Description
Set during main FS2 campaign. The Shivans have figured out what GTVA plans to do with the Bastion and have sent a Sathanas to destroy it. Lacking the ships to take it on directly, the GTVA resorts to a desperate, unorthodox tactic in an attempt to destroy the juggernaut.

Storyline:
In an entirely plausible main campaign mission, The GTVA must launch a desperate attack to destroy a Shivan Sathanas Juggernaut sent to blockade the Capella jump node and destroy the Bastion. The briefing is well done, with all of the briefing icons matching their ships, and the briefing and debriefing are free of spelling errors. It would have been nice to have a few more messages in the mission, which this mission lacks in a little.

Balance:
No bones about it, Forlorn Hope is tough. It took me several tries to finally destroy the Sathanas. Most of the time you will die due to your proximity to the Meson bomb when it explodes. If you leave it for a minute the Nahema bombers will destroy it. It might have been good to have the bombers stop attacking a few seconds before impact so you can clear out.

Design:
Design on the mission is generally good. The capital ships use their beam weapons effectively, though I would question why there are five separate s-exps for the Sathanas firing its separate beams, and why the Vasudan destroyer stays still as the Sathanas moves away, rendering it useless. The use of the ‘escort ship’ box would have been useful. Apart from that, events execute correctly and the Meson bomb has a good special explosion. It is in fact possible to save the Carthage if you’re lucky, contrary to the debriefing.

Gameplay:
The mission is suitably tense throughout, as you will often find yourself frantically shooting down bombs from the Shivan bombers. Neither the Meson bomb of the Trident are tough enough to take much punishment. However, seeing the Sathanas explode is a great reward.

Other Thoughts:
With a little better timing on the bomber attacks to ease the mission difficulty and a slightly cleaner design, this mission would score highly. It's a good example that there are main campaign missions to be made as well as post-war ones.