Part 45: Wild Weasel, Sol System, Sol Sector (Story)
^^^ It is good to see that people bother to read my updates (last line of the previous one).Speaking of which:
30th December 2668, Sol System, Sol Sector
Episode 5, Mission 2 - Wild Weasel
The Concordia and the Firekka launches an all-out strike on the forward elements of the Kilrathi fleet, in order to clear the way for an apparently-insane attack which we haven't yet been told the details of.
Pre-mission cutscenes:
Popsicle panics. Trigger is sarcastic, and more or less shows how he should have been written throughout the game as it's starting to wind up. Episode 5 is generally just better at stuff than the rest of Standoff, with the exception of the upcoming mission which is a bit too large (though I can see why they wanted to do it, if they're going to do a mission like that it has to be large and easy, because large and hard roughly equates to impossible).
Cutscene Video (YouTube)
: Well Bill, looks like we're really in for it now, huh?
: Mon dieu, this ain't happening. The cats can't have this many ships!
: That's right, Popsicle. They're just a figment of your imagination. : No, no, look, this is just too much! Have you seen the vids of them jumping in?
: Ben, could you do me a favour?: Errr, what?: Cool it. There'll be plenty of time for panic after we kick the cats out of Sol. : Aaaah, and if we don't?: Then there won't be anyone *left* to panic. : Oh. 
Two e-mails this time. Squealer is worried about a) surviving and b) what'll happen to him if he does.
IES Message - Received at 1616 hours GST on 2668.365 posted:
From: 1st Lt. Jason Beverly (TCSF, TCS Firekka)
To: Capt. William Bradshaw (TCSF, TCS Firekka)
Subject: Shit...
So, I figure this may be the last chance I get to talk to you, Captain. Well, maybe I'll make it, but... you know, I got a bad feeling about this. I mean, all that pirate bullshit... I guess if I bought it right now, it'd have to be karma. Or something.
Listen, I'm really sorry about Capella - nobody ain't got no reason to believe me, I know... but really, I am. I don't know what's gonna happen to me if we actually do make it, and you know what? At this stage, I figure going back to jail wouldn't be too bad.
Course, maybe it just seems like a nice option, when death is the alternative. Still, I do have a bit to answer for, and I get the feeling, it'll never truly be behind me unless I do pay for it, you know?
Ah, what the hell, it's not like any of us will survive this anyway...
Squealer
As an aside, our redshirts are now actually capable of dying. Before Episode 5, they always ejected. The reason for this is that the Standoff team couldn't get the script that automatically assigns redshirt wingmen to work, so every wingman was manually assigned - and hence they were all immortal until the final mission each one appears in, during which they can die.
Then there's the flight deck update, and the Chief hates us a bit less now:
IES Message - Received at 1620 hours GST on 2668.365 posted:
From: Chief Petty Officer Jean Henderson (TCN, TCS Firekka)
To: Capt. William Bradshaw (TCSF, TCS Firekka)
Subject: Latest flight deck status
Hey, Captain B.
Glad to see you worked things out with Cougar. You still ain't off the hook with me... but I suppose I'll let it slide, at least until we know if we're gonna live through all this.
Here's the latest data about the ships you've got available.
Rapiers: 26
Sabres: 18
Crossbows: 6
Stilettos: 2
Gladii: 11
Jean
As an aside, this is ludicrous. The Firekka is an escort carrier. In End Run, Jason Bondarevsky, the TCS Tarawa's wing commander, notes that his fighters are jammed in like sardines with just three squadrons of fighters there, one of which are Ferrets which are tiny. If 36 was a tight squeeze, how the hell is the deck officer managing to cram 63 fighters - pretty much a full wing - onto the Firekka?
Oh, and I was going to say something about this earlier:
Psion posted:
Also, I know it's a case of game balance, i.e. providing "boss" encounters (superfighters) but it's pretty ridiculous. In-universe, the entire Confed survival is "tech and pilot edge vs. many enemies who are almost as good," and then the Kilrathi routinely deploy superfighters superior to any Confed ship. I mean you had the Hhriss, which was unreal in WC1, then the Gothris, Thrakhath's Bloodfang in WC2, this thing...
I never rated the Hhriss as highly as most people did. Sure it took a long time to kill, but it was never that dangerous. It's thoroughly outclassed by the Rapier II and Sabre in Standoff, which at least theoretically uses all the same stats as in WC1/WC2, and the Rapier is only a slighty newer spaceframe. The Hhriss's edge over the Raptor was just different development cycles.
The Gothri isn't a superfighter at all. It's strictly inferior to the Sabre (identical in almost all areas except thinner armour and 10 degrees/second slower yaw/pitch/roll), just a hell of a lot better than the Jalkehi.
The Bloodfang is an interesting case. CIC's encyclopaedia says that the Kilrathi don't actually have the capability to mass-produce Bloodfangs, it's a special craft they made at ridiculous expense for Thrakhath, because he's the heir to the throne and deserves a special fighter. The Confederation, not being a feudal society and understanding this, saw the Bloodfang for the first time and panicked, which is where the design document for a certain fighter that has a name which could be considered the logical conclusion to the WC2 naming scheme came from. I have no idea where they get that from but since they know much more about WC than I do I'm willing to go along with that.
As for the Vatari, well, the Standoff team invented its capabilities from whole cloth because they wanted a superfighter, presumably. There's no actual evidence in Fleet Action to support it being this good (or any other level of good).
And Crossbow wins the vote 4-3-1, now I've noticed that slightlyloony voted for it but didn't bold his vote so I missed it the first time around. If I can figure out how the hell to survive in it, the Crossbow may be the best option for this mission, but that's a pretty big if.