Description
Follow up to Welcome to the Boonies posted nearby. In response to a pirate attack, GTVA forces lead a raid on a pirate staging area. <p> As with Welcome to the Boonies, there is extensive use of sound files. It won't work well without them...

Storyline:
Bait and Switch is a follow-up to Welcome to the Boonies, also by Agatheron, and builds on the storyline of this mission well. I recommend that you play WttB first, as it will help you understand the mission, but itÂ’s not vital. Once again, sound is used in the briefing to good effect. However, the placement of icons is a little disappointing, as is the fact that some of the ships do not match the icons, most notably the refuelling vessel, and the debrief doesnÂ’t have any stage to deal with the destruction of the Lonewolf or the Sai. In mission, though, the story shines as it is built up with many messages. ThereÂ’s a great twist too.

Balance:
Bait and Switch is quite nicely balanced. ItÂ’s not a frustratingly hard mission, but you do have to watch yourself. ItÂ’s most likely to be you that dies rather than the Lonewolf or Sai, though. It might have been better to pose a greater threat to the cruisers than to you directly. Although your wingmen will die quickly, the number of ships remaining to fight the pirates is just about right. The pirate bombers that arrive are a tad superfluous, as they do little or no damage to the Sai. A few more of these might have helped.

Design:
The mission is cleanly designed, using waypoints to good effect. There are also none of the asteroid errors found in the first mission. All the directives execute properly, as do the messages, although there are some spelling errors. Some of the messages could have been combined into send-message-list s-exps, but theyÂ’re a difficult s-exp to learn. One the subject of messages, as a result of the rapid death of your wingmen some of the messages meant for Alpha wing come through Command. Some of the other events could have been combined-in FRED2 you can add multiple independent operators to one event. The background is also a little plain, though this is meant to be deep space.

Gameplay:
Gameplay in Bait and Switch is fast and furious. The entire mission will only last five minutes on average, but these are packed with action. As stated before, your wingmen will drop like flies, but youÂ’ll get some help from the supposed pirate wings once the actual pirates arrive. Destroying these pirates isnÂ’t a great challenge, but staying alive is. The messages are, once again excellent, but they do trail off to nothing once the pirates arrive.

Other Thoughts:
ThereÂ’s no word on whether thereÂ’s a campaign based on these missions on the way, but itÂ’s certainly an appealing prospect.