25th Year

Overview

Author: KolChak

Mods used: 0

Number of Missions: 3

25th Year is a three-mission mini-campaign for Descent: FreeSpace, a.k.a. FreeSpace 1, originally created by KolChak in July, 1998. The mission can be found by searching for 25thyear.zip. The campaign is neither VP-packed, nor voiced. It contains no mods and will work alongside almost any installed campaigns.

Storyline

This is the 25th year Campaign. It takes place 25 years after the war with the Shivans. The HoL is now a major power and is at war with the T-V Alliance. The Shivans are a minor power now, doing their best to make trouble for everyone. All research has been turned to Shivan tech (I made this up to explain no new techs and ships).

Consisting of merely three missions, the story is quite simple; you must stop the Hammer of Light from acquiring Shivan technology. The HoL have captured an Orion-class ship, the GTC Riser, which was carrying Shivan technology. Your wing was sent in to destroy both the captured vessel plus all hostiles. The rest of the campaign consists of mopping up HoL cargo depots.

Tips

Mission 1: Stolen Orion

As with pretty much every assault on a ship of cruiser class or above, lure the enemy fighters away from the vessel. This will make taking them down a bit safer. When the enemy wings are down, obliterate the GTC Riser.

Mission 2: Cargo Assault

A couple of Aten-class enemy ships, four of them, make your job a bit hectic in this mission. To make life somewhat easier, take out the Ankhs early on. This will make the mission easier on your shields.

Mission 3: Surprise Bash

A deceptively simple intro will not prepare you for the Cain- and Dragon-class ships that will arrive when you least expect them. Take out the Ankh guns before the bad guys arrive. If you don't, you'll wish you did.

Availability

http://freespacemods.net/download.php?view.751

Comments

The campaign is one of the oldest user-created campaigns still around. While it does suffer from some quite standard drawbacks—too much focus on seemingly endless waves of enemy wings, lack of bombers for taking out cruisers and enemy capital ships, et cetera, it is a fun little campaign. If you still have FS1 on your hard drive, give it a go. That is, if you can find it first.