[Let's Play] Star Fleet Command Volume 2 - Empires At War

[JonB]

Hello, my name is JonB, and it was required of suggested to me that I post a link to my LP of SFC2 to this board.

Let's Play Star Fleet Command Volume 2 - ISC Pacification Campaign

I started playing this in August for the LP, although I didn't really begin until December. I finished up the first Campaign - the ISC Pacification Campaign last month, and have since been resting up and prepping for the next campaign, that of one of the other Alpha Octant powers against the ISC, a reversal of the one I have already played.

Therefore, I would like to ask your opinions as to which race/Empire I shoudl play next. This question has also been asked on the SFB BBS, as well as the Dynaverse.net forums. So far the votes stand at 1 each for the Federation, Klingons and Romulans.

Once I have a clear winner, I will start recording a new LP for that Empire, and post it to this forum as well as the two mentioned previous.

Thank you for your attention, and I hope this entertains you.

[Stark]

No. Don't do it.

Don't you remember the horrifically bad campaign map, where it would ACTUALLY be faster to use the paper version?

Save yourself from LUL MISSILE SPAMZ.

[JonB]

Thank you for your concern, but you're a little too late. I have already finished one campaign. And I have the 2.0.3.6 third party patch. The one that actually makes it playable, and winnable.

Besides, I've been playing SFB for over 10 years. SFC is a fun little romp in contrast. And isn't one of the quotes for LP from Something Positive; "We play games so that you don't have to"? I'm playing it, come hell and high water, if only so the rest of you can see it done. And shudder/applaud/send me to the asylum/hire hitmen.

At least it's not SFC3. Now that's a pos.

edit for spelling. durr.

[Starglider]

I enjoyed the first two SFC games a great deal; the more gaming-oriented members of the local sci-fi society used to spend many hours playing deathmatches of it when I was a student. However I think it would make for a rather boring Let's Play. I don't know if you saw the Star Wars : Empire at War LP I was doing (currently on hold), but even that was suffering from repetitive battle syndrome, despite having both space and ground battles, and a lot of variety in scenery and units. Battles in SFC all look and play very similar, there's no 'cinematic mode' for interesting screencaps, and for the most part you only have one ship (maybe two or three later in the game) and don't buy new ones very often, so you can't really name them after board members. Your earlier LP was a video one, which is even worse for than a screenshot one for bordem (have to sit through how much identical video of ship flying around a hexmap?). The narration in these things is almost always annoying, but frankly yours is even worse than usual, and I highly doubt you can add any sort of plot that way.

[JonB]

Fair enough. Anything positive to add? I know full well that was my first LP, so I was bound to suck, but I am making pains to try and improve myself. For starters, I'll start by compacting the 'rote' missions, where nothing really unique happens, and fill in the gaps with ship information, history and the like.

[Starglider]

For starters, I'll start by compacting the 'rote' missions, where nothing really unique happens

The basic problem is that you could summarise most SFC missions with five screenshots and three paragraphs, taking about 30 seconds to read, as opposed to a four minute Youtube video with grating narration. The original plot in the games is very minimalist.

and fill in the gaps with ship information, history and the like.

As I recall the first SFC game did have some cute ship descriptions in the manual, not sure if they kept that in the second one, but again it'd be far better to just paste the two paragraphs plus screenshot into a post, rather than listen to you reading it out.

[JonB]

I will take your suggestion under review. My major concern about that is that I started this LP on the Star Fleet Battles BBS, I couldn't do inline graphics there, only links to pictures.

[JonB]

I know I've been quiet as of late - but I've decided on the next Campaigns. Well, actually, two of them.

Just for you, Starglider, I will persue a Screencap LP of the Federation Camapign. Taking a cue from the X-COM LP, I will be working at giving depth and characterization to the crew. Thanks to your opinions in the matter, you get to have first pick of your position on the crew.

On the Dynaverse.net forum and SFB bbs , I will be running the Klingon Campaign in video LP format. Due to running two concurrent games with different technical prep-work, things will be slow for the first bit, until I get into the grind of things.

[Johonebesus]

After trying to watch a couple, I have a couple of suggestions.

I would skip the mission selection and just start with the actual game play. The game should be run at a faster speed to make it more exciting, at least 9. You could switch to other camera settings from time to time to get beauty shots. Of course then you might want to download custom ships, since the stock models are so ugly. You might also want to only record plot missions. The skirmishes get old fast.

[JonB]

After trying to watch a couple, I have a couple of suggestions.

(snip suggestions)

All reasonable thoughts, I must admit. As I'm still trying to work around RL issues at the moment to properly put together time for this project, I will certainly keep your ideas in mind. However, as this board will be the host of my screenshot LP, I do intend to cut out the boring parts, and try to show only the interesting things. For my video LP, I'm a sticker for showing all my work, so I will be cutting out 'non combat' moments, and speeding the video's up. But that's for a different board.

And yes, I kick myself for every second I spend with the speed of the game below 9. Later on, I lampshade this, as the audio was recorded afterwards.

[JonB]

Lt. JonB walked the corridors of Star Fleet Command, headed for the simulator. This was it, he reminded himself as he wiped his hands on his pants. His final command examination. Years of training, and shipboard service had all led to this moment.

He stood at the entrance to the Simulator, and looked up at the engraving some ancient cadet has manually engraved into the top of the frame. "Use your tractors, dammit!" The eternal piece of advice, the final reminder to every cadet who entered this room - use everything at your disposal.

Lt. JonB stepped across the threshold and into a perfect facsimmile of the bridge of an FFD+, one of the smallest ships in Star Fleet. Sure, there were the POL classes, but they were police, not Navy. He sat in the center chair, and ran his hands over the armrest. A voice came down from above.

"Hello, Lt. I am Captain Butler, and I will be administering your tests today." JonB noted that there was no one else in the simulator at the moment, and that was quite unusual. While someone like him was taking the Command test, other cadets and junior officers usually filled out the other stations, taking their own tests, or were part of the test.

"Captain Butler, Sir? Where are the other Cadets, if I may ask?"

"Wondering when you would comment." Captain Butler's face came up on the main viewscreen, and JonB came to attention, hopping out of his seat in the process. "At ease." JonB relaxed. "The programmers and engineers were refitting the entire thing late last night, and it seems, we now need someone to help us test out the new modifications. I've already cleared this with your instructors, and your help here will help your marks."

Faced with a no-lose situation, JonB agreed. "So, this means no other cadets?"

Captain Butler shook his head. "Not today Lt. This is strictly a systems test. We'll be running a couple scenarios, to see how they work out on our end. Your tests with actual staff come later."

JonB nodded, understanding. "So, what do I do?"

Captain Butler nodded to someone out of frame, and then turned to JonB. "Take your seat, Lt. We have two scenarios for calibration purposes, and you'll go through both of them before being released." The viewscreen turned off, returning to its blank default state.

JonB sat back down, and waited in the silent room. Slowly, life trickled into the simulator, consolses activated, and sounds emerged. The floor even began to gently vibrate in time to the fictional distant engines.

Captain Butler's face eventually returned. "Alright, JonB. Here is the first scenario. Just give the orders aloud, and the people on my end will take care of it. Your mission is to close to within 100,000km of the planet, and scan it, then leave the scenario area."



Typical of standard scientific missions. "Anything in particular I'm looking for?"

The Captain made a negative gesture. "Nope. Just general information. In and out." JonB nodded, and the scenario began.



The first words out of his mouth were "Red Alert", and JonB was rewarded when the lights on the simulated bridge took a darker hue. On the weapons console, his weapons began to arm themselves, and shields activated. All this took less than half his power, so he ordered his ship to Warp 2.5, and any spare power to reinforce his shields. He also noted that the planet was only 800,000km away, and from there set course straight for it, noting to turn and make a close pass as he got closer.

That's when he noticed something out of his eye.



"Ah, Captain Butler, sir? There's a Space Monster here. Is this part of the scenario?" Normally, he wouldn't ask this, but if he was helping test the system, it seemed prudent.

Captain Butler's voice came over the speakers. "Ah... no. Looks like a randomizer subroutine needs fixing. It's out of position to interfere with your mission anyways, so ignore it."

JonB nodded, and focused his attention back to the planet. With weapons armed, more power was available for other purposes, and he ordered the sensors brought to full power, in preperation for the pass around the planet. Just for kicks, he also ordered an overhead view of the area, with his ship in the middle, and the target planet in the upper-right corner. The errant monster was beyond the scope of the screen, to the lower right.




The rest was quiet. His ship skimmed at 29,700km above the surface of the planet when he was alerted that his ship had the data the scenario needed. He then ordered his ship to turn to the port and make for the edge of the scenario, leaving the planet behind.



The lights came on, and Captain Butler's face appeared on the viewscreen. "Well, that was within parameters. Except for the cosmozoan. But we've isolated that problem. The next one is strictly a combat mission, get in and win. Ready?"

JonB nodded, and the simulation dimmed again.

Instantly, he commanded Red Alert status again. This was serious combat. He noted there was a single Klingon Frigate over 600,000km away, headed in his direction, while the simulation provided him with...

He didn't need the communications gear to hear Captain Butler demand to know how a pair of cruisers - one a Province Class Light Cruiser, and the other the Heavy Drone Cruiser Agincourt. JonB had enough presence of mind to fire a probe at the enemy frigate.



As Butler continnued to yell at his staff, the probe revealed that the enemy was a Klingon E3 class police ship. Not even a full frigate. A pair of disruptors, an anti-drone Kinetic Kill system, as well as a double pair of light defense phasers. JonB pondered just how bad this fight was in his favour, and why Captain Butler was angry. The combat encounter randomizer was supposed to make things interesting, not this stupid. But until the Captain halted the scenario, or he finished it, he would continnue.



But the E3 made the first move, firing its Disruptors at the maximum range for those weapons on that ship, just under 150,000km. They hit, and the weapons were followed up by the phasers - which did minimal damage at that range.



As he was far closer to the E3 than his allied ships, JonB continnued to close, firing his phasers at 50,000km. He also fired off a pair of drones at the enemy ship, but watched as the anti-drone system made short work of them both. He wondered who would run out of ammo first.



At that point, the ally CL+ added 4 of its offensive phasers at mid range, scoring damage through the shield that he had downed with his own phasers. He heard, but didn't see the photons from that ship hit the frigate.





Less than a minute later, Captain Butler's anger was a dull roar as the battle progressed. The firepower brought to bear by the Federation ships were beginning to tell, and the Klingon ship was rapidly being overwhelmed.




Death came to the frigate when eight nuclear tipped warp missles (aka 'drones') slammed into the halpless frigate. 2 came from JonB's simulated ship, while the others came from the Agincourt.

With the scenario over, Captain Butler's face came back onto the viewscreen. "Thank you Lt. Now, get out of here, while I deal with the people responsible for this. See you in a couple days when we have gotten all this sorted out. And we'll try to have some other cadets to assist you."

-----
Well, now that this is getting off the ground, anyone wanna join my intrepid crew on their quest to save the Galaxy? Taking positions for XO, Chief Engineer, Marine Major, Science Officer, and Weapons Officer, at the least.

Please?

[Samuel]

Weapons office.

Lets crack a planet!

[Starglider]

I forgot about those training exercises. Ok the first time, but rather tedious by the time you were on your third or fourth campaign.

Taking positions for Chief Engineer

Sure, if you make my character a Skorr. I think the first SFC game was the only time they were ever referenced outside of TAS.

[JonB]

Welcome aboard, both of you. Would you like to flesh out your characters before I next update (which should be Thursday, all plans working)?

That leaves Executive, Science, Navigation and the Marine Major as available slots. Don't really need a Doctor, but if someone wants that job, it won't have much to do with actual gameplay.

[Lord Relvenous]

Navigator Sharp reporting for duty. (I wouldn't expect you to use my username, it's a little unwieldy )

[Aaron]

I'll snag the Marine Major if you have no objection. A Tellarite sounds good.

[JonB]

I have the next update down to 54 images from 700+. Looking for an XO, Science Officer and possibly a Doctor still. Will post formal update once I have composed it, and tried cutting down the images some more.

[Force Lord]

I'll go for XO. My username might be an issue, so to help you I'll give you a fictional name: Mander Sánchez.

[Questor]

I'll take science.

[JonB]

Thank you all for signing up. Got started on the post earlier tonight, but an RP session got in my way of a finished update. Will try do to have it done tomorrow evening. Any further people can be given positions of less import on the ship. State your prefrence, and I'll see if I can work it in.

[JonB]

Given the ... unpleasentness with imageShack, I present to you all the first part of my next update - one without images. If someone can suggest a replacement (photobucket maybe?) for image hosting, that would be great. Also, for those of you on my crew, here is your chance to develop your character before I make a mess of them.

-----
Lt. JonB re-entered the Simulator a couple days later. He had received the summons from Captain Butler earlier in the day, and he was determined not to be late to the actual test. He entered the bridge simulation, and noted that this time there were actual cadets and junior officers present. He was glad to see a full roster of people for the available seats.

JonB went to the closest person, at the navigation station. "Ensign Sharp." the human introduced himself as he checked and double checked everything. JonB wondered why his eyes were so open like that, and the unshaven beard couldn't be regulation. But then again, it wasn't his job to correct the man, that would be his XO's responsibility.

Next was the gunner, another Human. This one saluted, an action which JonB returned in proper fashion. "Lt. Samuel, sir. Weapons officer. My station looks good. Although I wish we had photons, instead of the drones." JonB let a smile crack on his face. "Don't we all, lieutenant. But Drones tend not to miss their targets half the time." Samuel sighed in agreement, and returned to his duties.

The next stop was the Engineer's station. While still humanoid, the Skorr's wings were folded over, and the uniform properly modified to accomodate the appendages. "Status?" JonB asked of the alien member of Star Fleet. "All systems are operating properly, captain. I also greet you, I am Starglider." JonB nodded, and accepted the report. He also mentally noted that Skorr and Skolea were two different worlds, and he shouldn't mix them up.

The person without an assigned seat, who carried himself with the gusto of exectutive officers everywhere, came up to JonB next. "Greetings Lieutenant. I'm Mander Sánchez, your XO for this scenario. If you had a crew, I'd be in charge of that, but you don't, really, so I'll just be assiting you to the best of my abilities." JonB thanked him, and went to the next officer.

"Ensign Jason Miles," the human spoke up, not giving JonB a chance to introduce himself. "I'm your science and tactical intelligenct officer, so I'll be your eyes and ears on the outside of the ship, so don't hesitate to call on me!" Eager, JonB thought.

Last was a Tellarite dressed not in Navy issue, but rather in the grays of the Marines. "Major Kendell. I'm here to help you guys out." Like most Tellarites, this male was quite imposing, and looking very tense to human aesthetic.

Having checked in with all his current department heads, JonB returned to the center seat he occupied earlier in the week. Once he sat down, Captain Butler's face appeared on the viewscreen. JonB, as well as the other junior officers snapped to attention. "At ease." he said, and the people in the simulator relaxed a little bit. Except Major Kendall, who went to a different kind of tense. "This is the exam for most of you. Simple mission, really. Hunt down a space monster. Now, get to it, captain!" Captain Joeseph Butler's face vansished from the screen, replacing it with a starfield.

"Red Alert." JonB commanded.

[Aaron]

Dude, It's Kendall. No second "e".

[Starglider]

Photobucket is pretty good, IMHO, they've been adding features constantly over the last couple of years. I expect ImageShack will have that hack cleared up promptly though.

My character would probably be the opposite of Scotty, in a sense; keen on automating everything that can be automated, and only reluctantly admitting that for now, a flesh and blood engineering crew is more effective.

[Force Lord]

I would be the quiet one, someone who keeps things close to his chest, and who plays things closer by the book. As this LP progresses I will tell you more about my character's personality details.

[JonB]

The simulator darkened, and each of his bridge officers took to their posts. Major Kendall relaxed slightly as rare was the monster that required his unique services. At this point, he would be ordering his marines to assist in damage controll efforts, but while that wouldn't be necessary, he made a point of doing it anyways.

Ensign Sharp spoke up first. "Sir, Unknown Cosmozoan, bearing zero-one-zero mark zero. Range, 970 kilo-klicks." On the viewscreen, the image shifted to show a 3D model of his ship, with the distant monster. It looked crystalline at this distance, but as they got closer, the image and their information would improve. "It's accellerating past Warp 1.38, no upper speed yet detected."



"Thank you Ensign. Sánchez, find out who those other two ships are, and who they are commanded by." JonB noted the presense of the the other two ships on the edge of his screen. One was identified by the computer as a New Aegis Cruiser, and the other a Battle Frigate. "Guns. Make sure the drones are warm, but don't start a scatter pack yet. Ensign Miles! If you find out that the creature doesn't have a close in defense system, alert Samuel, so he can prep the shuttle."

JonB thought for a second, and added to his Engineer. "Starglider. We're the lightest armed here, so make our weapons your number one repair priority."

Sanchez called back from the communications console. "Captain. The USS London is responding to our hails. She is under the Command of Captain Dale McKee. Her consort is the USS Antares, Commander Richard Sherman in command. They are engaging the enemy closely, and Captain McKee is ordering us to assist."

JonB nodded. "Inform them that we will be making best speed for the monster, and ask them to save some for us. Ensign Stark, go to Warp 3.1 once our phasers are armed, and set an intercept course for the creature. Once we reach about 30 kilo-k's, slow to Warp 2.46. That'll let us fire our drones, and give them a small lead on us when we make our first battle pass. Starglider, use all remaining power, including the batteries if it comes to it to reinforce the shields."



As his ship reached the battle, JonB and his officers saw the Antares and London engage the enemy. "No MCIDS of any sort, Lt. Samuel, you can begin the scatterpack." Miles spoke out as they got closer. On the screen, they could see the three current participants in the battle trade blows. The monster was using some sort of nuclear fusion reaction to both move and act as a weapon system, and the Antares was taking the brunt of the damage so far.



As they passes 30kk from the monster, JonB ordered two salvos of drones. With his ship just slower than them as his racks cycled, we was planning on making an overrun of the monster with 2 drones 2kk in front, 2 more only 1kk, and 2 more fresh launched as they closed in on the creature. That would give it 6 targets in addition to his ship to fire at.




The plan was perfect, right up until the point the enemy got involved. With four drones in flight, JonB was waiting until the last moment to fire the last pair when the creature spoke its mind. It ignored half the drones, and spent the rest of it's firepower on the ship itself!



Portions of the simulator exploded with non-simulated fire and debris. JonB was shaken in his seat, and couldn't focus on the moment as his ship sailed past the monster, and began a slow left list as it leaked engine plasma. He yelled out "DAMAGE REPORT" reflexively as the simulator began to settle down.



"Forward Shield gone!" "Engines damaged 13%!" "Minor hull damage!" "Rightside defensive phaser unresponsive!" "Monster took minor damage!" JonB couldn't tell who said what, but heard them all anyways. He mentally cussed. "Fire drones! Helm, moves us away, and keep our distance! Starglider! Get our engines back up, and some repairs on the front shield! Now!"



As the range increased, his missile launchers cycled, and JonB ordered another salvo. "What's the status on the Scatterpack?" Samuel replied that it was almost finished, and that the deckcrews were finishing installing the software onto the shuttle. "Once our drones-in-flight impact, launch the pack. Hold all rack launches to keep our control channels in the clear."

Another chorus of aye's came across the bridge, and it was his XO that broke the tension that was mounting by making it worse. "Sir! The Antares has taken several hits from what appear to be gatling phasers!"



"Core breach in prog..."



"The Antares is dead. Detecting lifepods. The London took shield damage from the explosion." A sombre silence fell as the fictional frigate vanished.

"Helm. Bring us close in behind the pack-drones. Ready more rack launches. Advise the London that we are attempting to draw the monster away from the lifepods." JonB's commands shook his officers out of the stupor and into some sembelence of action. "Major Kendall, alert your marines to assist in rescue recovery, and get Sickbeay ready to receive survivors from the Antares."

Kendal nodded, and issued the neseccary orders into his personal communicator.

The officers moved like a well oiled machine. The intensity of the moment made them forget the other ship was a computer construct, and not a ship with 180 souls aboard. They threw wave after wave of drones at the creature, supported by the London, which was no less ruthless in it's extermination of the creature.



To a victory cry, the lights came on, and reality returned. Captain Butler walked onto the bridge from the simulator entrance. "Well done Ensigns, Lieutenants. We shall process your results and get back to you in a couple days. Dismissed."

Drained, the officers all filed out of the simulator to each reflect for themselves the actions they had just taken.

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Sorry for the shortness. Long day at work. Will get the next couple updates done asap.