One Future
| The following information has not been confirmed by Volition and is therefore not canon for the FreeSpace universe. |
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MISSION 20
ACT 3, MISSION 04
Background
Countdown is 15 days, plus or minus 4. However, that may as well be one day. The Gaian Effort has been systematically fractured, with SOC units launching attacks on Kostadin Cell since the framing of the Bellwether operation was successful and other Cells have decided to cut ties. The leader of Kostadin and the founder of the Effort, Reverend Iain MacDuff, has been cornered. In response, he and his closest followers have decided to launch a suicidal core habitat/asteroid strike against Earth with a subspace jump, which if successful, will lead to a planetary extinction event.
While a Fleet class action would be ideal, plotting safe subspace routes for the Fleet would take too long, but a modified Custos cruiser could make the jump in time and interrupt the collision once and for all. The only course of action is to intercept the asteroid before it makes its subspace jump to Earth, either by a marine team capture or complete colony destruction.
This could sign the end of the radical affliction of the Gaian Effort on the Federation, or leave Earth in flames before Steele can lay his hands on it...
Walkthrough
You will be on the helm of a Custos cruiser designated the Vindicator, and the default primaries are recommended. Your self-defense weapons will consist of four Point Defense Turrets, and two Missile Launcher systems (the Warhammer and Dart, alternated by ALT-X).
To control your defensive weapons, you have four options (controlled with the arrow keys):
1. Automatic will intercept incoming torpedoes, and attack the nearest threat.
2. Track will attack the target you're currently locked on to (recommended if you're attacking one ship at a time).
3. Lock.
4. Offline (does not fire at all).
You have other defensive perks, in the form of your shield boosters, afterburner overdrive, flare decoy packages (these replace your countermeasures), and a sealant that will repair a fraction of your hull.
Capture Option
Upon commit, you will be introduced to the crew, and after making your initial jump to intercept, you will see the Reverend's flagship, the Morena MacDuff, and the colony you have to stop. The clock will count down from 10 minutes, so start moving towards your targets, and be ready to engage. If you have multiple missile lock warnings, wait for them to come close, and deploy your flare packages. When you're in range, start firing shots with your Arquebus. Then multiple Scimitar fighters will converge on you, let your Point Defense Turrets do the work and switch to Darts. When those fighters are destroyed, switch to your Warhammers, put them on Track, and concentrate on the MacDuff and the two Ancamma cruisers.
The MacDuff will not take a lot of damage at first, but your tactical analyst finds a weak point in the armor. Find that weak point with your subsystem targeting, exploit that weakness, and watch the fireworks.
At any point in this time, Sergei Gwylim will show up with a few escorts and some Medusa bombers (marked as Leo Wing), do yourself a favor and blow them out of the sky.
Your ideal conditions for deploying your Marine transport should be after you destroy the MacDuff and most of Leo wing, BUT you should have at least six or seven minutes on the clock remaining, because they take between four and five minutes to land and breach the colony. While they're approaching, take out the sentry guns surrounding the colony towers with your Arquebus. (However, do not target your transport and leave your fire control on Track or Lock mode, because your weapons can actually hit the transport, despite having a friendly IFF.)
Then stand by and let your Marines dock, they will do the rest of the work, and abort the jump sequence. Close call or not, you can breathe a sigh of relief and warp out.
