Description
Protect the GTD Nirva while the repair underway. Just simply place the fsm files into your data/mission directory and go to the tech/sim and select the mission. This is my first try on the FSM so if you have any comments or suggestion, let me know.

Storyline:
Rather minimalist: the GTD Nirva is disabled and needs help. Don't expect to find out why or how the Nirva was disabled or what happened to the Shivans who disabled her. Flesh the story out more, rather than leaving us only the bare bones. As it is, there's not much incentive to save the Nirva. <p> Objectives could be more descriptive and some of the ships could be named better.

Balance:
The Terrans are favored throughout the mission. The missile loadout is sparse, but secondaries aren't really necessary. The Terrans have sent a *lot* of ships to defend the Nirva: two full wings support Alpha Wing and Beta will arrive twice. You'll spend more time keeping friendlies out of your sights than keeping Shivans in them. All I can think of is that Terran clutter...

Design:
This is a first mission that isn't very complex or sophisticated using FRED, but does an adequate job with only minor errors. <p> Good placement of Terran ships in three dimensions, but the Nirva jumps out a little off to the side of the Sol Jump Node. An interesting screenshot can be had if you watch the Borland repair ship dock <u>inside</u> the Nirva. Seems to explain the "incompatible dock ports" error from FRED. <p> No directives are available, but there's not really much to do, is there? It's a little interesting to see the Nirva's engines jump from 0% to 100% without any warning. Might want to break down those repairs into stages. <p> The Shivan capital ship arrives inside the Sol Jump Node, which makes me wonder "did this Shivan cap ship <u>come</u> from Earth"? Instead of being menacing, all this ship does is sit there like a big fat target. The AI command to "stay-still" didn't seem to work right, so the ship just sat there. A free parking zone!!!

Gameplay:
Not difficult, since you have more help than necessary and the Shivan capital ship isn't much of a threat. The Nirva takes some serious damage, so defending it is a bit challenging. I wasn't extremely impressed, because it seemed that your help wasn't really needed. <p> Expect long waits between each wave. This is a long mission and will take no less than 15 minutes.

Other Thoughts:
Worth your time, if you like very long missions, to get the feel of it. The mission creates a good sense of defending the capital ship from attack, without going overboard. I'd like to see more missions with this approach.