I'm playing through Freespace 2 at the moment. Fucking fantastic game, even by today's standards (which are probably lower then back then imo). Currently undercover with the NTF, protecting the Iceni and the Hinton. But the bloody Rebel Vasudans keep destroying the Hinton too quickly, and i don't like failing any of the objectives this early on.
Definitly going to try some of the player made campaigns once i clear this.
That's one of the hardest missions in the game, so don't feel bad about failing to protect those traitors.
I'm stuck at the mission I need to protect the Joyun and the Paracombe. Thing is, I can beat the mission, but not with all escorted craft alive. And there's probably a medal there.
But it's kind of moot, since the only speed settings you usually need in most of these games are bombing speed, full speed, match speed and afterburners. The throttle ends up not working so well for me because there's a disconnect once you hit match speed and your ship is no longer going how fast the throttle says it should.
An opinion is nice, but that's not the way the game works. In order to turn well, the throttle needs to be adjusted just as a car needs switching gears when it corners. You need access to your gearbox at all times, but still need access to other functions at the same time as well, which the HOTAS doesn't provide.
And on my joystick I have full control of the throttle with my thumb, while the other four fingers are used for the four remaining buttons above. It's why it's best to have a small sensitive throttle that can only be adjusted very swiftly and accurately with a finger, as opposed to an entire hand requiring a big unwieldy motion.
I dunno, I played the FS games with keyboard + joystick and ignoring the joystick throttle. A racing game is more complicated because you have to do all the gear shifting and whatnot instead of just pressing the "max speed" button. Drop speed to something very low when you need a tight turn and match speed/full speed/afterburners as needed. The Independence War games were a lot more complicated than this, but I didn't feel Freespace rewarded finesse much; everything's velocity just shoots up and down too quickly, even the slow pigs.
The only throttles I've tried (I don't own one, personally) are the Thrustmaster one that comes with the Cougar and the Logitech split-throttle one, and I didn't feel that either one was lacking in extra controls, although a lot of that took the form of hat switches, d-pads or dials.
re: Space games being watered down
Isn't X3 supposed to have a really steep learning curve? Not the controls necessarily, but by all accounts it's a very complex game that completely forgoes any kind of tutorial or easing the player into the game.
I'm stuck at the mission I need to protect the Joyun and the Paracombe. Thing is, I can beat the mission, but not with all escorted craft alive. And there's probably a medal there.
Are you using wingmen commands? It's usually best to have a wing cover each escort ship, while you hunt warheads.
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StormwaltzBeyond the Perseus VeilRegistered Userregular
Freespace 3 - You infiltrate their systems and find Dyson spheres. You realize you're fucked, and the end is humanity running the fuck away.
I don't think they have systems.
The end of FS2 cemented my FS1 theory that Shivans are native to subspace. At the very least they don't live on planets. Look at how their ships are laid out in the Hall Fight cutscene from FS1.
No artificial gravity and nothing like the decks we'd see in a human vessel. Corridors appear to branch off in all directions, "up and down" as well as "side to side" The Shivan form is zee-gee adapted -- note they use those "upper arms" to bounce off the "ceiling," just like they use their legs on the "floor".
Also consider that you see a Shivan use retractable blades (which deploy with mechanical noises) and a directed energy weapon in "Hall Fight". Those aren't Shivan bodies - they're Shivan encounter suits.
I think that's something most space sims fail at. With few exceptions, you never get the sense there's an actual WAR going on with space fighters being only one part of it. In Freespace, you're not the chosen one, or even the top ace in the GTVA. You're just an exceptional pilot who happens to survive multiple engagements where everyone else gets reduced to charred ash.
Your theory reminds me of my constant nagging question about whether IP/media designers think these things through and take them to the grave or whether the canon kind of pops out indirectly.
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StormwaltzBeyond the Perseus VeilRegistered Userregular
Your theory reminds me of my constant nagging question about whether IP/media designers think these things through and take them to the grave or whether the canon kind of pops out indirectly.
In my experience, depends on the IP.
In Asheron's Call, we had zombies and skeletons because they were "cheap" - they used all the player animation sets. They had no backstory at all. I developed the Kingdom of Dericost post-ship to explain why they could be found everywhere.
In Mass Effect, I planned every-damn-thing out -- hence the codex. And then I'd be driven to fits of apoplectic rage when the artists and tech designers would ignore it and run through the IP with scissors.
Freespace 3 - You infiltrate their systems and find Dyson spheres. You realize you're fucked, and the end is humanity running the fuck away.
I don't think they have systems.
The end of FS2 cemented my FS1 theory that Shivans are native to subspace. At the very least they don't live on planets. Look at how their ships are laid out in the Hall Fight cutscene from FS1.
No artificial gravity and nothing like the decks we'd see in a human vessel. Corridors appear to branch off in all directions, "up and down" as well as "side to side" The Shivan form is zee-gee adapted -- note they use those "upper arms" to bounce off the "ceiling," just like they use their legs on the "floor".
Also consider that you see a Shivan use retractable blades (which deploy with mechanical noises) and a directed energy weapon in "Hall Fight". Those aren't Shivan bodies - they're Shivan encounter suits.
I wouldn't be surprised if they're energy-based.
The overarching theme is that they are somehow borne from subspace, and that through an explosion of a star, they can travel to wherever it is they came from (it being somehow conductive to subspace travel, as the Sathanas ships jump just as the star goes nova) - however they do seem to have the problem of being, shall we call it "stuck" IN normal space.
There are two factors - one is the Rahu miners collecting minerals from the nebulae, and the second one is the use of the Shivan Comm Node - meaning they do and are capable of building structures. The need for energy with the Rahu miners and inter-subspace communication does suggest that for the highest yield of energy they would have no problem gathering it by constructing Dyson spheres around the stars they do not "sense" are necessary for travel.
This is before we get into the Meson particles which stem from the Lucifer (and are core and central to the plot of FS2, through the Meson bombs).
I haven't discussed FS lore with anyone at this depth in a while, because most people don't know shit about it.
No, it's near the end of the game. Nothing can challenge it so there's not really any more war and fighting. The last few missions are about dealing with your wife in your home on a peaceful planet. It's like Tolstoy.
No, it's near the end of the game. Nothing can challenge it so there's not really any more war and fighting. The last few missions are about dealing with your wife in your home on a peaceful planet. It's like Tolstoy.
Thanks, now i'm gonna have War and Peace flashbacks. Oh the 39183842 named characters that reappear suddenly 400 pages after they vanished.
No, it's near the end of the game. Nothing can challenge it so there's not really any more war and fighting. The last few missions are about dealing with your wife in your home on a peaceful planet. It's like Tolstoy.
:^:
That about sums it up perfectly.
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augustwhere you come from is goneRegistered Userregular
No, it's near the end of the game. Nothing can challenge it so there's not really any more war and fighting. The last few missions are about dealing with your wife in your home on a peaceful planet. It's like Tolstoy.
Oh, sweet Jesus. The Santhanas just made me have a heart attack.
In the mission where you and the Psamtik are exploring nebula.
The Santhanas comes out ON TOP OF ME. As in, the four arms are all branched around my fighter and the first beam salvo EXPLODES infront of my field of vision. If I had been a fraction of a second off, I would have been vaped. I was stuck between the craddle of all for death cannons, which were burning the sky all around me as I take flak fire from all sides. The Psamtik died, along with all my wingmen who were rammed out of existence. I was the sole survivor.
Shivers.
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DrakeEdgelord TrashBelow the ecliptic plane.Registered Userregular
Oh, sweet Jesus. The Santhanas just made me have a heart attack.
In the mission where you and the Psamtik are exploring nebula.
The Santhanas comes out ON TOP OF ME. As in, the four arms are all branched around my fighter and the first beam salvo EXPLODES infront of my field of vision. If I had been a fraction of a second off, I would have been vaped. I was stuck between the craddle of all for death cannons, which were burning the sky all around me as I take flak fire from all sides. The Psamtik died, along with all my wingmen who were rammed out of existence. I was the sole survivor.
Shivers.
This is one of the many reasons why FS2 is the space sim to top.
Oh, sweet Jesus. The Santhanas just made me have a heart attack.
In the mission where you and the Psamtik are exploring nebula.
The Santhanas comes out ON TOP OF ME. As in, the four arms are all branched around my fighter and the first beam salvo EXPLODES infront of my field of vision. If I had been a fraction of a second off, I would have been vaped. I was stuck between the craddle of all for death cannons, which were burning the sky all around me as I take flak fire from all sides. The Psamtik died, along with all my wingmen who were rammed out of existence. I was the sole survivor.
Shivers.
This is one of the many reasons why FS2 is the best game ever.
Oh, sweet Jesus. The Santhanas just made me have a heart attack.
In the mission where you and the Psamtik are exploring nebula.
The Santhanas comes out ON TOP OF ME. As in, the four arms are all branched around my fighter and the first beam salvo EXPLODES infront of my field of vision. If I had been a fraction of a second off, I would have been vaped. I was stuck between the craddle of all for death cannons, which were burning the sky all around me as I take flak fire from all sides. The Psamtik died, along with all my wingmen who were rammed out of existence. I was the sole survivor.
Shivers.
Sounds like you'll get to dive soon.
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DrakeEdgelord TrashBelow the ecliptic plane.Registered Userregular
Yes, they'll get higher because it makes Freespace and Freespace 2 look like a modern game instead of like vaseline smeared on an episode of the '70s version of Battlestar Galactica.
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augustwhere you come from is goneRegistered Userregular
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That's one of the hardest missions in the game, so don't feel bad about failing to protect those traitors.
I dunno, I played the FS games with keyboard + joystick and ignoring the joystick throttle. A racing game is more complicated because you have to do all the gear shifting and whatnot instead of just pressing the "max speed" button. Drop speed to something very low when you need a tight turn and match speed/full speed/afterburners as needed. The Independence War games were a lot more complicated than this, but I didn't feel Freespace rewarded finesse much; everything's velocity just shoots up and down too quickly, even the slow pigs.
The only throttles I've tried (I don't own one, personally) are the Thrustmaster one that comes with the Cougar and the Logitech split-throttle one, and I didn't feel that either one was lacking in extra controls, although a lot of that took the form of hat switches, d-pads or dials.
re: Space games being watered down
Isn't X3 supposed to have a really steep learning curve? Not the controls necessarily, but by all accounts it's a very complex game that completely forgoes any kind of tutorial or easing the player into the game.
EDIT: I guess Shatterstar was pretty hard, too.
Are you using wingmen commands? It's usually best to have a wing cover each escort ship, while you hunt warheads.
I don't think they have systems.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcWhhsRGsAI
No artificial gravity and nothing like the decks we'd see in a human vessel. Corridors appear to branch off in all directions, "up and down" as well as "side to side" The Shivan form is zee-gee adapted -- note they use those "upper arms" to bounce off the "ceiling," just like they use their legs on the "floor".
Also consider that you see a Shivan use retractable blades (which deploy with mechanical noises) and a directed energy weapon in "Hall Fight". Those aren't Shivan bodies - they're Shivan encounter suits.
I wouldn't be surprised if they're energy-based.
I think that's something most space sims fail at. With few exceptions, you never get the sense there's an actual WAR going on with space fighters being only one part of it. In Freespace, you're not the chosen one, or even the top ace in the GTVA. You're just an exceptional pilot who happens to survive multiple engagements where everyone else gets reduced to charred ash.
In my experience, depends on the IP.
In Asheron's Call, we had zombies and skeletons because they were "cheap" - they used all the player animation sets. They had no backstory at all. I developed the Kingdom of Dericost post-ship to explain why they could be found everywhere.
In Mass Effect, I planned every-damn-thing out -- hence the codex. And then I'd be driven to fits of apoplectic rage when the artists and tech designers would ignore it and run through the IP with scissors.
There are two factors - one is the Rahu miners collecting minerals from the nebulae, and the second one is the use of the Shivan Comm Node - meaning they do and are capable of building structures. The need for energy with the Rahu miners and inter-subspace communication does suggest that for the highest yield of energy they would have no problem gathering it by constructing Dyson spheres around the stars they do not "sense" are necessary for travel.
This is before we get into the Meson particles which stem from the Lucifer (and are core and central to the plot of FS2, through the Meson bombs).
I haven't discussed FS lore with anyone at this depth in a while, because most people don't know shit about it.
Feels good man.
That thing is huge. I still couldn't see the whole thing 4000km out.
About 3/4 of the game.
Thanks, now i'm gonna have War and Peace flashbacks. Oh the 39183842 named characters that reappear suddenly 400 pages after they vanished.
:^:
That about sums it up perfectly.
Jeeze dude put a spoiler on that shit.
Yeah, I'll get right on that.
(After some relaxing)
Trying to find my way around that thing while scanning stuff was creepy. I kept seeing parts poke out of the gas when I thought I was clear of it.
It gets worse.
Excellent.
I stumbled on to a spoiler pertaining to the Sathanas and its lineage, so I'm expecting fun times.
"It gets worse" is pretty much the plot of FS2 in a nutshell.
Its of a "HOLY JESUS FUCK CHRIST NO" then a "It gets worse"
And then you stink up your cockpit.
Support ship obstructed.
Laugh detected, Smile detected.
Hey Secret Santa!
In the mission where you and the Psamtik are exploring nebula.
Shivers.
This is one of the many reasons why FS2 is the space sim to top.
Fixed!
I don't really get along with computers.
Sounds like you'll get to dive soon.
If you use Turey's installer and the launcher it's no problem at all.
Run this program and you're all set.
Just need a copy of FS2.
EDIT: Fuck you, Drake.
Will this affect the system requirements?
Well yeah.
You can still mess about with the settings to get something that works for you, though.
Come getcher manlovin'.