"Shuttle Ace" - something to do for all you small craft pilots

k668

Greetings, pilots!

"Shuttle Ace" is a series of shuttle-based "dailies" for Federation players. The backstories are brief and somewhat generic as to lend themselves well to daily action, team play and possibly even some RP.

- Shuttle Ace: Starbase Raid (ST-HOF8QMVJJ)
Defend a Starbase against a Klingon raid - Starfleet fighters and shuttles are on your side to repell the hostile advance.

- Shuttle Ace: Tight Spot (ST-HJUGVTSG9)
Check an abondened mining base for signs of pirates that made themselves at home there. Needless to say, battle ensues.

- Shuttle Ace: Smuggler's Den (ST-HSR8L3R92)
Sneak into a hidden cargo stash by the Klingon border and scan the facilities for smuggled contraband. This mission can either be run battle-heavy or as a quick & straightforward navigation exercise to evade hostile patrols.

I found fine-tuning of difficulty level somewhat tedious when it comes to small craft combat - with your Boff abilities and equipment naturally limited in a shuttle, hostile difficulty tends to scale towards the harder end as your character levels. So while these missions are quick & easy exercises for low-ranking officers, they can get quite challenging at higher levels. Keep your shuttle well-equiped to suit your playing style, take a good Boff along and you should always make it in one piece. Good luck!

If you like the missions, stay tuned for more .

janetza

Thanks for this opportunity to use my flyer.) I liked the mission idea, but I found it tough for one-man mission, and I think it is better to play it in a team. Also, I think it would be better to put more Interceptors, instead of corvettes and these two cruisers at the end, well, you obviously won't fight them so I don't see the reason for them to be there. Overall it's nice mission, it's original and it would be a good edition to the foundry. Thanks.

k668

Thank you for the quick feedback. The difficulty of the battles was actually tricky to trim due to the impact of character level on NPC spawns - an issue that seems to affect small craft combat more than combat in starships with all their Boffs and device slots and weapon choices.

So essentially, the cruiser and the battleship are there as optional "tough" opponents. My Tac Lieutenant can actually bring them down without too much trouble, while my Tac VA is already somewhat distressed by the pairs of corvettes.

In case you're interested in more fighter-heavy action, I'm also planning an "all-out" fighter battle installment involving allied fighter wings, which should help even the odds, no matter whether you're Lt. or VA.

k668

"Shuttle Ace: Tight Spot" is now published for review - it has more of an all-out fighter battle feel to it, while "Smuggler's Den" has been tweaked to be just a tad heavier on fighters than before (and slightly easier).

markhawkman

Yeah.... Is it considered cheating to bring a PDS console? Those OWN fighter swarms!

evil70th

k668 wrote: »

Greetings...

Any cance I can get a detailed oppinion on my latest "Shuttle Ace" installment? The project is somewhat experimental, awfully tedious to fine-tune in terms of difficulty and also low on story content. Essentially, it says "fun shuttle action" on the tin, and that's really what the missions should convey.

Mission Name: Shuttle Ace: Tight Spot
Author: k668
Minimum Level: 0
Allegiance: Federation
Project ID: ST-HJUGVTSG9
Estimated Mission Length: 15 minutes
Method of Report Delivery: Forum post

Thanks for your ongoing valuable insights into what to expect on on the Foundry .

Federation Mission - Shuttle Ace: Tight Spot
Author: k668
Allegiance: Federation
Project ID: ST-HJUGVTSG9

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Report Start

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Summary: This is a good mission with some nice map designs and challenging but fun battles. The chance to fly around in smaller craft to play a mission is a good hook to help your mission become a daily. Your only drawback to this mission becoming a daily is the location of the custom map entry. Consider moving it closer to a location other players hang out, i.e. ESD, K7 or DS9. It took 10 minutes to get to the location of the custom map. With that said, I would recommend this mission to any player who likes a good challenge and a chance to fly around in smaller craft.

Below are a couple of things I noted while playing the mission that I wanted to let you know about. Everything in this write up should be seen as suggestions on ways I felt you could improve certain elements of the mission. They are yours to do with as you see fit.

Mission Description: This is a good description with clear point about the mission. I noted no spelling or grammatical errors with this description.

Grant Mission Dialogue: This is a good grant dialogue and the follow on dialogue is also well written. I noted no spelling or grammatical errors with this dialogue.

Mission Task: Despite the fact that you indicated the start location for the first custom map in the description and grant dialogue you should also include it in the initial mission task. I noted no spelling errors with this task.

Mission Entry Prompt: This is a good use of the prompt. I noted no spelling or grammatical errors with this prompt.

MAPS:
Abandoned Mining Site near Seedea: This is a great map design with some fun and challenging battles. The story dialogue is well written. I noted no spelling or grammatical errors with this dialogue. I noted a couple of items to consider changing:
-The battles are a challenge but the initial one with no support is very tough. Consider either adding in the reinforcements from the start or cutting back the strength of the enemy.
-I did not use it but I also did not notice any indication of a respawn point. If you do not have one further into the map I suggest you add it.

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End Report

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Thanks again for authoring and for giving me the chance to review your work. You did a good job developing this mission. I look forward to playing/reviewing more of your work in the future.
Brian

This critique report also filed 09/15/2012 on forum posting for: In depth mission reports upon request.

k668

markhawkman wrote: »

Yeah.... Is it considered cheating to bring a PDS console?

As is fleet support :rolleyes:. It's either cheating or creative thinking, for that matter. The two can overlap.

markhawkman

What about Photonic fleet?

k668

'Shuttle Ace: Starbase Raid' has been published (as of now, it might still be visible to reviewers only). It's now officially a sort of trilogy and thereby well-suited as a "daily" series. There is some more variation in terms of enivronments, enemies and mission objectives on my mind, so there might be further Shuttle Ace missions in the future.

That, and 'Tight Skies' has been relocated to the Ker'rat system. Essentially because the Eta Eridani Sector Block is a lot more convenient to reach than Pi Canis.

Have fun!