Space Mission Difficulties

[priest]

you said level 5 upgrades.

 

you need level 6 cybertech made upgrades. plus did you buy the 4 upgrades using Fleet Commendations? it will be impossible without those.

 

and for those who say it isn't worth it:

 

Acendency Barrier = 18k credits

Raging Dawn= 19k credits

Sweeping Menace= 16k credits

Rising Fury = 12k credits

Molton Splinter = 12k credits

 

each of these can be done in about 10 minutes. plus you get fleet commendations and XP (or legacy XP)

actual money will vary on how good you do and if you do bonus stuff.

 

This. I can't stress enough that you need to buy the lvl 6 off the GTN. That is essential. Once you do that, you'll notice that you are less squishy.

 

I do have a question for the community, though. On the elite 'taking down the destroyer' mission, I have an issue. You can't kill the 4 shield generators with lasers, so you have to use missles, however they are hard points for proton torpedoes as well...but you only carry 3 proton torpedoes. You also need a torpedo for the bridge. my strategy has been to ignore the bridge and unload my launcher so I can use missles. Is there a way to fire missles at the thing instead of the torpedo?

[Tyraelium]

This. I can't stress enough that you need to buy the lvl 6 off the GTN. That is essential. Once you do that, you'll notice that you are less squishy.

 

I do have a question for the community, though. On the elite 'taking down the destroyer' mission, I have an issue. You can't kill the 4 shield generators with lasers, so you have to use missles, however they are hard points for proton torpedoes as well...but you only carry 3 proton torpedoes. You also need a torpedo for the bridge. my strategy has been to ignore the bridge and unload my launcher so I can use missles. Is there a way to fire missles at the thing instead of the torpedo?

 

You actually have 4 Proton Torpedoes. One is already in the chamber, and you have 3 reloads (which is what is displayed). You do NOT need to destroy the bridge for the mission. It is a bonus. Due to the problems with switching between Proton Torpedoes and Missiles, I never equip the Proton Torpedo.

[Elhanan]

People who start threads like these should be barred from input on class / game balance.

 

Seriously, space missions difficult? Try a little bit before you make a forum thread.

 

Starfox 64, Kingdom Hearts may have prepped players like me for space combat, but there were still missions that I died on and had to repeat until I learned it. A little effort is all you need. The game has been out for quite some time and those thousands of players had NO PROBLEMS whatsoever. Since the game difficulty hasn't changed, the only that has changed is the caliber of the player.

 

Sorry if the truth hurts.

 

Others may not be you; nor have your skills. I am disabled for instance, and have no experience with any other like game.

 

Sympathy; try a little before answering in a thread. A little effort is all one may need.

 

Sorry if the truth hurts.

[DeathDiciple]

heh lvl5 are on the edge of undoable without lvl6 upgrades, and to me those lvls go too fast to justify spending money on them. I'd rather get similar or higher money from belsavis dailies underlevel and coms that are actually useful than spend money on equipment for space missions that give useless gear as coms. But its nice to have an option for people that like that type of space shooters.

[Elhanan]

Lvl 6 gear, huh?

 

I may actually have to break down a little after the Plague, and visit the GTN; would like to complete the last few Missions.

[Lorgrin]

I just made it to level 40 and decided to do a little space combat the other night. I have never had a problem doing these missions. I have all of the latest upgrades, and buy the comm upgrades as soon as I can.

 

I tried doing one of the level 36 missions last night which was green for me in the quest log. The first one I tried (sorry I dont remember the names) was something like Pukani Defense. Its the one where you have to protect your space station from incoming bomber attacks. Anyway, I failed it at the last minute for some reason. The imperial ships did their hyperspace thing, and my time counter hit 0. Then I just get a failed mission for no reason.

 

I have also noticed that the difficulty is just over the top now. I would not have a problem with the difficulty if you were at least able to dodge some of the incoming blaster fire. It does not really matter what I do, I just cant dodge the blasts. I have tried moving around more, and doing barrel rolls, but there are times you just get bombarded with fire and there is nothing you can do to stop it. The blaster fire is on a magnet course to your ship, and will change directions to follow where you move to.

 

This makes me just not want to do these missions anymore, which sux because I liked them before. I thought they were fun and a nice way to make a decent chunk of creds. If Im going to waste 5 or more minutes of my life on these, knowing Im 90% guaranteed to fail....I just wont bother anymore.

[Acherom]

Others may not be you; nor have your skills. I am disabled for instance, and have no experience with any other like game.

 

Sympathy; try a little before answering in a thread. A little effort is all one may need.

 

Sorry if the truth hurts.

 

This is why I wanted to preface my comments with a little background.

 

If the difficulty actually hasn't changed at all; then we can look into tips / tricks to improving the player's gameplay.

But I think we can reasonably conclude something is different; if some players are able to report issues such as:

-starting the mission late

-the mission advancing while still on loading screen

-being placed on the rail at some point into the mission already on a quick load

-being placed on an entirely different path on a mission we've repeated enough times to know the normal path.

-having the path 'offset' in one direction or another that would skew flyby times or windows of opportunity for firing at targets.

 

The next step should be to get more data; we know some things happen, but is it an intermittent bug that may be isolated to end user setups; or a more wide spread client problem.

 

Go forth and test!

[zwildstar]

Yeah, the difficultity has gone way up after patch. I wonder what %^ thought it was a good idea to mess with one of the least used aspests of the game. I have never seen more than 3 players in "space" channel ever.

 

With the last patches bugs and the "unadvertised and unwanted" rakghoul plague effecting gameplay, I would not be surprised that the guys/gals that originally worked on the code is no longer working on this project and the "janitorial staff" aka management + interns are in control now. Too many bone-head decisions to think otherwise.

[Broxalar]

I can complete any of the space missions, that being said I have a complete set of the top of the line gear. Yesterday upon loading into ascendancy barrier I had no ui, and at the time didn't know how to fix it. I knocked out every mission including the bonuses with some hot shot flying and intelligent use of blasters/missiles. I could NOT use any of my other equipment but I was still capable of finishing the mission. There is a level of skills needed for these missions, and to me i'd love another 2 tiers of difficulty. All this being said I do feel like I'm being hit harder after 1.2 but it's nothing I can't handle.

 

Advice, get your gear and then run missions trying to avoid I ncomming fire as much as possible, run missions without firing a shot and see if you can survive. This will at least get you out of the, standing in fire, mindset. Secondly tr y only firing when you have a clear shot, this will optimize your shield regeneration.

 

On proton torpedoes, there is lag time after firing a torpedo so you can designate a shield generator to fire them at between reloads. Space missions are all about awareness even if they're on rails, and when you know the missions backwards and forwards you'll then realize they aren't so tough. If you have difficulties just try to. Utilize every part to it's maximum potential and you'll be fine.

[GreySix]

i just stopped playing them altogether. nice to know I am not the only one who does not appreciate the difficulty spike. i used to play the space missions to break up the mmo gameplay.

 

Ditto. Add that it's a rail-shooter, and there's not much fun in trying to punch through enemy shields while seeing your own shields and armor shredded on a path you can't leave. Will wait out to see if they improve it.

[SentinelDranoel]

God knows what you would of done with Rogue Squadron.

 

I think the one I played was rogue leader for the gamecube(correct me if I am wrong). Now that game was difficult, but it was the kind of difficulty that a gamer respects. It was not random deaths at all, it required a lot of skill. It also felt more balanced so you were more prepared for the difficulty spike.

[Elear]

But I think we can reasonably conclude something is different; if some players are able to report issues such as:

-starting the mission late

-the mission advancing while still on loading screen

-being placed on the rail at some point into the mission already on a quick load

 

Those all are related to loading problem. It was there since launch, getting fixed for a while(where tou started always at begining, no matter loading time), then messed up again. This however, is easly 'fixed' or 'avoided' by quickly dying and restarting mission(that is, if you do need that lost time)

[Kourage]

Nope.

 

All still easy.

[Striker_KOJ]

Ok, I have recently resubscribed because I wanted to give 1.2 a whirl.

 

I have been a proponent of a more challenging and deep space combat system, but I still played the heck out of the space missions because they were generally a good way to augment experience while leveling. I see a lot of misinformation in this thread about what you NEED to complete space missions (on any difficulty); but as my experience was with the missions before 1.2, I am also curious if there were any actual changes to the difficulty.

 

Someone mentioned in this thread that you sometimes start on a different "rail" than normal. Is this true? Is this intended? Is this a bug?

 

Was there any mention in any patch notes about changes to Space Combat at all? (I can't be bothered to rifle through the notes, because I am sure there are people who pay more attention than I do).

 

Unless there really are changes to the hitpoints of enemies, or to the damage your ships can sustain/dish out, then I disagree with most of the people in this thread stating you "NEED" lvl6 purple upgrades. I also disagree that you "NEED" the EMP upgrade. I am not sure I have even purchased, let alone equiped, the EMP on any of my characters, and I have completed all levels and (pretty sure) all bonuses. In most levels, it is entirely possible to acheive the minimum mission objectives entirely with lasers. Takes some practice and memorization but it is possible.

 

That is not to say that the items don't help, but they certainly arent required.

 

I am still very curious if the "rail" has been changed on some maps. With the way the levels have you "bearly" missing asteroids and ships, I can't immagine any change to the rail being intentional, and that could very well contribute to the "increased difficulty".

[kelarn]

when you get in the thick of things in space combat barrel roll like crazy trying to avoid fire while moving side to side. when the combat lightens up a little switch to defensive shield and regen the shield back. get used to doing this a lot,then back to offensive. also find the best place you use your " explode everything around you " ability for example on ascendancy barrier the best place to use that is in the second set mine field just as you turn to the left. that area you fly in and out for the next 2 minutes. makes it much easier when there inst any mines. also in that space mission you will get to use that ability again just before the final ship.

clouds of vorondoo is still bugged if you have proton torpedoes equipped don't forget to take off the torpedo before you go into combat. the space missions become trivial once you know where the fighters and such come from.

keep at it , i still love this part of the game

[Acherom]

Ok, I have recently resubscribed because I wanted to give 1.2 a whirl.

 

I have been a proponent of a more challenging and deep space combat system, but I still played the heck out of the space missions because they were generally a good way to augment experience while leveling. I see a lot of misinformation in this thread about what you NEED to complete space missions (on any difficulty); but as my experience was with the missions before 1.2, I am also curious if there were any actual changes to the difficulty.

 

Someone mentioned in this thread that you sometimes start on a different "rail" than normal. Is this true? Is this intended? Is this a bug?

 

Was there any mention in any patch notes about changes to Space Combat at all? (I can't be bothered to rifle through the notes, because I am sure there are people who pay more attention than I do).

 

Unless there really are changes to the hitpoints of enemies, or to the damage your ships can sustain/dish out, then I disagree with most of the people in this thread stating you "NEED" lvl6 purple upgrades. I also disagree that you "NEED" the EMP upgrade. I am not sure I have even purchased, let alone equiped, the EMP on any of my characters, and I have completed all levels and (pretty sure) all bonuses. In most levels, it is entirely possible to acheive the minimum mission objectives entirely with lasers. Takes some practice and memorization but it is possible.

 

That is not to say that the items don't help, but they certainly arent required.

 

I am still very curious if the "rail" has been changed on some maps. With the way the levels have you "bearly" missing asteroids and ships, I can't immagine any change to the rail being intentional, and that could very well contribute to the "increased difficulty".

 

The only thing that I've personally noticed is a change in the capital ship's firing pattern. There used to be a very simple: w - d - s - a, space bar w - a - s - d [repeat all mission long] pattern that allowed you to avoid nearly 100% of all incoming fire to the ship. From my experience: this doesn't work as effectively and I'm actually getting hit again.

 

The fly-by fighters attacks are still the same predictable pattern, and the 'mini-boss' class ships retained their avoidable pattern as well. However both the republic 'egg' cruiser and imperial destroyer are ripping away my shields with amazingly accurate ion cannons / barrages of turret fire. [in particular on the republic side: the frigate ships seem to be more difficult to juke as well.]

 

It may be discounted as my own perception; but that is all I've been able to notice.

[XavinNydek]

Due to the problems with switching between Proton Torpedoes and Missiles, I never equip the Proton Torpedo.

This. Everything is killable with missiles, just start shooting at the bridge as soon as you can target the ship, don't wait until you are doing close runs.

[GreySix]

This. Everything is killable with missiles, just start shooting at the bridge as soon as you can target the ship, don't wait until you are doing close runs.

 

Does destroying the bridge make the enemy ship a non-factor?

[Striker_KOJ]

The only thing that I've personally noticed is a change in the capital ship's firing pattern. There used to be a very simple: w - d - s - a, space bar w - a - s - d [repeat all mission long] pattern that allowed you to avoid nearly 100% of all incoming fire to the ship. From my experience: this doesn't work as effectively and I'm actually getting hit again.

 

The fly-by fighters attacks are still the same predictable pattern, and the 'mini-boss' class ships retained their avoidable pattern as well. However both the republic 'egg' cruiser and imperial destroyer are ripping away my shields with amazingly accurate ion cannons / barrages of turret fire. [in particular on the republic side: the frigate ships seem to be more difficult to juke as well.]

 

It may be discounted as my own perception; but that is all I've been able to notice.

 

If they increased the accuracy of enemy frigates I could see why this would be a pain, especially since they continue to shoot you even after you destroy all turrets.

[Holden_Dissent]

I will have to try these post 1.2.

 

Prior to 1.2 I never used shield mode once and I couldn't even tell you how to switch to proton torpedoes. Never switched to them and I've never used them. Nor have I needed to.

[GroogOT]

For Zosha advance (my favorite until last 2 minutes because it feels like a fleet assault) when you first get in range of the big one do this:

 

1) target bridge with proton torpedo

2) Fire all your missiles at one shield until the torpedo icon comes back

3) blast a shield with PT

4) go back to #2 shield or target something else if its gone

5) Blast last two shields with PT

 

BTW, something I didn't know for a long time is you can target a single thing with multiple missiles. Just rapidly click the target, simple as that!

 

Also, EMP is a waste. Never use it on the char I do have it on, and don't have it on the other. Don't miss it ever. The jammer is huge though. Can save you when you slip up.

 

 

As to the different RAIL:

Yes you can start on a different rail. You are "offset" by a certain fixed amount forward of where you are supposed to be. For instance in the minefield mission you can pass THROUGH the fighter tender's engines or you pass THROUGH the nose of a frigate in Zosha. Its obvious that you are not on the correct path. It seems this is due to load times and a lack of synchronization if something hangs up. If I go into a mission, leave and then re-enter it seems things load faster the second time and I'm only rarely on the wrong rail.

 

How would I go about quantifying this problem? Since I almost daily do those three missions AND I have the problem, it would be quite easy.

Edited April 19, 2012 by GroogOT

[Acherom]

I will have to try these post 1.2.

 

Prior to 1.2 I never used shield mode once and I couldn't even tell you how to switch to proton torpedoes. Never switched to them and I've never used them. Nor have I needed to.

 

Prior to 1.2; I could run all space missions without losing shields; heck half shields. As all fire was 'avoidable'.

Pop stance '1' on the power conversion module and blast away the whole mission. To complete minimum objectives (and some of the simpiler bonuses) you don't even really 'need' missles.

 

However; post patch my experiences are outlined above. It feels like something is different.

 

Also, EMP is a waste. Never use it on the char I do have it on, and don't have it on the other. Don't miss it ever. The jammer is huge though. Can save you when you slip up.

 

Setting off your EMP while in the middle of the first minefield will net you about 97 mine 'kills' at the very start of the [space mission that deals with minefields; can't recall the name].

 

You're also setting it off early enough that the cooldown will be up to do the same thing with the minefield at the very end of the mission; between these two pulses its more enough to fill the bonus requirement without shooting a single one.

Edited April 19, 2012 by Acherom

[Darth_Gao_Gao]

just support your local economy and buy all the artifact ship mods you can. make sure you have all the fleet mods as well, and learn to use them correctly. it really isn't hard.

[CallistoEx]

I am sure others have said this, but a big thing is to make sure your equipment is up to date on your ship, have the special use weapons and mods and stuff, and then a huge one for me was just learn to also move using movement keys.

 

My only gripe is that to do that I need to rebind left and right to a and d, as I have strafe there like most reasonable people would.

 

I wish you could just customize space movement keybinds. Or can you now and I just missed it?

[Slugamaniac]

I really like the step up in difficulty, believe it or not. That may be because I like the space missions THAT much.

 

It's especially challanging since my trooper is lv42 and currently doing Hydian Way Blockade and Drexel Sweep. Drexel sweep is still rough if you don't pay attention since the imp cruiser will rip your shields down to nothing right before you start your gauntlet run. So basiclly I try to recharge as much shielding as possible (al la power conversion module) after passing the cruiser and use nothing but missiles for 10 seconds or so. Once the super-imp fighter flies past me I blow my Electroic Warfare Pod and spam that fire button/rocket button like crazy at the oncomming fighters. If you time it right you shouldn't take more than 50% total hull damage once the big wave goes past you.

 

Also remember: you can fire your lasers and rockets at the same time! I didn't know this for the longest time and it helps a LOT! And always check the ship upgrade vendor everytime you level since 90% of the time you can get a better piece for you ship. Don't worry about spending extra for the purple ship upgrades, they will pay for themselves plenty fast.

Edited April 19, 2012 by Slugamaniac