--------------------------------------------------------------------- Freespace 2 FAQ/Walkthrough/Strategy guide by Carlos Miranda Version 2.0 Friday, August 15, 2003 To be able to read this walkthrough properly, maximize the window. This FAQ should be viewed in a fixed width font, such as Courier New --------------------------------------------------------------------- Note to Webmasters Should you want to post this guide on your site, please ask my permission first.. If you don't ask my permission, you cannot post my other guides even if you ask, unless you remove my guide and apologize. (then you can post it again) Remember that any violation in the copyright law is stealing. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer This guide is authorized for use to all people. However, the only person who may do anything to this FAQ is me. That means that all editing, revision and reproduction is only authorized to it's author. It cannot be used for commercial purposes, either profitable or not. It cannot be sold in any form, including printed or data form. It also cannot be reproduced by any person and have yourself as the author. It cannot be published in any magazine or Web site wwithout the author's explicit permission. This guide can be used for personal use in printed or data form, but it cannot be used in commercial purposes. If you are giving a freind a copy of this FAQ, you can give it to him printed or in data form. HOWEVER, YOU CANNOT SELL IT TO HIM/HER. Please ask permission before posting it on your site. You also cannot alter it's form. If this is published in any site, it must be in it's original text. No HTML formatting except with my explicit permission, ESPECIALLY NO BANNER ADS! Any violation of the rules above, and as stated by copyright law, is punishable in a way stated by copyright. I, Carlos Miranda, the official author of the guide is thereby authorized to call law enforcement officials in case I find out someone violates the above, and other violations of the copyright law. Please respect mine and other's rights. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 1 Revision History --------------------------------------------------------------------- Version 2.0 Friday, August 15, 2003 AN UPDATE! Well, just to inform you, I now am a proud owner of the full version of this game! So that means I can complete it after all! Actually I've had it for at least a year now. I'm just too lazy to update the walkthrough altogether. Now I should get it done before I lose interest in this again. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to play FS2 right now! Changes: -Formatted to 70 characters per line -Walkthrough up to mission 16 - Feint! Parry! Riposte! (this is the cut-off point of FS2:OEM. I never finished the old walkthrough anyway) -Removed briefings, loadout information, etc. Mission section will only contain walkthrough now, to decrease file size. (anyway you can get them while you play!) -Removed title ASCII art, to cut down file size as well. -Removed useless sections. Again to decrease file size. -MAJOR changes to the whole guide, including a complete rewrite of the walkthrough! -Changed all references to "Freespace 2:Colossus" and "Freespace 2: OEM" to just "Freespace 2" -Still no FAQ. Plans for version 2.1 -Walkthrough up to Mission 30 -Possibly a Multiplayer guide. Version 1.3 Wednesday, April 11, 2001 Alright, alright. I am late, so what :). Just kidding. Took off table of contents (makes me update my walks faster), codes updated. Version 1.2 Thursday, February 01, 2001 Added tips, and limited sites that can post this FAQ. Version 1.1 Monday, January 22, 2001 Added cheat codes, courtesy of Al Amaloo. Version 1.0 Monday, December 18, 2000 This walkthrough was created. Remember that this walkthrough covers levels available in the OEM version. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 2 Install Freespace 2 --------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Minimum system requirements 200 Mhz Intel Pentium processor Windows 95/98 with DirectX 6.0 32MB of RAM (random access memory) 3D graphics accelerator (supports Direct3D and Glide) At least 450 MB free hard drive space 8x CD-ROM or faster DirectX compatible sound card Mouse and keyboard 2. Insallation Insert the Freespace 2 CD in the CD-ROM drive. If Autorun is enabled, Setup will automatically start installation. If Setup does not start, select Run.. from the Start Menu and type X:\FS2AutoRun.exe (X is the letter of your CD-ROM drive, it's usually D or E, mine is G). If DirectX is not installed,you can install it from the Freespace 2 Setup screen by going to the DirectX menu. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 3 Introduction to Freespace 2 --------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Freespace 2 launcher This is a view of the launcher _________________________________ | Freespace 2 | | __________ ___________ | | |___Play___| |___Setup___| | | __________ ___________ | | |ViewReadme| |__Update___| | | __________ ___________ | | |___Help___| |_Uninstall_| | | _________ ________ __________ | ||Volition ||__Quit__||Parallax || || Logo | |Online || ||_________|__________|Logo______|| Play: Starts the game (Obviously) Setup: Configures Freespace 2 View Readme: Lets you view the Readme.txt file Update: Updates Freespace 2 Help: Brings up a help screen Uninstall: You don't need this. Just kidding. Quit: Quits Volition Logo: http://www.volition-inc.com/ Parallax Online Logo: http://www.pxo.net/ 2. Playing Freespace 2 When you play Freespace 2, you first need to type your pilot's callsign. However, while playing the game, you will be designated Alpha 1. You have control over other wings by messaging. There are wings that you do not have command. Depending on how far you are in the game, you may have (limited) command over cap ships as well. 2.1 Messaging If you need to message another ship or wing, or you want a repair, you can send a message. To do this, press the C key to bring up the messaging window. Press the corresponding button (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) to send a message to a paritcular ship/wing. Messaging window __________________________ |Message what | |1. Ships | |2. Wings | |3. All fighters | |4. Reinforcements | |5. Rearm/repair subsystem | |6. Abort rearm | |No valid items | '--------------------------' Once you select an item, either another window will appear, or Command or a fighter/ship will confirm. An item that is darkened cannot be selected. If no items are available, "No valid items will flash. 1. Ships ___________________________ |Message what | |1. Psamtik | |2. Alpha 2 | |3. Alpha 3 | |4. Beta 1 | |5. Beta 2 | |6. Beta 3 | |7. Support 1 | |No valid items | '---------------------------' By selecting a ship, you can give commands to a particular ship only. That means that for example, if you message only Alpha 2 to destroy your target, only Alpha 2 will. If there are any support ships in the area, you may ask a rearm, or abort it. 2. Wings ___________________________ |Message what | |1. Alpha | |2. Beta | |3. Gamma | |4. Delta | |5. Epsilon | |No valid items | '---------------------------' By selecting a wing, you are ordering the entire wing. For example, you order Delta wing to destroy your target, and Delta 1, 2, 3, and 4 are in the area, all of them will destroy the targeted hostile. 3. All fighters ___________________________ |Message what | |1. Destroy my target | |2. Disarm my target | |3. Disable my target | |4. Destroy subsystem | |5. Ignore my target | |6. Protect my target | |7. Form on my wing | |8. Cover me | |9. Engage enemy | |0. Depart | '---------------------------' 1. Destroy my target Tells your wingmen to chase that target and kill it. Applies to capital ships as well. 2. Disarm my target Fighters will destroy turrets of target. 3. Disable my target Destroy engine of target. 4. Destroy subsystem Destroys subsystems of target. If you are after a large warship, destroy the weapons subsystems before the turrets. This will greatly reduce it's accuracy. 5. Ignore my target All friendlies will ignore your target. Note: ALL. This command was intended to get you some kills. Use caution against capital ship targets. 6. Protect my target Your wingmen will stay close to your target and try to protect it from enemy fighters and bombs. 7. Form on my wing Ordered wingmen will form on your wing. Useful if you want your wingmen to follow you around. 8. Cover me If hostiles approach you, your wingmen will protect you. 9. Engage enemy Wingmen are now free to chase any target they choose. 0. Depart Your wingmen will engage subspace drive and depart the area. 4. Reinforcements ________________________ |Message what | |1.Epsilon | |No valid items | '------------------------ Calls in reinforcements. If you select Epsilon wing, for example, Epsilon will arrive. 5. Rearm/repair subsystems Calls in a support ship to re-load your secondary banks. The support ship will also recharge your shields, and repair any damaged subsystems. A box below your reticle will appear to inform you how long before the support ship docks with you. It will also show "busy" if it is currently rearming another ship, or "obstructed" if it is blocked. (NOTE: Make sure you are stopped, or the support ship can't dock with you!) 6. Abort rearm Aborts the rearm/repair. ****NOTICE**** It appears that wingmen take higher priority if you are more specific on who will carry out the order. For example, if you order Gamma 3 to "Cover me", then later, order all fighters to "Destroy my Target", Gamma 3 will still cover you. It is the same case when you order entire wings. 2.2 Radar Targets directly in front of you will appear in the center of the radar. Red: Hostile Green: Friendly Pink: Unknown Gray: Cargo To change the range of the radar, use the ' button (default). Ranges are 2000M, 10000M and infinite. 2.3 Ranking system. Here are all the ranks from top to bottom Admiral Vice Admiral Rear Admiral Commodore Captain Commander Lieutenant Commander Lieutenant Lieutenant Junior Grade Ensign --------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 4 Tips --------------------------------------------------------------------- In no particular order: 1. Survival: Always let your wingmen go first, or at least stay with them. Make sure they survive too, the more they can kill, the less you have to worry about. 2. Wingmen: Use them effectively! The AI is not that good, but they sure can help. 3. If you are using a very low energy drain weapon, such as the Subach HL-7, minimize the energy to your guns. You need them for your shields and engines more. 4. If you are bored: should in-between mission sequences be too long, or distances be too far, remember that you can speed up time up to 4X as fast. By default: SHIFT- to speed up, SHIFT- to slow down. Make sure it's always 1X in dogfighting! 5. Bomb reload times can take forever. Switch in between banks to fire faster. There is a bug that causes the next bank to "inherit" the reload time of the previous bank if it runs out of ammo, and this will cause the firing delays to be longer as well, so take this into account. 6. Rearm BEFORE you run out of missiles. 7. Don't approach capital ships directly, their flak and beam cannons will rip you to shreds. Try to attack from an angle where you won't be vulnerable. 8. In an escort mission, shoot down bombs and bombers first before the fighters. For better efficiency, shoot down the bombers before they actually fire their bombs. Should you find yourself under fire from a fighter, give him a warning shot - but go back to the bombers as soon as you're done with him. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 5 Mission Walkthrough --------------------------------------------------------------------- ********************************************************************* Mission 1: Training 1 Just follow the instructor and don't do anything he doesn't tell you to, and you'll pass. ********************************************************************* Mission 2: Training 2 Just like training 1, follow the instructor, and don't do anything he doesn't tell you to. ********************************************************************* Mission 3: Training 3 Same as the two previous training missions. If you pass this training you will be given your Wings. ********************************************************************* Mission 4: Surrender, Belisarius! After your wingmen talk, some hostile fighters will jump in. They're no trouble, just blast them away with your weapons. Stay close to the transports and you shouldn't be in any trouble. When all the fighters are gone, the Belisarius will come in. Ignore it, the Psamtik will come in and tear it to pieces. After that, the Iotas will dock with the Psamtik, and you can return to base. If you don't return to base immediately, there will be a whole sequence of docking and conversations (including command asking you to get out of there!). If you like to watch this, just stay there, staring at the Psamtik. Warp out of there once the Psamtik departs. ********************************************************************* Mission 5: The Place of Chariots At the start, kill the Herc that is right in front of you. Look for a transport that has not left yet (GTFr Poseidon), and destroy it with your Tempests. Destroy the rest of the sentries and fighters. A new wave of fighters, this time Lokis, will come in. Destroy them too. A flashing red blip will appear on your radar. Command tells you to get close to it. Before you do so, destroy the cargo to get your bonus objective. Now head for the asteroid. It's an NTF ship! And the rebel leader, Bosch, is in it! Well ignore it completely and engage the fighters. You can't destroy it, it will just break up, and jump out. Sorry, mission failed, nothing you can do. Jump out. ********************************************************************* Mission 6: The Romans Blunder The Iceni can't be destroyed. But head for the node anyway, because you will come closer to your REAL objective. After the Iceni departs and a short argument between command and your wingman, freighters and Loki fighters will arrive. Destroy the fighters, then the frieghters. Two cruisers, Glorious and Impervious will arrive. STAY AWAY from them, their beams will blast you into bits. Engage the fighters instead. After the fighters are gone, the Psamtik will arrive and take care of the cruisers. Once the cruisers are gone, return to base. ********************************************************************* Mission 7: Training 4 As with the first missions, just follow the instructor carefully and you should be done. ********************************************************************* Mission 8: Training 5 Again, follow the instructor. You should pass. ********************************************************************* Mission 9: A Lion At The Door Before you start, go to the weapons selections and change all the Prometheus R's to Subachs. The specifications may look good, but the Subach actually does MORE damage than this per minute, both for shields and hulls. I.e., it's useless. Always remember this! Tell everyone to Engage Enemy. Target the Maras first, the Behemoth will shoot it's beam at you if you come too close. Besides, after you're done with the fighters your wingmen should be at it already. Try to take out the frieghters, but they're not necessary for the mission to be complete. After the fighters and the Behemoth are destroyed, Command will inform you that the Carthage and Dashor has been deployed. But, all of a sudden, multiple wings of fighters are coming out of the portal! Uh oh! New fighter: Astaroth. It's very fast for the Herc II, but it's very weak. Just unload a couple of Harpoons on it and it should be gone. Try to destroy as many fighters as you can. Once the Carthage arrives, get close to it immediately. A Shivan Cain cruiser will jump in, but just ignore it, the Carthage and the Dashor will take care of it. If your hull is now very low, stay close to the Carthage and it should be able to take care of itself. After the fighters and the Cain is destroyed, you will be relieved by Delta. Congratulations, you survived your first Shivan encounter! Return to base. ********************************************************************* Mission 10: Mystery Of The Trinity For some reason, you can't pick the Harpoon or the Hornet, just the Rockeyes and Tempests you used earlier with the Hammerheads squadron. Immediately after clicking "Commit", target Zeta 1 who should be on your escort list. Just follow him. During your patrol you will encounter a few Manticores. They shouldn't be too difficult, but they are very fast. All of a sudden, Kappa disappears! What's going on? At the end of your patrol you will encounter a cruiser. Uh... wait, it's a FENRIS! It's the Trinity. The Discovery will come in to try to repair it. Try to kill as many of the fighters that come in as you can. Later though, when the SF Dragons come in, they will be too fast for you. You can't do much and the Trinity will be destroyed. The Discovery too (unless you're REALLY lucky, it does try to depart after the Trinity is destroyed). Mission failed, go back to base. ********************************************************************* Mission 11: The Great Hunt In this mission, the Myrmidon is available. Choose it as you wish. Order Beta to protect the Lysander and Alpha to protect the Actium. After the Lysander and Actium chat, fighters jump in. And not long after, the Azuras will be visible. Just let the corvettes take care of it. After the Azuras is destroyed more fighters will jump in. And later the Iblis will be visible this time. As with the Azuras, let the corvettes take care of it. After the Iblis is vaporized by the corvettes, an unknown ship jumps in and destroys the Lysander! Return to base! (If you are observant enough, you will notice that while the Unknown shoots at the Lysander, it also fires at the Actium! Two beams from one turret! This is just a mission event bug, the Shivans don't have a ship that can fire two beams from one turret. Or do they? ;) ) ********************************************************************* Mission 12: Slaying Ravana This time, you need to take out the ship you saw in the previous mission, the Ravana. You will fly a bombing mission. There is a choice of three bombers, Boanerges, Ursa and Medusa. The Medusa is the fastest of the three, but it has the least firepower. The Ursa is the most powerful but the slowest. Boanerges, well somewhat in between but somwhat in the "heavy" side closer to the Ursa. Whatever bomber you choose, make sure you carry at least one bank of Cyclops with you. Once the mission starts, tell everyone to engage the enemy. This will make Epsilon less concentrated on the Khenmu and Alpha less concentrated on the Ravana. The Cyclops is STRICTLY for the Ravana, it's not fast enough to shoot down fighters. Also, it has a 20 second delay, so try to switch between banks after firing. Always use double fire. Do not shoot very far from the Ravana because it's turrets will just shoot down the bombs. Don't get too concentrated on the Ravana, because there are fighters guarding it. A possible weak spot is on the right side, near the fighterbay. Get very close and no turret will reach you. Stay away from the back and the underside of the Ravana because there are flak and beams there. Khenmu will help you. If you find yourself out of ammo just stay close to the Khenmu and rearm, you're pretty safe there. It won't take long until the Ravana is destroyed. Once it is destroyed, return to base. So, where are the "reinforcements" Command was talking about? Where's the Yakiba and the Somtus? Well, they CAN come, but chances are, they won't. Why? Before they come in, the Khenmu must be destroyed. And there's 1/100000000 chance that it will be. Just to find out, use cheats and destroy the Khenmu. The Heisenberg and the Yakiba will come in... finally! And should the Yakiba be destroyed, the Somtus will come in too! So, what happens if the Somtus gets killed? Your squad leader will tell you that your squad will be disbanded, because six or something warships got blown up just because of the Ravana. ********************************************************************* Mission 13: Training 6 The last of the training missions, this will cover intercepting bombs and bombers. Follow the instructor and you should have no trouble at all. ********************************************************************* Mission 14: The Sixth Wonder Immediately after entering the mission, tell all fighters to protect Enif Station. Then head for the Cato and destroy it's forward beam turret, but do NOT destroy it, yet. If you do, the Hawkwood will come in and if it does NOW you're in trouble. Engage the Hercules fighters attacking the Calypso, after that you should never have to come near the Calypso again. Concentrate on Enif Station for now, because Zeus bombers will jump in. Destroy them as fast as possible and shoot down any bombs they launch. There are a few more waves of bombers so you will have to shoot down more bombs. Should the Cato be destroyed, the Hawkwood will come in. Anyway, by now, the bombers should be just about finished. But then, a REALLY big ship, the Colossus, will jump in! It will tear apart the Hawkwood to pieces. Return to base when command tells you to. NOTE: This mission, has a hidden ship in it. If the Hawkwood is destroyed BEFORE the Colossus comes, the Conquest (GTC Leviathan) will jump in. This will not happen unless you use cheats. ********************************************************************* Mission 15: Into the Maelstrom You can choose between three different ships. The Perseus, the Loki and the Ulysses. Any will do, the Loki is fastest but very lightly armed, while the Perseus is more armed than the two. Upon starting the mission, immediately head for the weak signals on your radar. You will encounter sentry guns. Destroy as many as you can until the bombers come. Once they do, immediately head towards them and destroy them. A few more bomber waves will come in, kill them all. After destroying the bombers head for the fighters. Once the Parapet arrives, immediately head for the jump node. The Maelstrom will jump in. Destroy it's forward beam ASAP, or it will cause major damage to the convoy. (And you'll get a somewhat "bad" debriefing telling you that you should have destroyed the beam). Leave the Maelstrom to Theta wing, because by now even more fighters and bombers have jumped in. Again take out the bombers first, then the fighters. Destroy any remaining sentries to get your bonus objective. Return to base upon command. ********************************************************************* Mission 16: Feint! Parry! Riposte! In this mission you can pick out the Herc II as an alternative ship. It depends on you, but I prefer the Herc. Immediately tell everyone to "Engage Enemy", and head for Scorpio wing which should be the nearest fighters. After you take them out, the other fighters should be guarding their cruisers. Order everyone to protect the Rampart. This is the hard part. You need to attract the fighters away from their cruisers, but not too close because you will be shot down by the beams. Approach one fighter carefully. If you are close enough, he should be attracted by your fighter now, and start chasing you. (Command will tell you that the fighters are closing in). Get back to the Rampart as fast as you can, both the Perseus and the Herc II are faster than the Hercs. Stay near the Rampart, and kill all the fighters. The beams on the Rampart will help you. Zeta will now engage the cruisers. They will damage them. Repulse should be in by now, and reinforcements too. Tell everyone to protect the Rampart. Loki fighters should now be coming from the Repulse. Destroy them. The Colossus will come soon and destroy the Repulse. Return to base when ordered. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 6 Cheat Codes --------------------------------------------------------------------- These codes are courtesy of Al Amaloo, of www.gamewinners.com. UPDATE: These codes _do_ allow you to advance to the next mission, only the _original_ FS1 codes did not. However using cheats at ANY time will cause your pilot to crash in the barracks at Commodore rank. Activate Cheats: For the below to work, www.freespace2.com during gameplay. This will enable the cheats to work, except for the other cheat modes. The infinite weapons still work while you have not exited FreeSpace 2, even if you don't activate. Effect Code Player does not collide ~+C Toggle contermeasures ~+Shift+C Kill target ~+K Destroy targeted subsystem* ~+Shift+K 10% Damage to self ~+Alt+K 10% Damage to target ~+Alt+Shift+K Invincibility ~+I Make target invincible ~+Shift+I Toggle Descent-Style physics* ~+O Unlinited weapons for ship ~+W Unlimited weapons for ALL ~+Shift+W All primary goals complete* ~+G All secondary goals complete* ~+Shift+G All bonus goals complete* ~+Alt+G Scroll forward through ALL primaries ~+0 Scroll back through ALL primaries ~+Shift+0 Scroll forward through ALL secondaries ~+9 Scroll back through ALL secondaries* ~+Shift+9 *Doesn't appear to work. Alternate cheats Effect Do in... Code Volition Bravos pirate ship In mission arrrrwalktheplank See Jim Boone or In mission tooledworkedowned Alan Lawrence Fish Tank? Player select* vasudanswuvfishes Bizzare scene? Player select* humanheadzinside *Vasudan main hall only. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 7 Credits --------------------------------------------------------------------- CJayC for the recognition page and for hosting other FAQs, walkthroughs and strategy guides as well. Al Amaloo for hosting my work also, plus the cheat codes. Interplay and Volition for the game. And last but not least, YOU, the reader --------------------------------------------------------------------- These sites can freely post all my guides: GameFAQs http://www.gamefaqs.com GameAdvice/GameWinners/VGStrategies http://www.gameadvice.com Neoseeker http://www.neoseeker.com Andrew Clegg's site http://www.geocities.com/andrewclegg/gameFAQs_home_page.html (For my Playstation guides) Playstation Cheat.Net http://www.psxcodez.com Also, I would like to thank those people who own these sites. You can e-mail me if you want my FAQ, but most likely I would not accept any more. Don't worry I would credit you for having interest in my guide. --------------------------------------------------------------------- THANK YOU FOR READING!!!!!!! --------------------------------------------------------------------- © Copyright MM-MMIII by Carlos Miranda --------------------------------------------------------------------- FreeSpace 2: (c) 1999 Volition, Inc. FreeSpace, Colossus, Interplay, the Interplay logo and "By Gamers, For Gamers." are trademarks of Interplay Productions. Volition and the Volition logo are trademarks of Volition, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. All Rights Reserved.