User:Black Yoshi1230

Joined the FreeSpace scene in April 2012, after I got my new HP Pavilion dv6 laptop. I typically play with either the keyboard, or my old MS SideWinder Precision Pro (though the amount of abuse I gave it during Blue Planet and Inferno will have to make me replace it soon). Other days, I would play with a normal mouse, or even a trackball mouse.

I previously wrote and updated walkthrough pages for the Derelict and Silent Threat: Reborn campaigns. Right now, I contribute in-wiki stuff for the Blue Planet series, and some of the photographs for the not-yet-updated HTL stuff.

Androgeos Exeunt and I collaborated to make the Ship Comparison lists for Retail FS1 and 2 and Blue Planet.

Mods I Tried Out

• Ancient-Shivan War: Actually a very good campaign. It's a bit challenging, but not ridiculous. I actually noticed a song from the 1994 computer game MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat that was used in it. (The song is Bouk Obelisk, used in the last mission of Release 1.)
• Blue Planet: Age Of Aquarius was one of the best mods I had ever played, mixing a decent story and challenge together. War in Heaven Part One: My reaction at first thanks to initial technical difficulties, now mine after said technical issues were resolved and I had an uninterrupted story experience. Honestly, I thought there was a wee bit too much drama, but hey, it's like a combat space opera, can't argue on that.
  • Technical problems were the game crashing on FSOpen 3.6.14 thanks to my laptop's Intel-grated video system (had to tweak settings and kill some features, and I'm still baffled on how they get water surface/transparency effects wrong on some games), plus the infamous Karuna self-dying issue. Now I play the game on my HDTV or monitor. Should had spent that extra dough on a laptop with a dedicated card...
• Casualties of War: Part 1 was okay, Part 2 has a bunch of riddled messes. Even a blinding white nebula with awful loadouts doesn't help. Practically one of the mods in which you should use the third-person view.
• Diaspora: Shattered Armistice - If there was a mod that made me want to recall all my combat flight simulator knowledge, this was it. FreeSpace? Chuck almost all your knowledge of it out the window. If you've flown a lot for other flight sims, those experiences will help.
• Dawn of Sol: Not bad. Great visuals, and who would've thought Bosch was in charge? [Insert Bosch-related joke here.]
• Derelict: The first mod I've tried after retail FS2.
• The FreeSpace Port and Silent Threat: Reborn
• Just Another Day: The Collector's Edition - Greatest parody ever, well only on the first try. I recommend you at least play the retail FreeSpace 2 campaign first.
• Inferno: Release 1 and Alliance: Relatively unbalanced. Two missions in Release 1 I skipped because they were unplayable (as in, impossible circumstances that even a crazy pilot would not do). Alliance was a bit frustrating, but thankfully they were more or less short-term skirmishes relying on trial and error.
• (NOT) FreeSpace 3: The Search for Bosch: I don't get it. No seriously, I don't. I would rather play FreeSpace: Impossible, a campaign that would be almost literally survivable on a 10% chance.
• The Luyten Civil War: True to its promises, features Silent Threat: Reborn-inspired gameplay, with a hint or two of Vassago's Dirge minus Shivans.
• The Procyon Insurgency: Underneath all the epic frustration lies a great mod that was not afraid to show its potential, and it delivered in almost every aspect. (Other than that, the Procks is a deathtrap so inexperienced pilots should rather fly in The Boondocks. Ha, that rhymed. :D)
• Vassago's Dirge: Fun, unique, original, overall a kickass mod.
• Warzone: Meh. Voice acting was one of the best parts about it.

Favorite Ships

• GTF Apollo: It doesn't suck. Any halfway-competent pilot who can use ETS pretty well can exploit the benefits of this fighter. With a few flicks of shield or engine adjustments, it can run assault or intercept. Frequently dead wingmen in Valkyries (without the Banshee)? Put them in this and they'll survive by at least a minute more.
• GTB Athena: Frighteningly efficient for any job that's not hardcore bombing. I just wished it had the Prometheus.
• GTB Ursa: Maybe a giant swimming pad (you know, for kids) with bricks below it, but it gets the job done. Aim a bit right of the reticule, and the oddly placed five gun mounts can be put to good use. Surprisingly survivable, and good for the AI to use for heavy-duty work (much more survivable than the Artemis or Boanerges).
• GTF Perseus: Can be equipped with almost any fighter-based weapon, fast, and while it may only have 4 guns, that means not as much energy demand. I tend to think of this as a faster Apollo that can equip better stuff.
• GTF Ares: Given how much I play the game on the carpet staring at my TV, this ship gives me a good excuse to sit back, and fire standoff weaponry. From the company that funded making the Perseus, I love its decent afterburner capability.
• GVF Tauret: It's freaking epic. Missiles galore and a bunch of Mekhu HL-7s equal a death maker amongst Shivans.
• GVB Sekhmet: A good pilot can epically destroy EVERYTHING in the game with this platform, save the Sathanas. Too bad I'm not a good pilot.
• GTF Nyx: If I had any way to recommend it, I would say while it handles like the Apollo, it compensates for basically being a one-pilot slaughterhouse that can hold its own against almost any small-scale ship.
• UEF Kentauroi: Fast, evasive, a near-perfect successor to the old Valkyrie, this ship can prove its worth with a shrewd sense of engaging by the flank or with hit and run tactics.
• FTFx Thor: Death by beams. Launched by a bomber-sized platform that maneuvers like a heavy fighter. Stuff blows up. I just HATE how the external camera is too far back to make this an enjoyable craft to fly in third-person mode.