Let's play Missionforce Cyberstorm

[Multi-headed Cow]

What the hell, I'm happy about finally getting this working again so have an LP of it.

Missionforce Cyberstorm, a turn based strategy game about mechs made in 1996. The general goal is to stomp around the universe killing cybrids, AI controlled mechs of the "Kill all humans" variety. To fight them you get your own mechs (Called hercs) and bioderms, test-tube grown pilots. You build up money by running missions, which you use to buy and upgrade bioderms and hercs. Since it has been a few years since I played this last I might end up terrible at it, but more fun for you.

Introduction:

Home sweet home, our base.

Here's the bioderm facility, where you grow, train, and heal your clone pilots. We start off with a very basic pair of a Model 001 (Which I've renamed Stoner) and a Model 101 (Named Mean Bug). I don't give them any training yet because the "Model" series of bioderms are pretty worthless, and I should probably replace them in the near future anyway.

Here's the herc command center, which basically just boils down to mission selection. Ignoring the tutorial mission since tutorials are for communists, I'll dive straight into a basic mining mission. There were two mining missions on Brell, but this one pays a little more. There was also a mining mission on a different planet with better pay, but it a had a travel time of 3 months. Since my turdly bioderms only have a life of a year or two, I opted for the quicker mission.

And we're off!

First view planetside. Rough terrain, but that isn't a big issue for our current light and speedy mechs. Scrolling around the map we have line of sight to, I see a big pile of ore in the southern end. I rush over and make with the collection.

On turn 2, a cybrid appears on the northern edge of sight. Might as well let him do his thing up there while I collect all the ore I want down here.

Easy as goblin pie. Didn't have to fire a single shot, cybrid kept to the north mining ore, I kept to the south mining ore. Mission required 500 collected, but Stoner and Mean Bug walked out with 400 each. Also got a promotion for that brave rock collecting.

New information, available hercs, and bioderms. Wooooooo!

Next up, maybe I'll shoot something!

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

First thing to burn the mining money up on, a halfway decent new bioderm. Since I'm planning on buying an Ogre chassis mech, I go with a Xian model bioderm, for good energy and cannon weapon skills.

Our fresh test-tube baby is dubbed Flayl and shoved in the virtual reality trainer, to bump those energy weapon and cannon skills even higher.

Then since I'm feeling cocky about playing this after years away from it, I buy a base Ogre chassis and get to customizing it myself.

With 16,700 credits left, I dig in to customizing the Ogre. And since it is the first custom mech of the game, I christen it Flaylin'. Since I'm building Flaylin' around the idea of getting in close and beating the shit out of cybrids, I buy him cheap, weak lasers for his four arms for knocking down shields, and powerful 30mm chainguns in his shoulders for ripping them to shit once their shields are down. I upgrade his drive from a Pre-Flexive R3 to a Flexive R3 for increased speed, and upgrade his Shield 900 to a Shield 1200 for more durability. I leave his targeting computer alone, as if things go to plan, he should be close enough to not need it. Finally, I install two ore extractors so he can load up on mining missions. He has two unused misc hardpoints left, which I'll leave empty until we get improved tech and can put something worthwhile in. We're left with 4,711 credits after all is said and done.

I check in at the command center, and find a 2 month mining mission that pays 22,000 credits, and we set off. Generally you want to do mining missions to build up funds before tackling secure area missions or destroying a command center. Especially early on while the going is easy. Our mission is on the planet Beran, which is slightly lower gravity than Earth, and has a perfectly habitable atmosphere, similar to the last planet we were on.

Once planetside, I look around the map. The map itself is larger than the previous mission, and unfortunately there's no ore to be found near our landing site. The mechs head northwest in search of ore. Success! Stoner bumbles into an ore patch. Flayl ending his turn at roughly half the distance of the smaller mechs. Even with an upgraded drive, he can't keep up, understandably.

We easily reach the goal of 500 ore at only the third turn, with no sight of any cybrids, though I can hear them collecting ore in the distance. Instead of letting them get away unchallenged, I decide to send the two light mechs in opposite directions to find the enemy, while Flayl sits in the middle of the map and waits to strike.

Found them! West side of the map, Stoner finds a single Parasite class cybrid. Should be no match for our trusty new Flayl. Unfortunately, the Parasite is a crack shot, and knocks the shit out of Stoner's Shadow. With a disabled leg, he's completely immobile. I give him the order to crouch and reroute his shields completely to the front, but I doubt he could take another round of combat. Flayl charges forward in Flaylin', into relatively close range and opens fire. Though energy generated per-turn works similar to action points in Cyberstorm, batteries can be used as extra actions for things such as weapons. Unfortunately, Flayl doesn't penetrate the Parasite's shields, which were redirected to face us.

Next turn, and the Parasite fires two lasers at Flayl which both hit. Fortunately, Flaylin's Shield 1200 shrugs it off easily. Flayl has enough power to run behind the Parasite and open fire where its shields are weakest. 3 laser shots later, and the rear shields of the Parasite are down. 4 salvos of 30mm chaingun fire and one final laser shot and the Parasite dies, finishing the mission. We get bounty funds for killing the cybrid, as well as an automine bonus for the entire rest of the map.

Back at base, we're sitting pretty at 59,700 credits. First order of business is repairing the Fast Shadow mech which costs a scanty 544 credits. Then since I want to get my hands on a Giant class mech, I go to the Bioderm facility and purchase a Borok model Bioderm for the impressive 70 base cannon skill, and train it up to 80, also renaming him Never.

Back at the herc bay, I buy a Giant chassis and get to tweaking. I up his armor from Standard 18cm to Standard 22cm, because when you're dealing with a mech chassis called Giant do you really want to sacrifice armor for speed. Also install a Flexive R4 to help his speed with all the heavy gear I'm cramming in, and replace his Bertrand-Altase targeting computer with an L205 because he'll be so slow I highly doubt he'll be close to anything. I put 4 120mm heavy autocannons on his main arms, and two 30mm chainguns on his smaller arms. If I remember correctly, Giants can be so overkill with projectile weapons that they can actually kill targets while their shields are still up, simply because of the amount of shit they can throw at them. I finally put a single resupply drone onboard, in case the Giant runs out of ammo. Finally, I dub it Segundon't. Also, on this last picture and back when I named the Flaylin', you'll see a green blob inside the mech. It might be difficult to make out when the wiregrid isn't in motion, but since I have the lifesupport selected, it's highlighting the human inside the mech. I'll do this whenever I take a picture of buying a new mech just for comparison's sake.

 

[Satori (original)]

In-mission graphics look a bit cluttered but this seems like a cool game, is it similar to Syndicate (Wars)?

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

I couldn't really say. It's been so long since I tried Syndicate, I only vaguely remember doing shit in it. It's my favorite mech strategy game though. Perfect balance of depth and gameplay, so you don't have to go crazy tweaking every little thing, but the option is there to customize and configure mechs into all sorts of different configurations, and the battles themselves are pretty straightforward and easy to understand, even with facing and shield strength and injecting stims into your pilots.

It is ugly as sin though. The base interface is fine, but in combat, god damn. Wasn't even all that hot back in the day.

 

[Claw]

What do you meany by ugly? I like the looks.

In-mission graphics look a bit cluttered but this seems like a cool game, is it similar to Syndicate (Wars)?

Not at all, really.

I mean, it's a turnbased strategy game. I liked it, but eventually combat turns a bit dull. There isn't really a whole lot of variation in the missions or the tactics from what I remember.
You don't do research, I don't think. You get assigned new equipment at certain stages.

The background information is cool.

 

[Destroid]

The sequal, corporate wars, looks a lot cleaner in combat. Don't know about gameplay differences I only ever played the demo.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Since I'm at the current cap for mechs and pilots, time to dive straight into a mission. Going on another mining mission as I'm not confident enough in the squad's ability to take on larger cybrid forces. This moon has only 37% Earth's gravity and no atmosphere, so a loss of life support systems would be fatal.

Planetside, and there's an easy patch of ore right next to the dropship. Instead of grabbing the ore and running, I've got a taste for automined ore. Stoner and Mean Bug head out and look for cybrids. Due to the very low gravity, everyone gets huge bonuses to movement. Start of the second turn, and cybrids arrive from the west. This will be a tougher engagement, I see a single Cerebrus, Parasite, and Arachnus cybrid. I'm starting to regret not upgrading the lasers on Flaylin'. The cerebrus is slightly away from the others, so that's where I'll concentrate my attack. Flayl moves as close as he can to the Cerebrus and opens fire. He hits with two lasers and misses with the others, not enough to penetrate the shields. The mighty new Segundon't piloted by Never waddles forward, but doesn't have a very clear shot at anyone. And finally since Mean Bug is a cheap pilot in a cheap mech, she runs forward into range of the weakened shields on the Cerebrus and opens fire. Both lasers fire, only hitting with one. Yes, Mean Bug is such a terrible pilot she can't hit a mech that is one hex away. With the shields down on the cybrid, Mean Bug fires 4 volleys of 50mm autocannon, hitting with 1, and 2 volleys of missiles, hitting with both. The cerebrus is in bad condition. Using the last of her energy, Mean Bug moves to the slightly lower hexes to the right and crouches, hoping for cover from the over cybrids. Since the Cerebrus' shields are down, Flayl opens fire with his 30mm chainguns, killing it in a single hit after missing twice.

Next turn and the cybrids head north towards Stoner, instead of towards our main force. Since Stoner was almost killed in a single round of combat against a single Parasite, I order him to take off running. Flayl charges at the cybrids and opens fire on the Parasite, hitting it with two lasers and not knocking the shields down. Since it was successful last turn, Mean Bug gets the order to run up and assist Flayl in knocking the shields down. Amazingly enough Mean Bug hits with both lasers and knocks the shields down, which Flayl then takes advantage of by shredding it with his chainguns. Time to put that theory about projectile weapons being able to overpower shields to the test. Flayl finishes his last chaingun shots for the turn at the Arachnus, and Never moves into close range. If 4 120mm autocannons and two more 30mm chainguns can't shred this, nothing will. Unfortunately, they don't. But it does do a not insignificant amount of damage to it, and hopefully puts the durable Segundon't in the cybrid's sights instead of the more fragile Mean Bug or Flayl.

Next turn, and that's exactly what happened. The Arachnus ran away and fired everything it could at Never, whose shields were barely scratched. Time to finish this in a suitably silly manner, and Never runs ahead of the Arachnus (Even though the Segundon't is a fairly slow mech, since he has no energy weapons, ALL that energy is put towards movement, whereas the Arachnus burnt up energy by firing AND moving) and unloads into the weakest part of the shields with the expected result.

Currently sitting at 75,400 credits and unable to buy any more mechs or pilots without selling some first, so I'll leave it at that for now and stockpile funds for the next promotion.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Picked this up off the seven seas, it's a frickin awesome game. Having a lot of trouble with the first big mission though, little fuckers seem to spawn endlessly and they one shot my biggest mechs out of nowhere.

 

[Rabidredneck]

I played te hell out of the Earthsiege games, never got a chance to play this. I shall watch with interest.

 

[mondblut]

The sequal, corporate wars, looks a lot cleaner in combat. Don't know about gameplay differences I only ever played the demo.

In the sequel you're limited to 6 hercs in battle (one fraction up to 8), and it has an option for realtime combat. Thankfully, turn-based mode didn't suffer from that.

I think it also had proper research, but am not too sure.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

It had some nice additions, but I always preferred the first one. Similar to Deadlock 1 and 2, I always liked Deadlock 1 much more even though 2 had some decent additions. Been so long since I played the sequels I don't really remember what I liked about the first better, just that I always did.

 

[karnot]

Its too bad that this is the best that USians could do with the genre. Cant compete with Japanese on the subject of giant robots. Its a good game, but only keeps one interested for so long. I gave up after beating second "system".

What we need is something with mechanics and visual appeal of Front Mission - but with randomly generated scenarios !

 

[Damned Registrations]

What? This kicks the crap out of front mission. All that had going for it over this was the pilot skills and a few melee weapons/shields. The mech building was very simple by comparison.

 

[karnot]

The mech building was very simple by comparison.

Are you referring specifically to the first front mission ?
Even if you do, Front Mission in general has less mech parts, but the choice of parts mattered way more than in Cyberstorm. See different kinds of motivators, for example.
In Cyberstorm your mech basically have a number of parameters, and for each parameter there is a piece of equipment to raise it, therefore each single piece matters very little, if at all, but you still have to buy all of them. Doesnt sound like an especially good design desicion to me.

From this huge number of parts arise the damage system, which is, again, rather clunky, with each and every part capable to be damaged, but every part matters little, where in Fron Mission damage system is quite elegant, i would say, and makes more sense & impact.

If Cyberstorm had something good i would say its 1,5 design ideas, specifically :
- specialised weapons for shields and armour, thats a very decent feature, and i dont believe i saw that in any other TBS ever.
- the way the game traces firing obstacles. However its not fully developed. Ideally, if it traces the general shape of the obstacle anyway - if you hit you should only damage the parts that you could see, but instead it only acts as a chance-to-hit modifier. Then again, its a sprite game, so it would be impossible anyway.

Other than that (and randomly generated missions, of course) Front Missions are head and shoulders above Cyberstorm.

 

[buccaroobonzai]

Just bought this game.
DO you guys recommend Titans of Steel Warring Suns?

And Front Mission 3 is the best of those right?

 

[Haba]

Front Mission Evolved is the latest in the company's long-running mech-centric military franchise. It sounds like it eschews the meticulous strategy and customization of the series for more straightforward third-person shooter gameplay. --Evolved features a single-player campaign and online multiplayer. It will probably alienate die-hard fans upset they don't have to keep track of ten different kinds of stats for each individual component of their robot's arms any more.

Aww damn. Once it finally comes for PC, they do that...

Do other Front Mission games run on emulators? I'd like to give it a go, but don't plan on buying a console for it.

Also: ToS is hard core. Had my share of Mechforce on Amiga though, so can't stomach another round quite yet.

 

[Damned Registrations]

The mech building was very simple by comparison.

Are you referring specifically to the first front mission ?
Even if you do, Front Mission in general has less mech parts, but the choice of parts mattered way more than in Cyberstorm. See different kinds of motivators, for example.
In Cyberstorm your mech basically have a number of parameters, and for each parameter there is a piece of equipment to raise it, therefore each single piece matters very little, if at all, but you still have to buy all of them. Doesnt sound like an especially good design desicion to me.

From this huge number of parts arise the damage system, which is, again, rather clunky, with each and every part capable to be damaged, but every part matters little, where in Fron Mission damage system is quite elegant, i would say, and makes more sense & impact.

If Cyberstorm had something good i would say its 1,5 design ideas, specifically :
- specialised weapons for shields and armour, thats a very decent feature, and i dont believe i saw that in any other TBS ever.
- the way the game traces firing obstacles. However its not fully developed. Ideally, if it traces the general shape of the obstacle anyway - if you hit you should only damage the parts that you could see, but instead it only acts as a chance-to-hit modifier. Then again, its a sprite game, so it would be impossible anyway.

Other than that (and randomly generated missions, of course) Front Missions are head and shoulders above Cyberstorm.

You got this backwards. In Cyberstorm all the parts use energy and add weight, so everything has an effect on mobility and energy available for weaponsfire. The weapons also aren't just linear upgrades. The Auto ELF for example, does less total damage than the heavy ELF, but uses less energy to fire. Weapons also have a wide variety of ranges. In FM3, you only have the basic types, and the only stats that vary in them are damage and accuracy. Shotguns always have a range of 2. (Or 3, I forget) Rifles always fire a single heavy shot at long (7 I think?) range. The only really important stats in FM3 are the movement stats on the legs, and the power stat on the torso. Arms are always just a tradeoff for either HP or accuracy vs their wgt. Your AP are determined by the pilot rather than the mech anyways, so basically there are two (useful) archetypes: Heavy as fuck fast close range mechs, and frail, slow moving heavy as fuck long range mechs. There's no real point in mixing lightweight parts and heavy parts in the body because you're only as strong as the weakest part anyways. Once your legs or arms get blown off you're scrap.

I like FM3 a lot, but thats because it had some jackass hard fights and watching one of my pilots hulk out and punch some poor bastard 3 or 4 (or 6) times and completely destroy him in a single round was great. Plus, the pilots are freaking demigods that can take mech sized sniper rounds to the chest without dying, and incapacitate 30 foot tall mechs with a few well aimed pistol shots.

 

[Trash]

Wasn't the sequel to cyberstorm severely dumbed down in comparison to this?

 

[karnot]

DO you guys recommend Titans of Steel Warring Suns?

Depends. Its definitely not a game for single player. If you have friends that are willing to spend several hours to learn the rules (yes, its not quite accessible) then give it a try. I mean, its free and all.

And Front Mission 3 is the best of those right?

5 is somewhat better than 3, i guess.

Wasn't the sequel to cyberstorm severely dumbed down in comparison to this?

Not really. Although i liked fighting evil robots much better, but thats about it. Its not dumbed down, its just ...bland-ified, i could say.

In Cyberstorm all the parts use energy and add weight, so everything has an effect on mobility and energy available for weaponsfire.

Yeah, but like i said, individual effect is minimal.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Since I'm still at the mech and pilot cap for my rank, I hold off on making any new purchases except for upgrading the upper-arm SE400 lasers on Flaylin' to SE1000 lasers. The last battle showed that the squad is still entirely too weak on lasers, so this should help improve matters quite a bit. I can't upgrade his lower arm laser weapons as they can't support much beyond light energy weapons.

Another mining mission. A surprisingly fast 1 month length and a pretty decent 21,000 credit bonus. Tirith, the same moon as our last mining mission. The low gravity should make it relatively fast again.

The dropship landed inbetween two large ore fields, but again we're going to try to kill the cybrids to automine all of the ore. Mean Bug and Stoner spend the first turn scouting the map and don't find anything.

During the cybrid turn a Parasite and an Arachnus come out of the southeast and open fire on Never and the dropship. Never's shields barely feel anything, but the dropship loses shields briefly. Fortunately, this means the cybrids are right near our heavy mechs. Flayl moves behind the Arachnus to hit the weakest shields (Love that low gravity movement bonus) and knocks its shields out with his two SE400 lasers and critically wounds it with his chainguns. Never moves into position and finishes it off with a single chaingun burst. Things are looking quite good, though unfortunately Never isn't positioned in a way to fire at the same section of shields as Flayl. Flayl nonetheless fires his two new SE1000 lasers at the Parasite while Never wounds it by firing the rest of his chainguns and autocannons into it. The Parasite fires a few lasers during the next round, and Never and Flayl easily finish it.

Still no promotion. My talents are wasted here I tell you. WASTED. I decide to replace Stoner's Shadow chassis mech with a Sensei chassis mech. Serves the same basic function of a light scout mech, but more durable and slower. Should be able to provide a bit of fire during combat without fear of getting instantly killed. A picture of the older, Shadow chassis. It is sold, complete, for a mere 6,200 credits.

The new Sensei gets an upgraded FlexiveR2 drive, Scout 41.1 sensor, two SE400 lasers, two 20mm light autocannons, and two missile SP launchers. A bit clunky and weak, but it will only improve as we get access to better technology. Finally, it is christened Cowardshell. Hopefully Stoner won't make too much of a mess of it before he dies.

Time for some action and not just mining. We're headed to Beran again, this time with the intent to kill some cybrids. Roughly Earth gravity and atmosphere on this world.

As usual, the strategy will be "Sit everyone at the dropship and send the scout out". Especially on a combat mission like this, the cybrids should make attacking us a priority, so we don't have to run around to find them. Sure enough, during the cybrid phase of round 1, a Specter and Arachnus appear on the south. Mean Bug, Flayl, and Never move towards the south end of the dropship to meet the cybrids while Stoner attempts to sneak around them from the west. As he moves forward he spots another Specter that was out of sight. Unfortunately the Specters also have good sensors like Stoner, so he was most likely spotted.

Well shit. Not only did they see him, they decided to concentrate fire on him. He survives the round of combat, but his sensors and one laser arm are completely destroyed, and with a crippled leg, he won't be able to run far.In an attempt to get the best performance out of him as I can, I decide to apply Jackup to Stoner, a stimulant that boosts his skills, increases his toxins, and reduces stability. I jack Stoner until he starts to become unstable and manage to squeeze a bit more piloting skill out of him, though he's not looking too healthy. Fortunately, all that jacking gave him enough piloting skill to get more out of his mech, and he hobbles behind a ridge and crouches for cover. For the hell of it he fires his weapons at the Arachnus, doing light damage. Flayl runs southward and destroys the Arachnus by himself, taking out its shields with his SE1000s and both chainguns. He fires both his SE400s at the one Specter he can see and misses. Finally, Never runs forward and empies his guns into the Specter which takes damage, but since it is fulled shielded, survives.

Oh god, there are 7 Specters, and all of them unloaded into Never. Apparently crouching in the ditch saved Stoner since they completely ignored him, instead managing to knock down Never's shields and give him a pounding. I jack Never to 97 cannon skill in the hopes that he will be able to survive this. Flayl runs into a cluster of 4 Specters, kills one, knocks the shields out on the Never-side of another, and lightly wounds the last. Never easily finishes the shieldless one with a few bursts of chaingun and an autocannon shot. Time for Mean Bug to be useful. Using the power of being a light mech, Mean Bug runs into the Never-side shields of the last Specter in the cluster of 3 and... Fails to knock the shields down. Unfortunately, even with the assistance of 3 mechs, the Specter is still alive. Never crouches and prays to his heathen test-tube clone pilot gods.

The gods did not approve.

Mean Bug and Flayl both take a relatively light beating during the round, with Mean Bug barely surviving due to being a wimp. Realizing that things aren't going my way, I order everyone to get to da choppa. Flayl and Mean Bug are able to get inside the dropship. Stoner on the otherhand, isn't so lucky. With a crippled leg, he's still far away.

Unfortunately the Specters surround the dropship and start pounding it with gunfire. Stoner is a lost cause.

 

[DiverNB]

MOAR!

 

[puke]

any idea what the differences in difficulty settings do? i hear there was a patch that improved the AI designs a bit and changed how the "elite" missions are setup. are you using that?

forgot how fun this game is... lost a few more hours of my life thanks to this.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Actually I hadn't even thought to look for a patch until you mentioned it, but now I'll load up 1.1. Also can't remember what the different difficulty levels do. If getting my ass kicked in the last update wasn't enough indication, it's been so many years since I've played this I've forgotten a lot about it.

And if you want the 1.1 patch, found it over here. http://dlh.net/cgi-bin/dlp.cgi?lang=eng ... zip&ref=ps

Addendum: Just looked at the patch notes, and it DOES rebalance some of the "End" missions and tweak/improve the AI for opportunity fire. Other random bug fixes and minor rebalances, but those look to be the biggies. Thanks for mentioning the patch!