I replied to a thread about Freelancer in comp.sys.ibm-pc.space-sim about how awful Freelancer was. In fact, most everyone was growling about the game.. Then along came this guy, and here's my reply:
Anyone who thinks freighters are combat capable in Freelancer need to play passed the Liberty system. It goes downhill for freighters after that.
- Subject: Re: Freelancer... totally underwhelming
From: "Saint_Proverbius" <proverbius@rpgcodex.com>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.space-sim
Sherlog <sherlog@t-online.de> wrote in
news:3f54f082$2c14c3ea@meow-labs.de:
> You don't have to fly a single random mission, ever, unless you want
> to. If you want to play the single player campaign then you have to
> fly the story missions but that's it. Of course, in the end there is
> nothing you can do with all your cash except buy the fighter &
> equipment of your choice and then go pick some fights with battleship
> fleets or other players.
You're missing the point here. Not flying the random combat missions
doesn't justify not having trading missions. The whole point is that
there's a lack of those kinds of missions, not whether or not the random
combat ones are optional.
> I agree that the random missions should have been more varied -
> Privateer was much better in that regard - but if you find them
> _boring_ you are using the wrong ship or taking the wrong missions.
Please tell me where I can find the trading/shipping/courier missions in
Freelancer. :\
> You don't have to fight unless you want to. Destroying one of the
> depots in the New York system will neutralize all baddies in Liberty
> space;
Which I would contend is combat. Breaking stuff and killing things, after
all.
> add a well-chosen bribe and you'll have neutralized almost all
> factions.
In the mean time, you still get a bahzillion piraty types trying to kill
you while you make the money to buy them off. Not to mention when you bribe
a bunch of pirates, you're also going to have to bribe some of the "good
guys" as well, because that'll sink your reputation with them in order to
gain a better rep with the "bad guys". If they're neutral towards you,
that'll sink your rep pretty quickly.
>> [...] Ever tried playing the single player with a freighter?
>
> Good idea - more people should try that. The freighters have more raw
> firepower than even the heavy fighters and they can fry most enemies
> in mere seconds just with guns. During the early campaign the
> freighters (especially the Mule and the Dromedary) are much more
> powerful than the fighters, albeit a tad more difficult to use in
> combat.
You're joking, right? A freighter has more firepower than a heavy fighter?
A humpback, the best freighter in the game, only has class 6 turrets max
and class 7 normal guns. It can only have 2 guns and 6 turrets. Now, the
Falcon class heavy fighter, which isn't even the *best* heavy fighter can
have five class 8 guns and one turret. Those two extra weapons certainly
don't make up for the difference in power of the class six versus class
eight weapons, and the manuvuering ability of the humpback makes it easy
pickings for heavy fighters.
Hell, the Falcon heavy fighter even has 6200 armor versus the Humpback
freighter's 5800, and the Falcon heavy fighter can have class 8 shields
versus the humpback's class 7 shield maximum. Even though the frieghter
shield generators pump out more shields per class than the heavy fighter
ones, that class difference still ups the ante here.
> Of course, the lack of torpedos and the poor manoeuvrability mean that
> the freighters are not the first choice for general combat,
No, but the fact heavy fighters have torpedoes means that freighters blows
your claim of firepower out the window, doesn't it? Oh, and torpedoes also
work well on freighters, but move too slow to work well on heavy fighters.
Thanks for proving my point.
> but you
> don't have to kill any battleships or cruisers during the campaign
> unless you want to and the freighters are certainly adequate for
> taking out small fry like fighters quickly and efficiently.
You'll never survive the fighter waves from those cruisers and battleships.
You can't run. You can't maneuver. You're a sitting duck for them. And
that's not even counting the cruisers, gunships, etc. that also go hand in
hand with those missions.
> Also,
> flying a freighter means that you have plenty of cash so that you can
> afford even the most expensive weapons/ammo, and in a freighter you
> can carry home much more loot (esp. H-fuel from gunboats or depots).
Which is a moot point when even the lowly Mollies can splash you in the
best freighter before you can even get to a tradelane.
> One of the fastest way of getting rich during the Liberty phase of the
> campaign - where you cannot access any of the really lucrative trade
> routes - is using a freighter for preying on pirate convoys at
> jumpholes, preferrably not too far from a base where the loot fetches
> a good price.
The Liberty system is about the only system where a freighter is viable, I
agree. That's because it's faily agile, and nothing around you can do much
damage to you, allowing you to take out small packs of pirates or running
when the heat's on. However, that changes quite a bit once you get to
Bretonia.
> The race with Dexter Hovis is a bit trickier in a freighter than in a
> fighter, but if you can do it in a heavy fighter like the Crusader
> then the freighters should be no problem. I did it with the Dromedary
> in the first try (this was not the first time through the campaign,
> though).
The Crusader is faster and turns a lot better than that big beetle. I'd
have to see you beat that race in a Drom to believe it, and even then I'd
think you messed with the scripting to do it.
> Gee. If you want to cross a puddle without getting wet feet then
> either wear rubber boots (i.e. equip good shield & weapons) or drain
> the puddle (make sure the major criminal factions are not hostile -
> there are only two that really matter). A good trader earns more than
> a million per hour, so what's a couple hundred grand for bribes? And
> neutralizing almost all criminal factions by smashing depots takes
> less than a minute, if you are so inclined.
We're not talking about a puddle here, we're talking a tsunami. There's
pirates at most every jump in that game, everywhere. Zillions of them.
Once again, your earning potential is severely limited by the fact that
freighters are completely and utterly outclassed by fighters, especially
when those pirates travel in packs of 3-5.
> Also, if you trade in civilized areas with good tradelane connections
> then you can simply ignore the baddies because you can always get away
> before they even beat down your shield. This is different if you face
> human pirates but in MP you can hire human wingmen or make a convoy
> with a couple of other traders.
This is hardly the case since there aren't very many decent routes which
don't have systems with gobs of pirates in them somewhere. Even New
Manhatten has pirates in it occationally, and there's always the ever
present fun of tradelane disruption.
> Note: it is not recommended to buy bribes during the singleplayer
> campaign - the story will play havoc with your reputation sheet.
Which is another one of my big criticisms. It's hard to claim you're free
to choose what you want to be when the story chooses for you who is pissed
off at you and who isn't.
Anyone who thinks freighters are combat capable in Freelancer need to play passed the Liberty system. It goes downhill for freighters after that.
