Just how 'Adaptive' is it?

So I've noticed that missions have multiple outcomes, like the classics, where you can do well or you can do poorly, and this may carry over into future missions. I'm grokking the heck out of that vibe. I'm extremely glad it's there. It's good. It's almost too good.

Which is probably why it's really hard for me to tell just how much responsibility one can take for the survival of other friendly pilots. Is it really full responsibility, or are there some deaths that are a scripted sequence with which the mechanics of the game shall not allow you to interfere?

So far, the results have been infuriatingly consistent again and again... I'm just about ready to buckle down and invest several score hours toward saving a pilot in this mission, until either I succeed, my metacarpal skeletal assembly shatters from cumulative stress fractures or my flightstick grinds to dust in my fist...

The only thing that will dissuade me is if the game mechanics are dictating that that pilot MUST die, no matter what. Hence, why I post this in Gameplay. Is this just a waste of time, or can I actually make a nice payoff if I somehow manage to skin enough cats and send them to the litterbox in hell faster than they can deplete the shields of my adopted charge?

My recommendation is just to play the game and enjoy it - if you fail the mission but the story will continue go with it. If you fail a mission that you have to succeed in you will be prompted to replay it. You don't have to win all missions (in fact some of them you cannot win). On later playthroughs you can experiment and try to do better.

I'm actually doing two simultaneous plays. One is my 'natural' run, and the other is my 'nailbiting perfectionist' run.

I think at least the "Asteroid guy" cannot be saved. Seemed scripted to me.

I think I've learned how to identify them.
In the event log (F4), it shows:Apparently nobody killed her.

That is not always an indication. That also happens when the game is unable to identify the cause of death.

KeldorKatarn wrote: That is not always an indication. That also happens when the game is unable to identify the cause of death.

I've noticed that this happens as well when I destroy stealthed ship while they're being cloaked. Not sure if the kill itself is counted towards the kill counter then at all.

Yeah, that can be weird.

I have only 1 skipper on my tally while I am sure I took at least 3 down during the infamous Niffelheim 2 mission. Or my wingmen are stealing my kills on them.

CycloneDusk wrote: I think I've learned how to identify them.
In the event log (F4), it shows:

...
01:45     DARKET   DESTROYED     KILL: GREYWOLF (100%)
03:08     DAWN     DESTROYED
03:17     VAKTOTH  DESTROYED     KILL: SANDMAN (99%)
...

Apparently nobody killed her.

That's because she didn't get killed, if you look real close after the mission she is still there!
She gets picked up later by her auto club, she stalled the damn ship then dropped her keys and lost them under her seat...