Endgame

From FreeSpace Wiki
Jump to: navigation, search
Previous Mission


Campaign Walkthrough Next Mission



ACT 2, MISSION 6

Fighter squadron: 64th Raptors

Description: Alpha wing of the 64th is sent to assist the warships guarding the Knossos.


Background

Admiral Bosch orders the remnants of his fleet to enter the Knossos portal, guarded by a few GTVA warships. Most of the NTF ships are destroyed, but the NTC Alexandria broke through and entered the node. Alpha wing of the 64th is now deployed to assist in the blockade and fend off any ships until the arrival of the GTVA Colossus.

Walkthrough

A recommended loadout is the GTF Pegasus armed with the Prometheus S, a bank of Harpoons and a bank of Tornados, but if the low firepower and weak armoring of the Pegasus does not suit your flying style, you can try something else, such as the GTF Myrmidon.

This is the last mission against the NTF. As you jump in, you can see the Monitor, a Deimos-class corvette in front of you, and the Fortune, a Fenris cuiser, a short distance behind. The Knossos subspace portal is also located in the background.

After a short conversation, in which is said that the GTVA Colossus has taken down the NTC Vanguard, the Monitor is attacked by NTF fighters and bombers. Prioritize the bombers; the fighters escorting the bombers are practically harmless. Shortly after, the NTC Loyola, an Aeolus-class cruiser, enters the area and attacks the Monitor. Ignore it; the cruiser is very dangerous to fighters and it isn't too much trouble for the Monitor. You can accomplish your mission by defending the Monitor from the first wave of fighters.

When the first wave of NTF fighters go down, the Colossus jumps in and stops in front of and directly above the Knossos. From here, you don't have to do much. If you have the mood to, you can engage the incoming Medusa bombers to get kills. When the Deimos corvette NTCv Danton jumps in, do not engage it. The Colossus will have no problems making mincemeat out of it.

The NTF Iceni jumps in shortly after the Danton's destruction, and you get orders to destroy it. At that crucial moment in time, however, the Colossus experiences a temporary malfunction in its fire control and is unable to attack, giving the Iceni a window to escape, which it does. After it jumps out, you are ordered to return to base.

Objectives

(Objectives are viewable by pressing F4 and going to the Objectives tab)

  • Primary Objectives:
    • Defend the Knossos device
  • Secondary Objectives:
    • Intercept and destroy the Iceni

Medals

You will obtain a NTF Campaign Victory Star for protecting both the Fortune and the Monitor.

Tips

  • You can order both the GTC Fortune and GTCv Monitor around. This is useful because otherwise the former won't fire on NTF ships. Order the Fortune to attack enemy warships, and the Monitor to attack the Loyola, and things will move slightly faster.

Notes

  • This is the only mission in the main FreeSpace 2 campaign where you can fly the Pegasus stealth fighter without modifying the mission file.
  • A few oversights can be seen by opening this mission in FRED. In particular, messages regarding the Iceni and the Danton are defined, but not called during the mission.
  • In the briefing, the GTCv Monitor is mispronounced as GTA Monitor by the voice actor.
  • The return to base objective is triggered by the Iceni jumping out; if you somehow manage to destroy the Iceni, you will not get a return to base directive and will be forced to restart the mission.

Name Origin

In chess, the "endgame" is the stage of the game where there are few pieces left on the board. Due to the lack of pieces at this stage, the king is one of the most powerful and important pieces on the board (due to a lower number of possible checks against it), the side with more pawns remaining generally has the advantage (such as through the use of attrition), and the importance of any passed pawns is increased greatly.

The name of this mission, as well as the two preceding it (The King's Gambit and The Sicilian Defense), likely alludes to the drastic movements of NTF forces, and the GTVA's response to said movements, as the NTF Rebellion draws to a close.

Notable ships present

Technical information

Endgame
File name: SM2-06.fs2
File size: 69.8 KB
Author: Brad Johnson
Total number of objects: 48 (1 waypoint)
Total number of wings: 9
Number of mission events: 55
Number of messages: 28
Event music: 6: Joshua
Briefing music: Brief6


Videos

QuantumDelta




TheOneTrueRenairen