Topic: SFCIII is too freakin hard! (Read 11723 times)

CaptainCrazy701 · « **on:** June 30, 2003, 04:12:19 pm »

Hi, I love playing star trek games and I was very good at star trek bridge commander but I can't even get by the 2nd mission with the klingons in single player campaign! I think the difficulty is set too high, is there a way to change it? This sucks cause i know how to use the wepaons pretty good, its only my 2nd day owning the game but the problem is that the enemy pirate ship constantly maneuvers so that he is neverf in a decent firing arc and the bird of prey has all weapons facing forward. I don't have enoug prestige to upgrade yet either. Its pretty frustrating that no matter how much I shoot him he keeps regenerating and repairing and I can never get a good angle on him. Plz tell me i have difficulty set on high or something.

Cleaven · « **Reply #1 on:** June 30, 2003, 04:47:45 pm »

Just grab him in a trac2 and pound him to pieces with your forward arc heavies.

I apologise for now making the game too easy for you. The only way to fix your new problem is to buy SFC2-Orion Pirates. (I know, it's a plot but at least OP is only about $10.)

WDLL · « **Reply #2 on:** June 30, 2003, 05:35:16 pm »

Or just ignore the above suggestion. :-)

Use tractor beams only to repel and use your skills to out manouver your opponent and defeat him.

If you keep circuling each other someone must break the circle. You could for example stop chasing him, go to a straight line, when he starts following you drop a mine. He will change course, no more merry go round. In missions where there is more than one enemy ship this should appear much.

CaptainCrazy701 · « **Reply #3 on:** June 30, 2003, 07:07:01 pm »

Thanks for the ideas, but the otehr problem is that the freighter i am suppposed to be protecting then turns on me so i have 2 enemies to fight with my n00b ship so its quite hard. Oh well i did want a challenge anyway cause BC was too easy but i d idnt' expect to get stuck so early. its gonna be very rewarding when i do kick his ass.

CaptainCrazy701 · « **Reply #4 on:** June 30, 2003, 11:04:36 pm »

So there is no way to change the difficulty of the campaign mode? Man I spent 3 hours tonight trying to complete the 2nd mission. I tried everything, i used the tractor beam, i tried beaming gusy over, disabling systems etc etc etc, nothing I do works. This game freaking SUCKS! Why do they make it so impossibly hard. I can't believe how anyone can do any good at this game. Its rediculously slow paced and all the AI does is automatically counteracts your every move so you just end up goign around in circles all the time. I can't beleive i wasted my money on this POS game. I have to think of some way to get my money back.

Dogmatix! · « **Reply #5 on:** June 30, 2003, 11:22:15 pm »

Quote:

Or just ignore the above suggestion. :-)

Use tractor beams only to repel and use your skills to out manouver your opponent and defeat him.

If you keep circuling each other someone must break the circle. You could for example stop chasing him, go to a straight line, when he starts following you drop a mine. He will change course, no more merry go round. In missions where there is more than one enemy ship this should appear much.

Why ignore Cleaven's suggestions? Both are quite good, the latter suggestion being excellent.

Cleaven · « **Reply #6 on:** June 30, 2003, 11:22:22 pm »

Post deleted by Cleaven

Dogmatix! · « **Reply #8 on:** June 30, 2003, 11:24:39 pm »

I was just gonna say....first time I've ever heard someone say SFC3 is too hard. I was taken aback...

Still, I hope someone can help the poor guy. I have no idea how else to make the game easier for him. Maybe it was the fact that I'd already played a lot of SFC and SFC2, but I didn't find anything about SFC3 to be deep or too difficult.

EmeraldEdge · « **Reply #9 on:** July 01, 2003, 12:10:01 am »

He could always edit the weapons file so that his weapons are way uber above the other races, although if it's a pirate situation I don't remember what weapons they use so it could be a problem. Or, he could edit the system specs so that he has massive maneuverability and shields, in addition to upping the weapons fire so that he can outmaneuver and outgun the enemy while having a much better defense. That's the only way I know of to make things easier.

CaptainCrazy701 · « **Reply #10 on:** July 01, 2003, 12:52:07 am »

Hey guys, sorry for blowing up a while ago. I feel so stupid now. Guess what happened. When I started a campaign I was picking my name for my character and then i saw the chocie to be a "commander" captain" or "admiral" I thought these were just a rank that you would be as an officer not the difficulty levels! Sheesh i picked captain cause i wanted to be a captain. Taldren didn't have to be so vague here, why didn't hey say "commander (easy)" , "captain (hard)" etc?

Another thing I picked up on was taht I was used to targeting ship systems like I did in Bridge commander all the time so i did the same thing here and I was getting really pissed that most of my weapons fire was missing! Then I remembered from reading the book that your officers start off as a bunch of retards and can't aim for sh*te. Little did I know that if you aim for a subsystem and miss it, you miss the ship entirely. That's a bit lame, why not just miss the system but still hit the ship? Anyway I thought what if i just click on the "hull" and fire? So I did and from then on every shot i fired hit and i blew up the ships in no time flat. WOW talk about vague descriptions. No wonder so many people have a hard time getting into the SFC series. Oh well i am much more pleased now that i can actually DO something. I went and adding some nicer disrupters, upgraded thrusters, improved my hull and got rid of my dimwit tactical officer who couldn't hit the broad side of a galaxy class starship for a verteran class tac officer. Bring on those pirates!

Cleaven · « **Reply #11 on:** July 01, 2003, 02:46:13 am »

Congrats, but don't forget you are now a candidate for SFC2-OP, a game more appropriate for the discerning "captain".

The_Infiltrator · « **Reply #12 on:** July 01, 2003, 06:39:41 am »

Has anyone bothered to consider that this post may be a troll? I find it nearly IMPOSSIBLE that SFC3 could be called "too hard".

If it isn't I don't know if I should cover my eyes or laugh my guts out.

Cleaven · « **Reply #13 on:** July 01, 2003, 07:38:22 am »

I think anybody who is stepping up from Bridge Commander needs to be cut a bit of slack.

CaptainCrazy701 · « **Reply #14 on:** July 01, 2003, 09:31:21 am »

Like I said guys I figured out waht was happening and I could now in fact be successful even playing on "captain" difficulty now that I have figured out the game's overly complex menus and vague descpriptions. The manual has a lot of content but doesn't go into much detail about explaining the game for new players.

Anywa I really like the game and for those raggin on bridge commander's difficulty, try playing some of the later missions on hard. You will be humbled. Its not that hard to beat a kessok hybrid ship 1 v 1 on hard in skirmish mode but try the missions where you have to fight off a squadron of ships!

3dot14 · « **Reply #15 on:** July 01, 2003, 01:24:59 pm »

I take you haven't played the Kobiyashi Maru (for SFC1)?

Amazingly enough, I actually know/knew someone (not dead, just dropped off SFC scene) who won that.

If you have the money and the energy, I/we strongly recommend SFC1 and/or SFCOP (both can be found in bargain bin < S10) There are some really Hard missions. (Dancing with Myself, Hole in Space and Time II comes to mind. And Aceooop for SFCOP)

Well. I completely agree the manual is vague. (why be polite, the manual is junk.) That's why tthere is a forum.

Good Luck!

CaptainCrazy701 · « **Reply #17 on:** July 01, 2003, 03:47:04 pm »

What's so great about SFC OP and SFC II? People here keep telling me to get those games and I have seen them dirt cheap in the bargain bin. I was considering getting SFC II because I really like the kirk era ships and slower more dramatic combat but once I saw that SFCIII still had the Excelsior class ship I almost pissed my paints! That is my favorite ship next to a galaxy class. SO I don't know if i have much reason to play the other ones but I might. Whats' so great about Orion Pirates anyway?

PS: I upgraded to a K'Tinga class attack cruiser from my bird of prey and outfitted it with 2 class III disrupters plus the standard 2 on the foward section, 2 type I disruptors on the rear and an ion cannon/photon cannon on the front. Man this ship is kicking major butt! Is it normal to have a ship so grossly powerufl this early in the game or will I be glad I souped it up for tougher missions in the future?

3dot14 · « **Reply #18 on:** July 01, 2003, 04:11:55 pm »

Whats so great?

Well... It's harder than SFC3.

(which make playing it a lot more satisfying. My personal opinion, of course.)

EmeraldEdge · « **Reply #19 on:** July 01, 2003, 04:23:23 pm »

Well, first off. SFC2 vs. OP. OP is the "stand-alone" expansion. Now many didn't move on because they had their undies in a bunch over the "stand-alone" thing. But in the end OP is everything SFC2 is and more. More ships, weapons, I think arcs, etc. The next patch looks to finally vanquish the vast majority of bugs that was holding OP back from being the stand out, so there is really no reason to go for SFC2 over OP at this point, especially since you can download the single player campaigns from SFC2 and plug them into OP. It's really a cake and eat it too thing.

As for why OP is best, the gameplay for me is just vastly superior. It's got a nice pace to it, nice tension buildup before the first strike comes in, and I like the stalking eachother type of battle. Very cool. Not to mention the game has superior diversity over other versions. It's got lot's of race specific arcs and weapons that REALLY make playing different races different. You cannot fight race X the same way you fight race Y, and you certainly cannot fly race X the same way you fly Race Y. The difference between say the Hydrans and the Romulans is amazing. Racial diversity is at it's peak in OP.

Beyond just the superior tactical play, the game has visual diversity. Something that was lacking in SFC3, imo. Every race has their own screens in tactical, as well as sounds, so that you really get into flying a certain race. You feel like you are really part of the game, commanding a ship. Now, SFC1 took the visual diversity further in having different campaign interfaces for each race, which was too cool, but at least you have different racial controls when you are actually fighting in SFC2 and OP.

Now, there are some tweaks that are nice in SFC3, especially a few options in the D3 vs. D2, but for my buck it's OP all the way. I can live without those couple of features in exchange for the superior gameplay and atmosphere. I've started playing OP more and more recently (again) and every time I boot it up I just get euphoric. It's too cool (but that said anything can always get better....

) OP is not only worth the 9 bucks from the bargain bin, it's a steal. It's highly unlikely, imo, that you will ever find another game of that quality and depth of play (post patch) at that price or any other.

CaptainCrazy701 · « **Reply #21 on:** July 01, 2003, 06:53:01 pm »

Sounds cool I'll probably pick it up in sometime this summer. I an seeing just how easy SFCIII is on commander difficulty, i should have chosen captain i guess. Whats weird is that i no longer have any trouble maneuvering around my opponents unllike the 2nd mission where i could not get my weapons facing my enemy, now it is a breeze. I dont know if its because I put a lot of prestige into good maneuvering thrusters or the AI just took a nose dive. Oh well i could have fun for a long time blasting these swine out of the stars. I can easily turn up the difficulty for one of the other campaigns. I can't wait to get to use the federation..mmm my favorite. Can't wait to get into an Excelsior class ship again

Baker · « **Reply #22 on:** July 01, 2003, 07:27:28 pm »

Excelsiors aren't that good of ships unfortunately. However if you have got the TNZ mod then you'll notice the Lakota refit excelsior, which is a very fine ship. Another ship of this type is the Chabot, which is also a very nice ship to fly.

EmeraldEdge · « **Reply #23 on:** July 01, 2003, 07:51:32 pm »

In OP however the Excelsior model is used for a number of ships, some of which are painfully popular amongst the Fed players.

Holocat · « **Reply #24 on:** July 01, 2003, 10:17:00 pm »

Ya know, that got me as well when Orion Pirates came out; I couldn't tell from the box if I could play the old races AND the pirate races. You can play one's precious federation in OP is you so wish. It's what I do, and the added pirates give a lot more to shoot at.

As has been mentioned before, in SFC3 the 'excelcior' model is a mediocore class at best (As I don't have the SFC3, I can only tell you what others are saying; I have no proof of this myself) However, in Orion Pirates, the 'excelcior' model is used for the Federation's battlecruisers, which are highly popular and powerful creatures. (As I have Orion Pirates I can attest to the Federation's battlecruisers being both popular and powerful.)

The tatical complexity of OP, EAW and SFC1 may disagree with you if you find SFC3 a handful; However, there are set difficulty levels (captian, commodore, and admiral) and you have fully customizable skirmishes where one can improve their skills. In addition for those willing to read a little to improve their skills, there are large volumes of player-compiled tactics online. I believe battleclinic is the most relivant to SFC 3.

For those truly seeking glory however, player to player battles can make the game's artifical intelligence look poor, slow, and stupid; For a real rush, playing the old hands here can be very... educational.

I recommend Orion Pirates; It has the widest selection of gameplay (which gives challange for both new and old), is still easily available, and has a cadre of people of high caliber willing to put the time and effort to make it better; Taldren is yet working on one more patch for the game, and people such as Firesoul, 'Evil' Dave/Tracy/Karnak, and many others continue to work dilligently on making improvements, such as firesoul's OP+ shiplist and mission conversions, or the Evil Three's Mission Packs.

Take a captain's chair, grab a cup of your Empire's Beverage of Choice, and enjoy youself; If you have any questions, we'll try our best.

Holocat.

SghnDubh · « **Reply #28 on:** July 02, 2003, 08:21:40 pm »

LOL

Used to play. Heh.

Frankly, people are entitled to their own opinions. And since I'm entitled to mine, and ya'll are free to skip this post, here it is. The people that disparage SFC3 as "less" of a game simply because it has less buttons on its UI are being unfair and narrow-minded.

The games (EAW/OP & SFC3) are different. Not better, not worse, different. There is no reason to be elitist, bigoted, or exclusionary. It's ok to have a favorite, but it's not ok to put down either game because "it's not like the other."

And if people try to trash-talk EAW or OP as being the perfect game for the ultimate geek because of the high learning curve and myriad little nuances and they wouldn't stoop to T-Bombing anybody because it's just silly, I would "grrrr" at them too.

When will the short-sighted arrogance about "2 vs 3" or "3 vs 2" stop, and when will people accept that we're here to have fun--and that both games will stay on your hard-drive long after you've installed and un-installed UT2003 or Command and Conquer?

RANT OFF.

NannerSlug · « **Reply #30 on:** July 02, 2003, 09:49:35 pm »

SghnDubh , you are absolutely correct..

im going to be blunt here.. sfc3 was never given a fraction of the chance ot patience sfc2 was.. the only game that was nearly bastardized by many here was OP (which in my opinion has always been the superior product - but hey, thats my opinion).

sfc3 was shafted between the politics of people who never gave it a chance, no demo and no patch (after how many were released for eaw). it is my opinion that there will never be an official patch for sfc3 now. it will be a cold day in hell before it happens.

take sfc2 or op and put it out there with no demo or no official patch and stack it up to sfc3 and see what kind of a response you get. sfc3 might not be perfect.. but its an excellent game in its own right.. you add in the dominion war and TNZ mods for sfc3 and it out right rocks.

it is all about your preference. some people like the sfc2 style of play.. others like the sfc3 style of play.. it is 100% a matter of opinion. i think it would be wise for people to let it be.

CaptainCrazy701 · « **Reply #31 on:** July 02, 2003, 10:04:20 pm »

You know what would be the absolute best wet dream for any star trek fanatic? A game that lets you design ships from the ground up...some kind of easy yet robust tool that lets you design ships to your liking..ohhh i would love that so much. The more customization the better in my book.

One aquestion about SFC II OP, do you have to push buttons on the menu to turn your ship or can u use keyboard arrow keys? THis is a big one folks cause i briefly tried SFC II before and i only knew of how to move the ship via the nav buttons on the menu and it was bloody annoying.

Dash Jones · « **Reply #32 on:** July 02, 2003, 10:22:24 pm »

I like both SFC 2 and SFC 3. SFC 3 is nigh perfect with the TNG mod. SFC 2 is nigh perfect for me as OP.

But the best one of all for me is still (and maybe nostalgia gets in my way because it was the first I played, and my first exposure to Trek) is the first and original SFC.

Cleaven · « **Reply #36 on:** July 03, 2003, 04:25:30 am »

Actually this has been said often enough,in that the D3 game is very popular for a lot of people. I think this is the opposite situation for SFC2 where the D2 leaves a lot to be desired and it's the game play which keeps people there. It probably comes down to what you are happy doing without the most, as opposed to what you want the most.

SghnDubh · « **Reply #37 on:** July 03, 2003, 04:37:32 pm »

Why the (sic) S'cipio?

Cleaven · « **Reply #39 on:** July 03, 2003, 06:17:13 pm »

Norton's scans for software and recognises it as SFC:TNG not SFC3, so somebody in the production process labelled it correctly.

NannerSlug · « **Reply #41 on:** July 03, 2003, 07:59:16 pm »

please get off the political/ego driven sfc3 is not the real sfc3 trip. sfc 3 is a very legitimate "3". in fact it is by far a more legitimate 3 than a GaW would have ever been *gasp*. the GaW some of you guys keep talking about is no more than a mere expansion pack for SFC1/2 by gaming standards... there actually would be more new in MOHAA: spear head or BF 1942: the road to rome than in what some people would label the "real" sfc3.

fact is, sfc3 made some very big leaps and has a lot of potential.. but in retrospec - many of those things are not quite fleshed out and could be corrected in a patch or an expansion pack (neither is going to happen - thank goodness for the TNZ and DW mod)..

sfc3 actually has less radical changes from 2 to 3 than say warcraft2/3..

im not saying things are perfect.. but just as some democrats say bush isnt a legitimate president, i think some people need to get past the whole 2/3 thing. if they were really smart - instead of complaining about 3 - they would have lobbied for an SDK/mod potential to add weapons and make things to where they could convert it to what ever they want it to. (that is just my opinion).

sorry for the rant.. but it just amazes me... now i doubt it will be several years before we see any sort of a trek game at all.. and the patch for sfc3 is probably gone forever.. (whether some of you like it or not - sfc3 was never given a chance.. no demo, no patch 6+ months after the release of the game - try that with any game and see where it lands)

i am just thankful for folks like the pelican and korah.

CaptainCrazy701 · « **Reply #42 on:** July 03, 2003, 08:08:41 pm »

Interesting reading all these debates but I feel somewhat left out of the loop. See I haven't really played the first two so I don't understand where all this passion for debate is coming from regarding SFCIII. But I have a new question and that is tha I am in the klingons campaign and have done several "campaign required" missions but then all the sudden they stopped an now i am allowed to just go anywhere and do wahtever missions i want, mostly jhust answering distress calls and attacking abases. My question is, where did the campaign go? I feel all alone out here in space with no direction at all. Am I supposed to go around completeing all these random missions to get the story to go further?

NannerSlug · « **Reply #43 on:** July 03, 2003, 08:15:24 pm »

play a few missions.. its probably triggered at a certain prestiege level.

CaptainCrazy701 · « **Reply #45 on:** July 03, 2003, 08:19:14 pm »

Well I haven't shifted yet to another campaign so i guess I am supposed to go around doing missions. What do youthink I should do? Head into romulan space? Will that "trigger" something to happen? I really would like to get on with the main missions so i cna get to the otehr races. Klingons are cool and all but I long for the mighty federation ships.

CaptainCrazy701 · « **Reply #47 on:** July 03, 2003, 08:51:47 pm »

yeah i'm starting from a saved game and not the auto save one. wahts up with that? I want to be able to save my progress when i want to.

NannerSlug · « **Reply #48 on:** July 03, 2003, 08:57:19 pm »

try just gobbling up a lot of prestiege.. if and when you get enough, that might trigger the story line again.

CaptainCrazy701 · « **Reply #49 on:** July 03, 2003, 10:07:51 pm »

I only have 9000 some prestige points but i did put a lot into ship upgrades, i'm currently flying a Vorcha with class 4 disruptors and dual front firing ion cannons. I've been kicking major ass with this ship but i don't get much points for doing the dinky little missions that i am taking right now. I'll keep plugging away and see what happens. btw i tired loading my auto save game and i start off at basically teh same point as my manual saved campaign but there is still no required missions so i guess i just have to wait for a trigger.

AdmiralJaneway · « **Reply #50 on:** July 04, 2003, 09:32:42 am »

If I'm assuming your in the correct mission, there's a simple way of doing this. Refit your ship so it has high manouverability, and high shields. Next go into the mission, tractor the pirate near to the sun, and the debris will start tearing apart his shields. Fire at will, then let him go, warp back to the freightor, then simply start firing at it. Finally, when its shields go down (if it takes to long do as before but only enough to let its shields go down, not destroy it), then start transporting people to take over the ship.

You should now have the freighter captured, and the pirate destroyed.

Hiatus · « **Reply #51 on:** July 04, 2003, 04:42:01 pm »

The excelcior class is one of my faves too, get the TNZ mod from www.battleclinic.com and check out the lakota and chabot refits, they're wicked. definately get the mod though, so many fantastic ships.

Tulwar · « **Reply #54 on:** July 07, 2003, 12:49:56 am »

Just buy SFC EAW/OP for the music score alone. It's also fun to be able to rip the guts out of a ship (seeing you've ripped the guts out of a ship) in a single pass. Sometimes you can make a quick kill, sometimes you have to wear the enemy down, and sometimes you just have to try to run away while you still have some engines. In SFC3, you pound and pound, watch the hull indicator go down a little, then pound again. I bought SFC EAW and OP new at a combined price of $85.00, and do not regret it one bit. I paid $50.00 for SFC3, and was never able to complete the single player campaigns because it kept crashing my computer. All of the SFCII single player campaigns worked straight out of the box, but were bugged with patches. If you buy the earlier titles, you will not be disappointed.

CaptainCrazy701 · « **Reply #55 on:** June 30, 2003, 04:12:19 pm »

Hi, I love playing star trek games and I was very good at star trek bridge commander but I can't even get by the 2nd mission with the klingons in single player campaign! I think the difficulty is set too high, is there a way to change it? This sucks cause i know how to use the wepaons pretty good, its only my 2nd day owning the game but the problem is that the enemy pirate ship constantly maneuvers so that he is neverf in a decent firing arc and the bird of prey has all weapons facing forward. I don't have enoug prestige to upgrade yet either. Its pretty frustrating that no matter how much I shoot him he keeps regenerating and repairing and I can never get a good angle on him. Plz tell me i have difficulty set on high or something.

Cleaven · « **Reply #56 on:** June 30, 2003, 04:47:45 pm »

Just grab him in a trac2 and pound him to pieces with your forward arc heavies.

I apologise for now making the game too easy for you. The only way to fix your new problem is to buy SFC2-Orion Pirates. (I know, it's a plot but at least OP is only about $10.)

WDLL · « **Reply #57 on:** June 30, 2003, 05:35:16 pm »

Or just ignore the above suggestion. :-)

Use tractor beams only to repel and use your skills to out manouver your opponent and defeat him.

If you keep circuling each other someone must break the circle. You could for example stop chasing him, go to a straight line, when he starts following you drop a mine. He will change course, no more merry go round. In missions where there is more than one enemy ship this should appear much.

CaptainCrazy701 · « **Reply #58 on:** June 30, 2003, 07:07:01 pm »

Thanks for the ideas, but the otehr problem is that the freighter i am suppposed to be protecting then turns on me so i have 2 enemies to fight with my n00b ship so its quite hard. Oh well i did want a challenge anyway cause BC was too easy but i d idnt' expect to get stuck so early. its gonna be very rewarding when i do kick his ass.

CaptainCrazy701 · « **Reply #59 on:** June 30, 2003, 11:04:36 pm »

So there is no way to change the difficulty of the campaign mode? Man I spent 3 hours tonight trying to complete the 2nd mission. I tried everything, i used the tractor beam, i tried beaming gusy over, disabling systems etc etc etc, nothing I do works. This game freaking SUCKS! Why do they make it so impossibly hard. I can't believe how anyone can do any good at this game. Its rediculously slow paced and all the AI does is automatically counteracts your every move so you just end up goign around in circles all the time. I can't beleive i wasted my money on this POS game. I have to think of some way to get my money back.

Cleaven · « **Reply #61 on:** June 30, 2003, 11:22:22 pm »

Post deleted by Cleaven

Dogmatix! · « **Reply #63 on:** June 30, 2003, 11:24:39 pm »

I was just gonna say....first time I've ever heard someone say SFC3 is too hard. I was taken aback...

Still, I hope someone can help the poor guy. I have no idea how else to make the game easier for him. Maybe it was the fact that I'd already played a lot of SFC and SFC2, but I didn't find anything about SFC3 to be deep or too difficult.

EmeraldEdge · « **Reply #64 on:** July 01, 2003, 12:10:01 am »

He could always edit the weapons file so that his weapons are way uber above the other races, although if it's a pirate situation I don't remember what weapons they use so it could be a problem. Or, he could edit the system specs so that he has massive maneuverability and shields, in addition to upping the weapons fire so that he can outmaneuver and outgun the enemy while having a much better defense. That's the only way I know of to make things easier.

CaptainCrazy701 · « **Reply #65 on:** July 01, 2003, 12:52:07 am »

Hey guys, sorry for blowing up a while ago. I feel so stupid now. Guess what happened. When I started a campaign I was picking my name for my character and then i saw the chocie to be a "commander" captain" or "admiral" I thought these were just a rank that you would be as an officer not the difficulty levels! Sheesh i picked captain cause i wanted to be a captain. Taldren didn't have to be so vague here, why didn't hey say "commander (easy)" , "captain (hard)" etc?

Another thing I picked up on was taht I was used to targeting ship systems like I did in Bridge commander all the time so i did the same thing here and I was getting really pissed that most of my weapons fire was missing! Then I remembered from reading the book that your officers start off as a bunch of retards and can't aim for sh*te. Little did I know that if you aim for a subsystem and miss it, you miss the ship entirely. That's a bit lame, why not just miss the system but still hit the ship? Anyway I thought what if i just click on the "hull" and fire? So I did and from then on every shot i fired hit and i blew up the ships in no time flat. WOW talk about vague descriptions. No wonder so many people have a hard time getting into the SFC series. Oh well i am much more pleased now that i can actually DO something. I went and adding some nicer disrupters, upgraded thrusters, improved my hull and got rid of my dimwit tactical officer who couldn't hit the broad side of a galaxy class starship for a verteran class tac officer. Bring on those pirates!

Cleaven · « **Reply #66 on:** July 01, 2003, 02:46:13 am »

Congrats, but don't forget you are now a candidate for SFC2-OP, a game more appropriate for the discerning "captain".

The_Infiltrator · « **Reply #67 on:** July 01, 2003, 06:39:41 am »

Has anyone bothered to consider that this post may be a troll? I find it nearly IMPOSSIBLE that SFC3 could be called "too hard".

If it isn't I don't know if I should cover my eyes or laugh my guts out.

Cleaven · « **Reply #68 on:** July 01, 2003, 07:38:22 am »

I think anybody who is stepping up from Bridge Commander needs to be cut a bit of slack.

CaptainCrazy701 · « **Reply #69 on:** July 01, 2003, 09:31:21 am »

Like I said guys I figured out waht was happening and I could now in fact be successful even playing on "captain" difficulty now that I have figured out the game's overly complex menus and vague descpriptions. The manual has a lot of content but doesn't go into much detail about explaining the game for new players.

Anywa I really like the game and for those raggin on bridge commander's difficulty, try playing some of the later missions on hard. You will be humbled. Its not that hard to beat a kessok hybrid ship 1 v 1 on hard in skirmish mode but try the missions where you have to fight off a squadron of ships!

3dot14 · « **Reply #70 on:** July 01, 2003, 01:24:59 pm »

I take you haven't played the Kobiyashi Maru (for SFC1)?

Amazingly enough, I actually know/knew someone (not dead, just dropped off SFC scene) who won that.

If you have the money and the energy, I/we strongly recommend SFC1 and/or SFCOP (both can be found in bargain bin < S10) There are some really Hard missions. (Dancing with Myself, Hole in Space and Time II comes to mind. And Aceooop for SFCOP)

Well. I completely agree the manual is vague. (why be polite, the manual is junk.) That's why tthere is a forum.

Good Luck!

CaptainCrazy701 · « **Reply #72 on:** July 01, 2003, 03:47:04 pm »

What's so great about SFC OP and SFC II? People here keep telling me to get those games and I have seen them dirt cheap in the bargain bin. I was considering getting SFC II because I really like the kirk era ships and slower more dramatic combat but once I saw that SFCIII still had the Excelsior class ship I almost pissed my paints! That is my favorite ship next to a galaxy class. SO I don't know if i have much reason to play the other ones but I might. Whats' so great about Orion Pirates anyway?

PS: I upgraded to a K'Tinga class attack cruiser from my bird of prey and outfitted it with 2 class III disrupters plus the standard 2 on the foward section, 2 type I disruptors on the rear and an ion cannon/photon cannon on the front. Man this ship is kicking major butt! Is it normal to have a ship so grossly powerufl this early in the game or will I be glad I souped it up for tougher missions in the future?

3dot14 · « **Reply #73 on:** July 01, 2003, 04:11:55 pm »

Whats so great?

Well... It's harder than SFC3.

(which make playing it a lot more satisfying. My personal opinion, of course.)

EmeraldEdge · « **Reply #74 on:** July 01, 2003, 04:23:23 pm »

Well, first off. SFC2 vs. OP. OP is the "stand-alone" expansion. Now many didn't move on because they had their undies in a bunch over the "stand-alone" thing. But in the end OP is everything SFC2 is and more. More ships, weapons, I think arcs, etc. The next patch looks to finally vanquish the vast majority of bugs that was holding OP back from being the stand out, so there is really no reason to go for SFC2 over OP at this point, especially since you can download the single player campaigns from SFC2 and plug them into OP. It's really a cake and eat it too thing.

As for why OP is best, the gameplay for me is just vastly superior. It's got a nice pace to it, nice tension buildup before the first strike comes in, and I like the stalking eachother type of battle. Very cool. Not to mention the game has superior diversity over other versions. It's got lot's of race specific arcs and weapons that REALLY make playing different races different. You cannot fight race X the same way you fight race Y, and you certainly cannot fly race X the same way you fly Race Y. The difference between say the Hydrans and the Romulans is amazing. Racial diversity is at it's peak in OP.

Beyond just the superior tactical play, the game has visual diversity. Something that was lacking in SFC3, imo. Every race has their own screens in tactical, as well as sounds, so that you really get into flying a certain race. You feel like you are really part of the game, commanding a ship. Now, SFC1 took the visual diversity further in having different campaign interfaces for each race, which was too cool, but at least you have different racial controls when you are actually fighting in SFC2 and OP.

Now, there are some tweaks that are nice in SFC3, especially a few options in the D3 vs. D2, but for my buck it's OP all the way. I can live without those couple of features in exchange for the superior gameplay and atmosphere. I've started playing OP more and more recently (again) and every time I boot it up I just get euphoric. It's too cool (but that said anything can always get better....

) OP is not only worth the 9 bucks from the bargain bin, it's a steal. It's highly unlikely, imo, that you will ever find another game of that quality and depth of play (post patch) at that price or any other.

CaptainCrazy701 · « **Reply #76 on:** July 01, 2003, 06:53:01 pm »

Sounds cool I'll probably pick it up in sometime this summer. I an seeing just how easy SFCIII is on commander difficulty, i should have chosen captain i guess. Whats weird is that i no longer have any trouble maneuvering around my opponents unllike the 2nd mission where i could not get my weapons facing my enemy, now it is a breeze. I dont know if its because I put a lot of prestige into good maneuvering thrusters or the AI just took a nose dive. Oh well i could have fun for a long time blasting these swine out of the stars. I can easily turn up the difficulty for one of the other campaigns. I can't wait to get to use the federation..mmm my favorite. Can't wait to get into an Excelsior class ship again

Baker · « **Reply #77 on:** July 01, 2003, 07:27:28 pm »

Excelsiors aren't that good of ships unfortunately. However if you have got the TNZ mod then you'll notice the Lakota refit excelsior, which is a very fine ship. Another ship of this type is the Chabot, which is also a very nice ship to fly.

EmeraldEdge · « **Reply #78 on:** July 01, 2003, 07:51:32 pm »

In OP however the Excelsior model is used for a number of ships, some of which are painfully popular amongst the Fed players.

Holocat · « **Reply #79 on:** July 01, 2003, 10:17:00 pm »

Ya know, that got me as well when Orion Pirates came out; I couldn't tell from the box if I could play the old races AND the pirate races. You can play one's precious federation in OP is you so wish. It's what I do, and the added pirates give a lot more to shoot at.

As has been mentioned before, in SFC3 the 'excelcior' model is a mediocore class at best (As I don't have the SFC3, I can only tell you what others are saying; I have no proof of this myself) However, in Orion Pirates, the 'excelcior' model is used for the Federation's battlecruisers, which are highly popular and powerful creatures. (As I have Orion Pirates I can attest to the Federation's battlecruisers being both popular and powerful.)

The tatical complexity of OP, EAW and SFC1 may disagree with you if you find SFC3 a handful; However, there are set difficulty levels (captian, commodore, and admiral) and you have fully customizable skirmishes where one can improve their skills. In addition for those willing to read a little to improve their skills, there are large volumes of player-compiled tactics online. I believe battleclinic is the most relivant to SFC 3.

For those truly seeking glory however, player to player battles can make the game's artifical intelligence look poor, slow, and stupid; For a real rush, playing the old hands here can be very... educational.

I recommend Orion Pirates; It has the widest selection of gameplay (which gives challange for both new and old), is still easily available, and has a cadre of people of high caliber willing to put the time and effort to make it better; Taldren is yet working on one more patch for the game, and people such as Firesoul, 'Evil' Dave/Tracy/Karnak, and many others continue to work dilligently on making improvements, such as firesoul's OP+ shiplist and mission conversions, or the Evil Three's Mission Packs.

Take a captain's chair, grab a cup of your Empire's Beverage of Choice, and enjoy youself; If you have any questions, we'll try our best.

Holocat.

SghnDubh · « **Reply #83 on:** July 02, 2003, 08:21:40 pm »

LOL

Used to play. Heh.

Frankly, people are entitled to their own opinions. And since I'm entitled to mine, and ya'll are free to skip this post, here it is. The people that disparage SFC3 as "less" of a game simply because it has less buttons on its UI are being unfair and narrow-minded.

The games (EAW/OP & SFC3) are different. Not better, not worse, different. There is no reason to be elitist, bigoted, or exclusionary. It's ok to have a favorite, but it's not ok to put down either game because "it's not like the other."

And if people try to trash-talk EAW or OP as being the perfect game for the ultimate geek because of the high learning curve and myriad little nuances and they wouldn't stoop to T-Bombing anybody because it's just silly, I would "grrrr" at them too.

When will the short-sighted arrogance about "2 vs 3" or "3 vs 2" stop, and when will people accept that we're here to have fun--and that both games will stay on your hard-drive long after you've installed and un-installed UT2003 or Command and Conquer?

RANT OFF.

NannerSlug · « **Reply #85 on:** July 02, 2003, 09:49:35 pm »

SghnDubh , you are absolutely correct..

im going to be blunt here.. sfc3 was never given a fraction of the chance ot patience sfc2 was.. the only game that was nearly bastardized by many here was OP (which in my opinion has always been the superior product - but hey, thats my opinion).

sfc3 was shafted between the politics of people who never gave it a chance, no demo and no patch (after how many were released for eaw). it is my opinion that there will never be an official patch for sfc3 now. it will be a cold day in hell before it happens.

take sfc2 or op and put it out there with no demo or no official patch and stack it up to sfc3 and see what kind of a response you get. sfc3 might not be perfect.. but its an excellent game in its own right.. you add in the dominion war and TNZ mods for sfc3 and it out right rocks.

it is all about your preference. some people like the sfc2 style of play.. others like the sfc3 style of play.. it is 100% a matter of opinion. i think it would be wise for people to let it be.

CaptainCrazy701 · « **Reply #86 on:** July 02, 2003, 10:04:20 pm »

You know what would be the absolute best wet dream for any star trek fanatic? A game that lets you design ships from the ground up...some kind of easy yet robust tool that lets you design ships to your liking..ohhh i would love that so much. The more customization the better in my book.

One aquestion about SFC II OP, do you have to push buttons on the menu to turn your ship or can u use keyboard arrow keys? THis is a big one folks cause i briefly tried SFC II before and i only knew of how to move the ship via the nav buttons on the menu and it was bloody annoying.

Dash Jones · « **Reply #87 on:** July 02, 2003, 10:22:24 pm »

I like both SFC 2 and SFC 3. SFC 3 is nigh perfect with the TNG mod. SFC 2 is nigh perfect for me as OP.

But the best one of all for me is still (and maybe nostalgia gets in my way because it was the first I played, and my first exposure to Trek) is the first and original SFC.

Cleaven · « **Reply #91 on:** July 03, 2003, 04:25:30 am »

Actually this has been said often enough,in that the D3 game is very popular for a lot of people. I think this is the opposite situation for SFC2 where the D2 leaves a lot to be desired and it's the game play which keeps people there. It probably comes down to what you are happy doing without the most, as opposed to what you want the most.

SghnDubh · « **Reply #92 on:** July 03, 2003, 04:37:32 pm »

Why the (sic) S'cipio?

Cleaven · « **Reply #94 on:** July 03, 2003, 06:17:13 pm »

Norton's scans for software and recognises it as SFC:TNG not SFC3, so somebody in the production process labelled it correctly.

NannerSlug · « **Reply #96 on:** July 03, 2003, 07:59:16 pm »

please get off the political/ego driven sfc3 is not the real sfc3 trip. sfc 3 is a very legitimate "3". in fact it is by far a more legitimate 3 than a GaW would have ever been *gasp*. the GaW some of you guys keep talking about is no more than a mere expansion pack for SFC1/2 by gaming standards... there actually would be more new in MOHAA: spear head or BF 1942: the road to rome than in what some people would label the "real" sfc3.

fact is, sfc3 made some very big leaps and has a lot of potential.. but in retrospec - many of those things are not quite fleshed out and could be corrected in a patch or an expansion pack (neither is going to happen - thank goodness for the TNZ and DW mod)..

sfc3 actually has less radical changes from 2 to 3 than say warcraft2/3..

im not saying things are perfect.. but just as some democrats say bush isnt a legitimate president, i think some people need to get past the whole 2/3 thing. if they were really smart - instead of complaining about 3 - they would have lobbied for an SDK/mod potential to add weapons and make things to where they could convert it to what ever they want it to. (that is just my opinion).

sorry for the rant.. but it just amazes me... now i doubt it will be several years before we see any sort of a trek game at all.. and the patch for sfc3 is probably gone forever.. (whether some of you like it or not - sfc3 was never given a chance.. no demo, no patch 6+ months after the release of the game - try that with any game and see where it lands)

i am just thankful for folks like the pelican and korah.

CaptainCrazy701 · « **Reply #97 on:** July 03, 2003, 08:08:41 pm »

Interesting reading all these debates but I feel somewhat left out of the loop. See I haven't really played the first two so I don't understand where all this passion for debate is coming from regarding SFCIII. But I have a new question and that is tha I am in the klingons campaign and have done several "campaign required" missions but then all the sudden they stopped an now i am allowed to just go anywhere and do wahtever missions i want, mostly jhust answering distress calls and attacking abases. My question is, where did the campaign go? I feel all alone out here in space with no direction at all. Am I supposed to go around completeing all these random missions to get the story to go further?

NannerSlug · « **Reply #98 on:** July 03, 2003, 08:15:24 pm »

play a few missions.. its probably triggered at a certain prestiege level.

CaptainCrazy701 · « **Reply #100 on:** July 03, 2003, 08:19:14 pm »

Well I haven't shifted yet to another campaign so i guess I am supposed to go around doing missions. What do youthink I should do? Head into romulan space? Will that "trigger" something to happen? I really would like to get on with the main missions so i cna get to the otehr races. Klingons are cool and all but I long for the mighty federation ships.

CaptainCrazy701 · « **Reply #102 on:** July 03, 2003, 08:51:47 pm »

yeah i'm starting from a saved game and not the auto save one. wahts up with that? I want to be able to save my progress when i want to.

NannerSlug · « **Reply #103 on:** July 03, 2003, 08:57:19 pm »

try just gobbling up a lot of prestiege.. if and when you get enough, that might trigger the story line again.

CaptainCrazy701 · « **Reply #104 on:** July 03, 2003, 10:07:51 pm »

I only have 9000 some prestige points but i did put a lot into ship upgrades, i'm currently flying a Vorcha with class 4 disruptors and dual front firing ion cannons. I've been kicking major ass with this ship but i don't get much points for doing the dinky little missions that i am taking right now. I'll keep plugging away and see what happens. btw i tired loading my auto save game and i start off at basically teh same point as my manual saved campaign but there is still no required missions so i guess i just have to wait for a trigger.

AdmiralJaneway · « **Reply #105 on:** July 04, 2003, 09:32:42 am »

If I'm assuming your in the correct mission, there's a simple way of doing this. Refit your ship so it has high manouverability, and high shields. Next go into the mission, tractor the pirate near to the sun, and the debris will start tearing apart his shields. Fire at will, then let him go, warp back to the freightor, then simply start firing at it. Finally, when its shields go down (if it takes to long do as before but only enough to let its shields go down, not destroy it), then start transporting people to take over the ship.

You should now have the freighter captured, and the pirate destroyed.

Hiatus · « **Reply #106 on:** July 04, 2003, 04:42:01 pm »

The excelcior class is one of my faves too, get the TNZ mod from www.battleclinic.com and check out the lakota and chabot refits, they're wicked. definately get the mod though, so many fantastic ships.

Tulwar · « **Reply #109 on:** July 07, 2003, 12:49:56 am »

Just buy SFC EAW/OP for the music score alone. It's also fun to be able to rip the guts out of a ship (seeing you've ripped the guts out of a ship) in a single pass. Sometimes you can make a quick kill, sometimes you have to wear the enemy down, and sometimes you just have to try to run away while you still have some engines. In SFC3, you pound and pound, watch the hull indicator go down a little, then pound again. I bought SFC EAW and OP new at a combined price of $85.00, and do not regret it one bit. I paid $50.00 for SFC3, and was never able to complete the single player campaigns because it kept crashing my computer. All of the SFCII single player campaigns worked straight out of the box, but were bugged with patches. If you buy the earlier titles, you will not be disappointed.

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Topic: SFCIII is too freakin hard! (Read 11723 times)