Description
The mission is in subspace and revolves around the recovery of the GTC Faustus ambushed in Subspace. Takes place during the Vasudan War.

Storyline:
The GTSC Faustus (a science vessel, predictably) is disabled in subspace during the Vasudan War, while scouting out enemy positions. Alpha must protect against the Vasudan hordes who wish to finish the job. <p> A few consistency problems plague this mission, making it entirely unbelievable. First and foremost, the techology to "track" ships into subspace wasn't developed until the <u>very end</u> of the Great War. The Vasudans simply couldn't chase any ship into subspace and a disabled ship can't get enough velocity to make the jump in the first place. Moreover, only a few ships could "jump" during the window of opportunity that tracking would be possible --and certainly not five minutes after Alpha arrives. This makes launching a rescue operation out of the question, since it would take too long to launch, especially if the GTSC is near enemy territory. In addition, a GTSC is an extremely poor choice for the GTA to send on a scouting mission, with its weak hull and abysmal top speed of 25. Finally, there are too many ships available even though only the Apollo and Valkyrie are available during the Vasudan War. These inconsistencies clearly detract from the believability of the story and its setting in the FreeSpace universe.

Balance:
The hardest thing about Terran-Vasudan war or subspace missions is the balancing. But don't plan on a fully fitted ship in this mission. Although you can choose any ship, you won't have any shields in subspace. There are no weapons or missiles available other than the standard Avenger/ML-16 and MX-50 combination on three Apollo fighters. Three avengers, three ML-16s and 60 MX-50s. This is economy-class, even if the weapons are limited to the Vasudan War scenario. I'd expect at least a decent loadout of Fury missiles. <p> The only saving grace is that your only enemies will be three wings of Anubis and two wings of Seths. Reinforcemets are available, five Valkyries at the start and four Ulysses at the end. However, the waves of Vasudans will come quickly -- up to seven wings of the Anubis! That makes about 60 Vasudans, all in subspace where you have no shields. Even though you can rip through the hull of the enemy, attrition will take its toll - the Anubi's Weak Hornets are hard to evade. <p> In the end, if the Vasudans don't eventually chew you up then they'll gobble up that weak-hulled STSC Faustus and the GTT Elysium. And then it's game over. But you do have a chance if you call all of the reinforcements.

Design:
At least the shields are turned off for each ship in subspace. However, support ships can be called. But that's little suprise since a steady stream of other ships will arrive as well. <p> There are a few events in this mission, mostly to send messages. Unfortunately, those messages just aren't loud enough to be heard over the whine of subspace. The very first message ends abrubtly, suggesting that the Mayday repeats, but a burst of ending static would convey the message better. <p> Since there are so many waves, all of the ships will appear at the same point - allowing a clever player to "get the jump" on the Vasudans. However, the problems with subspace missions (explained by Ouroboros in this <a href="http://descent.gamestats.com/editorials/8-11-98.shtml">editorial</a>) rear their ugly head in this mission as the AI doesn't handle subspace well, often getting confused with the stream effect. <p> Even outfitting the Anubis with Weak Vasudan Lasers and Weak Hornets doesn't compensate for the sheer number of waves you must fight. This is an extremely light weapon configuration for your enemy, but SEVEN waves is a bit much even for veteran pilots. The Seths, however, come nicely armed with Avengers and ML-16s, plus Stilettos and MX-50s. Those Avengers will finish you off at the end. <p> Also, there are a few FRED settings which are not used, such as the "escort ship" status which could have shown the hull status of the GTSC Faustus or the GTT Elysium. Directives are not used even though the supporting events are there for the messages. Also, the "scramble mission" option would make the story much more believable as it would simulate a hasty rescue operation (and the current loadout really doesn't give you any options anyway, so you won't miss anything). Support ships should have been disallowed, because any missile is extremely powerful in subspace. One MX-50 will take out a Vasudan Anubis without shields.

Gameplay:
The absence of shields simply makes this mission nearly impossible to win. In the end, I was extremely disappointed with this mission: subspace made it difficult to evade the streams of missiles and the targets would quickly die under a burst of concentrated fire, only to appear again in seconds as the next wave. Even activating the cheats won't guarantee victory, as the Vasudan wings will arrive as fast as you can kill them by pressing h and ` and k. <p> The real challenge in this mission would be from preventing yourself from calling all of the reinforcements to protect the GTSC Faustus and the GTT Elysium. If your resolve fails and you call in all of the reinforcements, you can take away all of the fun in dogfighting. But there is a damper on the joys of dogfighting already due to the problems subspace creates for the AI. With a better balance, this mission could have been so much fun.

Other Thoughts:
A very good mission idea. If there was some way to fix the story inconsistency without dismantling the core of the mission.... And fix the balance.