First of all, because this is going up on Christmas Day, Merry Christmas, everyone! Now, on with the show!
Here we have the very first system split of the game. If you successfully completed Gwynned Mission C, then you’re going to the Niven system. Otherwise, welcome to the Ghorah Khar system. The winning path will get here eventually too.
What we’ll see regularly, and why I decided to pair these missions up every week, is that both the storyline, and the missions themselves, largely mirror each other. For example, this week, the story segment is exactly the same for both paths. However, the missions themselves are different.
We find “Lucky” in the barracks after the TCS Concordia jumps away from the Gwynedd system. Admiral Tolwyn may not want him onboard, with with the support of Angel, Spirit, and Doomsday, it looks like we’ve at least got a bunk for a while.
Ghorah Khar Alternate A has us back in the Ferret for a courier run to the Ghorah Khar field base. Another new thing – planetary landing! Well, sort of, anyway. We get a pre-rendered cutscene of a Ferret dropping onto a planetary landing pad after an orbital mission debrief over comms. The actual mission isn’t especially difficult, there’s just one nav point with enemies, but one important detail is that the Dorkathi will jump away given enough time. We’re going to need to break our usual rule of Kill the Escort Fighters First, and pop that transport right quick. Fortunately, Kilrathi transports haven’t gotten better shields in the past ten years.
One thing to keep in mind with this mission is that not killing the Dorkathi is a mission failure. One mission failure in this system is all you need to hit the bad ending for the game. Don’t fail.
In contrast, Niven A introduces the Broadsword for the first time. I really hate this ship. Sure, it’s got big shields, advanced targeting, and a decent gun armament, but the shields take forever to recharge, it can’t maneuver for squat, and it’s got no afterburners, so running away from a fight is never an option. But it’s the primary strike bomber for this series, and one of only two torpedo armed ships (technically three, maybe?) in the main game. So get used to it, we’re going to see the Broadsword a lot.
Once again, the mission itself is pretty close to a cakewalk. Just five enemy fighters to deal with, and they’re the slow, lumbering Kilrathi types that even the Broadsword can keep up with. In the event that it can’t keep up, there are always the turrets to help deal with the problem. Just keep in mind that both the Jalkehi and Grikath fighters have turrets of their own. Gone are the days of rolling up behind a big, lumbering enemy heavy fighter and laying waste to it with a full gun barrage. Try that now, and the neutron turrets will shred your shields faster than you can destroy your target.
On either path, these are just the first of four missions in the system. Success or failure goes on to the B mission.