Rebel ships swoop towards the steel grey Imperial behemoth before them. Small one man snub fighters dwarfed by the moon sized monstrosity ahead. The Rebel pilots are well aware of their chances of success, they didn't need the pre-mission briefing to tell them that there was but a slim hope. The size of the thing before them makes that all too clear, but hope there was.
After a series of devastating engagements with Imperial forces the Rebels had at last managed to score some significant victories against their vastly superior enemy. The Empire was not an invincible foe, and no matter how intimidating the massive battle station ahead of them was. There was hope. Victory here will mean a crippling blow to the Imperial war machine. Failure, the possible end of the Rebellion. Best not to think about failure. As their cockpit windows fill with the oppressive grey mass of the Death Star, the Rebel pilots peel off and dive into a storm of emerald green laserfire.
ROUND 1: MOS ESPA
This was a significant turning point in the early stages of the war. Rebel forces occupying the sleepy Tatooine town of Mos Espa successfully managed to repel an invading force of crack Imperial Sandtroopers who were working their way up from the south. The fighting was fierce with the main street turned into a fiery maelstrom of smoke and blasterfire, the engagement soon headed south as Rebel troops pushed the enemy back to the palace ruins where some of the most fierce action of the battle took place. The conflict was finally won when a Rebel scouting squad managed to outflank the enemy cutting them off from their last remaining foothold in the town, and with that the Imperial troops were finally vanquished.
ROUND 2: JUNDLAND WASTES
The mission was clear, occupy the Imperial forces in the area long enough for some significant intelligence assets to get off world. Sounds easy enough until you find yourself in the sights of a hulking Imperial Sentinel landing craft. Once the Rebel forces in the Jundland Wastes made themselves known to the Imperial troops searching the area, they threw the full force of all the weapons they had at their disposal at the Rebel positions, making short work of the Rebels in the north with devastating strafing runs from the air with the Sentinel, and fast moving well co-ordinated attacks from the ground. The northern town of Motesta fell quickly and the Rebels had to swiftly fall back to the Tusken camp in the hills.
Other units fell further back to the wrecked Sandcrawler close to the centre of the region. This command post would make a highly defensible location that the Imperials would want to take before heading further south. The Rebels were ready for the Imperial forces when they arrived, and despite throwing everything at the Sandcrawler and the Rebel's small but powerful MLC-3 mobile artillery units stationed in the area, had a lot of trouble taking this strategic position, losing several of their valuable Sentinel craft in the process. Eventually a second Imperial Squad took the initiative to hijack another Sandcrawler in the area, and using it as a boarding craft finally overwhelmed the Rebel forces stationed there, who were then forced to fall back to Anchorhead.
Having a hidden cache of weapons at this location meant that the Rebels were able to mount a considerable defence of this area repelling all of the formidable weaponry the Imperials could hurl at them, destroying Sentinels, Imperial Scout Walkers and taking out infantry units that managed to infiltrate the compound. The Rebel commander then noted an ion storm brewing on the horizon. If it reached them and disabled all their equipment they'd be defenceless, making an already dire situation only worse. Intelligence reports indicated the assets they were protecting had left the planet safely. So their work here was done, and so the Rebels made a strategic withdrawal before the storm hit, allowing them to fight another day, but resulting in an Imperial victory.
ROUND 3: BATTLE OF YAVIN
Finding their primary base under threat from the Empire's latest technological terror, a brave squadron of Rebel pilots went up against the best the Empire could throw at them. The plan was simple, destroy several key installations to expose a vulnerable weakness in the Imperial battle station's design. The odds however were stacked against them. And when the older battered Rebel ships came up against the Empire's newer, faster and more manoeuvrable TIE fighter craft, it looked like all would be lost. But despite heavy casualties the pilots stayed the course and took out their targets, and before the Imperial pilots knew what was happening an attack run had commenced down the trench that would lead to the key target that could end this battle most swiftly. The Rebel pilot's aim was true and a devastating blow was dealt to the Imperial war machine, and a significant victory for the Rebellion.
And so at last the Nations in Conflict 2nd First Strike Campaign has commenced. The Rebels have scored an early lead, but with all the battles being so close and so hard fought, that could all change next week. A strong start to the campaign, and great to see players working well together as well co-ordinated teams resulting in some intense battlefield action. We hope to see more players in the coming weeks, so if you haven't joined up already get involved and sign up here:
If you missed out on the action you can get a little taste of it from this excellent video feed of the Jundland Wastes round as provided by community member CAAM.
The Empire has won a number of significant victories against the outlaw Rebel Alliance, crushing resistance wherever it has seen fit to raise its head. These opening battles of the Galactic Civil War have left the Rebellion's forces scattered and bruised, suffering heavy losses against seemingly insurmountable odds. Yet even after these severe blows to their cause, Rebel commanders are already regrouping, and redoubling their efforts to strike at the heart of the Imperial tyranny that threatens to leave the entire galaxy in darkness...
After a number of aborted starts we decided to delay the running of the 2nd NIC First Strike campaign until after First Strike 1.55 was released. Well the time has now come to give this another shot. The first campaign was an overwhelming success affording many players old and new alike the chance to play First Strike in an epic campaign with high numbers of players battling it out every weekend.
The model of this event is set up so you can join up at any point over the length of the campaign, and register with your preferred faction, and then you'll be eligible to play in any match of the campaign simply by signing up with your intent to play in that coming week's battle, allowing you to play as often or as little as you want. All this takes place on the NIC Forums where you'll also be able to discuss map tactics and strategies with your fellow troops, and receive gameplay tips from the First Strike veteran players taking part in the event.
With two factions of battle hardened troops facing off, teamwork and communication will be paramount in your efforts to vanquish the enemy. It will be the faction who works best together on the day who will succeed.
The first battles are scheduled to take place on Sunday 27th of November.
Welcome to the release of First Strike version 1.55. So what do you get with this edition of First Strike? Well for one thing you don't get the hassle of any new files to install, that will all be taken care of by our custom Launcher which when prompted will automatically update your current version of First Strike to the new 1.55 build, so you should have a smooth transition to 1.55 if you already have an up to date version of First Strike.
So what exactly is new with First Strike 1.55 you might ask? Well the major selling point is a vastly increased co-op and singleplayer section to the mod which now gives you bot support for a good portion of the vehicles available within the mod which have allowed us to provide you with a singleplayer/co-op experience which more fully reflects what you'll find playing the mod in multiplayer. We have also advanced leaps and bounds in the sophistication of the bot AI in general too, with bots now able to utilise ammo boxes, bacta canisters and various other team assist items, most notably the defibrillator and fusion cutter, which really changes the landscape of the battlefield when facing the bots, additionally the bots now have the capability to utilise grenades and other explosives making them more deadly than ever. Basically these improvements just provide an overall more well rounded experience when playing co-op or singleplayer with maps that better reflect the mod as a whole.
Another bonus of these new co-op maps is an additional feature we've added, which are bonus multiplayer maps based on the smaller layouts used by some of our co-op maps, which should give you new and unfamiliar experiences on some of our classic maps, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by these.
In addition to this, myriad tweaks have been made to the general gameplay and graphics of the mod, solving many balance issues, and bugs which have been an issue in the past which should improve the entire First Strike mod experience.
Last, but not least we have the return of an old favourite, the Bounty Hunter pick up kit. This is only available in the co-op and singleplayer version of the Mos Espa map, but I'm sure you'll have fun hunting down the location of this highly sought after asset which will allow you to rain down death from above.
We hope you enjoy these improvements, and look forward to seeing you all on the servers soon.
First Strike v1.55 Changelog:
Weapons: - Further enhanced AI tweaks for turbolasers - Further enhanced AI tweaks for anti-starfighter turrets - Proton Torpedo yield and range setting adjusted for a more intuitive effect and better gameplay balance - 1.4 FD P-Tower laser cannon blast yield increased to improve effectiveness against vehicles
Vehicles: - Further enhanced AI tweaks for all starfighters - AI support added to various land vehicles including AT-PT, Armoured Rebel Freerunner, Firehawke & T1-B - Further tweaks to Firehawke and T1-B for better balance - Auto-turrets added to Imperial Convoy Raid Freighters
Singleplayer Map Support added to: - Imperial Convoy Raid - Null Sensor Station - Rhen Var: Ice Plains - Rhen Var: Research Facility - Strike at Parmel
Co-op Map Support added to: - Imperial Convoy Raid - Null Sensor Station - Rhen Var: Ice Plains - Rhen Var: Research Facility - Strike at Parmel - Tatooine: Mos Espa
Improved Singleplayer & Co-op Map Support for: - Battle of Yavin - Encounter at Mos Entha - Endor Clearing - Endor Strike Team - Tatooine: Bestine - Tatooine: Mos Espa
Co-op Map Variants available as Multiplayer Maps: - Null Sensor Station - Rhen Var: Research Facility - Tatooine: Bestine
Visual: - Portable Shield Generator effects, and impact effects enhanced - Enhanced star fighter and capital ship explosion effects - Imperial Outpost Building texture tweak
Gameplay: - Bounty Hunter kits added to Co-op and Singleplayer Mos Espa maps - AI enhanced for more complete bot functionality, bots now able to utilise grenades, explosives and team assist items such as ammo boxes, bacta canisters, fusion cutters and the Defibrillator - Balance issues addressed on Lok Wastelands map - Freighter hitpoints increased on Imperial Convoy Raid to improve balance - ISD Heavy Turbolaser effectiveness improved on Escape from Hoth - Null Sensor Station complex optimised - Tank weak spots added
Various bug fixes: - Including special effects graphic issues present since BF2142 v.1.55 release - Snowtrooper skirt black patch bug fixed - Python tweaks added to reduce server crashes and solve Battle of Yavin end of round bug
Closed Alpha Test & Deth..
