Fallen Angel
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MISSION 18
Fighter squadron: Vishnu
Description: This is it. The moment of truth is here.
Contents
Background
The Vishnan Sacred Keeper and its fleet, yourself included, have successfully cleaved a path through the Shivan blockade and are now in Delta Serpentis.
Shortly after entering the system, the Keeper picked up a distress call originating from the GTD Orestes. They are under attack.
The charge through the Shivan blockades came at a significant cost to the strength of the Keeper's fleet. With its main gun destroyed, the Keeper cannot assist you in this battle, and although it still has a number of combat-ready Protectors and Arbiters, they will not be able to help you beyond fire support and cannot single-handedly liberate the Orestes and her battlegroup. It is up to you to deliver the critical blow that will save the Orestes, your father, and possibly the entire human race as you know it.
Walkthrough
Upon your entry into the battlefield, you see the two Vishnan Arbiters open fire on the Lucifer from behind with their beams, just as the Orestes strikes the Lucifer with its frontal beam cannon. These three hits incapacitate three of the Lucifer's five reactors.
The Orestes hails the Vishnans. You respond. Orestes control voices its surprise, having lost contact with you ever since you pursued the GTC Duke. You turn their focus from what you went through from then to now to their current status.
Orestes control explains that they were ambushed by the Shivans when they attempted to follow the GTD Temeraire into Ross 128. They subsequently retreated back into Delta Serpentis, where they encountered the Lucifer. The gravity well of Delta Serpentis Prime, the nearby planet, hinders the movement of the Orestes and her battlegroup; if they fail to drive the Lucifer off completely, they will not be able to keep the Shivan destroyer from easily getting the drop on them.
The Orestes adds that, whenever her battlegroup begins to win a battle, the Lucifer would flee and repair herself. The Orestes recommends either destroying the Lucifer's engine subsystems to prevent her from escaping, or attacking her reactors, which will certainly destroy her.
Your allies should be able to hold their own in this mission and, although there is a script for it, it is highly unlikely that the Boreas will take sufficient damage to lose its beam capabilities. Focus on taking out the Lucifer's reactors. Remember, your shields are extremely resilient and recharge very quickly, so if you're in trouble, boost power.
Whether you choose to destroy all five of the Lucifer's reactors or prefer to go for the engines, destroy them quickly. The Lucifer will jump out when its hull integrity falls below 12%; if that happens, you automatically fail the mission. Use your wingmen to take out one subsystem, while you destroy another.
When you destroy the Lucifer, the rest of the mission becomes automatic. Orestes control thanks you for your help. As you attempt to introduce the Terrans to the Vishnans, the Vishnan Sacred Keeper jumps in, several kilometres away. In a tone that suggests panic and dread, the Keeper urges the fleet to leave the area at once.
Almost as soon as you hear this, you see a jump hole opening right behind the Keeper. From it emerges a Sathanas-class juggernaut.
The Sathanas opens full frontal beam fire on the Keeper, obliterating it. At the exact moment when the Keeper's hull integrity fails completely, you lose all control of your ship. The sudden loss of connection to the Vishnan Great Psyche causes you to black out.
Notes
- This mission is almost exactly the same as Curse of Prescience. The main difference between the two missions is the presence of the Vishnans, the fact that the Lucifer can and must be destroyed, and additional events that take place after the Lucifer's destruction. Any other scripted events, such as the Boreas automatically losing all three of its main beams once its hull integrity falls below 50%, are carried over.
- Destroying the reactors in the Director's Cut is a bit easier than in the original, as two Vishnan Arbiters will take out 2 of the Lucifer's reactors, while the Orestes takes out another one with her spinal beam, leaving 2 reactors left for the player to deal with.
- Although the Sacred Keeper states in the mission brief that its underslung beam cannon is destroyed, when it jumps in, the beam cannon in question is intact. This is one of the limitations of the game engine.
- All surviving Vishnan ships are given the play-dead order when the Keeper is destroyed. This is a faster way to simulate every Vishnan ship under the Keeper's command falling silent, instead of using sexps to kill the subsystems on every ship (as it happens to Samuel Bei).
Tips
- You are more likely to pass this mission if you opt to take out the reactors. This is listed as the main directive in the Director's Cut.
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(*) May be replaced with the Vishnan Preacher, Vishnan Seeker and/or Vishnan Inquisitor
(**) May be replaced with the Vishnan Missionary, Vishnan Seeker and/or Vishnan Inquisitor
(&) Rendered permanently non-operable upon destruction of Sacred Keeper and destroyed post-mission
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