Beta 02 Observations
Ok so as we all know if you try to bring in more then 4 transports on Beta 01, then the drop ship gets shot down and on Beta 2 we have to go rescue the units on the downed ship, or at least that is how its supposed to be, however there is one thing that has always bugged me about that, which is that the units you find on Beta 02 are just some generic units that have no experience, they are not the units that you actually put on the ship.
Now I don’t know how anyone else feels about it but in my opinion that is bad design because you are loosing a whole shed load of experienced units for no good reason, and units take far too long to level up for that, so that should be fixed and on the fifth drop ship the units that you recover should be the ones that you put on the drop ship.
But wait what if you only bring in 4 drop ships because you are an experience player and you know that you are only allowed 4 drop ships of units, so instead of trying to bring in more then 4 drop ships you simply decide what units you want to bring with you and then recycle the rest to preserve there experience?
Well in that case if the player hasn't summoned a fifth drop ship by the time the timer gets down to 5 minutes then you should still get the warning that the drop ship has been shot down, which you don’t get right now, and the units that you find should just be some generic one's as it is now, however I would perhaps give those generic units some experience because otherwise the units are more or less worthless, and not really worth recovering which results in them being immediately recycled upon returning to base.
Looks like a legitimate source bug regarding map code (thread related?). I wonder if that is the reason why this mission always takes way longer to load than the others. You should open a ticket and attach the report file.
Will do if i can remember how.
[edit]
done can find the ticket here
http://developer.wz2100.net/ticket/4633
I'd edit the description to correct the bit about attaching the crash dump to save confusion since i worked out how to attach it but it wont let me or at least i can't find the controls for doing that.
Beta 1 in general has always been one of the most difficult missions and even more so since the AI understands how to attack walls. I think the greatest chance of success is to destroy the LZ and the Collective command center as soon as possible. It also becomes surprisingly easy once the multiple cannon and lancer upgrades are researched.
Indeed that's why i think that on insane the player needs a little help to even the scales so to speak since the computers units are so much stronger on insane.
I mean once you get past the first 10 minutes and you have at least 2 squads up its not so bad because you have enough troops then to hold off there attacks, it's still tough and slow going and you still have to be careful but at least you have enough units to hold the line. As for blasting the collective command centre as soon as possible i do usually do that to stop there air attacks but it normally takes me at least 10 minutes to get that far, because 8 units isn't really enough for the task, so normally I'll wait until my second squad has arrived and shut down there drop zone at the back of my base so i can concentrate all my firepower foreword but of course by that time you will have already suffered at least 3 or 4 attacks from the air, which would be fine if they weren't showing up with tank killers and eviscerating what few units i do have.
The primary issue that I'm running in to is trying to get past the first 10 minutes which at the moment is taking me a significant number of reloads even when i have the game speed set to a 1/2 or a 1/4 of the normal speed so that i have time enough to react to everything that is going on because i simply don't have enough units and cant produce enough units fast enough and as a consequence i keep getting trounced, because within 30 seconds of landing you are getting attacked from behind and there is no way you can deal with the attack at the front of your base and deal with the attack coming from the back of your base at the same time without more units, its not possible, maybe on easier difficulties where the collective units aren't nearly so tough that might be possible but not on insane.
Which is why at the very least that first drop ship of enemy troops that shows up behind your base should be delayed for at least 5 minuets because as it is right now the start of Beta 01 is way to difficult.
I mean the base is in pieces, what is left of Beta commander units are worthless because they are all on critical damage and not fit for combat, and trying to repair them with mobile repair units takes forever and even your strongest units are hopelessly out matched until you acquire and research some of the firepower upgrades, but of course you actually have to be able to get that far in the first place.
What I'd like to know is what Beta Commander was doing all this time, he knew that there was another force operating in the area he knew they where more advanced so why is the base not more heavily guarded, why doesn't he have a garrison force i mean this is military strategy 101 you never leave your base unguarded, and more importantly why did he allow the collective to get that close.
Also while I'm thinking about it, why do i have to research AAA if Beta Commander has already done it ? as evidenced by the AAA batteries doted around the base.