Matrix Games Forums

First off, Bravo, milo, bravo. I downloaded version 4.0 of Starshatter the other day and I'm just starting to play through Highland, and I am thoroughly impressed with the game. I've played it since version 2.somethingorother and I must say it's come off nicely.
Three cheers for milo!
Huzzah, Huzzah, Huzzah!!



Ok, now onto business...
1st question: On the falcon, did you intend for hardpoints 2 3 and 4 to be able to mount the ASMs? I would guess you only meant for 2 and 3, but who knows?

2nd question: I was flying a sweep/patrol mission in a falcon and i noticed after firing 7 of the 8 SRMs I had loaded none were visible from the orbit (F3) view.

3rd question: milo, did you get my most recent e-mail? I have some more info relating to the subject.

In conclusion, great job, milo! Keep up the good work. If i were 21 I would buy you a drink or three.

<<Testing avatar>>

[edit:] Excellent

Nice avatar [;)]

Regarding hte Falcon, the two problems are probably related. It seems almost certain the Falcon is only intended to carry 2 ASMs.

It's very useful to do that, though, I send out all my Falcon patrols with ASMs. Not much punch but a lot better than nothing. [;)]

good point, especially with a lot of enemy shipping flying around. I do find it odd that during a sweep when i encounter a enemy transport ship, the Archon never launches a package to attack it, and I (in a falcon or stormhawk loaded with anti-fighter missiles) don't have nearly enough firepower. All that'd be needed would be a pair of stormhawks or t-bolts in a ship strike package.

I agree w/ the ASMs. I always try to get a sweep with the F-36 so I can load 2 ASMs on the belly. Not a whole lot of punch, but makes things easier for the capships to mop up when the time comes.

another thing: would it be possible to have the 'lead diamond' be a different color? I find it very hard to follow sometimes during atmospheric missions. Perhaps it could be the same color as the rest of the hud but brighter?

You can change color of the HUD

You can change color of the HUD

Yea, but the lead indicator (when you're not using the LCOS pipper) is always a gray/white color.

[edit:] See in the picture? the HUD is blue, but the lead indicator is a white color. When you're looking into the sun, its impossible to get your guns on-target, while with the LCOS pipper, its not hard at all as you can see the pipper and all you have to do is center it in the ring around the target.

OK. I've been playing through Highland some more and noticed several things:
The Archon launches waaayy too few fighters. It launched me and a wingman to stop an incoming strike package. All well and good except that the package we stopped was the first in a huge wave attack including at least two frigates! Not only did i run out of missiles after taking out a few flights, I couldnt even return safely because I was trailed by a frigate and i didnt even get credit for my 10+ kills! All the while my cries for reinforcements were answered with 'no craft available'. If I were the captain of the Archon i'd have scrambled 1/2 the intercept squadron when i caught a glimpse of what was incoming and sent the DD at the frigates.

Speaking of DD groups, the Shadow DESRON just arrived and I went out for a sweep mission just in time to watch the quick demise of the entire DESRON!

First off, the shadow's FF's decide to engage an enemy DD, the Ironhelm, all by themselves. Perhaps they need to be told that none of their weapons will scratch a Broadsword? Then the Necromancer and Shadow manage to have none of their torps hit (they prolly should have come at their target from below where he has weaker PD) and get attacked from their right side by the rest of the enemy fleet and get totally destroyed by the end of the mission. No strike packages were launched to help (though it likely would have been futile, the engagement happened some 500 km from the Archon CVBG. Also, there was no mention of the total loss of the shadow DESRON! You'd think that would make the intel screen.

Another thing: On a typical sweep mission I encouter 10-12 enemy ships, yet the Archon persists in sending out only pairs of falcons and stormhawks. This might have sufficed when the Archon was helping to put down some upstart seperatists, but now we're fighting a full-out war, and the pairs just dont cut it anymore.

Another thing, on strike missions, it seems to me it would make most sense to attack enemy frigates in parallel, that is, send strike packages against both at the same time. I always end up getting trashed by the other one while going for my assigned target. This is especially frustrating when i know there was a mission to take out that 'other' frigate just a 1/2 hr ago and I dont see a scratch on it. An additional note on strike missions: could an escort flight be assigned? I hate to trade ASMs for SRMs or MRMs, but the lack of escorts forces me to do it. The enemy has fighter escorts for their strike packages, why can't the Alliance?

[edit:] On a more humerous note, the Archon's escorts need to watch where they park:

Simmons, this is Archon. Can I have some of what you're smoking? Over.

bump

In cases like that I *really* wish you could dock and rearm and continue the mission.

Any chance of that being added to the patch list?

I'd LOVE to see a dock and redeploy immediately option... I have noticed there's a dock order in the nav points but I haven't experimented with it as of yet...

The ability to grab more missiles when defending the carrier would be a great addition!

A few more things:
When you're in mouse virtual stick mode, could you make the various hud buttons unclickable? I really hate it when I'm dogfighting and i accidentally go into autonav or when i accidentally launch decoys.
Speaking of decoys, perhaps could the attack craft be upgraded with more decoys/ second launcher? I always seem to run out the moment a FF locks onto me, and they arent nearly fast/manueverable enough to avoid the missiles without the help of decoys.

bumpity bump

milo?

Bumping again, I would be interested to see if others are experiencing the carrier ai problem