Description
This is the first mission of a campaign I am working on. You are on patrol in an area where there is heavy freighter traffic. Everything flows smoothly until...

Storyline:
Oh no, it's the Hammer of Light (again, sigh)! Yes, those nasty old Vasudans are back <i>again</i>, presumably to wreak vengeance and terror. These are the eponymous Killer Angels, seemingly named after the first Hatshepsut you encounter, the Angel, and a wing of bombers. At least the author explains why the HoL are back (though really, a radical/religious group of any other name would suffice). However, two-stage briefings (that don't really mention defending gas miners) get black marks, as does the use of a dead corvette (the Actium or Lysander, depending on which you lose in the FS2 campaign). Spelling and grammar are understandable, but contain errors – though there aren't too many messages in the mission anyway.

Balance:
Remember how I said <i>first</i> Hatshepsut up there a few minutes ago? Well, you'll face another. And a Typhon as well. And just for good measure, you have to defend a friendly Orion from those two, their bombers and all the while prevent your own death. This, of course, occurs after fending off several waves of fighters and the HLD Angel with almost no capital ship or bomber support. It's impossible to fulfil the first goal of escorting the convoys as the Angel simply tears them apart without much trouble. If you're on your toes, you'll be able to eliminate the beam cannons on the other two destroyers quickly, leaving you to handle the bombers (armed with Piranha missiles, the bane of my life and quite difficult to spell, too). You still can't really save the Sartoga, though. You may have guessed that it's quite hard just to survive, though thankfully you have lots of wingmen. Unfortunately these have a tendency to die.

Design:
The design of the mission puzzles me, apparently only taking into account the event of complete failure and the loss of the GTD Saratoga – in fact; it'll never even depart. This is admittedly the likely outcome when facing two destroyers and bombers, but it's a little bleak (though it’s the start of a campaign, and so can be forgiven somewhat). The mission’s a little light on events, but there are waypoints, appropriate orders and the beam-frees work. That said, the capital ship combat is a little 'flat', not making full use of all axes.

Gameplay:
Considering the near-impossible (or <i>actually</i> impossible, rather) odds you face, the mission isn't that terrible to play. The action gets clogged when the angel arrives, as you and your wingmen have to take it on almost single-handedly, but after that the mission becomes a surprisingly fun and intense, if difficult one. The most annoying thing is that those Piranha missiles kept getting me. The main task, I think, is to survive here, so you may just as well fly off into the great beyond and watch the battle, really.

Other Thoughts:
Could somebody please use something other than the HoL in future? They've been done to death, and there are sure to be dissidents somewhere.