This has been done by a few people. I am not one of them.

hmm I would have thought more people would have done it,

This is my second run through the missions, and I wanted a challenge. So far the hardest one for me was the Arch mission...

Never felt like trying it myself. But the few who have done so managed it by using powerful missiles. Only way to get through the later missions.

p.s. I'd probably hate getting into and out of the Alaska system in a Starflier more than anything. I hate those missions even in an Anubis!

I've done it.It is a real b*tch,even with a guide on loadouts.You really need the loadout walkthrough for the Starflier.I couldn't have done it otherwise.

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Never felt like trying it myself. But the few who have done so managed it by using powerful missiles. Only way to get through the later missions.

p.s. I'd probably hate getting into and out of the Alaska system in a Starflier more than anything. I hate those missions even in an Anubis!

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the Slingshot Missile is the best you can get right? *for armor attack with a starflier*
However, if you go and grab the Ripper Mine launcher from one of the wrecks, and load up with ammo, You pack a pretty mean punch

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I've done it.It is a real b*tch,even with a guide on loadouts.You really need the loadout walkthrough for the Starflier.I couldn't have done it otherwise.

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There is a guide? I would have thought anyone crazy enough to do it would have played freelancer so many times they would know what weapons their enemy had.

Yeah I had to use a guide.I did it after my first few times through the game.Now I wouldn't need it as much,but it'd be a big help for when my memory fails me.Just check down a few posts to the "Three New Walkthroughs" post.I used an ealier version of the advanced walkthrough.You should try it at least once,it's a blast.

Edited by - scannerdarkly on 9/20/2006 8:59:57 AM

The big trick with Rippers is to not do yourself in along with the target. Been there, done that, and it sucks hard to get all the way through most of a mission only to blow your own butt out of space.

The biggest problems for me, when playing the SP game in a low-level ship, lie in dealing with missions where you can't just take your time. In most missions, you can just zip around the fringes of the battle, dropping in every now and then to pop off a mine or two. However, a few exceptions come to mind- one where you have to escort a *certain someone* back from a hideout, and the transport isn't invinceable (unlike...well, every other critical allied ship in the game save for the one Patriot at the beginning). The other is a mission where you need to recover a *certain item* and have only a set amount of time to do it in (and naturally must blast your way in first). In the former, you need to be *VERY* careful with your mines (I've failed a few times because of friendly fire), and in the latter...well, without Rippers or something else that makes a big boom you'll never get *the necessary things* destroyed before you're out of time.

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The big trick with Rippers is to not do yourself in along with the target. Been there, done that, and it sucks hard to get all the way through most of a mission only to blow your own butt out of space.

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yea I could see myself doing that a good many times. I only used the ammo when killing the one ship at the shipyard though.

Edit: No Spoilers - Para

Edited by - parabolix on 9/22/2006 7:47:11 PM

scannerdarkly writes:

>I used an ealier version of the advanced walkthrough.

Cool man! Yeah, that starflier campaign is a blast.

NukeIt writes:

>The other is a mission where you need to recover a *certain item* and have only a
>set amount of time to do it in (and naturally must blast your way in first). [...
>without Rippers or something else that makes a big boom you'll never get *the
>necessary things* destroyed before you're out of time.

Hehe. That mission totally baffled me until I learned the proper mine-dropping technique (from the great Sherlog of course).

BTW, I believe it's impossible to acquire more than 20 Rippers before the campaign plays out. In my experiments, this proved too little: I couldn't get *the necessary things* down in the alloted time. (Had to use Drillers instead.) Did you make it happen in a Ripper-equipped Starflier? If so, I shall have to try it again!

And now for the obligatory...

Save them for when they *really* matter. You only really need them in that mission; there is no time limit on any other engagement and you really don't need to bring that much BOOM to bear- and because you don't need shieldkilling power in that mission, you can mount up armor damaging guns for the battle at the end of the mission.

*edit* And yes, you may need more than the 20 mines to do the job. Just stock up on other weapons that are really good against plain armor (well, as good as you can get in a class 2/3 ship).

You'll never need Rippers any other time. When destroying that first ship, for example, there is a "safe spot" of sorts right up under its belly where the hull protects you from all but the luckiest shot by an enemy vessel- from that spot, you can just take your time with any old gun you want. Any other time you need lots of firepower (helping *that guy* get back from his hideout), just use stunpulses in conjunction with whatever other launcher you can acquire.

Edited by - NukeIt on 9/21/2006 7:47:23 PM

Edited by - NukeIt on 9/21/2006 7:47:42 PM

Edited by - parabolix on 9/22/2006 7:48:32 PM

NukeIt, I am reconstructing this from memory that's pretty distant at this point, but I certainly recall trying to make the 20 Rippers work, but couldn't find any accompanying loadout that could get the whole job done within the time alotted.

(I'm fairly sure I tried all assortments of missiles and I believe I tried a mixed Lavablade/Adv.Scorpion loadout for maximizing damage and efficiency. I believe I also tried a mixed loadout. In all cases, the first one goes down faster using Rippers than using Drillers (of course), but after that you slow down too much, and don't have enough time to finish the last one: you either run out of missiles, or your gun battery is too slow and weak.)

Hmm, lemme see what the total damage is, comparing what total hull damage you get from the full (20) Rippers with the full (50) Drillers....

Ripper: 20 * 1,465 = 29,300
Driller: 50 * 1,054 = 52,700

That difference in 23k damage would be what makes this leg of the mission better with a Driller, if that is indeed the case, as I seem recall.

If I try it again to make sure, I'd start with:

2x Lavablade II
Slingshot
Ripper (with 20 mines)

I think that would be the best bet if you're set on using Rippers. I would hope that I tried that one when I was doing my experiments, but now it's been too long and I cannot remember for sure.

Here I'll list the other viable options (all including the 20 Rippers). If none of these work, than nothing can:

Javelin
Scorpion
Slingshot
(I think this fails when you run out of missiles)

Javelin
Scorpion
Adv. Scorpion

(or if the former can bottom out the gun battery, the slightly more efficient...
Javelin
Lavablade II
Adv. Scorpion
...but I seem to recall that the Starflier battery can support the former.)

2x Scorpion
Slingshot

(Or if that bottoms, switching either one or both the Scorps for Lavablade IIs.)

and finally,

2x Lavablade
Adv. Scorpion

(The last one bottoms out, and may be too slow for that reason, but that completes the set of best options.)

Please let me know if I missing any option.

I have gone through the missions 8-9 times and i haven't been able to do that. the hardest mission was the nomad arc way (the last mission) all the others i did. With great difficalty though

It's been quite a while since I tried, so it's very possible that I might have forgotten trying, failing, then using something else instead. It wouldn't be the first time...lol

I remember using them to blow something big and significant up, anyway. Maybe it was one of the other missions' shield generators. *edit* I seem to remember Rippers doing a lot more damage than that, too- like exactly the same as a Cannonball witha higher price tag. I could have sworn it was that mission, though- but if you've tried it more recently without success, you're probably right. Makes me want to load a new game and try it myself again.

Edited by - NukeIt on 9/23/2006 8:09:17 AM

You know what, I think I'll go through the Starflier challenge again. I can think of a couple points where the walkthrough could be slightly improved. (E.g., there are a couple places relatively early where pulse/missile combo would make things quicker and easier. Also I want to test if the Cuisse is the best for the Bretonian phase, or if the Guardian's higher rating makes it better despite being mismatched for the enemy weapons.)

I'll let you know if I can get the Rippers working on Mission 12 this time, and if not, I'll try to explain in more detail why it won't work.