Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-1913529-20160306153022/@comment-25467429-20160308172827

This discussion has definitely come up before. Then too there was never an answer as to why. There is no formula in regards to the mission update part - I think the assumption of having to down yellow targets at this part of the mission is based on an overly finite assessment of how points are tallied and the hope that the spattering of yellow targets here can offset failure to best part one of the mission. Seeing as how part one doesn't end until you've destroyed everything or you hit that 3 minute timer, it's impossible to finish part one early and then still have to rely on yellow targets in the mission update. And missing a few shoudln't have much of an impact. As for part two of the mission, with the exception of Excalibur, and Pipeline when the SR-71 shows up, no mission in the game as far as I know lets you get an S without wiping out all of the targets on the map.

As for what is happening in this particular case, I've realized that particularly with pipeline, and on occassion with a couple other maps, the game will take a bit of time to spawn all of its targets if you wipe them out too quickly or wipe out a bunch all at once. They usually take some time in manifesting a few additional air targets. Aerospace has the longest period I think. I've seen it happen where you'll fly around for almost ten seconds looking at the radar for new targets and then assume nothing's doing, only for something to suddenly pop up out of nowhere. I think it is an error in how quickly the system generates the new targets, and therefore is likely to be worse if you're in a fairly good room but still cutting it a tad close on time (30--secs or less).