History VideoGame / FreeSpace

* GuiltFreeExterminationWar: Shivans have no mercy towards their enemies, glass whole planets, do not accept noir demand surrender and take no prissoners, making every war with them this by default.

* CriticalExistenceFailure:
** In the first game, a single stray laser shot from a fighter can make a sufficiently weakened capital ship explode. This can look quite strange if said shot lands on an antenna.
** ''[=FreeSpace=] 2'' downplays this by causing most fighter and bomber weapons to deliver increasingly less damage on larger warships and installations until they become completely ineffective, at which point only bulkier missiles, torpedoes and warship beams will continue doing damage. It can still look funny if a warship explodes from getting hit by the almost-harmless EMP missile, or if a giant anti-capital ship beam barely scrapes a radar dish.

* CrazyPrepared: No matter how many times they are beaten, the Shivans always have a contingency plan. For example, they countered the Alliance's answer to future ''Lucifer'' threats with the even more frightening ''Sathanas''; when the Alliance destroys the first one, they send in the other eighty-plus.
* CripplingOverspecialization: Shivan warships are built entirely around launching a massive AlphaStrike from a HyperspeedAmbush. When they pull it off most fights are over in seconds, but when they can't Terran and Vasudan ships can outmaneuver them and get out of their limited fire arcs fairly easily.

** PlayedWith in the battle between the GTVA Colossus and the SJ Sathana 01. Increasing power to beam cannons ''does'' make them unusually effective -- but at the cost of causing fires and other damage aboard the Colossus.

* NearVillainVictory: At the climax of ''Descent: [=FreeSpace=]'', although the Shivans had decimated much of the GTA and PVN fleets and destroyed Vasuda Prime, and their flagship, the SD ''Lucifer'', was making its way towards Sol to destroy Earth, the revelation that the ''Lucifer'' was vulnerable in subspace prompted the GTA to deploy the GTD ''Bastion'' to Delta Serpentis to pursue the ''Lucifer'' and destroy it while it was in transit within the Delta Serpentis-Sol subspace corrdior. The final two missions are {{Timed Mission}}s, with the first requiring that the player and all deployed GTA/PVN fighters and bombers jump out at the Sol jump node within a set amount of time (since Command subsequently determined that the ''Bastion'' could not catch up to the Lucifer in time to stop it from arriving in Sol), and the second requiring the same fighters and bombers to destroy the reactors of the ''Lucifer'' in the Delta Serpentis-Sol subspace corridor within about 10 minutes, all while being swarmed by the Shivan warship's own fighter complement. Against these odds, the GTA/PVN ships managed to destroy the ''Lucifer'''s reactors in the subspace corridor, starting a chain reaction destruction of the ''Lucifer'' just as it was about to exit the subspace portal and enter Sol within striking distance of Earth.

* TheMothership: The SD ''Lucifer'', responsible for glassing Vasuda Prime in 13 hours. Its destruction caused the remaining Shivan fleet during the Great War to be greatly disorganized, easing the Terrans and Vasudans in finishing them off.

** As the second game ended with the Shivan threat sealed away for the moment, interviews with designers explained the third game would have involved an eventual counter-strike against the Shivans, with an even bigger scope than FS2.

* {{AFGNCAAP}}: Your character is only ever referred to as Alpha 1.
** User made campaigns don't even necessarily make you Alpha 1. [=FS2_Open=] can allow a mission designer to assign the player to any slot in any wing.

* DiveDiveDive: Shouted [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrchciHCI8A at the beginning of one mission]], when you start out right in the path of a Sathanas juggernaut as it's jumping out.

** In its introductory cutscenes, the ''Colossus'' is shown to possess far more firepower than it actually does in game. Also, it is said to carry literally ''dozens'' of fighter and bomber squadrons, yet only a handful are ever deployed during missions, most likely du to technical limitations.

* BackFromTheBrink: Unusually for video games, trope is played mostly off-screen. Untill the very final mission of Freespace campaign, Shivans seemed unstopable and brought Terran and Vasudan civilizations at the verge of total collapse. After famed destruction of SD Lucifer Shivan armada was eliminated by remaining Terran-Vasudan forces surprisingly quick. It's implied inside game manual to Freespace 2 that destruction of Lucifer could somehow disrupt Shivan chain of command.

* FlingALightIntoTheFuture: The Ancients do this after realizing that they have no chance whatsoever of surviving their fight against the Shivans. The information they record regarding their downfall and the Shivans' weaknesses proves vital to humanity [[spoiler:and leads to the Shivans' defeat in the first game]].

* FlingALightIntoTheFuture: The Ancients do this after realizing that they have no chance whatsoever of surviving their fight against the Shivans. The information they record regarding their downfall and the Shivans' weaknesses proves vital to humanity [[spoiler:and leads to the Shivans' defeat in the first game]].
%%* FragileSpeedster: Light fighters such as the ''Loki'' or ''Astaroth'' can fall apart if you sneeze on them too hard.

* NearVillainVictory: At the climax of ''Descent: [=FreeSpace=]'', although the Shivans had decimated much of the GTA and PVN fleets and destroyed Vasuda Prime, and their flagship, the SD ''Lucifer'', was making its way towards Sol to destroy Earth, the revelation that the ''Lucifer'' was vulnerable in subspace prompted the GTA to deploy the GTD ''Bastion'' to Delta Serpentis to pursue the ''Lucifer'' and destroy it while it was in transit within the Delta Serpentis-Sol subspace corrdior. The final two missions are {{Timed Mission}}s, with the first requiring that the player and all deployed GTA/PVN fighters and bombers jump out at the Sol jump node within a set amount of time (since Command subsequently determined that the ''Bastion'' could not catch up to the Lucifer in time to stop it from arriving in Sol), and the second requiring the same fighters and bombers to destroy the reactors of the ''Lucifer'' in the Delta Serpentis-Sol subspace corridor within about 10 minutes, all while being swarmed by the Shivan warship's own fighter complement. Against these odds, the GTA/PVN ships managed to destroy the ''Lucifer'''s reactors in the subspace corridor, starting a ChainReactionDestruction of the ''Lucifer'' just as it was about to exit the subspace portal and enter Sol within striking distance of Earth.

* SpaceFlecks: Small, translucent, rotating rocks that can be seen during a mission. The [=FS2_Open=] engine has the option to disable this for players who want a bit more realism in the game.

* TheGreatOffscreenWar: The Ancient-Shivan conflict was only briefly described in a narration by an Ancient in several cutscenes throughout the first game but was presumed to be one hell of a war.

* NearVillainVictory: In the first game. SD Lucifer was destroyed in a narrow window of opportunity of 10 minutes before she could leave the subspace and devastate the Earth. Even before the Sol gate battle, GTD Bastion (a ship that was ordered to destroy her inside subspace gate) was ambushed by SD Tantalus and barely survived, being too late for the final battle with superdestroyer. It was only thanks to the skills of small number of Terran and Vasudan pilots that saved the planet from inevitable doom. Said wings had to get through heavy resistance of both Shivan and HoL fleet in epic [[TimedMission race against time]] from the last 2 missions of the campaign.

* NearVillainVictory: In the first game. SD Lucifer was destroyed in a narrow window of opportunity of 10 minutes before she could leave the subspace and devastate the Earth. Even before the Sol gate battle, GTD Bastion (a ship that was ordered to destroy her inside subspace gate) was ambushed by SD Tantalus and barely survived, being too late for the final battle with superdestroyer. It was only thanks to the skills of small number of Terran and Vasudan pilots that saved the planet from inevitable doom. Said wings had to get through heavy resistance of both Shivan and HoL fleet in epic [[RaceAgainstTheClock race against time]] from the last 2 missions of the campaign.

In ''[=FreeSpace=]'', the Galactic Terran Alliance is at war with an alien race called the Vasudans over a tragic miscommunication during first contact. Several missions in however, a new alien race called the Shivans suddenly appears and begins annihilating both sides. The Shivans possess technology far superior to either the Terrans or Vasudans. They cannot be reasoned with, they cannot be bargained with, they exist only to destroy. Facing extinction, the GTA and PVE join forces in an attempt to prevent the Shivans from locating Vasuda Prime and Earth. They are not entirely successful...

* LittleHeroBigWar: Some early missions you fly are rigged to fail, which is later revealed to be due to behind-the-scenes politicking by the GTVI and Admiralty, who want [[spoiler:Bosch's ETAK Shivan communication device for themselves.]] A few of your pilots complain about it.
-->''Why did we attack the ''Iceni''? Why did we destroy that cargo? I can live with being a pawn if the game makes sense!''\\
-- Nameless pilot

* InformalEulogy

* YouKeepUsingThatWord: Allied Command will often (likely for propaganda purposes) claim that particular jump nodes are "blockaded", even if the blockade consists of a single ship or is completely ineffective.

** The Shivans themselves are physically the [[OverlyNarrowSuperlative largest of all three]] races, measuring about 10-15 feet long, with spidery limbs, multiple eyes, [[MechaMook metal skin]], [[HotBlade energy-molten knives]], [[FrickinLaserBeams built-in beam weapons]], and are nearly immune to bullets. Not to mention [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking the fact that they]] [[PowerGlows glow red]].

* PointDefenseless: True in the first game, as capital ships were only armed with "blob" turrets, which did decent damage but were pathetically slow and easy to avoid. And once shields came into the picture, they almost became a non-issue. The sequel, on the other hand, introduced shield-piercing [[FrickinLaserBeams anti-fighter beams]] and flak cannons that shred any fighter stupid enough to fly into their range. Blob turrets are still around, but more advanced turret AI meant that they'd concentrate on incoming bombs, which they actually are capable of shooting down.

* AchievementMockery: The second game has "Congratulations, you have attained the rank of Admiral. ''Now go read a book.''" This is because attaining Admiral requires completing the single-player campaign roughly a hundred times. The first game outright accuses you of cheating and urges you to stop.

* FromBadToWorse: Already long and bloody Terran-Vasudan War escalates into apocalyptic proportions with arrival of the Shivans. It's getting worse from than.