Emperor's Hammer Battle Center

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Battle Information

Game platform: X-Wing Alliance

Missions: 5

Release date: 2001-12-09

Last updated: 2003-09-09

Creator:

COL RogueWing

Average rating 3.8

Reviews: 21

Bug reports: 2

Times completed: 394

Patches used: None

Battle Medal: Medal of Experiments

Battle Reviews

CPT Jagged Fell III
Reviewer's rating profile
2024-05-21

On one hand the missions are very simple and not much to them, which makes it a super quick battle for FCHG and killboard points but not very satisfying to fly. But on the other hand the post-mission break downs of the craft are fun and well written. So combined I would give this a 3.5 and I am now rounding up.

RA Genie
Reviewer's rating profile
2022-11-13

I flew this one on hard, without cheats.

This battle does do a good job of introducing you to the 5 Experimental TIEs, their strengths and weaknesses.
It is quite simple in its execution, the missions themselves quite fast. Briefing is ok.

Where it falls a bit short, is, it is not fine-tuned on hard.
Player decisions are not rewarded in any way on hard. You just have to live with the fact that you are sitting inside a glass cannon surrounded by a lot of enemies, even though you are supposed to be the one with superior firepower.

Your best friend is not your shields. Your best friend, as is often the case in XWA is your "friends" who act as a meatshield, so you won't get cut into shreds by the gazillion rebel fighters shooting at you. Mission 5 in particular on hard is guilty of that. This is coming from a guy who likes challenging and difficult missions. Even the "tip" in M5 is to call for reinforcements!

In Mission5, even after you've managed to overcome a 26 vs 5 disadvantage, by then all your friends are dead and you have only two lasers and a fragile shield to overpower a Calamari Cruiser. On Hard, Calamari Cruisers cant have their turrets shot down until their shields are down. Well, the problem is, even when using smart tactics such as hiding behind the station to shoot at the Calamari, the rate of damage you are doing is not fast enough. As the shields of the Calamari are recharging constantly, you simply don't reach 0%. If the Calamari was a bonus objective I could live with it. But it wasn't. It was a primary victory condition.

It could have been fine-tuned a bit better on hard and reward the pilot good decisions and milestones within the mission itself.

LT Ty Seerlan
Reviewer's rating profile
2022-10-29

Very well done set of missions with an easy to follow storyline. I didn't feel lost because I hadn't played other missions and the missions were very well balanced in terms of difficulty and fun. The mission design was also good, nothing that blew me away but the missions made sense for the kinds of missions that they were; testing the experimental TIEs. Of all of the original XWA TIE Corps missions I have played so far, this is the best battle I've come across.

LC Solohan50
Reviewer's rating profile
2021-11-30

I played on Easy with cheats. The missions are all very straightforward, but it's cool to run through the various experimental TIEs and see their capabilities. The 3rd experimental TIE is absolutely bonkers, I'm not sure who designed it but they're crazy.

MAJ KEBLAOMEGA
Reviewer's rating profile
2021-11-23

I'm surprised there aren't more battles that use the experimental TIEs from XWA (or maybe I just haven't gotten to them yet) but this one is based entirely around them. It's a set of missions to use each one in a way that it is somewhat fitted to. Overall, it was fun to try them out and was pretty fast, but could have used more plot.

LC andr3
Reviewer's rating profile
2021-11-14

This battle showcases five experimental TIEs with one mission each. These are, for the most part very unbalanced craft with one over powered key feature. Nice to try them out. Why not.

COL Phalk Sturm
Reviewer's rating profile
2020-10-17

The battle was appealing as it had all the Experimental TIEs ready to be flown. However, some of the craft are so lame, that it turned the experience, somehow frustrating. Nevertheless, the missions are well made, no bugs and is simple to fly. The briefings were alright, I guess it just me that misses the usual T/Ds

LCM Marek Ny`Irfa
Reviewer's rating profile
2020-10-14

This was a pretty fun one to fly in my opinion, certainly somewhat different from the rest. Missions 3 and 4 do stand out for this battle given than in the former you get to fly an advanced torpedo loaded TIE-x3. That makes dogfighting a bit tricky thouhg you can decimate anything that comes out of the frigate's hangar. Just be careful not to shoot too close as you can easily blow yourself up. Flying TIE-bomb I was suspecting something you'd keep piloting them in waves one after other and just ram against target. Using it as reckon ship was a surprise. Still if you want some extra score in this mission, you should ram at least the A-Wings. X-Wings are too sturdy and containers are like brick walls. Calling the reinforcements in this one might pay off. You pay 500 bonus but if you kill all 3 enemy squadrons you get 1500 total. All in all, coming 1000 on top. Other missions were relatively short and easy too, enjoyable to fly. Quite worth it!

AD Hav Antiel
Reviewer's rating profile
2020-09-29

The idea behind this battle was fun, and the missions were fun for the most part, but the design was lazy and had flaws. Reading the same victory report for 4 of the 5 missions was annoying, and the use of the guided missile TIE as a recon ship was out of character (but I guess an interesting application). Also, there's no need to call the player 'Idiot' just because he failed the mission objectives. Very juvenile.

LCM Lo Mar
Reviewer's rating profile
2020-09-18

I really enjoyed this battle. Sure, there's really no story, and the missions are on the very basic, very fast side. But I liked the creativity of deep-diving into the experimental fighters. I also though the debriefs were done well, and looked like credible evaluations. Nothing special overall, but I give extra points for well executed creativity. ;)

GN Stryker
Reviewer's rating profile
2020-09-05

I really liked the concept of this battle, using the different Experimental TIEs was a refreshing change. However, the Warhead TIE needed to be flown with unlimited ammo on to complete the mission, and the E4 is meant as a kamikaze Cruise Missile not a recon craft. Aside from that, not bad at all!

CM Todes Engel
Reviewer's rating profile
2007-08-25

Good Battle. The Idea is very good, and the history was regular. But these TIEs -the first 3 types- have monstruous weapons. A Huge firepower. Remember the German experiments with big guns on planes on WWII...and a turbolaser make a big difference. That´s a Battle that I didn´t deleted...You always like to fly it! But a little problem on the last mission: the fighters sometimes didn´t helped accomplish the mission, almost impossible for a TIE/Ex 5...

VA Astix
Reviewer's rating profile
2005-03-03

Fun, simple, and enjoyable... at least, the flying is. What's annoying are the post-mission reviews of each craft, which while attempting to sound knowledgeable miss the point of each craft (eg, the TIE e/4 is a suicide ship... it makes a HUGE bang when it blows up). In short, it's a neat idea but these are drone fighters- they're not designed to carry a pilot, hence disappointing results!

LC Kodiak Kereban
Reviewer's rating profile
2003-10-12

I really enjoyed this battle, TIE Experimentals are great to fly, plus I've only just found out bout the rapid fire on the TIE Ex/3 *jumps around*

LC Archon
Reviewer's rating profile
2003-01-18

I love flying new craft, and the experimental TIEs are a lot of fun to fly. They have great power but are not overbalanced. Good idea, and well implemented.

LC Curtis
Reviewer's rating profile
2002-08-02

Not the best from RW but this was good fun to fly the strange craft, very different and I liked it. Would have got a 5 but a bit on the easy side

LCM Victor Kage
Reviewer's rating profile
2002-01-13

I liked it, different, not too hard but not too easy either. Good Job

LCM Bobecc
Reviewer's rating profile
2001-12-12

I liked this Mission. Not too tough, yet not too difficult.

LCM Gold Leader
Reviewer's rating profile
2001-12-11

I liked it. Quick easy, and kinda fun :) And easy FCHG points. :D

GN Master
Reviewer's rating profile
2001-12-11

Ill agree its not your best work RougeWing, and im not a fan of the Experimantal Ties, however i did enjoy it, so ill give it a 3 :)

COL RogueWing
Reviewer's rating profile
2001-12-10

Not my best battle by far...but it's definitely different.

Battle Bug Reports

LC andr3

2021-11-14

Post mission briefing say multiple craft were unshielded while they indeed are shielded. (It'd be terrible if they weren't though)

GN Dunta Polo

2009-08-28

Mission 2: Hyperbuoy at the Rebel platform is within 2km, which forces the player to take a devastating laser barrage before he\\she has a chance to react. Rebel PLT and B/CRS have redundant numbers on the end of their names.

Mission 3: Hyperbuoy at the Rebel FRG's area is set within 0.5km of the ship, again putting the player craft at risk of destruction before there is a chance to react.

Mission 4: Rebel ZG troopers, starships and installations have redundant numbers on the end of their names, causing the starfighter FGs to start at #2 instead of #1. The Rebel PLT is set to protect EH craft instead of attack them.

Mission 5: Rebel starships and installations have redundant numbers on the end of their names, causing the starfighter FGs to start at higher numbers than #1.

Battle Total:	36,707	COL Deimos
Mission 1:	4,470	HA Daniel Bonini
Mission 2:	8,952	LCM Marek Ny`Irfa	2020-10-14
Mission 3:	9,086	GN Aardvark	2022-11-11
Mission 4:	8,814	HA Daniel Bonini
Mission 5:	6,291	VA Keldorn Cochrane

1	36,707	COL Deimos	2004-11-25
2	35,259	HA Daniel Bonini	2009-05-19
3	30,632	LCM Marek Ny`Irfa	2020-10-14
4	22,806	GN Aardvark	2022-11-11
5	21,405	VA Philo	2003-01-05
6	20,764	FA Von Reinthaler	2003-02-23
7	16,500	CM Gistenjunge	2003-09-29
8	15,208	HA Pete Mitchell	2003-02-15
9	15,090	LC Tygra Shadowclaw	2003-09-03
10	13,583	LCM Kat Lyons	2003-01-17

XWA-TC 26: Experimental Tie Evaluation

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