Artifice
General Info
Release Date: January 7, 2008
Original Authors: Michael 'BlueFlames' Ashworth
Missions: 11
Mods included: minor ship and weapon table edits
Designed/Tested using: FreeSpace 2 Retail v1.2
Story
Following the destruction of Capella, the Galactic Terran-Vasudan Alliance has its sights set on regaining stability and rebuilding the lives that had been shattered by the shivan invasion. Unfortunately, how to go about returning to normality is an issue disputed within the upper eschelons of GTVA Command.
Such high-level debates are none of your concern, though, as a transfer pilot to the 121st Shadow Daggers, in Alpha Centauri. Still scarred from battles with the Neo-Terran Front and facing the same economic downturn as the rest of the the Alliance, the officers in this system have more practical and immediate concerns to deal with than how the tax code should treat Capellan refugees or even how the military fleet should look in twenty years' time. Former NTF elements still mark vasudan civilians for death, and elements of the population have turned to violence and piracy to acquire the resources they desire.
You have your work cut out for you, even before one of these nebulous "high-level issues" explodes, in a very real way, into your corner of space.
Player Comments
Artifice is...less than good. It is difficult, certainly; unreasonably so, and a lot of the difficulty stems from cheap mission designer tricks rather than actual combat. As a storytelling device it is not much good either; and there are noticible bugs in some of the missions. Not show-stopping, but obvious nonetheless. Overall, a difficult campaign to recommend. -ngtm1r
