X-Wing (1993)

[EruDaan]

Heh, there is a mission in TIE Fighter where you attack an pirate base, identify every part of it and then wait for 10+ minutes for a group of Tugs to make their way from your home Star Destroyer to the base and then bring parts of it back to the SD. But overall downtimes have been reduced a lot between these two games.

 

[LarryTyphoid]

This mission took me like 20 tries to beat, and that's with each attempt being like 15 minutes of pain. The AI allies are way too useless. I was relying on the Y-Wings to take out the Star Destroyer after I knocked out its shields, but they drop like flies. Look, 22 of the fuckers died. I had other PC pilots assigned to the Y-Wings and they all ended up captured. The B-Wings don't do anything to stop the other ships. I accounted for over half the enemy kills and that was just from me frantically flying on the Star Destroyer's outskirts, desperately trying to evade the endless barrage of homing torpedoes the TIE Bombers sent at me (as far as I can tell, you can't shoot down torpedoes in X-Wing, only try to outmaneuver them, which is easier said than done).

 

[Nathaniel3W]

I am almost certain you can shoot down torpedoes. I'm pretty sure there's a mission where the only way to win is to shoot the torpedoes heading for the ship you're escorting. I don't remember torpedoes being especially effective against fighters because fighters are so much more maneuverable than torpedoes.

That does seem like a LOT of allied casualties. Did you have to use an X-Wing for this mission? My technique for every Star Destroyer mission was two torpedoes to each shield generator, then immediately switch to ion cannons. You can disable the Star Destroyer much faster than you can destroy it. And without its lasers, it's a sitting duck.

 

[Riel]

Torpedos can be very useful at destroying enemy fighters, a single torpedo can sometimes destroy or damage several tie bombers that are making a bomb run for example. Of course trying to hit anything that is in a dogfight with a torpedo is a very different thing.

 

[Nikanuur]

I am almost certain you can shoot down torpedoes. I'm pretty sure there's a mission where the only way to win is to shoot the torpedoes heading for the ship you're escorting. I don't remember torpedoes being especially effective against fighters because fighters are so much more maneuverable than torpedoes.

That does seem like a LOT of allied casualties. Did you have to use an X-Wing for this mission? My technique for every Star Destroyer mission was two torpedoes to each shield generator, then immediately switch to ion cannons. You can disable the Star Destroyer much faster than you can destroy it. And without its lasers, it's a sitting duck.

Your memory doesn't fail you. It is 100% possible to shoot down torpedoes. Actually, in some missions the players are required to do just that to protect larger vessels or else their mission fails.

 

[LarryTyphoid]

Did you have to use an X-Wing for this mission? My technique for every Star Destroyer mission was two torpedoes to each shield generator, then immediately switch to ion cannons.

I got the generators with three torpedoes each, then took some potshots at the Destroyer while trying to evade all the Interceptors and Bombers. I did have to use an X-Wing so I didn't have ions, but I'll remember that for when I get a Y-Wing mission.

It is 100% possible to shoot down torpedoes.

Damn, that makes things easier. Dodging those things in an A-Wing is an ass clencher.

Actually, in some missions the players are required to do just that to protect larger vessels or else their mission fails.

I haven't had to do that yet. I usually just zero in on the Bombers before they have the opportunity to fire.

 

[Rincewind]

Yeah, probably not I'm not much of an action gamer, but I found TIE Fighter more frustrating than fun from about 50-60% onwards. I never actually finished it, kinda ran out of steam. It almost felt more like a puzzle game, you had to fail every missing a few times until you learned the patterns, and even then it was a hit'n'miss affair become of some random events.

 

[deuxhero]

Reminder that the later EU establishes that mission "Protect Medical Frigate" gets used as the basis for a hellishly difficult training scenario.

Spoiler

The preferred tactic there is to ignore the fighters and kill the bombers, since the fighters aren't really a threat to the escortee

 

[LarryTyphoid]

Reminder that the later EU establishes that mission "Protect Medical Frigate" gets used as the basis for a hellishly difficult terrain scenario.

Yeah, the Redemption mission seems to have been a filter for a lot of people and got a fearsome reputation as a result, despite only being a Tour 1 mission, and a pretty easy one compared to the bullshit that comes at you in later tours.

 

[LarryTyphoid]

Just beat the Death Star trench run mission. Very cool and fun, definitely a lot better than the sad attempt of a trench run seen in Wing Commander 3's final mission.

 

[Nathaniel3W]

Did you play the trench run with Death Star greebles set to max? Or did you turn it way down? Minimal junk makes the trench a lot more like the movies, and a lot easier to navigate. Maximum junk makes the mission a lot more challenging, and it looks nothing like the movie.

 

[LarryTyphoid]

Did you play the trench run with Death Star greebles set to max? Or did you turn it way down? Minimal junk makes the trench a lot more like the movies, and a lot easier to navigate. Maximum junk makes the mission a lot more challenging, and it looks nothing like the movie.

I didn't touch any of the settings, but the Death Star detail level is set to max by default. There was a bunch of scaffolding and construction-looking stuff in the trench that I don't remember seeing in the movie, but it was fun flying around them.

 

[LarryTyphoid]

Tour 4 is just non-stop escort missions so far. Pretty lame after the cool Death Star missions at the end of Tour 3. They should've just skipped this part of the story and gone straight to the B-Wing stuff.

 

[Nathaniel3W]

Is that the tour where you're building up to an attack on a star destroyer repair yard? I remember liking the B-Wing. That might have been my favorite fighter.

 

[LarryTyphoid]

Is that the tour where you're building up to an attack on a star destroyer repair yard?

I hear it's the one about grain, for some reason. I don't know how it'll end since I'm only on the 5th mission. And there's 20 of them, so it's longer than any of the tours in the original game.

The B-Wing is cool - there's a simulator mission where you do the Death Star trench run piloting a B-Wing. The main game really would've been helped by having more than 3 ships to pilot.

 

[Nathaniel3W]

I just Googled the mission I was thinking of. The mission I was thinking of is in the expansion Imperial Pursuit. Did you play that yet?

 

[LarryTyphoid]

I just Googled the mission I was thinking of. The mission I was thinking of is in the expansion Imperial Pursuit. Did you play that yet?

Yeah, Tour 4 is the Imperial Pursuit expansion. I haven't gotten to that mission yet, though.

 

[LarryTyphoid]

>mission forces you to wait 7 actual minutes doing literally nothing
>sends waves of gunboats after the waiting period that rape you with torpedoes and kill you instantly
>to try again you have to do the 10 minute mission + the 7 minutes of waiting every time
lol. Fuck this game. If I wanted to sit around doing nothing but staring outside my window and using my imagination then I'd go idle in my car.

 

[Endemic]

This is why time compression was introduced in TIE Fighter.

Unnecessary waiting times were a problem in custom missions too, unfortunately.

 

[OndrejSc]

You have to roleplay. Be thankful for 7 minutes of peace.