So after a bit of fiddling I got the betary alphary client running and ran through the first couple of missions. Very pretty, ship handles nicely, should be great when there's something proper to play. Then I load up the Crimson Triumph mission. I've got a few things to do around the house, but I'll take a look before I get on with them.
The scenario loads up, he pops out of hyperspace and I'm on him like white on rice. Only I'm not, as he turns directly into me with his guns battering away at my shields. "Oh," thinks I, "he's going to be like that is he? Well watch THIS!"
I twist, I turn, I shoot, I dodge and thirty seconds later I'm reaching for the virtual gaffer tape to fix the worrying looking cracks in my cockpit. I decide to play cagey with him, trying to keep above him as he jinks and turns to get a bead on me. I pop off a few shots, some miss, most hit and I start thinking that I might just pull this off. But somehow I lose him, his radar stem is long and far away, so I drop speed for a tighter turn then barrel at him with pulse lasers blazing. He hits me twice and it's all over.
So I step away from the computer and make a cup of tea before sorting out laundry and other domestic stuff.
Next thing I know, he's popping out of hyperspace again and turning directly into me with his guns narrowly missing my shields. Laundry? Pah. I've got his number this time.
I give him no time to get the upper hand. I keep clear of his guns, carefully matching my speed and my turns to keep them at bay, and I wait for those clear shots before opening up. It goes on for some time this cat and mousing, I get some licks in and he gets some in, but I'm holding my own.
After 5 minutes of this I remember the cup of tea sitting by the monitor, slowly getting cold. I up my game and get more aggressive. It doesn't go well. Alarming noises clatter around the cockpit as he lays into me from an unquantified angle. I drop speed and go to rear thrust, yanking the stick to lurch out of his sights as best I can. It seems to work. He's ahead now, going into a wide turn for another run at me.
I point my ship into his exhaust trail, figuring that he won't be able to turn that quickly and much to my surprise I was right. I pull to the left and see his radar stem lengthening. I have no idea what I'm doing but I twist the stick and somehow I'm right on his six. I open up and get a good six or seven hits in. I want to look at his shield status but I daren't take my eyes off him. He slows down and I do too, and once again we're in the cat and mouse thing. My tea is still getting cold.
It goes on for some time, but I manage to keep my manouvres tight and to the point. I get hit after hit on him, then lose him as he pulls away. I have a distant realisation that I'm actually using this HOTAS thing properly, I'm throttling intuitively and being gentle with the stick. Christ knows what all these other buttons do though. There are moments when I pull off a move that makes me feel like one of those YouTube aces I've been watching for months, and it dawns on me that FD have absolutely nailed the handling of this ship.
I risk a glance at his hull status and laugh when I see he's down to 8%. How that happened I have no idea. I'm not thinking about any of this, I'm just doing it. Maybe I'll get to drink that tea before it's cold after all. Right, head back in the game, let's get this sucker spaced...
That last 8% lasted longer for him than my cracked cockpit did for me on my first go round, but he doesn't pull it off either. "Suck my spinning steel, ****head!" I giggle incongruously as I fly through the remains of his exploding ship.
Basking in the glow of victory with a warm cup of tea in my hand I find myself thinking how bloody ace this game is going to be when the whole thing is ready to play. It's been a long, long wait since those first murmurings of an Elite IV, but it's going to have been worth every single minute of it. Well played, FD, well played.
Right, I've got some Feds to put out of the picture. The laundry is going to have to wait. Tally ho!
The scenario loads up, he pops out of hyperspace and I'm on him like white on rice. Only I'm not, as he turns directly into me with his guns battering away at my shields. "Oh," thinks I, "he's going to be like that is he? Well watch THIS!"
I twist, I turn, I shoot, I dodge and thirty seconds later I'm reaching for the virtual gaffer tape to fix the worrying looking cracks in my cockpit. I decide to play cagey with him, trying to keep above him as he jinks and turns to get a bead on me. I pop off a few shots, some miss, most hit and I start thinking that I might just pull this off. But somehow I lose him, his radar stem is long and far away, so I drop speed for a tighter turn then barrel at him with pulse lasers blazing. He hits me twice and it's all over.
So I step away from the computer and make a cup of tea before sorting out laundry and other domestic stuff.
Next thing I know, he's popping out of hyperspace again and turning directly into me with his guns narrowly missing my shields. Laundry? Pah. I've got his number this time.
I give him no time to get the upper hand. I keep clear of his guns, carefully matching my speed and my turns to keep them at bay, and I wait for those clear shots before opening up. It goes on for some time this cat and mousing, I get some licks in and he gets some in, but I'm holding my own.
After 5 minutes of this I remember the cup of tea sitting by the monitor, slowly getting cold. I up my game and get more aggressive. It doesn't go well. Alarming noises clatter around the cockpit as he lays into me from an unquantified angle. I drop speed and go to rear thrust, yanking the stick to lurch out of his sights as best I can. It seems to work. He's ahead now, going into a wide turn for another run at me.
I point my ship into his exhaust trail, figuring that he won't be able to turn that quickly and much to my surprise I was right. I pull to the left and see his radar stem lengthening. I have no idea what I'm doing but I twist the stick and somehow I'm right on his six. I open up and get a good six or seven hits in. I want to look at his shield status but I daren't take my eyes off him. He slows down and I do too, and once again we're in the cat and mouse thing. My tea is still getting cold.
It goes on for some time, but I manage to keep my manouvres tight and to the point. I get hit after hit on him, then lose him as he pulls away. I have a distant realisation that I'm actually using this HOTAS thing properly, I'm throttling intuitively and being gentle with the stick. Christ knows what all these other buttons do though. There are moments when I pull off a move that makes me feel like one of those YouTube aces I've been watching for months, and it dawns on me that FD have absolutely nailed the handling of this ship.
I risk a glance at his hull status and laugh when I see he's down to 8%. How that happened I have no idea. I'm not thinking about any of this, I'm just doing it. Maybe I'll get to drink that tea before it's cold after all. Right, head back in the game, let's get this sucker spaced...
That last 8% lasted longer for him than my cracked cockpit did for me on my first go round, but he doesn't pull it off either. "Suck my spinning steel, ****head!" I giggle incongruously as I fly through the remains of his exploding ship.
Basking in the glow of victory with a warm cup of tea in my hand I find myself thinking how bloody ace this game is going to be when the whole thing is ready to play. It's been a long, long wait since those first murmurings of an Elite IV, but it's going to have been worth every single minute of it. Well played, FD, well played.
Right, I've got some Feds to put out of the picture. The laundry is going to have to wait. Tally ho!
