On the plus side, it's pretty easy to complete the primary objectives - wait 5 minutes, then don't let the Z-95s destroy the shuttle. Not much to it.

On the downside, as listed below... the secondary objectives are near impossible, mostly due to having to rely on others to disable the Shuttle (who have other orders that have priority). Not sure that'd meet TAC criteria today for release.

This mission is quite unspectacular in the setup... take out another rebel task force. The "April Fool's" prank is just a fake new SOVCOM flying around in a shuttle and doesn't influence the mission much. There are two weak points which turn this so far average mission into a bad one. First, too many imperials, and they don't even obey to your orders. This turns the player into a bystander while the other guys take out the rebel fleet with their torps and rockets. This is boring for people who just play for fun, and outright annoying for those who play for score. They'll have more trouble keeping their own AI comrades at bay than fighting the enemy. The second, even worse point, is that there is a goal which requires a craft to be captured... and right, you don't have any ions. How a mission designer who has so much experience with TIE can rely on the AI to do the job is beyond me. The GUNs who are supposed to disable that SHU are very likely to have died, gone home or just decided to do nothing by the time that ship shows up. So you can divide this mission into two parts, the first one in which you uselessly watch how your mates kill the rebel cap ships, and a second where you helplessly watch how they fail to disable one single lousy shuttle and thereby fail your secondary goals. I needed like 50 tries until it worked once. This April Fool's mission makes a fool out of *you*. And as much as it hurts me to do this to Stele, this mission has its big fat ZERO well-deserved.