Website update, March 20th

Eder

Eder

Mr. Standoff
Here's this friday's update:
And another mission...

Excellent. A mission a week, that's good progress. Quarto reports that the mission he started last week is now completely finished, and he's moved onto the next. We really may finally get there :).

Meanwhile, I've uploaded three new screenshots from the missions Pierre is working on. This mission is a rather interesting one. As we've mentioned a few times along the way, it's been a part of our design philosophy to throw really oddball missions onto the losing path. The winning path more or less follows the book, so that restricts us quite a bit in mission design. But on the losing path - anything goes :). So, during Episode 5, we were finally able to answer a question that probably nagged some of you from at least Episode 3. What happens, if the Firekka fights its way to a jump point and jumps out... leaving behind an ejected pilot? Obviously, somebody has to go back and get him. Well, in Episode 5, Captain Bradshaw decides to fly such a mission personally (if there are any ejectees to rescue, that is - this mission is optional). Just you, your Crossbow, and a bunch of cats. Sounds fun to me... :)

What about progress in the other parts of the project, like music and voiceovers? Unfortunately, there is none this week...
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Crossbow vs whatever Kilrathi are in the area? Scary. Sounds almost like a simulator gauntlet... but real. What a nightmare!

On the other hand, Sabres are tractor-capable too. Perhaps a little more capable in the dogfighting department? ;)

Anyway, keep up the good work! Be encouraged by the huge impact you're all making on the community.
 
Yeah, why aren't we using a sabre? A crossbow would get torn apart...now if we had no sabres left I can see using the crossbows but come on.
 
Iceblade said:
Yeah, why aren't we using a sabre? A crossbow would get torn apart...now if we had no sabres left I can see using the crossbows but come on.
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Perhaps theres also a torpedo run involved? Personally I'd love to see the Broadsword with the 8 Torps on... what was the called? THe Magic 8?
 
Dundradal said:
You never know what you might run into during a rescue op....
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Exactly, but you do know for a fact, though, that you will face some fighters. In addition, the sabre can carry torps and its purpose would not be to wipe out a bunch of capships.
 
Iceblade said:
Exactly, but you do know for a fact, though, that you will face some fighters. In addition, the sabre can carry torps and its purpose would not be to wipe out a bunch of capships.
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Oh you Sabre lovers....just be glad you were even informed of what the mission entails. :p

I can promise you that you'll have a great time completing that mission.

The losing path in Ep5 has a special attachment to me. I can't wait till all of you can give it a whirl and figure out why. :D
 
One, the Broadsword can't by flown in Standoff campaing missions because it can't fit the Firekka. Our bomber is the Crossbow.

Second, we wouldn't want to play this mission with the sabre, and expand our fuel reserve out-system, not being able to jump back, right ? :p
 
Mental blank: I forgot that Sabres weren't demonstrated as being jump-capable in WC2.

And nice reasoning for the Broadsword's absence from the Firekka, especially given its huge wing span.

As for bombing runs on a rescue operation, I can deal with that. The mission to the Talbot system in a Broadsword to retrieve vital communications data while evading/striking a Ralatha comes to mind.
 
I think pretty much everyone has always assumed the Sabre is jump-capable, based on the fact that Jazz ran away to the jump point. As far as Standoff is concerned, too, the Sabre is definitely jump-capable - we know Sparrow jumps in a Sabre during the Prologue.

However, from what we saw in WC2, the Sabre's jump capabilities are clearly not used that often - any time there's a mission involving a jump, we go out in a Broadsword or Crossbow - only later does the Morningstar come into play. We're sticking to that tradition here. One reason is that we want this mission to feel like WC2. That's generally been the case for the losing path right from the start, it always had smaller, more WC2-like missions.

The other reason, though, is what Pete mentioned here - if we send the player out in a Sabre, we'll get a whole bunch of people whining about running out of fuel and being unable to jump back :). This may well be the reason why WC2 always uses the Broadsword for such missions, too - the Sabre's jump capabilities are useful when you want to send them on a one-way trip, but if you want to be sure there's a return trip, it's better to send out a ship that doesn't rely on afterburners for defence.
 
One-way trip Sabres... good point, I forgot about Jazz's escape.

I can't recall, but do you cut the Broadsword/Crossbow's fuel as part of its jump routine?
 
Broadsword and crossbows don't have afterburner fuel, so there is nothing to subtract...though this would be an interesting idea to include for the sabre...no ABing out there kids :D otherwise you are stuck....mission failure if you use too much AB fuel would be another interesting way of doing this as well.

A mission heavy in AB fuel management would be interesting. I would certainly try it at least once.
 
Iceblade said:
A mission heavy in AB fuel management would be interesting. I would certainly try it at least once.
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I can tell you now there are already several missions in Ep5 that you have to be smart about AB usage otherwise you will be cursing yourself to no end...
 
The Crossbow doesn't have afterburners. Due to this, in other Standoff missions it doesn't even have a fuel gauge on the HUD at all.
In the prologue, the player can jump on a Gladius - I'm not sure if we subtracted any AB fuel for that jump, though.
 
Iceblade said:
Broadsword and crossbows don't have afterburner fuel, so there is nothing to subtract...
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I can't recall what the gauges in Standoff indicate, but the Broadsword and Crossbow definitely have a fuel gauge of some sort. Whether it is actual fuel or simply energy in the jump-drive capacitors, I wouldn't know.

As for afterburner use, I'm usually pretty gentle on fuel consumption, so I'll be interested to see how Episode 5 will push in that direction.
 
Wedge009 said:
I can't recall what the gauges in Standoff indicate, but the Broadsword and Crossbow definitely have a fuel gauge of some sort. Whether it is actual fuel or simply energy in the jump-drive capacitors, I wouldn't know.

As for afterburner use, I'm usually pretty gentle on fuel consumption, so I'll be interested to see how Episode 5 will push in that direction.
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There's fuel, but it's for the jump drive... You'll notice the gauge go down significantly after a jump. So theoretically there's a jump limit in any given mission in WC2. Also there's missions in WC2 where you need to meet up with a Refueler with your Broadsword after jumping into a system.
 
It was fuel - that was the point of that WC2 refuel cutscene, after all ;).

(an unnecessary cutscene, one might add - the mission only involves two jumps, and we know the Broadsword can handle that)

Back when we made that jump in the Prologue, we had no way of subtracting AB fuel for the jump, so naturally it didn't happen. It's certainly one of the adjustments we'll make in time for the final release.
 
IIRC, in WC1 and 2 you lose fuel even when not afterburning but very little. So in theory, I you flew around enough in the Crossbow and Broadsword you could be short on fuel for jumping. Though I think you would have to fly for hours.
 
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