[edit] I just noticed the typo in the title, and I don't see a way to fix it. >_<; [/edit]

For a while now, I've been playing and very much enjoying Freespace 2. And while it's proven challenging at times, I've thus far made it through in the end.

But now I find myself on the final mission, and I'm wondering whether it might not be the point at which I give up on the game: it's a marathon, and it feels like I'm entering ill-equipped to reach the finish-line.

(Specifically, I've thus far managed to get past the wing(s?) of Dragons and onto the wing(s?) of Serapis ships--but by that point I'm pretty much the only fighter left flying, and I get torn apart.)

So I'm wondering: Have I made it much harder on myself through my performance in the previous mission?

You see, that mission, too, proved difficult--but I made it through in the end. However, I made it through with none of Delta wing and none of the cruisers intact, as I recall. And since those (I gather) can follow through to this final mission, I'm wondering how much impact their presence might have...

I really don't want to go back and retry that mission: it wasn't my favourite, and I've replayed it already. But if it's the difference between completing the final mission and leaving the game incomplete, it may be worth it...

(For reference, I'm flying an Erinyes with one Kaiser and one Subach, and two banks of Trebuchets. The limited number of the latter is a nuisance, but their range and power make them seem worth it. Meanwhile, the power consumption of the former is likewise a nuisance, even with power adjustments--but they hit like a battering ram.)

I've only played through once and it has been awhile, but I seem to recall the last mission is more time based. Maybe you can hang out near the jump point until the end?

I have so read--and indeed, I've read that one can just jump out immediately (albeit then not getting a proper debriefing).

But neither would be all that satisfying to me, I feel--in particular, hanging out at the jump-node would result in a lot of ships being destroyed, I fear. :/

Still, I do thank you for the suggestion--it is appreciated! ^_^

I remember my first attempt at that mission. I was flying a Hercules equivalent (I don't recall exactly what), and I got to be a war hero simply because my ship was slow. My second attempt was in something distinctly faster. :D

I don't recall having a lot of trouble surviving, but maybe you're playing on a higher difficulty? I should probably replay instead of just chatting about parts of the mission I don't really remember, but that's a lot of missions. Maybe change up the kind of ships you're targeting; if you're dying while trying to go after larger ships, try assisting by dog-fighting instead, or vice versa.

I don't even remember the previous mission. Looking at a walkthrough, the biggest factors are probably to make sure to keep your hull high in the previous mission, and target bombers early. If you have enough wingmen, maybe you can assign one or two per dragon to keep them busy while you go after more easily fought ships.

Hah, the art of survival through being ever late to the battle. ;P Perhaps--I don't see a means of checking my difficulty setting.

But then, I have gotten this far--the difficulty level has been largely fine up to this mission... Hah, I won't ask you to replay the entire game just to answer my question! ^^; Alas, I'm already doing the thing that I feel, at least, the best at: dogfighting. It's just that there are so many waves of enemies that my allies are ground down over time, leaving me alone against some tough foes...

(I've been toying with trying to stay close to the cruisers in the mission, hoping that their firepower will give my allies some extra survivability...) Hmm... I've been targetting bombers pretty quickly, I think. I'll have to see how many allies I have left by the time that I reach the Dragons...

(I've thus far passed them by dint of long-range double-trebuchets, preventing them from getting into dogfighting range. But then I'm out of trebuchets for the following ships...)

Nah, I was in the fighting. I just was too far away to make my escape when the time came. ^^;

Ending: "Alpha One bravely stayed behind so that others may escape."
Me: "No, Alpha One simply lacked the foresight to choose a ship with a high top speed!" When you're on the main menu, go to the Barracks (maintain pilots), then select Options. The difficulty setting is in the upper right. My profile is currently set to medium, which is probably what I used for my trip through the game. I seem to recall basically hanging out with the rest of the fleet, not zooming out to try and head off enemy ships. No need to leave friendly firepower on the table, after all. Isn't the Terran-Vasudan Colossus class ship around, or was that destroyed during an earlier mission?

Of course, I also seem to recall basically just fighting. When my current target died, I'd hit the key for nearest next target and get to work, letting my allies do their thing.

One idea is to just look for enemy ships that are firing at your allies and shoot them some to persuade them to take evasive action instead of continuing to fire. As soon as they start evading, you pick a new target and fire at that one. You don't really get kills that way, but it may help keep the enemy moving around instead of dealing damage. Keep an eye on whether/when new waves join the fight; if a new wave doesn't join until the previous wave (with the same name) is wiped out, then maybe you leave the last ship of Virgo alone while you change focus to the wave of 4 Leo's, etc. No resupply support ship? I know it can happen, but I seem to recall it being rare.

Maybe you just don't have time to wait for the support ship to dock and reload you.

I recall that it makes a heroic sacrifice, I simply don't recall which mission that was. No worries. If it doesn't work for you, then it doesn't work for you. If you're effective enough with your missiles, you may have to take the time and hope your allies can hold out. Find the support ship, move nearer it if needed, and get reloaded. Keep in mind that once the ship is docked with you, you can turn and fire your primary weapons without breaking the connection, you just can't accelerate/decelerate or fire missiles.

Indeed--I believe that it was an earlier mission. Hmm... Maybe.

Well, I think that I have a candidate tactic, then: keep closer to the larger ships, and try to use my missiles more, relying on allies to hold their own while I re-arm.

Thank you for your aid! ^_^ Yup, both of those are indeed things that I do when re-arming!

I hope it hopes. Remember that if your allies try rushing off, you can tell them to form on your wing or something until the enemy gets closer, then tell them to engage the enemy.

FINALLY!

... I think.

Okay, so I may have passed the mission twice now: First with my character being caught by the supernova, and then with my character escaping.

That said, I'm not entirely certain that I actually did so correctly: in both cases I was just dropped back into the command deck, with no debriefing or cutscene. o_0

(Which is the reason that I kept on after the "death by supernova" ending, as I recall--I thought that maybe I'd died before the supernova actually hit, e.g. to enemy weapons-fire--which is still plausible--and thus hadn't actually completed the mission.)

Ah well, I'll take it! ^^;

I will say: Being more free with my missiles, and looking for lulls--if not always full breaks--in which to re-arm seemed to help, as did calling for re-arm before I was actually ready for it. And playing missile-turret against those Dragons was a lot easier than trying to actually dogfight them!

(And let me note: doubled trebuchets will make a mess of Nahemas, it seems!)

*Phew!* That's done, and now I can set this playthrough aside in the knowledge that I've completed it!

That said, I did enjoy the game overall! Barring a few nuisance missions (this last one included), it proved to be a lot of fun for me. ^_^

And finally, thank you again Bookwyrm for your help! ^_^

Huh. Taking a quick look at youtube, there is an ending cutscene. I definitely remember a last speech by some higher up. If you get caught by the supernova, he talks about your noble sacrifice in staying behind so others can escape. Otherwise, you're one of the surviving heroes.

Here's a link. I was definitely inspired to run the mission a second time to make it to the node.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kUE1sUmfM8

I'm glad you got through it. Congratulations!

I'm now tempted to play through again myself. There were some really interesting missions (like that one going through the field that screwed your radar, or the stealth mission that starts with the guy yelling at you "DIVE DIVE DIVE!"), and there were some annoying missions (like that one going through the field that screwed your radar, or the one where you had to tag the enemy ships to get your allied frigate to fire on them).

That was my impression, indeed!

It may be a simple bug of some sort. I did notice that the Knossos game-launcher indicated that an update was available for MediaVPs (which is how I was playing); perhaps that included a fix for it.

Thank you for the link! It is good to see how the game ends! ^_^

Thank you! ^_^

Heh, that stealth mission was fairly fun--once I figured out which way to go from the starting position! XD;

As I recall, my poor wingmen got a little impatient with my flying around aimlessly, looking for an initial clue, until I finally discovered the way to go. ^^;

As to "DIVE DIVE DIVE!", that was a really good moment, and a fun mission indeed! Plus it was nice to get to fly a Mara for a change--it actually proved to be a pretty good ship, I believe!

Offhand, I recall quite liking my stint on the Vasudan carrier--that made for an interesting change of scenery. (I like that they actually swapped out the background and moved the hotspots!) And it was neat the see a bit of the perspective of the player's allies, and to try out their ships, and to hear from Vasudan wingmen. ^_^

I also quite liked the SOC missions: They were tough as nails, but interesting and a little twisty in their feel.

(On the other hand, I did not like the mission that involved destroying the arms of the Shivan juggernaut; between inconsistent-feeling damage-calculation and my wingmen being unreliable, it was an exercise in frustration.)

But yeah, overall, there were some rather good missions there, I do feel. ^_^

I agree with all of this! :D

Have you played the first Freespace?

I haven't, I believe!

How does it compare, if I may ask?