Description
Smugglers have been using medical supply lines to sneak in military supplies to sell to renegades. The GTA determines that the traitors must be eliminated, yet at the same time, it must be done discreetly.Therefore, you are recruited to lead the operation. This is also a re-make of an older mission; this one with MANY more changes and improvements. Tested for your convienience.

Storyline:
The storyline for this mission has greatly improved. A disease has ravaged a colony, resulting in a quarrantine of the system. The major relief station for the area, the Styris IV Station, has taken advantage of the situation to smuggle military supplies to pirates and, possibly, the Hammer of Light. The pilot is sent on a covert operation to destroy the station using three captured freighters containing military supplies. Using this cover, the freighters will deliver a nuclear payload into the station for remote detonation. The result will look like an "accident." <p> During the course of this mission, the Hammer of Light arrives to take the blame for your handiwork. The Hammer of Light is a believable scapegoat, given the suspected Hammer involvement with the station. The convenient Hammer attack on the station is no less believable than in any other mission. The mission briefing contains a very nice movement effect for the transport icons, and the command briefing is nicely done.

Balance:
Alpha is the sole escort of the transport convoy, in a standard Hercules fighter. The weapon selection is more than adequate -- including a large selection of almost every cannon and missile, except for the bombs. However, the Stiletto and Synaptic missiles are not valid weapons for the Hercules and should not have been included. <p> The selection of the Hammer instead of Shivan attackers makes for a more balanced mission. The twin Aten capital ships keep the Arcadia installation busy, and make approaching the main battle a dangerous proposition. Alpha and the Fury defenders are outnumbered by the Hammer of Light attackers, until Alpha calls in a large reinforcement group. <p> However, the convoy appears very close to the Station and is threatened only near the very end of the mission. This contrasts greatly with the prior version of this mission, where the Shivans directly attacked the convoy.

Design:
Events and directives are used effectively in this mission. And the IFF of the remaining Terran defenders will change after the sabotage is discovered. The most interesting part of this mission revolves around a remote detonation command. In this version of the mission, the transports must only travel 5000 meters and will nicely arrive and depart without colliding into each other. Once the transports dock with the station, a slick key-check allows you to destroy the Arcadia with the flick of a switch. This event is extremely neat, and the HUD will flash. Perhaps one other possible tweak would be to place a maximum time limit on the manual detonation once the cargo is inside that station. This would give the player a sense of urgency in the mission, as it becomes possible to be "discovered" even after the cargo is delivered. Something like a "routine inspection." And, unfortunately, things do get a little wierd if you prematurely drop or set off the bombs. However, this detonation event sets this mission apart from the crowd. <p> If you don't call in reinforcements, this mission can be completed if you hold back to protect the convoys and then jump out shortly after detonation. A condition that would prevent a complete victory if any of the Terran fighters survived would have fit better with the "they're onto us" message received after the destruction of the installation. <p> Ship placement is interesting, with all of the objects placed on different locations on each axis. As a result, the action takes place all around you. The Hammer fighters are dangerous and well-armed. Perhaps the only issue might be with the Hammer Aten cruisers, which will not leave after the installation is destroyed. <p> The sounds are a mixture of custom .WAV files and samples from the X-Wing series. All of the messages seem to arrive properly in this version of the mission, since there aren't as many messages as in the first version.

Gameplay:
The player has two options on how to play this mission. One is to call in the reinforcements and charge in to the installation's defense, only to pull the plug themselves. This is very ironic, being able to destroy the station yourself only after annihilating the two Aten attackers. This results in a fast, furious fight up-close to the Arcadia installation. <p> The other option is to hang back, letting the station do most of the hard work defending itself as you hang close to the convoy. In this strategy, you wait to pick off the Hammer fighters at long range with missiles instead of rushing in for a nasty, in-your-face battle. And without calling in your reinforcements, that battle is difficult to win. <p> These different options allow for some variations in play, boosting replayability. However, the convoy isn't in much danger using either strategy. This contrasts with the prior version of this mission, where you had to fight off the Shivan attackers as they attempted to take out the convoy. It is unfortunate that this fun part of the mission was cut. However, this mission is still much more fun since the weapon balance has been greatly improved.

Other Thoughts:
A greatly improved version of Mistaken Identities v.1, which was reviewed <a href="http://descent.gamestats.com/review/display.php3?MissID=121">here</a> if you're interested.