Rework CSC Antarctica battle to remove Morton's Fork

[JohnBWatson]

In the Lamplighter/CSC Antarctica storyline, the final battle is either against the CSC Antarctica or a squadron of Aquilae depending on the dialogue choices made. This results in somewhat immersion - breaking logic, where the squadron of Aquilae shows up to attack the Antarctica only if the player does not do so. It also results in a gameplay imbalance, as the player can simply claim to be unwilling to attack the Antarctica, and then destroy it even more trivially than normal with the help of the Aquila squadron for the same reward. Furthermore, this dialogue chain creates a fairly obvious plothole in that Helios allows you to go free upon learning that you intend to kill her.

In addition to all of this, the current fight when attacking the Antarctica is very anticlimactic, as it cannot retaliate against a player that attacks from a distance with anything other than its 6 Centurions. For players that choose to side with Conrad Decker, this ends the Fleet's quite interesting and enjoyable plotline on a bit of a weak note.

I propose something that will solve both of these issues, improving immersion, gameplay, and balance while remaining reasonably easy to implement:

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Dialogue changes

Rather than allowing the player to declare his intent to destroy the Antarctica, give the option of remaining silent in its place, which results in the 'under attack' messages showing(minus the bit at the end), followed by 'dismiss'.

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Battle changes

Upon ending the dialogue, there will be a short delay, after which our four Aquilae gate in to engage the Antarctica. At this point, if the player has already aggroed the Antarctica, they will announce their intent to assist the player. If the player has implied sympathy to Helios, the Antarctica will message the player requesting assistance. This battle will be balanced so that the Antarctica's defenses are sufficient to reliably allow it to survive and gate out, but not destroy the Aquilae. In effect, a stalemate that the player must resolve. I would suggest the following:

- Add a bit more fireRateAdj to the Aquilae's NAMI Heavy
- Equip the Antarctica with Medusa missiles instead, and give its NAMI Heavy a higher FireRateAdj
- Buff the Antarctica's armor slightly, applying some anti - thermo paste to all of its segments.
- Have the Antarctica use its gunships more during the battle, both to handle a distant player and to defend itself.

The overall plan for the code is as follows:

The Antarctica should have 3 integer variables stored, representing the spare gunships they will use during the battle(in addition to their current squadron of 6 orbiting Centurions). The first representing 0 - 3 Britannias, the second representing 30 - 50 Centurions, and the third representing 5 - 10 Centurion Xs. In addition it needs 3 methods, 'onSpawnCenturion', 'onSpawnCenturionX', and 'onSpawnBritannia'. Each of these is a boolean that checks if the respective reserve is greater than 0 and subtracts 1 and returns true if so.
- Whenever the Antarctica spawns a gunship that is not part of a patrol, only create it if this method returns true.

Upon the Antarctica's destruction, check if the player has turned the Aquilae hostile. If so, mark its status as 'betrayed' if the player has killed it. If not, mark its status as 'destroyed' or 'destroyedByPlayer' as normal.

If the Antarctica is destroyed without the player ever having encountered it(defined as talking to it or turning it hostile), mark its status as 'lost'.
- This is a new status, and needs to be handled when the player talks to Decker afterwards. Have him tell the player that the Fleet's scouts have located the wreck of the Antarctica, and politely thank the player for offering to help in searching for it.
- If the player has not received the mission yet, the dockscreen should describe Decker and his officers discussing the mysterious circumstances of the Antarctica's destruction.
- The station in Dantalion will respond to its destruction as normal.

If the Antarctica has taken significant damage from some outside source but the player has not turned it hostile, have it begin fleeing. If it succeeds in gating away, set its status to 'gone'.
- This new status must be handled when talking to Decker. Simply use the same dockscreen as when the player has met the Antarctica, in which he requests an update on its status from his officers.
- The station in Dantalion should react to its having left the system as normal.

Have the Aquilae respond to hostility from the player as normal, but trigger their change in player alignment upon repeated attacks, like the Antarctica, rather than upon the player killing one of them. Ditto the Antarctica. When the player turns the Antarctica hostile, have it launch one of the following upon saying "So be it!":

- 60% chance of a squadron of 3 Centurion X gunships.

- 30% chance of a single Britannia.

- 10% chance of a squadron of 7 Centurions.

While the Antarctica is hostile to the player, every X seconds:

- Check whether the player is within 200 ls of the Antarctica. If so, do one of the following:

- 60% chance of spawning 4 Centurions with orders to attack the player.

- 35% chance of spawning a Centurion X with two Centurion wingmen.

- 5% chance of spawning a single Britannia.



1. Upon either ending the dialogue and undocking from the Antarctica or turning the Antarctica hostile by attacking it, start a timer.

2. When the timer ends, gate in the Aquilae and have the Antarctica begin moving towards the gate.
- If the player has turned the Antarctica hostile, have the lead Aquila message "Aquila squadron ready to provide support. Let's end this!"

If the player docks at the Antarctica, have Helios and her officers be 'busy directing the ship's navigation'.

3. Start a second timer for a few seconds. When that ends:
- If the player has not turned the Antarctica or the Aquilae hostile, have the Antarctica message "Decker's assassins are upon us! Let my blood be on your hands if you don't help!"

If the player docks at the Antarctica, have Helios and her officers be 'busy directing the battle'. If the player has not turned the Aquilae hostile, add 'Helios looks at you with confusion and desperation in her eyes. "Are you going to help us, or are you just here to watch us be slaughtered?"'

Every few seconds, have the Antarctica spawn a squadron of 2 Centurions that attack the nearest Aquila.

4a. If all of the Aquilae die:

If the player has turned the Aquilae hostile and they are all dead, have the Antarctica stop so that the player can receive the Gem of Sacrifice.

If the player has not turned the Aquilae hostile and they are all dead, do not stop the Antarctica. I am lost on what could possibly be said in such a situation, but Helios could probably imply that a miracle has occurred.

4b. If the Antarctica dies:

If the player has turned the Aquilae hostile, have one of them break off to attack him while the others gate. Otherwise, have them gate as normal.
- If the player turns the Aquilae hostile as they are leaving, have them all attack the player, and mark the player as a traitor immediately.
- If any hostile Aquilae succeed in gating, mark the player as a traitor.
- If the player returns to any Fleet installation while marked as a traitor, execute him.

4c. If the Antarctica succeeds in gating:

Have all surviving Aquilae pursue.
- If any Aquilae are still alive and they are not hostile to the player, mark the Antarctica as 'destroyedLater'. This should have the same outcome as 'destroyed', with an added explanation that the crippled Antarctica was pursued through the stargate and destroyed by the remnants of the Aquila squadron.
- If any Aquilae are still alive but they are hostile to the player, mark the player as a traitor, and execute him if he ever docks at a Fleet asset.
- If no Aquilae are still alive, mark the Antarctica as 'escaped'.

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This will vastly increase the feeling of closure after the final battle, creating a genuine challenge for the player regardless of the chosen side. The plot issues will be resolved, and several previously unhandled events will be handled, fixing quite a few bugs.

Comments? Questions?

[PM]

It also results in a gameplay imbalance, as the player can simply claim to be unwilling to attack the Antarctica, and then destroy it even more trivially than normal with the help of the Aquila squadron for the same reward.

Don't forget that if the player "assists", you get the betrayal outcome, which means no Lamplighter (or other reward) and no rank demotion.

Not really relevant for your suggestion, though.

[JohnBWatson]

It also results in a gameplay imbalance, as the player can simply claim to be unwilling to attack the Antarctica, and then destroy it even more trivially than normal with the help of the Aquila squadron for the same reward.

Don't forget that if the player "assists", you get the betrayal outcome, which means no Lamplighter (or other reward) and no rank demotion.

Not really relevant for your suggestion, though.

Code: Select all

(and gPlayerShip (eq aOrderGiver gPlayerShip))
						(if (objGetGlobalData gSource "playerRewarded")
							(typSetGlobalData &scCSCTerra; "antarctica" "betrayed")
							(typSetGlobalData &scCSCTerra; "antarctica" "destroyedByPlayer")
							)

The betrayal outcome only occurs if the player destroys the Antarctica after killing the four Aquilae, by my understanding.