go really well, I'll throw in some mods. You can buy the Freespace series for a few bucks on GOG, and upgrade it through the FS Open project hosted on Hardlight Forums.

The audience participation is this: A rotating roster of Penny Arcade pilots! In terms of the game's story, Alpha-1, the flight lead for either the GTA, or GTVA, could be anyone. Also with casualties as high as pilots experience in Freespace, there's going to be room for some... interesting personalities! You seen, in Freespace, even an ace pilot is ultimately expendable to the war effort, and we'll see that first hand. There's very few missions that have "exact" continuity, as in more than one sortie per mission. So the position of Alpha-1 is going to rotate between anyone who wants to participate. Just sign up, post a brief description of your pilot and personality, and I'll work that into the mission. How long will this take? I have no idea, but the goal is doing around a mission per week to account for school, work, etc.

With that said, let's get started.

cj iwakura

So... your protagonist is going to have multiple personality disorder? :P I love this game(more than the second even), so I'm down regardless.

Johnny Chopsocky

manwiththemachinegun wrote: »

The end is here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ-xcgBL1mY

I just gotta say that I absolutely adore that cinematic. "Send fighters!"

manwiththemachinegun

Multiple protags, we're just going to... ignore Command's insinuation that this all the work of a "single" Alpha-1. We are all Alpha-1 soldiers.

And don't worry, there are plenty of reasons to ignore Command, as we will soon find out. But first, some background on the current conflict we find ourselves involved in, the Terran-Vasudan war.

**************

Excerpts From the Freespace Bible:

When scientists discovered what used to be called “FreeSpace” (now referred to as “subspace”), an alternate plane of existence allowing ships to traverse great distances of space in little time, our minds reeled with the possibilities. When humans first discovered they were not alone in the universe, there was dancing in the streets. The Vasudans had an advanced civilization, a fascinating history, and an evolved culture. They were similar to humans in many ways. Unfortunately, those similarities included irrational fear, and the willingness to sacrifice lives over politics. It didn’t take long for hostilities to break out, and for the first interplanetary war in history to begin. What started out as a show of strength and technology degenerated into a war of attrition, with both sides suffering heavy losses. Terran and Vasudan ships skirmished in remote areas of space while the politicos flapped their gums on the news. After 14 years, both sides suffered terrible losses, and the end was nowhere in sight.

While travel into subspace is enabled via ship-borne devices (called “subspace engines”, “cores”, or “motivators”), it’s long been known that subspace itself is a naturally-occuring phenomena. Subspace, for the intents of this document, is an alternate physical plane of space where the normal limits of relativistic physics and travel don’t apply. By entering subspace for a relatively brief period of time, a space vessel can emerge in a location in realspace several star systems away. This technology has allowed the human race to spread across much of the known Galaxy.

There are essentially two modes of subspace travel, inter-system and intra-system.

Intra-system subspace travel is nearly instantaneous, and requires relatively little energy input to enable. Most of the GTA’s advanced fighters are equipped with intra-system jump motivators, allowing them to travel at will within a given star system. There is little or no restriction on the beginning and end points of such a subspace “hop,” except that they be in the same star system. Inter-system travel via subspace is another matter entirely. The end points of inter-system subspace jumps are limited to the naturally-occuring focal points of subspace, also known as “nodes.” These nodes were initially discovered by Prof. J. Whiteside (see McPherson’s Multipaedia (2557 ed.), pp 1132-1140). Only between two subspace nodes is the fabric of subspace strong enough to support inter-system travel. The defense of the physical locations surrounding such nodes proved to be a central part of the 14-year Terran-Vasudan War. In addition, such massive amounts of energy input are required to open an inter-system node, that only the largest fusion pile reactors in existence are able to sustain it. As a result, inter-system subspace travel is almost exclusively made by the largest vessels in production. This fact has made the GTA’s Orion-class destroyer/carriers a pivotal and crucial part to the GTA’s tactical forces during the T-V War. Needless to say, the ability to deliver ships of war to nearly any pinpointed destination has forever revolutionized the concepts and long-standing tenants of space combat.

14 years of constant war has left both the Terran and Vasudan governments reeling, but too much blood has been spilled for either side to compromise. The year is 2335 board the Terran Destroyer Galatea, and the first of our heroes arrives on the flight deck. Ensign CJ Iwakura.



A behemoth of a warship, Terran destroyers are mobile fortresses, carriers, and battleships in addition to carrying Marines for planetary assault. Because of the tremendous energy involved to perform a subspace jump, bigger is better when it comes to warship design of this period. We'll get into the tech a bit later.



Three hundred years of progress has left most of humanity in a good state. Freespace actually avoids the trope of one world government, the GTA manages humanity's military and colonization effort outside of Sol. Now if we can just avoid having new alien overlords raising our taxes, we should be set.

Which brings us to the other side of the equation, the dastardly menace of the Vasudans.



War never changes, except now we fight actual aliens for the galaxy's resources and habitable living space. Hooray?

But politics isn't why we joined the space corp. We joined for a chance to protect humanity, to have college debts paid off, and to fly spaceships with freaking laser beams. Is this not what our ancestors first dreamed of when they reached to the stars? All of which would be great if our life expectancy was measured in hours rather than minutes.

Let's get a sit-rep on the war shall we? Surely the rumors we heard back in the academy aren't that bad?



ONLY 504 pilots confirmed dead in a single operation? Goddamn it. Well, let's listen to the rest of it then. At least the Vasudans took heavy losses as well.

There have been many rumors about the appearance of another sentient species. These are rumors, nothing more. Investigation of the Ross 128 attack has determined nothing.
Concern yourselves with the known enemy, the Vasudans. There is to be no more talk of phantom ships. Let this serve as a "welcome aboard" to all newly-arrived pilots aboard the Galatea. Since you're here, your flight records must speak highly of you already. Serve the Galatea well, she's a fine ship. Report to your flight stations at 0830 for your squadron briefings. Familiarize yourself with the specifications of the GTD Orion-class destroyer, the Apollo Space Superiority Fighter, and the ML-16 Laser. Information on all of these can be found in the Tech Room.

Ross 128 was a heavily defended space station with an entire flotilla guarding it. Any force that could crack that monster I'd like to stay well clear of. Well, at least it's more than a few jumps from our current location. We're tasked with salvaging the aftermath of operation Thresher.

Pilot Attend: Welcome to the GTD Galatea. Your first assignment as a part of the Galatea's crew is to stand the 3rd watch. You will patrol the area surrounding the GTC Orff. The GTC Orff suffered an engine breakdown in the Betelgeuse system, and is awaiting repairs. You will be on watch with one other ship, Alpha 2. Since this is your first watch, Alpha 2 will be piloted by Lt. Harbison, a seasoned veteran and top-notch pilot. You will begin your watch by jumping to Betelgeuse near the GTC Orff. We have reports of Vasudan fighters in this system, so stay alert. Engage and destroy any hostiles that threaten the Orff. At the end of your watch, you will be relieved by Delta wing. Upon Delta's arrival, you are to return to base. Your primary objective will be to protect the Orff until the end of your watch. We expect you to carry out your orders to the letter. You may confirm your ship hardware and weapons loadout for this mission. If found satisfactory, commit to the mission. GTD Galatea quarterdeck signing off.

manwiththemachinegun

Because garbage duty doesn't sound particularly appealing, the squadron follows through with a brief look at the weapons and ships we'll be flying in these first few missions.





I like the Apollo a lot of a number of reasons. It's sleek, fast, maneuverable, and can mount two primary banks of guns, including the second best weapon in the game. It's main disadvantage is a weak loadout of secondary weapons, i.e., missiles, but we could do a lot worse for starting ships.



After a to-the-point breifing, our starting ace CJ takes a look at the weapon loadout he'll be using.



Unfortunately it's not much. Our ML-16 lasers are accurate, but don't have much punch. Still, they do a decent job at downing Vasudan fighters should we run into any.

Harbison: "Hey there Alpha-1 I hear you're new to the Galetea. You ready for this kid?
CJ: "Sir! Looking forward to getting some experience in the field!"
Harbison: "I'm not expecting perfection, but don't get too reckless. My job's to keep you alive, just follow my lead and you'll do fine."
CJ: "They won't know what hit them Sir."

Alpha wing, LAUNCH!



Looks good right? The years have been kind to FS2 with constant graphics updates. This is the cruiser we've been assigned to defend, the Orff, Fenris class. Against a coordinated assault, it won't stay intact for long. It carries the cardinal sin of having both weak armor AND weak firepower. But it's guns will at least be a deterrent for any fighters should we run into them.

Harbison: "I hate to break it to you kid, but most escort missions are five hours of boredom, and three minutes of action if you're lucky."



CJ: "Contacts! Two PVF Anbuis fighters coming in at 2 o'clock!"
Harbison: "We've got company! Break and engage! Don't give them time to set up for a strafing run!"




CJ: "Fox 2! It's a hit!"
Harbison: "Nice shot, missiles on target. We've got more coming in. Make sure they don't reach the Orff."



Haribson: "I really wasn't expecting this much action. More bandits incoming, this looks like more than a scouting wave.



Haribson: "We better get relieved soon, I can't take much more!"
CJ: "Sir! Disengage and use the Orff for cover!



Haribson: "Not leaving you out there!"
CJ: "You can't do anything if you're dead! I can do this!"



Delta 2: "Delta wing has arrived. Awaiting orders."
Command: "Alpha, you stand relieved of your watch. RTB."



Haribson: "Great work out there CJ, my fighter's nearly scrap. I'll meet you back at the Galetea."
CJ: "Copy that, departing mission area."
Haribson: "Oh and CJ? Rounds are on me when we get back."
CJ: "Just another reason to keep winning this war Sir."



And with that, our first mission ends in a clean sweep. And our rookie CJ manages the old Terran standard of "ace in a day," with seven confirmed kills out of ten fighters.

cj iwakura

This reminds me that I never finished the 'DLC'/extra campaign. It was really nasty.

Space Pickle

I love Freespace. At the time I was used to playing sims like X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter and Wing Commander: Prophecy. Freespace just blew them away...the storyline, the graphics, the way the ships just broke apart and exploded, the soundtrack, everything about it was just so much better than anything else at the time.

manwiththemachinegun

cj iwakura wrote: »

This reminds me that I never finished the 'DLC'/extra campaign. It was really nasty.

We'll actually be doing the Silent Threat: Reborn. Which is a far superior campaign.

manwiththemachinegun

A brief word on fighter tactics we'll be using.

Freespace is not a flight simulator. All the space craft fly at speeds slower than modern jet fighters, missiles have short ranges and are easy to shake, and collision damage results in an amusing, "go kart" effect of advanced space superiority fighters bouncing like beach balls. Newtonian physics are non existent. Stay far away from Freespace if you want a "realistic" space sim. Thankfully, this has nothing to do with how fun the game is.

Freespace rewards two things, accurate shooting, and staying at high speeds. We'll be tackling a large part of the mission objectives by ourselves. Wingmen management is important as we proceed.

The AI in Freespace will stay in formation attached to its objects until it begins to receive fire. That means if you can afford it, you should focus fire on one target until it's destroyed firing every gun and missile you can. With a bit of calculation, you can easily down wings of fighters and bombers yourself. And some missions do require it. This applies to Friendly AI too, so you can lose whole groups when you tell them to "protect my target," and watch through a facepalm as they stop defending themselves moving into position, and are obliterated.

Freespace is an old game, but one of the key things is that a large percentage of early missions will essentially self complete. It's good in the sense that it simulates that you are not the SOLE cog by witch the GTA lives or dies. Bad in the sense that other than racking up kills, there's not a huge amount of challenge to be found for the majority of the game. That said, some missions are nearly impossible to do without excellent flying, let alone solo, so we'll be doing our best not to avoid excessive losses for friendly units. Some missions have bonus objectives that by completing, we'll earn promotions, medals, and nice words from Command that make us feel good inside.

The game features the ability to match speed with a fighter which is incredibly useful. However, you still need to be careful as dropped your speed too low means flanking fighters can pick you off. Capital ships are mostly fangless in Freespace. Even mighty destroyers have almost no chance to destroy your fighters, and zero chance once their missile launchers are offline.

On higher difficulties, this isn't always true, and more care needs to be given to engagements. On medium difficulty however, we're going to have a lot of "cool guys don't look at explosions" moments. Also, if you've never played Freespace, you may not realize these games have a lot of controls:




A lot of controls. It's mostly manageable as you won't use half of this stuff. But FS definitely has a higher than average learning curve, and you'll likely be fighting the controls harder than the Shivans for the first few hours of gameplay.

Next update I'm hopeful for two missions. We'll see how that goes!

YerMum

Such an awesome series, will follow this with great interest!

Basil

ALL of the controls. It really is a comical amount. Doesn't really require that you use the majority of them, but now and then you'll need some obscure command in a dusty corner.

Jedi_Boi

Freespace 2 is my favorite game of all time.

Maybe I'll go back and get it AGAIN from GoG, then try to get all the mods to enhance the graphics and everything... Looking through my post history on these boards I can see I had a hell of a time with it last time.

Also, with no joystick it's not going to feel all that great.

Erlkönig

Jedi_Boi wrote: »

Freespace 2 is my favorite game of all time.

Maybe I'll go back and get it AGAIN from GoG, then try to get all the mods to enhance the graphics and everything... Looking through my post history on these boards I can see I had a hell of a time with it last time.

Also, with no joystick it's not going to feel all that great.

Good news! GOG has a summer sale going on and you can get both FS1 and FS2 for under $7!

Jedi_Boi

It would be criminal NOT to get them for that.

manwiththemachinegun

The war continues, and life for Alpha squadron quickly becomes one of routine. Brief moments of excitement and terror, followed by days of boredom as the Galetea continues its sweep of the Betelgeuse sector. Pilots gamble, read, watch bootlegs of old movies and judge each other's lifemates based on attractiveness in true military tradition. Still, the mood is one of optimism for the fresh unit. CJ's stellar performance has convinced Command to send our squadron on a Combat Air Patrol into enemy territory. Alpha wing is eager to recover the momentum lost by Thresher and bring a swift end to the stalemate.

Command:

There have been a number of recent attacks by the Vasudans in the Betelgeuse system. They have been making strikes on Terran convoys en route to the Betelgeuse-Antares jump point. The Vasudan attacks have been staged from a nearby asteroid field. Terran Intelligence is certain that there are four small attack wings responsible for the attacks on our convoys. There have also been reports of a Vasudan ace piloting one of the Seth class fighters in that area.

There's still one more curve ball in the basic mechanics, and that is: branching missions. The branches are not extreme resulting in different story paths like Wing Commander, but they do exist. Doing exceptionally well on some missions can make others easier or more difficult, and vice versa. Because we kept the Orff's hull integrity above 80% we have an extra objective in this mission to destroy a Vasudan Ace. If for some reason, we had cranked up the difficulty and flown off into deep space, we'd have lost the opportunity to complete this objective and earn our medal. Some medals can only be earned by exceptional performance across multiple missions.

Vasudans have strange design logic for their military. In general, their ships are either stunningly effective, or a complete joke. The Anubis as we've seen, is a pilot's mobile coffin. It has a huge profile, poor firepower and paper armor. The Seth however, has a narrow profile, heavy armor, an incredible afterburner, and generally outclasses our Apollo in every way. Due to the danger of this mission, CJ will take a bench and Johnny Chopsocky, terror of last year's aggressor squadron competition, prepares his Apollo for launch.



Johnny Chopsocky: Greeeeting's universe! It's good to be back! Johnny Chopsocky here. Please surrender your women, alcohol, and Vasudans in that order if you would.



Johnny Chopsocky: I hate it when the world lets you down. Alright ladies and gents! Time for the show. Radar is no good in this soup, so confirm any sensor ghosts visually before you engage.
Alpha 3: In range. Sensors can now lock wing Aries.



Alpha 3: That’s one wing down. Virgo wing on scope.
Johnny Chopsocky: Now we're talking! Pump your power from weapons to engines, we'll run them down and have charge to spare.


Alpha 2: Why did you shoot down that asteroid boss?
Johnny Chopsocky: Asteroids killed my very favorite cousin 2.
Alpha 2: Ahh... I'm.
Johnny Chopsocky: Also I didn't like the way it was looking at me.



Alpha 4: Targeting Pisces wing now.
Alpha 3: That’s half of the Vasudans eliminated.



Johnny Chopsocky: Goddamn it 2! Watch that friendly fire!
Alpha 2: Sorry lead! Is the damage bad?
Johnny Chopsocky: Nothing a kick to the CPU won't fix. Some fires but no loss of system control, we're good.



Johnny Chopsocky: 3 and 4, check in over.
Alpha 3: Bandits down! Regrouping on you Johnny.
Johnny Chopsocky: Copy that.



Johnny Chopsocky: Target down. Let's mop up quickly before any reinforcements arrive.
Alpha 3: Only one more wing.



Johnny Chopsocky: These guys are so dull.
Alpha 4: All enemy wings are down, nice work Alpha.
Alpha 3: Vasudan ace in the area!



Johnny Chopsocky: I'll take care of this. Alpha wing depart, the bastard's mine.
*Computer*: Incoming Missile, Incoming Missile, Incoming Mis-
Johnny Chopsocky: There has got to be somebody better than these slacckkkkkers!

After Action Report

Nicely done, pilot. By destroying the Vasudan attack wings you have helped to ensure that our convoys will make it through this subspace node.
Dispatching the Vasudan Ace showed outstanding skill, pilot. You and your squad are to be commended.
We are awarding you the Distinguished Flying Cross for this accomplishment.

Johnny walks away with six kills and an enemy ace painted on his Apollo.
All in all, this isn't a difficult mission per say. There are only 13 enemies, and your wingmen do a decent job of fighter suppression. As you can see in that last screenshot though, the Seth Ace got off three heat seeking missiles and Avenger cannon fire. That took Johnny down to critical despite dodging two of the missiles. The Ace will kick like a mule once you get on his six, so it really pays to have that extra speed in engines, and patiently take your shots rather than firing a constant stream of lasers.

With the ambush team down, our supply lines are safe for the moment. Now it's time to return to favor.

manwiththemachinegun

No rest for the weary it seems. Our briefing from Command is quick and to the point:

Command:

Terran Intelligence has detected unusual activity in the Vasudan cargo depot at Antares. You are to destroy all hostiles in the area. When the area is clear, our salvage crews will pick up the cargo for analysis. Do not destroy any cargo. The contents of the cargo containers is not known. Due to the unusual activity, GTA intelligence suspects they have military value. You will be flying this mission with Epsilon wing from the 3rd squadron. Delta wing will be available for reinforcements, if necessary. If you get in trouble, don't hesitate to call them in. Reconnaissance missions have determined that there are typically two wings of Vasudan fighters guarding the depot. The fighters are your primary concern. Recon has also determined that this depot is heavily used. Taking control of it will seriously impede Vasudan attacks from this system in the future. Expect to find armed freighters in the area transporting cargo. All Vasudan vessels must be destroyed! None must escape as they would surely bring reinforcements.Once you have secured the area, the GTC Orff will arrive and maintain watch over the outpost. Good luck, pilot. GTA Command out.

Interesting, the first hints the Vasudan presence in this system is up to more than just raids. In addition, this is the first time we're granted access to reinforcements. The system is simple, reinforcements can make or break some missions with their extra firepower. The trade off it is lowers your point totals used to calculate promotions. We'll probably use them at some point, but for now unless the enemy throws multiple cruisers at us, we should be fine. For this mission, we're sending in 1st Lieutenant Space Pickle to lead Alpha flight. No stranger to fighting the Vasudans, Pickle is eager to get back into the fray. Our attack force is split into two wings of two craft. All this really means is it's slightly easier to delegate your attacks on the depo.




Space Pickle: "Alpha Wing, Epsilon Wing, I want this done by the numbers. Stay with your wingman and prioritize enemy fighters."
Alpha 2: “Cargo depot sighted, Sir. Moving in to attack. Reading 5 enemy fighters.



Space Pickle: "Confirm depo layout matches recon. Kappa Wing came through."



Space Pickle: "Ripple fire is on target. Mop up what's left and hit the freighters before they escape."
Epsilon 2: "These Vasudans are scrubs, scratch number 5."
Space Pickle: "Then don't let them make fools of us, first freighter is powering up subspace drives. Concentrate all fire on them.



Alpha 2: “Vasudan freighter 1 is down! Watch out for the blast!"



Alpha 2: “Freighter 2 is going down! Stay away from the explosion!"
Command: “Cargo depot secure."
Space Pickle "Nice work everyone, that's a clean sweep here. Scanners are reading explosives within the containers."
Command: “Looks like weapon prototypes are here after all. Good job, Alpha 1."



Omega: “This is transport Omega, en route to collect cargo. Thanks for your help, Alpha 1."
Space Pickle: "Copy that... Command is Rogers sick? He was supposed to be on duty this rotation."
Command: "Hold Alpha 1. More Vasudan fighters arriving. They're destroying their own cargo! Stop them!"
Space Pickle: " .... Copy Command, moving to intercept."



GTC Orff: "We'll take over now, Alpha 1. Thanks for your assistance."
Space Pickle: "Thanks for the cover, Orff. Command, any news about Rogers? I saw him a few hours ago."
Command: "You'll receive an update back at base. Command out."
Space Pickle: "Charming, absolutely charming. Alright, let's head home."

Command:

The destruction of the Vasudan fighters was very important. Not only have we gained control of that depot but we've shown the Vasudans in this sector we are not to be trifled with. Elimination of the Vasudan freighters will hinder the transport of necessary supplies to their forces in that sector. All Vasudan cargo was captured and brought to our base. Intelligence will analyze it. It appears that the Terran Elysium transport (Omega) hauled away the contents of one of the containers. We are not sure who was aboard the transport, but Intelligence suspects it's a group of renegade humans. We are attempting to locate the transport now.

Bad news, traitors within the GTA just made off with advanced weapons, location unknown. There was nothing we could have done to prevent this, their IFF codes were solid and we received no information from command to intercept Omega. Time to hunt some traitors.

Basil

Really, the only good Vasudan is a dead one.

Space Pickle

I think the Apollo is my favourite ship design from either Freespace game.

Jedi_Boi

Tauret was always my online fighter of choice. Dial my sensitivity up to the max, and I could fly circles around you. More counter-measures then the Herc 2, with equal firepower.

Johnny Chopsocky

Just would like to add to the chorus and say that this is awesome, manwiththemachinegun.

Kinda takes me back to my e-fed days.

azith28

I remember playing this when i was just a sprout. I wasnt very good at the game but i wanted to finish it so i broke out the old developer mode cheats....I would basically just thrust all the way to the main enemy battleship and hold down the fire button until it blew up...such skills.

Jedi_Boi

There were a lot of console cheat codes. You could call in pirate ships.

ArcSyn

Oh man, Freespace was so amazing. I'm going to enjoy following this. I think I own it on GoG? I need to check.

manwiththemachinegun

First, a bit of house cleaning.



This is our Squadron's trophy case for lack of a better word. Johnny's fine work shooting down a Vasudan ace nets us our first major recognition of the war. It won't be the last.



Our kill board to this point. Rest assured, I'm keeping count of individual tallys for each mission. I'm proud to note, we have a friendly fire count of only 0.2%, one of the lowest in the Terran fleet!

The Omega transport in our last mission was flown by Alexander McCarthy. A formerly decorated soldier, he has for reasons unknown stole the advanced projectile cannon code-named the "Avenger." He and his conspirators plan to deliver it to the Vasudans, presumably for a massive reward. Given the severity of the situation, Galactic Terran Intelligence spooks will be sending a special CQB team to handle the boarding operation. Our task is to demonstrate the high price of treachery by killing each and every fighter in the engagement area. Blessed is the mind too small for doubt.



Command briefing con't:

This operation is to be carried out by the numbers. Traitors to the Terran cause are not to be tolerated. McCarthy will serve as an example when he is brought in.

We now have access to the Valkyrie interceptor, a fan favorite. The Valk is a glass cannon with the highest speed and maneuverability available to the GTA, and the ability to mount four cannons with a decent payload of missiles. The advantage is you can cover more ground, and kill pretty much any fighter or bomber class ship with ease. Unfortunately, the Valkyrie has armor made by the lowest bidder. This means any mistakes on our part will create a miniature nova where a promising ace used to be. It's nearly Orky in its design. We're also armed with disruptor weapons to help disable subsystems without blowing up the ship in question. Each weapon has a different statistic for damage to subsystems. Destroying engines means a ship can't run, without weapons they can't shoot as well (or at all for fighters), comms means no backup etc, and each individual turret on a warship can be destroyed as well.

Mission briefing :

Plans for the Avenger weapon prototype have been stolen by Lt. McCarthy. His transport has been located here in Antares. It has been designated Omega. One of McCarthy's accomplices has been captured, and has revealed his intentions for the stolen plans. Not surprisingly, McCarthy intends to sell the Avenger to the Vasudans. His Vasudan contact has been designated Rasputin. Your squadron will arrive before the exchange takes place. You are to destroy all hostile fighters, including any renegade Terrans. However, we want McCarthy alive. Your ships have been equipped with Disruptors suitable for disabling the engines on the Omega. Alpha wing and Beta wing, each consisting of four fighters, will be sent in to carry out the mission. You will jump in approximately six kilometers away from the exchange. Get to the Omega as soon as possible.

Expect to encounter significant resistance. Beta wing will focus on attacking the Vasudan forces. Alpha wing will be expected to disable the Omega. Request Beta wing's assistance if necessary. After McCarthy's transport is disabled, the GTT Comet will jump into the area and dock with it. You are to ensure the safety of the Comet, especially during the docking operation with Omega. After the Comet and the Omega have left the area, it is your responsibility to eliminate any remaining hostiles. Once the area is clear, you are to jump back to the Galatea.

Note that you will be required to engage Terran pilots. These pilots are traitors to the Alliance, and no quarter should be given. Thousands of lives are at stake. Do not hesitate to use deadly force on the traitors. They are your enemy. If you encounter significant resistance or experience severe losses, Delta wing will be sent by Terran Command to assist. If further assistance is needed, call in Epsilon wing, as well. Good luck, pilot.

No stranger to combat, Ensign @YerMum, named for his favorite insult, straps himself into a thin metal tube with rockets and guns bolted on. For Gork and-... I mean, for humanity.



YerMum: "Alpha wing here. Feeling very dangerous and squishy all the same time."
Beta 1: "Beta wing ready."
YerMum: "Goin' in hot. Target Omega's engines. No glory hounding, we punch through the fighters and disable that transport."
Command: "McCarthy, you are ordered to power down."
McCarthy: "I answer to a higher authority!"
Command: "Fire at will, pilots!"



YerMum: "Multiple wings of Anubis, Apollo and Horus class interceptors. The good news is that they still can't fly. Bandit terminated. Alpha wing, take out that bomber before it can fire."







YerMum: "Beautiful work Alpha. Enemy Apollos moving into range. Show no mercy."
Enemy pilot: "Don't you understand what happened at Ross 128? The Vasudans are the least of our worries!"



YerMum: "Sorry mate, there's just one rule out here: survival. Alpha, Beta, continue with fighter suppression, I'm going after McCarthy."



YerMum: "I don't know what brand of crazy you bought that made you switch sides, but I'm betting you're regretting it now."
Command: "GTT Comet, Omega is disabled. Jump in now."
GTT Comet: "GTT Comet here. On docking approach to Omega."
Command: "Virgo is attacking the Omega! Protect Omega!"
YerMum: "Keep up the cover everyone, I'm playing a hunch. Targeting Vasudan transport Rasputin's engines!"



Alpha 3: "Fox 2! That's the last of the fighters, you're clear lead!"



YerMum: "I think I'm done mates, that gunner nearly got me. Reading hull breaches and power spikes across the grid."
Beta 2: "Not a chance boss, fallback and we'll cover you."
GTT Comet: "We are leaving system with Omega."



GTI: "Galactic Terran Intelligence here. We have orders to capture the Rasputin."



YerMum: "Almost enough to make you feel sorry for the bastards eh lads? Radar is clear, no casualties."
Beta 1: "Smashing success lead, there is one thing you need to take care of still."



CJ Iwakura: "Try not to embarrass us up on stage."
YerMum: "Thanks for the vote of confidence, one thing bothers me though. McCarthy... he and his goons seemed spooked about something."
Johnny Chopsocky: "Hard to ignore those rumors, I went to flight school with the lead of the 8492nd stationed at Ross 128. Now she's gone."
Space Pickle: "I wouldn't put much stock in the words of traitors. All we can do is follow our orders and make the Vasudans pay for it. Until we get them in our scopes... not much we can do."
YerMum: "I know... still, I can't help but feel we're missing something. Something big."

*****************
YerMum scores confirmed kills on an Anubis and an Apollo. It'll be the only kill on a Terran craft for the rest of this campaign. His smart thinking in prioritizing the capture of enemy agents over racking up kills gets us our second medal.

YerMum

Glad I could help the cause Commander!

manwiththemachinegun

I would have gone for a higher kill count, but sadly a disruptor and an ML-16 is probably the weakest primary weapon configuration in Freespace. You have to do around 45% total damage for a confirmed kill, you did have an extra assist though.

Dac

Aw man I can't wait for Freespace 2.

DIVE DIVE DIVE.

YerMum

I remember trying a few times to disable or otherwise stop Omega from nabbing the crate, doesn't end well!

MechMantis

Aaah, Freespace 1.

You better not put anyone in Hercs if you can put them in Athenas instead.

Hercs are garbage

manwiththemachinegun

We'll be seeing both the lightning hawk and the missile potato in action, rest assured. :P

Space Pickle

Hey, I love the Herc! Six primary weapon banks plus tons of missiles.

Loved the Athena too, though. FS1/Silent Threat had the coolest ship designs, I liked them much more than the FS2 ships. My favourite was the Zeus light bomber.

Also stuff is about to go down in this campaign!

Lord_Asmodeus

I love this game. I love the gameplay, the story, the aesthetics, everything. Makes me sad the Tabletop game they tried to start up on Kickstart didn't really go anywhere. A slightly different tack and it might have been amazing.

manwiththemachinegun

I'm aiming for next weekend for an update, in the meantime...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9ixzBb2WMQ

This is good, right?

...

YerMum

Ominous foreshadowing!

manwiththemachinegun

With the Antares system nearly secure, Command has decided that the GTSC Plato will carry the prototype for the Avenger Attack Cannon through the Antares system. It will proceed to the Ribos system, where production of the Avenger will begin. Intelligence has determined that only one Vasudan Cruiser remains in this system, the Taurus. If the Vasudans decide to attack the Plato on its way to Ribos, they will certainly use the Taurus. The number of Vasudan attack craft in this system is minimal. Intelligence estimates at most two strike squads. If something should go wrong, the Plato is equipped with an escape pod. The escape pod will attempt to make the subspace jump to Ribos. Alpha wing will provide cover for the Plato, and, if necessary, the Plato's Escape Pod. The safety of the prototype is vital, and all Vasudan threats must be eliminated. Pay special attention to any Vasudan bombers that may arrive. Bombers will be the greatest threat to the Plato during this operation. When you've cleared the area of hostile bombers, eliminate other threats and continue escorting the Plato to the intersystem subspace node.

***

<\\>1/16/36 >>
<\ BLACK BOX RCD #492 APOLLO UNIT ALPHA 4
<LOG BEGINS \>



Machinegun: "Break and engage Alpha, Vasudans are targeting the Plato, five klicks out."
Alpha 4: "Copy Machinegun, watch me earn my ace wings today."
Machinegun: "Be advised, if any eggheads complain to the Admiral that their precious luxury yacht is broken, you will wish you were born in another century."
Alpha 3: *chuckle* "Copy lead, let's party."



Machinegun: "Good kill on the bomber, what is your status 2?"



Alpha 2: "Fighter screen is tied up, no chance of them making a run in this condition. We'll have them in a moment Sir."
Alpha 4: "Heads up! The Taurus is warping in ahead."


Machinegun: "Alpha wing, stay back to guard the Plato. I'll keep its fighter screen busy. When the Plato jumps, we'll start our attack.
Alpha 3: "Sir, are you sure that's wise?"
Machinegun: "I've been at this a while, the day I can't bounce a single wing of Anubis fighters is the day I retire."
Alpha 4: "They won't get through us. Yahoo! Another one bites the dust!"
Alpha 2: "Wait... Reading four unknown-class fighters in the area. Signal is... sporadic. Damn, these readings are strange."
Alpha 4: "Confirmed, my sensors can't get a lock on the unknowns!"



Command: "Unknowns are attacking the Vasudans. Alpha 1, get a visual identification. Do not open fire!"
Machinegun: "Copy Command, be advised we are dealing with a possible first contact scenario here. Burners to full, sensors to maximum."



Machinegun: "Visual confirmed. Intelligence will want to see these sensor logs. Command... I have a bad feeling about this."





Alpha 2: "What in the hell? They took out the Taurus already!"



Alpha 3: "The unknowns are jumping out. Did anyone get a close look at one?"
Machinegun: "Black hulls with red running lights. Heavy ordinance and damn fast too. Plato, if you're not at top speed, now would be a good time."
Plato: "Engines are redlined, ETA to node is two minutes."
Command: "More unknowns appearing. They're going for the Plato!"
Machinegun: "Alpha wing, weapons free. Repeat, weapons free.



Alpha 4: "This... this is fucking impossible! My lasers are just bouncing off!"
Machinegun: "Command, unknowns have some type of advanced shield. We are outgunned and blind."
Command: "Hold Alpha, we are scrambling fighters to assist you."



Alpha 3: "I'M HITTTTT-." *untranslatable*
Machinegun: "Goddammit Command! Where are those reinforcements! We're being slaughtered out here!"
Alpha 2: "Can't even chip their paint, oh SHIT! VAMPIRE, VAMPIRE! Torpedos in-bound on-."



Plato: "This is the Plato's crew. We're in an escape pod, cover us!"
Machinegun: "To hell with this. Alpha, form on my wing. Fire at the target on my twelve. Hit them with everything you have!"




Alpha 2: "Target destroyed, sir. Now we know they can be killed. Thank God."
Machinegun: "Out of missiles."
Plato: "We made it, Alpha 1. Jumping out now!"
Command: "The crew of the Plato made the jump. Return to the Galatea."
Machinegun: "Alpha, RTB, NOW!"
Alpha 4: "Drives coming online, wait, oh SHI-."



<\\>1/16/36 >>
<\ BLACK BOX RCD #492 APOLLO UNIT ALPHA 4
<END OF LOG \>

***

From your ship's sensor's records, it appears there was little you could have done to protect the Plato. Its loss will be mourned, but at least her crew is safe. Intelligence has analyzed the data you provided from the attempted visual identification. There is no record of such ships. They do not appear to be Vasudan. The conclusion is that they belong to a new species. These ships are not detectable by our sensors. Worse, they appear to have some type of energy-shielding system, making them nearly immune to our attacks. But the greatest concern is their weapons. They are more powerful than anything in the GTA or VPE arsenal. We believe the data you gathered will prove valuable in discovering a weakness in this new adversary.

In all of their recent attacks in Terran Space, not one of these unknown fighters had been destroyed.
Your destruction of one of these new enemies has already boosted morale. Well done, Pilot.

It begins.

Space Pickle

Like many of the early missions, this is one that will play itself. I once had the Plato make it all the way to the jump node and then sit there waiting to be blown up.

manwiththemachinegun

Space Pickle wrote: »

Like many of the early missions, this is one that will play itself. I once had the Plato make it all the way to the jump node and then sit there waiting to be blown up.

It's one of the few missions where you're allowed to lose an escort capital ship. That being said, the bonus objective of killing a Shivan fighter is nearly impossible without emptying your dumbfire rockets, heat seekers won't track. And if you're not accurate with them, the fighters will warp out after a certain point. That's not mentioning the shield recharge factor.

As a side note, if you fail to visually identify the Shivans, your escort next mission starts at 83% health.

Elvenshae

manwiththemachinegun wrote: »

Space Pickle wrote: »

Like many of the early missions, this is one that will play itself. I once had the Plato make it all the way to the jump node and then sit there waiting to be blown up.

It's one of the few missions where you're allowed to lose an escort capital ship. That being said, the bonus objective of killing a Shivan fighter is nearly impossible without emptying your dumbfire rockets, heat seekers won't track. And if you're not accurate with them, the fighters will warp out after a certain point. That's not mentioning the shield recharge factor.

As a side note, if you fail to visually identify the Shivans, your escort next mission starts at 83% health.

Every time I restart Freespace, I replay this mission over and over until I manage a Shivan kill.* It's such a fun bonus objective.

* This is either extremely quick or takes forever, depending on how long it's been since the last time I played through Freespace.

Space Pickle

As a side note, if you fail to visually identify the Shivans, your escort next mission starts at 83% health.

That's interesting, I never knew that one.

manwiththemachinegun

Space Pickle wrote: »

As a side note, if you fail to visually identify the Shivans, your escort next mission starts at 83% health.

That's interesting, I never knew that one.

It's not something that's carried over to FS2 unfortunately. Instead, it offers bonus missions for joining Special Operations Command.

MechMantis

Also of note, one of the best way to kill Shivans?

Pack disruptors. They do more shield damage than your ML-16s