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The Battlecruiser Experience


Slater
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Weyl, it's been interesting, so I thought I should share my views with the community at large - not that I imagine you're interested, but I'm bored.

Sooo, got the game on Friday (after paying a nasty customs charge - stupid HM Customs), and rushed off to give it a try. To my great relief it actually worked (the demo... did not) - so, not one to start out slow, I read the manual cover to cover and started my brave new life as a TER/MIL Commander in my big ol' Firestorm, since everyone seems to like it.

After undocking, much blank staring ensued, followed by a frantic search for The Button To Make Spaceship Go - this took some time, during which I was jumped by a whole hoarde of red dots and promptly blown to tiny little spaceship bits.

Hm. I can see this will take some time.

After managing to Make Ship Go a second time around, I had lots of fun whizzing about the place generally causing a ruckus - and had several notable experiences; to whit:

1. The jolly hijinks resulting from Trying To Find My Damn Mining Drones Again (Got the hang of that now, thank God).

2. Decided to go give some Insurgent base on Earth a taste of GALCOM justice via the direct route of flying my Aestrom overhead (watching the PTA's rake the buildings is just coolness on stilts) - and by keeping the EMD online at all times, I am completely safe from counterattack! Stupid Insurgents. In fact, I had so much fun, I decided to park the Aestrom and go walkies in the wreckage.

Good idea, until the autopilot decided to take off again, leaving poor little me stranded. However, the autopilot then decided to carry on my destructive work, and walking around on the ground with an Aestrom performing strafing runs with its PTA's overhead (Admittedly, occasionally bouncing off the ground) was VERY IMPRESSIVE AND COOL. Then it blew up. Bugger.

3. Rather annoyingly, a brave attempt to have a Proper Career Not Involving Random Acts Of Stupidity was foiled when my (only) savegame decided to go all corrupt and crash to desktop every time I loaded it. In future, I shall have to save to more than one slot.

However, it did give me the oppurtunity to start a new career in a Nightstar - the PTA turrets can't hit the broad side of a Stormcarrier and the fighters are apparently made of cardboard... But it looks so damn cool! Like a big aircraft carrier in space! FIRE THE YAMATO GUN! Ahem. Also it's kinda tanky, which is nice, and this led to another VERY COOL moment - whilst waiting for some upgrades to be installed, I decided I was bored, so I was going to go take on some of those irritatingly immobile space marines with my Commanderly skillz - and the sheer awe and joy of floating in a spacesuit around my Nightstar is hard to describe... Running along the flight decks, sitting on the PTA Turrets... And then finding an enemy marine floating overhead (immobile, at least until I floated up to him and shot him in the head - then he whizzed off at the speed of sound, the coward).

This all culminated with a very nasty situation on board the GCV-Retaliator - being towed from Lennen to Lyrius because the intruders running riot on my ship had blown up the engines, and were making a good go at the reactor core, and all the marines were too beaten up and frightened to leave their quarters (bloody cowards! show 'em some cold steel, I say! Those intruders, they don't like it up 'em!).

And then crash to desktop, bah, but no matter, I saved earlier.

Minor niggles:

1. Enemy ships constantly and constistently decide to have fights inside the planetary sphere, thus causing me to auto-planetfall when I jump to them. (generally this is around a nice hostile planet designed to make ship go boom).

2. Get stuck inside models of other ships if I fly into the back of them (which happens a lot).

Despite this, and the crashes, it's annoyingly addictive - and it's rare to get that 'One More Game' quality in something of this genre... Even as we speak I have just formulated a plan in which the Commander hops into a spacesuit and goes to sit on top of his Nightstar's main guns to issue attack orders (of course, it might just fly through me, but experimentation is fun).

Then it's probably time to kamikaze the Nightstar into an Insurgent ground-base, those PTA's just make me fighter-bait.

Marcus Arac

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Nightstar happens to be my specialty.

PTA turrets missing a lot? Try putting your targetting reticle on the center of the name of your target (until it's too close to you, then aim closer to the center of the target). Watch the shields/armor/hull drop. I can dogfight with fighters in a Nightstar because of this little effect....

Note: Do NOT launch your fighters till you get 1) lots of money, 2) higher AI pilots.

BTW, there's a safer way to deal with Space Marines. Take out a fighter (you as pilot). Fly around and shoot them. You can hit them, they can't hurt you. Or at least, they have a hard time doing so, because I've never been hurt by 'em.

Another note: When doing any out of CC activities, don't forget to issue the HALT order. Or at least give it way points and the like in TacOps. That way it doesn't leave you stranded because your FO thought it would be more fun without you on board....ever.

Anyway, welcome to the community. And once you've gotten a little skill, don't forget to join one of the fleets out there. It only enhances gameplay.

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quote:


Originally posted by Marcus Arac:

when my (only) savegame decided to go all corrupt and crash to desktop every time I loaded it. In future, I shall have to save to more than one slot.

1. Enemy ships constantly and constistently decide to have fights inside the planetary sphere


I take it you are not running 1.0.05 yet? You might want to run that version and if you have either of the above problems, report it in the tech support/misc issues thread.

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Guest Grayfox

quote:

Originally posted by Cmdr Jeffery Eu :

Welcome to our world Mr. Arac

hehehe and you can kiss your social life goodbye but i figure i didnt have one to begin with so its no great loss lol thx SC

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quote:

I take it you are not running 1.0.05 yet? You might want to run that version and if you have either of the above problems, report it in the tech support/misc issues thread.


Oh yes, I'm all patched up to date. Still, if I see it again, I shall say.

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That bit about you hopping out of your ship on the planet and it suddenly taking off just made me laugh cause it reminded me of one time I was deep in space and my Aestrom was badly damaged and I couldn't jump back to the star base to get repair parts (i seem to have bad luck with my cargo bays always getting blown and I also didn't know about towing my CC with a SC) and not really knowing what i was thinking I hit Alt-E for who know's what reason and I'm sitting there in space looking at my CC and it suddenly turned around and started limping off the other way. Cried as I might, they wouldn't turn around for me. Something tells me the crew had a problem with me changing the rules in which they had to start paying for all their meals. Sometimes that extra money just isn't worth it, or at least it isn't when the chance of you floating alone in space exists.

Welcome to the game, btw.

Hudson

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Guest Grayfox

quote:

Originally posted by Gomez:

Nightstar happens to be my specialty.


I just think the Nightstar looks cool. kinda like a mini SDF-1 with the prometheus and daedalus carriers in front... take a closer look and youll see what i mean.

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quote:

Originally posted by Hudson:

I eventually figured that out SC, but at the time when I didn't it was amusing.

I remember the story where SC was taking some of those pre-release pics, and he was spacewalking on the hull of the ship, when it decided to go hyperspace. Good times.... Good times, indeed.....

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quote:


Originally posted by Cmdr Nova:

quote:

Originally posted by Hudson:

I eventually figured that out SC, but at the time when I didn't it was amusing.


I remember the story where SC was taking some of those pre-release pics, and he was spacewalking on the hull of the ship, when it decided to go hyperspace. Good times.... Good times, indeed.....


hehe, yep. It still happens to me
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I still remember the time my bud crashed his CC into an ocean on some planet and the systems were so damaged he couldn't get her to take off again. He ended up hitting the Alt-E key and found himself swimming. Next thing I know I get this phone call and he's yelling at me saying "Maaaan, I'm swimming in the water and my CC keeps floating away from me faster and faster, I can't catch it!!!" Eventually the poor heavy carrier sank and all that was left was the poor commander swimming alone in the middle of the ocean... (from that point you can cut nicely into the beginning of Castaway)

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Guest Grayfox

hehe maybe hijack.... errr... comandeer another CC? possibly an enemy CC?

AE:Resnig!

CO:Sir!

AE:I want you to get in your vac suit and fly over to that stormcarrier and take the bridge.

CO:Very good sir!

AE:And ummm call me when youre finished we'll be ummm planetside doing research

CO:But the nearest planet is 2 Jumpgates away...

AE:Exactly Carry on!

CO:Yes Sir!

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quote:

Originally posted by Hudson:

Eventually the poor heavy carrier sank and all that was left was the poor commander swimming alone in the middle of the ocean... (from that point you can cut nicely into the beginning of Castaway)

Even better:

A lone commander..... Carrier destroyed..... Resources depleted..... The ultimate test of his life awaits.

He's stranded with Resnig.

*A man screams "nooooooo!" and it echos in the background*

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