38 replies to this topic

[Supreme Cmdr]

I took quite a considerable bit of time designing, scripting and testing both (they are different in some aspects btw) campaign scenarios. As such, its not the usual run-and-gun that you folks are used to. Particularly the EFP campaign version.

The first few scenarios MAY seem like milk runs. If you think so, wait until things ramp up. In fact, I bet most people are going to get hit with negative EPs by the time the first mission ends.

[Charles Lindsey]

I like the EFP campaign so far. The first one was a disaster. How DO you tell the good guys from the smugglers? -15000 EP. Ughhh.

I did manage to catch and destroy Ident01. +2500.

Now I'm of to escort Wraith fleet to Aleri in Tramis.

[Ben Zwycky]

check their cargo contents

[Charles Lindsey]

No doubt. We were told that in the briefing. Now define every item the script writer might have meant in the description.

At least the scenario rolls forward no matter how bad ya screw up. I'll do that first then maybe redo the first part.

[Ben Zwycky]

in the SMD, everything listed under the weapons category, though I did pop a shot against the shields of the one carrying shield upgrades, just in case, but the real bad guy is a little sneaky, and I ended up disabling him to make sure.

[Supreme Cmdr]

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Originally posted by Cmdr Chavik:
Now define every item the script writer might have meant in the description.

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[/indent]Gee, let me see. How difficult is it to comprehend this plain English text?

ANY NON-MILITARY GALCOM SHIPS DETECTED TO BE CARRYING WEAPONS OF ANY KIND, ARE TO BE TURNED BACK.

[Charles Lindsey]

Non military vessel is self explanatory. Weapons systems of any kind; not so much. Fill a bad guy with missiles and ODS and I have no problem. Fill it with shields and cloak and I wonder. Even Ben mentioned that one.

I was just discussing last night with someone that this stuff must be crystal clear to the script writer (in any game, not just AWA) but not so obvious to the players when they get their hands on it.

Now, even if I fail miserably, other players have a spoiler or so. Thanks Ben, sorry to have gotten snotty.

It IS fun. Worth several replays at least.

[Supreme Cmdr]

Shields and cloak are not weapons, are they? Nope, they're not. Never have been.

As always, I designed and scripted all the scenarios. But I didn't think that even vets would be stumped at some point.

If that first scenario is a head scratcher; God, I can't imagine how anyone would survive the others.

[quantum]

Well I'm about to embark on my third try at the first mission in the EFP campaign. It's caused me to think a little differently than I would as a commander. I like it(surprisingly)so far. Thank you guy's for clueing me in on how to determine the bad guys. I didn't think of that!

[Eclipse]

Well my first time through I missed the smuggler but kept and escort on the upgrades, second time I almost missed him but finally managed to id him after putting probes and craft in all adjacent sectors... didn't catch anyone else and didn't get and eps or loose any either. So on to mission 2

[Supreme Cmdr]

Thats the tradition of my ACM scripting; you don't always get additional EPs just because you happen to be doing your job. If the scenario ends and you're not dead - or haven't been notified that you've failed or lost EPs - then you're ahead.

btw, the EFP career is more fun than the CMDR (whcih is too easy I think).

[Supreme Cmdr]

heh, I take it nobody completed the campaign then?

[ENS2018]

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heh, I take it nobody completed the campaign then?

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[/indent]I haven't yet. I keep starting a new one to try and get it perfect. Maybe I'll go with my first try to see it through to the end even though I missed the smuggler and didn't manage to get to that ship in the second mission before it got destroyed.

After all, it's the way my imperfections change the way the game unfolds that makes these games so great.

[Ben Zwycky]

Finished the EFP campaign (I've been busy with fleet stuff recently). It wasn't a perfect performance (two of the transports were lost) but pretty good overall I think. I found the invincibility tags on some of the scripted characters a little annoying (especially with the station and the cloaked carrier on the first planet), but a very fun experience overall.

My report card:

Rank: Commander

EP: 153900

medals:
1 x Star of Merit
1 x Commander's Shield
2 x Planetary Shield
1 x Order of the Wraith
2 x Combat Shield

[Supreme Cmdr]

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Originally posted by Ben Zwycky:
I found the invincibility tags on some of the scripted characters a little annoying (especially with the station and the cloaked carrier on the first planet),

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[/indent]Yeah, it is annoying but I had no choice because I didn't want people who use the cheats, to break my script and then come running here to report a 'bug'.

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but a very fun experience overall.

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[/indent]I like the EFP version better because its more challenging.

How did you handle not have an abundance of weapons? Doing repairs (at stations) etc in between assignments? I was a bit worried that some gamers would get frustrated at having to run to a station. Or that some wouldn't even remember that they had this option to go to a station for repairs and weapons.

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My report card:

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[/indent]heh, on a scale of 1-10, thats about a 5 I think.

[Ben Zwycky]

I was hoping it was a little better than that . I destroyed the vast majority of the scripted targets myself (though I could probably have done a little better if I tried the same mission a few times) and went flattening hostile planetary bases during mission downtime.

Running out of missiles wasn't really a problem, running out of reactor charge was (I went and grabbed a zodiac early on in the campaign for its faster hyperdrive, which probably made it run out of charge faster than an IC mk1, being a light rather than heavy fighter).

Docking with stations wasn't annoying, but I found that if I timed my repairs wrong, docking with a station or MFB 1 minute into the mission rather than 1 minute before mission start, then when I redeploy the mission would be over. This only seemed to happen in TOD's 2 and 3, but I'd have to go back and run them again to make sure which missions it was happening in. Is that deliberate, or is that something I should look into more closely?

I also noticed some formatting errors in some of the scripted messages in commlink (individual words spread across several lines). You want a list of those?

[Supreme Cmdr]

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Originally posted by Ben Zwycky:
(I went and grabbed a zodiac early on in the campaign

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[/indent]The campaign locks the type of craft you can use. So, uhm, how were you able to change it?

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Docking with stations wasn't annoying, but I found that if I timed my repairs wrong, docking with a station or MFB 1 minute into the mission rather than 1 minute before mission start, then when I redeploy the mission would be over. This only seemed to happen in TOD's 2 and 3, but I'd have to go back and run them again to make sure which missions it was happening in. Is that deliberate, or is that something I should look into more closely?

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[/indent]It depends on how long the repairs take. If the scenario runs for 30 mins. And it takes that long to repair, well, guess what happens when you undock. This should be obvious I think. Which is why it is always a good idea to check the scenario times in the VDD/ACM display.

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I also noticed some formatting errors in some of the scripted messages in commlink (individual words spread across several lines). You want a list of those?

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[/indent]I am aware of that. Its non-destructive and only happens if the text (in the script) flows past a certain character count depending on the type of font used.

[Ben Zwycky]

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Originally posted by Supreme Cmdr:
The campaign locks the type of craft you can use. So, uhm, how were you able to change it?

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[/indent]I didn't change it, just a simple matter of going down to a planet, visiting your local showroom (base) exiting your craft and entering your craft of choice (though it's a bit more complex to get hold of a zodiac)

I guess it must have been the repair times, I got fooled by the 'instant' repairs you get when you click the repair button when in a station/MFB.

[Supreme Cmdr]

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Originally posted by Ben Zwycky:
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Originally posted by Supreme Cmdr:
The campaign locks the type of craft you can use. So, uhm, how were you able to change it?

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[/indent]I didn't change it, just a simple matter of going down to a planet, visiting your local showroom (base) exiting your craft and entering your craft of choice (though it's a bit more complex to get hold of a zodiac)

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[/indent]...visiting your local showroom <--- LMAO!!!

See? This is what makes these games so great. At least to those of us who get it.

I'd never have guessed that anyone would even consider this.

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I guess it must have been the repair times, I got fooled by the 'instant' repairs you get when you click the repair button when in a station/MFB.

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[/indent]Yeah.

[Ben Zwycky]

The best part was overcoming the problem of how to get the zodiac off the planet. It's only found on naval bases or the starbase on Majoris, but the Zodiac's conventional engines are too weak to escape the gravitational pull of earth or Majoris (it can't reach the required altitude).

So I went down to the naval base on Earth, landed on the carrier, exited and got into the shuttle on the carrier, then grabbed the zodiac on the same carrier with my tractor beam and left the planet.

I now have my zodiac in space, but I still can't use it because I can't exit the shuttle in space because I'm an EFP and don't have a space suit.

I then flew to the Moon, landed, got out of the shuttle and into my lovely new craft, which was able to escape the much weaker local gravitational pull with ease. All that remained was to dock with galcom HQ and change all my ATS and ATA missiles for STS ones and I was ready to go a huntin'.

Conventional methods? What are they?