This is a FAQ, NOT a manual. You won't learn how to play the game
with this document, and I'm NOT about to add it to ease the life
of software pirates.
This USG only covers the PC version since that's the only version
that I have.
Some of you may recognize my name as the editor for the XCOM and
XCOM2: TFTD FAQ's, among others.
This version replaces any earlier versions previously released.
0.2 Terms of Distribution
This document is copyrighted by Kuo-Sheng "Kasey" Chang (c) 2000-
2001, all rights reserved excepted as noted above in the
disclaimer section.
This document is available FREE of charge subjected to the
following conditions:
1) This notice and author's name must accompany all copies of
this document: "Wing Commander IV:Price of Freedom Unofficial
Strategy Guide and FAQ" is copyrighted (c) 2000-2001 by Kasey
K.S. Chang, all rights reserved except as noted in the
disclaimer."
2) This document must NOT be modified in any form or manner
without prior permission of the author with the following
exception: if you wish to convert this document to a different
file format or archive format, with no change to the content,
then no permission is needed.
2a) In case you can’t read, that means TXT only. No banners, no
HTML borders, no cutting up into multiple pages to get you more
banner hits, and esp. no adding your site name to the site list.
3) No charge other than "reasonable" compensation should charged
for its distribution. (Free is preferred) Sale of this
information is expressly prohibited. If you see any one selling
this guide, drop me a line.
4) If you used material from this, PLEASE ACKNOWLEDGE the source,
else it is plagiarism.
5) The author hereby grants all games-related web sites the right
to archive and link to this document to share among the game
fandom, provided that all above restrictions are followed.
Sidenote: The above conditions are known as a statutory contract.
If you meet them, then you are entitled to the rights I give you
in 5), i.e. archive and display this document on your website. If
you don’t follow them, you did not meet the statutory contract
conditions, you have no right to display this document. If you
still do so, then you are infringing upon my copyright. This
section was added for any websites who don’t seem to understand
this.
For the gamers: You are under NO obligation to send me ANY
compensation. However, I do ask for a VOLUNTARY contribution of
one (1) US Dollar if you live in the United States, and if you
believe this guide helped your game. If you choose to do so,
please make your US$1.00 check or $1.00 worth of stamp to "Kuo-
Sheng Chang", and send it to "2220 Turk Blvd. #6, San Francisco,
CA 94118 USA".
If you don't live in the US, please send me some local stamps. I
collect stamps too.
0.3 Distribution
This USG should be available at Gamefaqs
(http://www.gamefaqs.com) and other major PC game websites (such
as gamesdomain.com, gamespot.com, gamecenter.com, etc.).
To webmasters who wish to archive this FAQ on their website,
please read the terms of distribution in section 0.2. It is quite
clear. In case you can’t understand it, it says "no
modifications". This means you may NOT modify any bits of it!
Read that carefully. It says exactly what it says.
0.4 Other Notes
There is no warranty for this unofficial strategy guide. After
all, it depends on YOU the player. All I can do is offer some
advice.
PLEASE let me know if there's a confusing or missing remark... If
you find a question about this game that is not covered in the
USG, e-mail it to me at ksc1@aol.com. I'll try to answer it and
include it in the next update.
0.5 The Author
I am just a game player who decided to write my own FAQs when the
ones I find don’t cover what I want to see. Lots of people like
what I did, so I kept doing it.
Previously, I've written Unofficial Strategy Guides (USGs) for
XCOM, XCOM2:TFTD, Wing Commander 3, Wing Commander 4, Fade to
Black, Spycraft, 688(I) Hunter/Killer. Mechwarrior 3, MW3
Expansion Pack, and Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed.
Most of them should be on gamefaqs.com, the biggest FAQ site
around. You can also find some of them on my KC Game Nexus
website at http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Alley/6275.
If you need to write me, send e-mail to ksc1@aol.com. (Any spam
will be reported to respective authorities).
0.6 Disclaimer/ Copyright Information
Origin, Wing Commander, the distinctive Wing Commander logo,
Secret Missions, Special Operations, Vengeance of the Kilrathi,
Heart of the Tiger, Privateer, Wing Commander Academy, and Wing
Commander: Armada are trademarks of Origin Systems, Inc. Origin
Systems is a wholly owned subsidiary of Electronic Arts.
This USG is not endorsed or authorized by Origin or Electronic
Arts.
The information compiled in this USG has been gathered
independently through the author’s efforts.
0.7 Spoiler Warning
The USG contains spoilers about all missions in Wing Commander
IV. Only get enough help to get past the hump, so you don’t spoil
the sense of accomplishment.
0.8 Revision History
24-SEP-2000 Initial release
08-DEC-2001 Slight update, more details in the walkthru
0.9 The Most Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Can you send me Wing Commander IV (or portions thereof)?
A: No.
Q: Can you send me the manual (or portions thereof)?
A: No.
Q: Can you tell me how to play the game?
A: Read the manual.
Q: Why is your FAQ shorter than other similar FAQs?
A: I don’t repeat the stuff that’s already in the manual. You can
read that yourself.
Q: What’s the latest version?
A: This is before games get patches.
Q: Where are the cheat codes?
A: See last section
1 Game Information
1.1 In the Beginning...
There was Wing Commander (I). As a young lieutenant recently
graduated from Naval Academy joining a 20-year old war that was
only getting worse, you were assigned to TCS TIGER'S CLAW, pride
of the Confederation Navy. WC1 chronicles the attempt by the
Confederation to retake the Vega sector, with you leading the
way.
WC1 was followed by two add-on scenarios, the Secret Missions.
Secret Mission 1 chronicles TIGER'S CLAW in pursuit of a new
Kilrathi secret weapon behind enemy lines in attempt to destroy
it, while Secret Mission 2 chronicles TIGER'S CLAW attempting to
protect a new ally against Kilrathi onslaught. SM2 also
introduces two new wingmen, Jazz and Doomsday, both of whom will
make their appearance in WC2.
1.2 Then there was...
Wing Commander 2: Vengeance of the Kilrathi opens with a BANG.
Your old ship, TIGER'S CLAW, was destroyed by three cloaked
Kilrathi fighters. You were implicated in in its destruction,
and you were court-martialed by Admiral Tolwyn. With
insufficient evidence, you were only convicted of negligence, but
there was no doubt that everyone believed that you had betrayed
"The Claw", just as you know that you are innocent and will prove
so one day. You were assigned to a backwater station, and spent
the next ten years there...
Through a series of events (coincidences?) you ended up on the
TCS CONCORDIA, the flagship of the ConFleet, and the task force
commander is none other than Admiral Tolwyn, who still believes
in your "treachery". WC2 then chronicles your struggle in
destroying the main Kilrathi base in the Enigma sector, defeating
Prince Thrakkath of Kilrah in a one-on-one dogfight, finding the
saboteur who framed you ten years ago and finally restoring your
career.
WC2 was followed by two Special Operations expansions. Special
Operations 1 introduces "Bear", who is the main character in the
second two WC novels, as you put down a mutiny, fly a new bomber,
and protect a defected Kilrathi colony from Kilrathi fleets. In
SO2, Jazz, the traitor who framed you ten years ago, escaped
right under your nose, and SO2 chronicles your attempt in finding
and destroying him once and for all. You get to fly a new
fighter as well, and ends with a final dogfight with Jazz.
Origin has also issued WC2 Deluxe CD-ROM containing the entire
set of WC2 including the speech pack, for one low price.
1.3 Elsewhere in the Confederation...
"Wing Commander: Privateer" takes place at a different corner of
Condeferation/Kilrathi border with a totally different
character... Where pirates and Retros (religious anti-technology
fanatics) roam the spaceways, attacking innocents, and the only
way to survive is fight them with more firepower. You've
inherited a small scoutship and you can upgrade your ship by
taking contracts to deliver cargo or taking out targets.
Eventually you will find a derelict in space, take a working
cannon from it, and destroy an ancient probe marauding the
spaceways.
Privateer was followed by "Righteous Fire", in which your super
cannon was stolen, and chronicles your quest to get it back, as
you take missions all over the sectors trying to find clues. You
ended up destroying the Retro's base in the sector.
1.4 Other Wing Commander Games
There are two other games: Wing Commander Academy and Wing
Commander Armada, but those don't have a "plot", so they are not
counted here.
1.5 In the Previous Episode...
Wing Commander III chronicles Colonel Blair's efforts in finally
ending the Kilrathi war. His love, Colonel "Angel" Devereux, went
off on a secret mission to Kilrah, and were captured by Prince
Thrakkath of the Kilrathi.
Colonel Blair himself was recuperating from wounds suffered
during a mission when his old carrier, the TCS CONCORDIA, was
destroyed off Vespus. He and Paladin, now a General, found the
wreckage. Upon returning to Confed HQ, Colonel Blair found
himself reassigned to an old carrier, namely the TCS VICTORY,
under command of Captain Eisen.
Despite Admiral Tolwyn's grandiose speech, Blair knows that the
war with the Kilrathi is not going well. Confeds are getting
desperate, and Tolwyn, after witnessing a bioweapon attack on a
Terran colony, chose to use his final trump card: a supercannon
(size of a very large ship) called the Behemoth, capable of
killing planets. Unfortunately, it was destroyed quickly by the
Kilrathi. It was also at this time that Blair found out that
"Angel" was killed by Prince Thrakkath, and his long-time
wingman, "Hobbes" the Kilrathi defector, was really a Kilrathi
spy all along. Under the multiple blows, Colonel Blair nearly
succumbed...
But there is still hope... Before her capture, "Angel" managed to
send a message back from Kilrah, and Paladin revealed his own
trump card: a bomb that could conceivably destroy Kilrah. But
first they have to build it, and test it, and finally, a suicide
mission to drop the bomb on Kilrah... As the Kilrathi assemble
their attack fleet, ready to wipe out Earth once and for all...
Blair was successful, and the fleet around Kilrah ready for the
final push to destroy Terra was annihilated along with Kilrah
itself. The shockwave unfortunately also caught Blair's fighter
and tossed him like a leave in the wind... When he came to, he
was being tractored onboard a Kilrathi dreadnought, captained by
Prince Thrakkath's second, Melek. Melek formally surrendered
Kilrah to "Heart of the Tiger", the title given by Thrakkath to
Blair, finally ending the war.
1.6 And a new chapter begins...
Please read the supplemental fiction in the WC4 package.
Basically, some unmarked fighters attacked neutral shipping, and
the Border Worlds were blamed. Tolwyn was called in to draft a
response...
1.7 And after this...
After this, there is Wing Commander: Prophecy, and its companion
expansion, Secret Ops. They were also released in the "Prophecy
Gold" bundle.
A new alien threat is encroaching on Confed space. Even the
Kilrathi are no match against it. Seem the ancient Kilrathi
prophecy are coming true...
1.8 Some notes
Some sections will include notes from Col. Blair
2 Wingmen
The wingmen under your command are very important. Each of the
pilots on both Confed and Border Worlds side has his or her own
characteristics that are listed below. All characteristics are
rated low, medium, or high.
Aggressiveness (AGR) - is the pilot eager for battle? Low
means "okay, sure" while high means "let me at them!"
Courage (COU) - will the pilot stay till the bitter end or
will he run from the first sign of trouble? Low means "I'm
out of here!" while high means "death before dishonor".
Flying Skill (FLY) - pretty obvious. Low means "flying like
a target" while high means "how did he do that?"
Gunnery Skill (GUN) - pretty obvious. Low means "can't hit
broadside of a barn", while high means "almost guaranteed
hit".
There are actually three other characteristics which are not
visible.
Trigger Happiness (TRI) - Low means "every shot counts",
while high means "hose the area".
*Loyalty (LOY) - will the wingman follow your orders? Low
means "no way, ace" while high means "anything you say,
boss".
Talkativeness (TLK) - Low means talk only when responding to
orders, while high means extremely annoying (like Maniac).
* Some of the wingmen have morale that CAN be affected by the
choices you make in the "decisions". They are documented later.
Wingmen cannot be "killed", they just eject, except for when the
plot calls for them to be killed.
If you shoot at them, you’ll be court-martialed.
2.1 Major Wingmen
The Major Wingmen are the ones you can interact with.
Most of them appear to be unaffected by Morale except when
specific choices are called for.
2.1.1 Major Todd "Maniac" Marshall (Confed / Border Worlds)
BLAIR: Yes, he's STILL around. I've known Maniac for more than
ten years, and I'm surprised that someone (including OUR side)
hasn't blown him away yet, which just attests to his skills as a
pilot.
As a pilot, he's a GREAT one, but too boastful, and rarely if
ever follow orders. He's also the first one to complain about
situation being "too hot" and can/will abandon you. He expects
YOU to stay out of HIS way, so NEVER get in between him and a
bogey.
With Maniac as Wingman, just order him to "break and attack". If
you need a specific target attacked, do it yourself.
BLAIR: Vagabond is a pilot with a mysterious past. Quite a bit of
his personnel file were classified, even to me. I've flown with
him during his previous tour with me on the TCS VICTORY. He's a
good flier.
2.1.3 2nd Lt. Troy "Catscratch" Carter (Confed / Border
Worlds)
BLAIR: Just out of the Academy, Catscratch dreamed of being a
warrior, but missed the Kilrathi War. He's eager to fight and
prove himself, which makes him to look to Maniac and I as role
models.
Catscratch won't die unless you refused to pick him up when his
fighter was disabled.
2.1.4 [Rank unknown] [Name unknown] "Seether" (Confed / Black
Lance)
BLAIR: Seether is an excellent pilot, and is totally dedicated to
victory. Other than that, nothing is known about him, except I've
seen him with a knife once... And he's VERY good with that.
You will only fly with Seether once if you did not defect at your
first opportunity.
2.1.5 Colonel Jacob "Hawk" Manley (Border Worlds)
BLAIR: Hawk's attitude fits his thinking perfectly. He's the man
who does what needs to be done, even if it means civilian
casualties. He's a good "stick" and good wingman.
Other Wingmen are available for missions, but you don't interact
with them. Most of the names are the crew who worked on WC4
itself at Origin.
BLAIR: These are also pilots under my command but I don't
interact much with them. Some of these ratings are my estimates.
When flying for the Confeds, I usually pick Gambler or Fhish,
unless I need lots of kills, then I pick Maniac. When flying for
the Border Worlds, I pick Primate, Yaeger, Hawk, and Panther.
(Sidenote: these are all Origin employees, complete with real
pictures.)
2.2.14 J. "Primate" Allen (Confed / Border Worlds)
BLAIR: One of the pilots who managed to defect before I did by
going AWOL (absent without leave). I did wonder where did he go
since I missed flying with him. I was glad that he made it over.
These are the crafts you’ll fly in this conflict, with comments
from Colonel Blair.
BLAIR: Only the Banshee and the Dragon can do the Slide. Remember
that.
3.1 Avenger (Border Worlds Bomber)
BLAIR: Avenger is a heavy fighter and jack-of-all-trades for the
Border Worlds. It can carry four torpedoes and eight medium
missiles like the Longbow, and carries similar armament. It has a
weaker rear gun and a wider stance though. Its alternate weapon,
2 Leech Guns and the Stormfire Cannon, can be quite dangerous.
Avenger is also equipped with a tractor beam for salvage
operations. In my opinion Avenger is only second to Dragon in
firepower.
3.2 Banshee (Border Worlds Light Fighter)
BLAIR: Banshee is a very good light fighter, with quad lasers and
8 medium missile hardpoints. Like other Border Worlds craft,
Banshee also has alternate weapons: Leech gun and Scatter gun.
The Scatter gun is not that useful. With excellent
maneuverability and Slide capability, Banshees can be hard to hit
and packs a big punch. Outfly your opponents, and dump a missile
in his face.
3.3 Bearcat (Confed Heavy Fighter)
BLAIR: Packed with four Tachyon Guns and eight medium missile
hardpoints, this is one tough fighter to beat in terms of
firepower. Think of this fighter as a new Excalibur, complete
with auto-aimming. Use the heavy shields and quad tachyon guns to
your advantage. It is hard to miss in this fighter.
You'll only fly the Bearcat if you opt for the Weapons Raid and
choose the "Fighter Heist" mission as your first choice.
3.4 Dragon (Black Lance Heavy Fighter)
BLAIR: This is the super fighter that outclasses everybody in the
field. With shields and armor both about twice as thick as the
nearest competitor, plenty of heavy guns (2 plasma, 2 tachyon),
and TEN missiles, this heavy fighter is capable of killing
EVERYTHING including capships even without its two torpedoes. It
can also do the Slide, has twin fission cannons as alternate
weapon, cloaking device, and INFINITE afterburner! There is one
more bonus: you can SEE other Dragons in cloak though you can't
lock onto them.
Fly this craft whenever you can, esp when you expect other
Dragons. Apply some more energy to the engines to get infinite
afterburner.
3.5 Hellcat (Confed Medium Fighter)
BLAIR: The Hellcat is the general-purpose fighter. Its armaments
are about the same as Arrow's. You will need to use those
missiles since you can't slide, and keep your finger on the decoy
button, esp. when flying against fast crafts like the Banshee and
Vindicator.
3.6 Longbow (Confed Bomber)
BLAIR: Longbow has a significantly reduced front/rear area,
making it harder to hit on attack runs, which improved your
survivability. With four torpedoes, you can take on multiple
ships, but you usually don't need that many torpedoes. You don't
QUITE have the maneuverability to keep up with enemy fighters,
but you have to try, since your rear guns is only strong enough
to annoy them, not to keep them off, unless you take manual
control. Use your large complement of missiles to keep enemy
fighters dodging while you line up the capship. With four heavy
guns up front, you can take down most fighters that come straight
at you. If you expect to take down cruisers and carriers, or you
need to take down multiple ships quickly, take this one. If only
a single target is called for, launch torpedo in pairs to ensure
the kill.
3.7 Vindicator (Border Worlds Medium Fighter)
BLAIR: Vindicator appears to be a copy of the Kilrathi Ekapshi,
since they look very similar. It is very heavily armed for a
fighter of its size with 6 missiles, 3 torpedoes, and plenty of
guns. Its rear laser is not worth mentioning. Don't expect it to
get enemies off your tail. Careful flying is best since shields
are rather weak.
4 Opposition Crafts
These are the fighters you’ll be flying against. Know them and
use their weaknesses to your advantage.
4.1 Arrow (Confed/Pirate? Light Fighter)
BLAIR: The Arrow is lightly armed. It is very manueverable. Its
main deficiency is its lack of "staying power", or ability to
take damage and keep on ticking. Stay on its tail and keep
shooting it until destroyed. A few good hits should kill one.
Save the missiles for something slower. Some Arrows may be
carrying an experimental cloaking device captured from the
Kilrathi.
4.2 Avenger (Border Worlds Bomber)
BLAIR: With lots of guns and lots of missiles, this craft can be
quite dangerous. Be patient, watch for the missiles, then hit it
from behind. Its rear gun is not that powerful. Leeching them can
work too. They are bigger targets than the Longbow.
4.3 Banshee (Border Worlds Light Fighter)
BLAIR: Banshee has excellent maneuverability. It also packs lots
of missiles. Be very careful around more than one of them. They
are well versed in team tactics. If possible, call in your
wingman to keep one of them off your back. Otherwise, stay on its
tail with afterburners and kill it, while watch for shots from
behind. Ramming it may work if you have heavy shields and armor.
4.4 Bearcat (Confed Heavy Fighter)
BLAIR: with four Tachyon Guns and eight medium missile
hardpoints, this is a tough fighter. Think of this as a variant
of Excalibur. Bearcat, like Excalibur and Dragon, has auto-
tracking guns, so sliding doesn't work that well. Better Leech
it. Avoid the front guns and the missiles and it's just another
target.
4.5 Dragon (Black Lance Heavy Fighter)
BLAIR: The superfighter is better than everything in the field
except another Dragon. It also has a cloaking device. Get on to
one's tail and do NOT let go! Keep shooting it until it DIES. Use
Leech missiles would help slowing them down. Stormfire cannon is
VERY useful at close range, as it "marks" the fighter even when
"cloaked". If you damaged it you can see trailing "damage sparks"
even when cloaked. If you are in a Dragon yourself you can still
see other Dragons, even when they are cloaked.
4.6 Excalibur (Confed Heavy Fighter)
BLAIR: With guns strong enough to actually take out capships, and
enough missiles to shame some bombers, Excalibur is very
dangerous to fighters and bombers. Its guns auto-track so sliding
doesn't work on them. On the other hand, once you blast through
the shields it dies very quickly.
4.7 Hellcat (Confed Medium Fighter)
BLAIR: The Hellcat is a general-purpose fighter and you'll find
it mainly defending carriers. Its armaments are about the same as
Arrow's though a little heavier and shorter ranged, and it
carries less missiles. Hellcat's shields regenerate quite fast
[faster than when you're flying one] so stay with one until it's
dead.
4.8 Longbow (Confed Bomber)
BLAIR: Longbow has a significantly reduced front/rear area,
making it harder to hit. With four torpedoes it can be very
dangerous to YOUR capships, and with a tractor beam, they are
also Confed's salvage craft. Take them out first. They are slow,
but heavily armored, so don't run into them on your attack runs.
Don't go head-on with it either. Its tailgun packs a potent
sting. Attack it from the sides.
4.9 Razor??? (Pirate Light Fighter)
BLAIR: The pirate light fighter has plenty of missiles but not
enough guns. Avoid the missiles and you should do okay. One solid
missile hit or a couple gun salvoes will kill one easily.
4.10 Thunderbolt (Confed/Pirate? Heavy Fighter)
BLAIR: Thunderbolt is manueverable enough to fight other heavy
fighters, and its six forward guns can chew up a lot of shields
and armor. Its rear gun is useful. It is quite manueverable for a
fighter this large. Try to attack it from the sides, and be ready
to afterburn away as they may ram you.
4.11 Vindicator (Border Worlds Medium Fighter)
BLAIR: Relatively light, just stay on its tail, take the hits
from the single rear laser (can't hurt that much), dodge the
missiles, then kill it with full gun salvoes. Watch the altimeter
though... They love to play chicken with the ground.
5 Weapons
Some of these weapons are only available if you chose the
Spearadon Weapon Raid.
5.1 "Regular" Guns
BLAIR: The energy guns (every thing except Stormfire) are simply
available on each craft and there's really no point saying which
is better since you cannot change them. I usually fight with ONLY
full guns, and I synchronize the guns to ensure maximum damage
per salvo.
5.2 Fission Cannon
BLAIR: This weapon is exceptional on the Dragon but hard to use
since it is not a part of ITTS. You must hold down the trigger
and release it when appropriate. The longer you hold (no more
than 10 seconds) the more powerful the shot. It fires too slow
for capship busting though. On the other hand, two or three hits
will destroy any fighter.
Fission cannon can be useful against slower targets, like heavy
fighters, bombers, and even corvettes.
5.3 Stormfire Cannon
BLAIR: Only available on the Avenger, the individual shots don't
cause much damage but firing rate is phenomenal! It does not
require energy so if you have plenty of ammo, turn gun energy to
zero, and use the extra energy for shields. Get in close (under
1500m) and let them have it, usually from the behind. Listen for
the ricochet sounds (?!?) to see if you score. Fire short bursts
instead of one long continuous stream to maximize ammo
effectiveness.
5.4 Leech Guns
Select it, and watch the "Leechmeter" next to the gun while
shooting at the target. Leech missile also helps. When the meter
reaches 100%, the target is disabled.
BLAIR: Not much use during a big furball due to heavy energy
consumption. Save it for salvage ops.
5.5 Dumbfire Missile
BLAIR: Poor men's torpedo, this still hasn’t changed. Great
against ships in their weak spots like engines and launch bays. A
couple of these in the innards of a carrier will do wonders. They
are also useful against turrets when strafing has no effect.
5.6 Friend-or-foe Missile
BLAIR: FriFoe is perfect for "blind shooting", when you are too
busy shooting at enemies to worry about other targets, such as
during torpedo runs. Just toss a few out there and "let God sort
them out".
5.7 Mace Tactical Nuke
BLAIR: Potent weapon, capable of maiming/killing a wing in one
shot. Try is to launch one into the launch bay of a carrier and
watch it go BOOM! Remember to use the missile view when guiding
this since you MUST keep trigger held down UNTIL you want to
detonate it, or it will detonate next to you! It explodes in 20
seconds whether you let go or not. Make sure that no friendlies
are near the target or you may be nuking your own side. In that
case you may be considered a traitor.
5.8 Starburst Missile
BLAIR: One of Plier’s useless piece of junk (which does happen),
this weapon explodes shrapnel all over the place, including at
yourself. Use the Coneburst Missile instead.
5.9 Coneburst Missile
BLAIR: Another one of Plier's invention, this one fires all
shrapnel FORWARD, like a huge shotgun. Use the missile view to
determine when to detonate it. Not that powerful, I would carry
ImRecs instead.
5.10 Leech Missile
BLAIR: Used to disable ships and fighters, it acts much faster
than the Leech guns. Also see my notes on the Leech Guns.
5.11 M.I.P.s
BLAIR: Another one of Plier’s inventions, this one is quite
useful. Clean out the enemy fighters and turrets before sending
in the MIPs. Watch the target diagram and try to shoot the MIPs
at the "top" of the target if possible. During retrieval, use the
rear view display (Ctrl-F4) to line up, then go to rear view. You
don't want to shoot down the MIP, so make sure the tractor
symbol's on (those floating rings and the white circle around the
target), THEN tractor it in.
NEVER leave a MIP behind. That means an automatic failure.
6 General Tactics from Colonel Blair
6.1 Don't chase the cursor
I've given this advice before and I'll give it again.
I looked over plenty of rookies' shoulders in simulators, and one
of the most common mistakes for rookies to make is rely too much
on the ITTS cursor. They wave their ship all over space trying
to keep up with the cursor, spraying shots into vacuum.
Keep in mind that while ITTS does not lie, but it is an ESTIMATE
of where the enemy will be.
Let's give an example. Let's say enemy craft (bogey) is flying
left to right in front of you. B=Bogey, C=ITTS Cursor
B---->C
If the Dralthi pull up 45 degrees, the cursor would move up.
C2
/
/
/
B---->C1
You have to pull your ship up just to keep up with the cursor.
What if the bogey was also speeding up or slowing down? The
cursor would be flying all over the HUD!
The solution is quite simple. Enemy must point toward you to
shoot at you (unless you're approaching their rear turret, which
is discussed later) so during that time, the ITTS cursor is RIGHT
ON the target. If you shoot at that time, you are virtually
guaranteed a hit. You can engineer this opportunity by using
afterburners to open the range up to 4000K or more, then turn
back, and aim toward the enemy. As soon as the cursor overlaps
the enemy craft, fire away, then turn to dodge the enemy fire.
If you follow my advice correctly, even the four little guns in
the Banshee can be quite effective, since you don't miss.
6.2 Match Speed
You need to match speed with the target you're tracking, to
prevent sudden overtakes (ram!) or the target zooming out of
range. Use the match speed command [Y], and use afterburner to
maintain range. Against a faster target, this would mean constant
taps of afterburner. Mix this with sudden and random change of
course should clear your tail of most enemies.
6.3 Anti-Cloak tactics
A decloaking ship is usually accompanied by a "decloaking sound".
Since enemy ships ALWAYS decloak behind you, whenever you hear
the sound, immediately do a 180 turn and lock on, then fire away.
6.4 Heatseeker and Dumbfire missiles are not useless
Yes, I know Javelins (HS) are virtually useless against fighters,
since it's almost impossible to get an enemy fighter to head away
from you for two whole seconds for the HS to lock on.
However, HS, and DF missiles are QUITE useful against capships if
you don't carry torpedoes. Think of DF as a small torpedo that
needs no lock, and HS as a seeking small torpedo.
6.5 Torpedo Tactics
Torpedoes take 12 seconds to lock, so how do you survive that
twelve seconds? Several ways, best combined.
1) "Pre-lock" the torpedoes. Arm the torpedo [select the torpedo]
before you approach the nav point can save you a few seconds once
you detect the target.
2) Send your wingman out to distract enemy fighters. This may
work against few enemy fighters, but won't work if there's more
than 4 fighters. Light fighters may be also too fast for your
wingman.. This tactic may work better if combined with 4)
3) Destroy all enemy fighter cover first. This is probably the
most reliable way, since cap ships do not jump away while you
take out the fighter cover. Of course, it also takes the longest
amount of time, and some capships launch replacements fighters as
you destroy its escorts.
4) Fend them off with FF missiles (and perhaps your rear turret).
This is better done in a Longbow since its rear guns are more
powerful. Avenger is not too bad though.
5) Double-launch the torpedoes on ships that need two. To arm a
PAIR of torpedoes (or missiles), press M to select a torpedo
hardpoint, then press "]" to select next without deselecting
first, then press "[" to arm the second one as well. When you
launch, both will be launched.
6) Launch CLOSE. The closer you shoot the torpedo, the less time
the capship has to shoot it down the flak, so hold the torpedo
until 2000 or even 1500. Shoot, pull up, and hit afterburners.
6.6 Go after WEAK POINTS
All ships have weak points. Engine nozzles are not armored. On a
carrier or cruiser the fighter bays are not armored nor shielded.
On larger ships, the bridge is also unarmored if you can see it
(finding it is a different matter). Hitting those spots will
cause MORE damage than going after general areas of the ship.
You can fly INTO a carrier's hangar bay and blow it up from the
INSIDE. Just don't be there when the whole thing goes up. In
fact, this is the only way to take out some ships, such as the
Versuvius.
6.7 Ground Targets
The only ground targets worth a missile on are the defense
turrets and the tanks. Usually one missile should take care of
it, and you may want to use it because those SAM turrets launch
quite fast and never seem to run out of ammo.
6.8 Capital ship busting
Capital ships have lots of turrets, but usually if you hide
directly behind the engines and match speed, you can hide in the
blind spot, where the turrets cannot hit you, while you can keep
hitting the ship with guns in the weak spot. This is very useful
if you have taken out the fighter cover but lacks the torpedoes
to take down a big ship. As for carriers, inside the hangar bay
is a safe spot, until carrier start to move, that is.
Use only afterburners to maneuver around capships. Leave speed to
zero or match the speed of the ship you're following.
Some turrets are vulnerable from the blind spot.
Leech guns or missiles are useful against capships, esp.
transports and destroyers. Two leech missiles are enough to stop
a transport and even a destroyer.
6.9 Adjust your energy
The FIRST thing you should do after getting into your fighter,
even BEFORE taking off, is adjust your energy distribution.
Engines should never get more than 25%, since more doesn't help
you in speed. Use the LOCK feature to lock it at 25%. Then, move
down to damage control and decrease that to zero, then increase
it back to 5%, so you should have more energy to weapons and
shields. If you received non-fatal damage, you can adjust the
ratios later.
Some pilots also lock the shields at 25% and devote all extra
energy to weapons.
6.10 Slide Variations
The Slide is normally associated with "fly in one direction but
shooting in another". While this is true and useful for strafing,
there are two variations on it that can be useful:
1) The reversal -- best used in a Dragon. Do a continuous
afterburn, then WHILE BURNING, do a 180 degree slide, and you are
now facing backwards, while still moving forward at maximum
velocity! You are then free to shoot, or lock on to enemies and
fire missiles.
2) The square turn -- Heard of the expression "turns on a dime"?
Well, you can do this if you can slide. This relies on a strange
property of the slide: when you STOP sliding, your heading
IMMEDIATELY changes to where your nose is pointing, which may not
be what you were heading before. So let's say, if you start
sliding and do a right 90, then stop slide, you have just made a
perfect square turn! This maneuver can be useful when trying to
outfly missiles.
7 Missions
Notes that does not deal with the story itself are noted in
[brakets].
For example: I boarded my craft after Maniac [You don’t have to
pick Maniac, Primate works too.]
7.1 Mission Tree
The missions are grouped in logical series. To see the mission
internal code, press ALT-V.
A: Recall -> B
B: Rescue Hostage on Tyr -> C
C: Enforce Confederation Edict D or F?
D: Save BWS Intrepid -> E // F: Hunt down Intrepid -> G
E: Infiltrate Comm Station -> G
G: Protect Kilrathis, escort them home -> J
J: Deal with Peleus system L or K?
L: Weapons Raid -> M K: Stop Civil War -> M
M: Discover Black Lance... And their leader -> N
N: Get to Earth before VERSUVIUS does -> O
O: Stop VERSUVIUS, and go to Confed to explain what happened...
7.2 Series A: Recall
BLAIR: Single mission, basically marking my return from civilian
to active duty.
7.2.1 A1: Recall [Nephele]
Got into the bar, a vet asked me to buy him a drink.
[Help him out -- You'll meet him again in J2 and he'll remember.]
[Straighten him out -- Bad choice, J2 just got harder.]
Maniac gives his "You're either an earthworm or an eagle" speech.
A fight develops in bar. Do I get involved?
[Inconsequential choice, though that's first time Seether shows
up.]
[Don't pick "None of my business". It is boring. :-)]
Maniac told me the bad news that I've been reactivated, at least
he thought it was. He didn't realize I'm ready to get out of the
farm...
We're going to Orlando Depot, where we'll catch a shuttle to
Confed HQ. We'll be driving Hellcats.
Once in cockpit, Maniac challenged me to a virtual dogfight.
[Affirmative or Negative]
Once virtual combat concluded (I won), 2 pirate fighters jumped
us.
[If you picked Negative, they show up immediately.]
It took 20 seconds for the targeting system to reset, so it was
pretty hairy for a while. But between Maniac and me they are
history.
[Go ahead and use the missiles, you don't need it later.]
We arrived at Orlando Depot, only to see a Border Worlds Avenger
destroy Orlando Depot, then escaped through the jump point. We
barely had fuel to make it to Bluepoint station, and landed
without further incident. It was not a good beginning.
7.3 Series B: Hostage rescue at Tyr
We were chasing pirates for a while, then turned to hostage
rescue.
7.3.1 B1: Where are those pirates? [Hellespont]
We got on the jump shuttle on our way to Confed HQ. Maniac
wondered who was that, since that Border Avenger hailed me by
name.
We arrived at Confed HQ with no incident, and Tolwyn was there.
He assigned me to the TCS LEXINGTON.
At Lexington, Maniac is jealous at all the attention I'm getting
again. He pulled out his "all hail Heart of the Tiger" act, I
retaliated with "I could tell you, but I'd have to kill you".
Sure got him worked up a sweat.
Captain Eisen was at Flight Control and we had a nice chat.
Also saw Vagabond at the Lounge, and as usual, he won at the
cards.
Eisen held the briefing. We are to escort a Confed transport to
jump point, protecting it from pirates. Then we are to protect
the Radar array, relieving the fighters on station.
Longbow and Hellcat are available. I picked Hellcat. As for
Wingmen, many are available. I picked Maniac. While you can't
count on him to cover you, he's dependable at racking up kills
and taking care of himself.
Two pirates fighters are attacking the transport at Nav 1, and
two more are waiting at the Nav 2 jump point. The transport
jumped with no problems.
At radar array 4 pirate Thunderbolts are attacking it. We
destroyed two when Eisen called and told us to TRAIL the other
two to find the pirate base, which would probably be a capship.
Eisen said to keep our distance at 12 , which I assume to
be 12 thousand clicks.
We kept our distance, then immediately turned back when we got
the new nav point fixed [i.e. objective complete]. We landed
without further incident.
[Note: if you followed TOO CLOSE, even if you got "mission
complete", you will immediately get "unable to complete mission",
then you will go to B2B instead of the easier B2A mission.]
7.3.2 B2A/B: Destroy Pirate Frigate [Hellespont]
At Flight Control the newbie Catscratch arrived. He went into his
hero worship mode when he realized that he's looking at THE Col.
Blair.
[This conversation affects morale of the person you are talking
to. The sentence with the + raises morale by 1, while the other
drops morale by 1.]
[I like this kid + / What's this kind want with me? - ]
Eisen ordered the attack on the pirate frigate which is acting as
the base. We'll be taking Longbows to make sure we vaporize that
thing. Any wingman would do... Picked Maniac again.
We know which waypoint the frigate is now, so we went there
directly. On the way we were jumped by four Thunderbolts. The
frigate was covered continuously by 2 Thunderbolts and 2 Arrows.
Maniac went after the escorts with gusto while I torpedoed the
frigate.
[If you got B2B, you must search three Nav points, each of which
is guarded by 4 light fighters except the one with the frigate,
which is covered by 3 light fighters and two Arrows. In the
Longbow the small light fighters are dangerous, esp. with
missiles. At low difficulty level B2B is actually easier.]
Upon return, Eisen sent a message that my flight need to go see
what happened to a transport who sent out an SOS. A shuttle is
already on the way.
When we arrived, we found a hulk of transport. The shuttle had
already investigated the hulk and found that some sort of new
weapon was used, and every one onboard died from an attack from
the INSIDE. Strange...We auto-ed back to Lexington and landed.
7.3.3 B3: Recon for Rescue mission [Tyr]
TCS LEXINGTON jumped into the TYR system, where a bioconvergence
chemist was kidnapped and held hostage allegedly by Border World
Militia. Intelligence has placed the hostage at Tyr VII, and
surveillance has located three bases as possible sites. We will
mount a rescue attempt, but first we need to know which one to go
after.
In the lounge, Maniac and Vagabond are taking sides again on the
issue. Maniac thinks that BW forces are behind this among other
attacks, while Vagabond explains that they don't have the
technology.
Eisen explained that I would be launching alone in a Hellcat for
this recon mission. The Hellcat has been fitted with a laser
camera. To minimize "provocation", I'll be going in alone.
I launched and adjusted power. Two BW Banshees intercepted me
before I reached Tyr orbit. Those two fighters are DANGEROUS!
They do perfect tag team: while I chase one the other get on my
tail. Sometimes those two launch missiles at point-blank range. I
need to use three missiles to destroy one of them. Then the other
is simple. I entered orbit and descended to the surface.
At the surface, I reset power, diverting more power to shields,
and headed to Complex 1. As I came into range, a SAM site locked
me up immediately. I returned the favor and launched one of my
own ImRecs, just as he launched. I decoyed then afterburned in. A
couple full gun salvoes destroyed it, just as a Vindicator jumped
me.
The key to beating Vindicators is avoid the missiles (use decoys
liberally) then take the hits from its rear laser and kill it
from behind. Vindicators have a tendency to play "ground chicken"
(i.e. dive to ground, pull up at last second, hoping you would
follow), don't play his game.
After taking care of the defenses I came to a full stop, enabled
the cameras, and took 10 pictures.
The process repeated itself at Nav 2 and Nav 3, except I saw TWO
Vindicators instead of one at each Nav point.
Regained orbit without incident, and landed on the LEXINGTON.
[If you failed to obtain 10 pics at each complex, FOUR Banshees
will jump you at planet orbit. You probably will not survive. In
case you did, you will go to B4B instead of B4A]
7.3.4 B4A/B: Hostage Rescue [Tyr]
B4A: Thanks to my efforts, the marines know exactly where to go
for the hostage. Escort the Marine transport shuttle in, and
retrieve the hostage. I’ll flying a Hellcat again, I picked
Maniac.
Adjusted power and took off. At Nav 1 we were jumped by 2
Banshees, but with Maniac around it's not a problem as we each go
after one.
The ground complex is unprotected now except for two Vindicators,
and we took care of them easily. The hostage was retrieved
without further incident.
[If you fail, you'll find 4 Banshees waiting for you at planet
orbit, and even if you survive you'll be court-martialed for
treason and be drummed out of the service, thus losing the game.]
B4B: Thanks to my LACK of effort, the marines have to try ALL
THREE sites looking for the hostage. Escort the Marine transport
shuttle in and check all complexes.
[Identical setup to B3, except you have a Marine Shuttle and a
wingman. That Marine transport is FRAGILE, so request its status
often, and take out those turrets QUICKLY! Failure is not an
option here.]
7.4 Series C: Enforce Confed Edict
Basically do what Confed told us to do, without question. While
loyalty has its place, some of these missions are rather...
Troubling.
7.4.1 C1: Retake the Spacelab [Masa]
Regional Command has sent Captain Paulsen with out new orders.
Admiral Tolwyn sends his regards and inquires as to our
situation.
In the lounge, Maniac gets another slap in the face. Catscratch
was also in the lounge and was wondering about Paulsen.
[New Brass -- pain in the ass + / This kid asks too many
questions - ]
Lexington jumped into Masa system. When I went into the briefing,
I was VERY surprised to see Paulsen there, with no sign of Eisen.
Apparently Eisen has been relieved of his command. But why?
Paulsen outlined the mission. A spacelab was taken over by Border
World forces and we need to "liberate" it. Escort the marine
shuttle in and protect it from the Border Worlds Militia until
they finish.
Hellcats and Longbows are available, I pick Longbows since I
expect to see heavy opposition. I was not disappointed.
At the Spacelab, we were countered by four Avengers. Two more
Avengers showed up when the Marine shuttle has arrived, then two
more when shuttle has docked.
[You have about 2 minutes after shuttle dock to destroy all
Avengers or the Marines will retreat.]
Marines took over without incident, and we headed back to
Lexington.
7.4.2 C2: Border Worlds Convoy
In the lounge, Maniac tries his move on a scientist, and got
another slap in the face for his efforts.
The newscast then reports that Union of Border Worlds has
declared independence from the Confederation due to various
grievances. In return, due to the many attacks allegedly
perpetrated by Border Worlds Militia, Confed Assembly has passed
an edict that all Border World vessels in Confed space must be
escorted or leave immediately. Confed Fleet is duly authorized to
enforce the edict, with deadly force if necessary.
Maniac and Vagabond were discussing the issue again.
[Confed's abusing their authority / Confed needs to clamp down ]
Captain Eisen is in his cabin, and claims he's looking forward to
new challenges. On the other hand, I have a sense that he's not
telling me everything.
Paulsen briefed us that two Border Worlds cruisers with fighter
escorts are in Confed space now. Paulsen emphasized the "deadly
force" enforcement option.
Primate has disappeared from the rosters. I took Maniac instead,
and picked Longbow instead of Hellcat, since I think I need the
firepower. We launched without incident.
At the nav point, we found the convoy, escorted by 4 Banshees.
Lexington tried one more warning, but the cruiser replied that
the Confeds stole the spacelab and they don't deal with thieves.
The attack is on.
I thought about taking out one of the cruisers right away would
stop them fighting, but then I considered the casualties that
would cause, and decided to take out the fighters instead. They
must run out sooner or later. Turns out it was later, as there
are TEN Banshees total. Maniac had to eject when two Banshees
sandwiched him with missiles. After the tenth Banshee is
destroyed, the cruisers surrendered.
[You could take out one of the cruisers, which would cause both
the remaining cruiser and all the fighters to surrender, and this
is easier than taking out all fighters. If you choose this route,
set power to maximize shields and DamCon, send Maniac out on
"break and attack", launch all the FriFoe's you got, arm a pair
of torpedoes, and nail one of the cruisers.]
[Don't fire on surrendered ships or you'll fight them all over
again.]
I retrieved Maniac with tractor beam and landed on the Lexington
without further incident.
7.4.3 C3: Defect? [Masa]
Tolwyn responds to previous communication [only if saw the
previous one on the bridge.]
Catscratch was in the lounge looking morose. He said he's
actually from the Border Worlds and he's not sure what he's doing
is the right thing.
[The kid's got a point. + / Who's he to question Confed? - ]
Eisen was in his cabin, still typing away on his computer. He
mentioned something about our ultimate duty. He appears to be
implying something...
Maniac was in flight control trying to make new friends but got a
lot of cold shoulders. Suddenly the loudspeakers announced that
until further notice flight deck is off limits except authorized
personnel. This usually means that someone heavy is coming
onboard.
Maniac offered to buy me a drink at the lounge.
[I need to see what's going on. / I don't like spending time in
the brig. ]
I decided I need to see what's going on, and I sneaked into the
flight deck while no one is looking, and hid amongst the crates
and equipment on the deck. Not long after a set of marine guards
stopped at the door, followed by Paulsen, just as a shuttle
landed. The door dropped, and a colonel walked out, but his face
looks familiar... Wait a minute, I saw him in the bar back on
Nephele! He's good with that big knife of his... Never learned
his name, but what's he doing arriving like a Confed VIP? Paulsen
greeted this guy as if Paulsen is subordinate to him...
[If you chose "I don't like spending time in the brig", you'll
join Maniac at the Lounge, and Maniac is looking unusually
morose. He mentioned that Eisen has talked to him, but he refused
to say what it is about. He actually bought me a drink, which is
VERY unusual. Something is really bothering him...]
An hour later... I was summoned by Loudspeaker to immediately
report to briefing room. Vagabond and one of the other pilots,
Miner, was also there. That's when Paulsen dropped the bomb
(figuratively): Eisen stole a shuttle and is presumably defecting
to the Border Worlds Militia. Maniac is piloting the shuttle.
Eisen is NOT to reach Border Worlds forces, period, Paulsen
emphasized, no matter what. Use deadly force if necessary. (Is
that the standard operating procedure nowadays?)
Hellcats have been prepared and three of us will launch
immediately.
Upon catching up with the shuttle, Vagabond said that he can't
fire on Eisen, and he's GOING with Eisen. He asked me if I'm
going along. I replied "Affirmative", and was immediately shot at
by Miner, who was on my six. Vagabond and I forced Miner to eject
after we seriously damaged his craft, and we escorted the shuttle
toward BWS INTREPID. On the way three more Hellcats from the
Lexington jumped us. It appears that Paulsen doesn't do things by
halves... We shot them down since it's us or them. After all
Hellcats are dealt with we landed on the BWS INTREPID without
further incident, and INTREPID jumped. [Go to D1.]
[If you want to be nasty, when Vagabond asks you about defecting,
don’t answer yet. Line yourself up behind Miner, double-arm two
missiles, then answer and shoot the missiles. As long as the
missiles hit AFTER you answer, you are not considered a traitor.]
[If you chose NEGATIVE when Vagabond asked you, Vagabond will
shoot at you. You'll have to deal with him before continuing. He
will eject, of course, but by that time Eisen's shuttle have
disappeared. You have no choice but to return to the LEXINGTON.
Go to F1]
7.5 Series D: Save Intrepid
Now that I defected, I have to save Intrepid and gathered more
information on the conspiracy.
7.5.1 D1: Defend INTREPID [Silenos]
We landed on the Intrepid amidst the damage and wreckage of the
hangar bay. Right after that Intrepid jumped to Silenos system.
We found "Panther" and "Hawk" on the deck directing DamCon
efforts. The bridge was taken out by an attack wave from
LEXINGTON back at Masa, and these are the senior surviving
officers. I recognized those call signs since they are top-rated
aces during the Kilrathi war like me, and they still argue each
other to death. Eisen's deal was with the original captain, who's
dead on the bridge, but Hawk and Panther decided to honor the
deal. Eisen brought over plenty of logs, coded transmissions,
fleet movement tracks, etc.
No more than 10 minutes later 1-MC announced red alert and
everybody is to scramble and defend the Intrepid. This would be a
magnum launch. It appears that the Lexington has jumped in behind
us and launched a strike force.
I launched as soon as possible in the Hellcat I arrived on, and
found a series of fighters and bombers charging in from all
vectors. They are: 4 Hellcats, 4 + 4 Longbows, and finally 3
Thunderbolts. There are plenty of Banshees and other fighters up,
but since our vidcomm were not adjusted yet to BW frequencies I
can't talk to the pilots except on "Guard", and that I don't want
to. As soon as I made sure one target is being engaged, I
switched to one that is not. Strangely, the Longbows did not use
their torpedoes, perhaps they didn't have time to load them. I
saved my missiles for the Hellcats and Thunderbolts as the
Longbows are not really worth a missile.
There are no more fighters after the Thunderbolts and I landed.
7.5.2 D2: Sweep the Nebula [Silenos]
A grizzled mechanic is on the Launch Deck directing repair
efforts on the fighters and bombers. His callsign is "Pliers",
and he performs miracles with junk, really. I decided that the
chief mechanic is always a person to keep on your good side.
[Bet this old coot knows what he's doing. + / Here's a guy they
should have put out to pasture. - ]
[Plier's morale is important, as your ship's performance is
affected by his morale. ]
Lt. Velina Sosa and Maniac are in the Galley. Sosa is the comm
officer and one of the most brilliant codebreakers in Border
Worlds or Confed, (and pretty too! but not my type...) and she's
starting to find a lot of secrets that Confed don't want people
to know about...
Maniac is still morose about "betraying" the Confed, said
something about "a long, hard road ahead", and I have to joke
with him to get his spirits up again.
Panther and Hawk are STILL going at each other trying to decide
what to do. I vote that we put Eisen in charge, and they
accepted.
Eisen delivered the next mission briefing. INTREPID is heading
toward a Nebula where we hope to lose LEXINGTON. Sweep the three
nav points of enemy presence.
I picked Yaeger as my wingman and picked Avenger as our craft.
Vindicator and Banshee are also available.
In the Nebula visibility is heavily reduced, and instrumentation
is critical.
Took off and adjusted power. Found three Thunderbolts at Nav 1,
decided to save missiles for later, which is a good choice, since
at Nav 2, we found 4 + 4 Arrows. We were sliding all over the
place.
At Nav 3 three Excaliburs found us. Their Tachyon cannon chewed
up my rear armor pretty bad. Yaeger had to eject after he ate a
missile up his tailpipe, having ran out of decoys and afterburner
fuel against the Arrows. I batch launched my remaining ImRecs and
took out two Excaliburs. Third I let close and destroyed it with
a sustained burst from the Stormfire cannon.
I retrieved Yaeger and landed on the INTREPID.
7.5.3 D3: Destroy LEXINGTON [Silenos]
Next Day, I went down to the Hangar Bay, and was surprised to see
no Hellcats around. I asked Pliers what happened to them, and he
said he stripped them for spare parts.
[Well, he *is* resourceful. + / I knew this guy is trouble. - ]
[Remember! His morale affects your craft's performance!]
Vagabond and Catscratch are in ship's hold, contemplating the
reversal of fortune. It's just two days ago that they're flying
against Border Worlders. Now they are flying WITH Border Worlders
shooting down their own shipmates. What are the rules now? I have
no answer...
Eisen delivered the mission briefing. We are heading for a jump
point to get out of here. Long range sensors have indicated that
LEXINGTON has gotten there ahead of us, and we must go THROUGH
her. Launch and destroy LEXINGTON. Only Avenger is available.
I planned to torpedo LEXINGTON myself, so I prearmed ALL
torpedoes, dumped all energy DamCom and Gun energy to shields,
and autopiloted.
At Nav 1, LEXINGTON and 4 Longbows joined us. I gave break and
attack orders to all wingmen and waited for torpedoes to lock
while doing some random evasive maneuvers with a couple "Help me
out" commands. The torpedoes locked, and I afterburned in, and
launched at 4000 clicks. Lexington was destroyed, and the rest of
the Longbows are no match to our combined firepower.
[Up to 8 Longbows will appear trying to keep the CAP at 4. If you
kill Lexington first, no more Longbows will appear.]
We landed on Lexington and jumped to Orestes system, leaving the
wreckage of LEXINGTON behind.
7.6 Series E: Infiltrate Comm Station
We rescued a convoy and raided a Comm Station in system for comm
logs as additional data as evidence of the conspiracy...
7.6.1 E1: Rescue Convoy [Orestes]
A shuttle pulled away from the wreckage of the once proud Confed
carrier TCS LEXINGTON just as the BWS INTREPID jumped away.
Onboard the shuttle is a pilot, Captain Paulsen, and the unknown
pilot/Colonel with the hard eyes. The colonel then "permanently
reassigned" Captain Paulsen.)
Eisen and Sosa are discussing how to fill the holes in the data
he brought when they found a comm station that would have some of
the data they're looking for.
Panther was in the galley wondering if there's something better
to do than killing. [Yeah... You'd think... + / She's
dreaming... - ]
A SOS broadcast was received from a nearby Border Worlds convoy
under attack by Confed ships. Eisen briefed us on the situation
and asked us to launch and protect that convoy, destroy the
Confed ships if necessary. Avengers and Vindicators are called
for since only they carry Torpedoes. I picked Avenger with a load
of torpedoes and Leech missiles. [Pick any wingman]
Adjusted power and took off. Found transport convoy under attack
by a destroyer and a frigate, along with three Hellcats flying
cover. Just as we arrived the frigate launched a capship missile.
I chased it down with afterburners and destroyed it with
Stormfire cannon when I'm close enough. Then I turned around and
torpedoed the frigate. In the meanwhile the destroyer is
launching additional Hellcats so I torpedoed the destroyer next.
7.6.2 E2: Comm Station (Orestes)
Down at the hangar bay, Pliers shows off his various toys. He
even has a "sort of working" cloaking device. Do I want it for my
next mission?
[This thing could be very useful... + / I can't trust this guy.
- ]
Maniac and Vagabond were in the Galley playing cards. Vagabond
always wins, but this time Maniac managed to beat Vagabond...
Hawk was in C&C reminiscing about the Kilrathi War, when suddenly
he asked me "Didn't you enjoy blasting cats?"
[Gotta admit, I did. + / This guy's bloodthristy. - ]
Eisen conducted the mission briefing. We are to use Plier's
Manned Insertion Pods (MIPs) to transport Vagabond and Sosa onto
the comm station, which is ringed by automated defense turrets
and radar buoy, which will bring additional fighters. I am to
launch solo with the MIPs in an Avenger, take out the radar buoys
ASAP to minimize the fighter presence, then launch the MIPs
toward the station. Plier's cloaker is available.
I launched, adjusted power to 0 Guns, 10 DamCon, 25 Engine, and
rest to Shields, then cloaked. I plan to use Stormfire cannon so
I don't need gun power. I sneaked next to the radar buoy, armed a
torpedo (not the MIP!) and locked on, then waited. When torpedo
locked, I decloaked and fried the buoy immediately. Then Pliers
called and said that the cloak has burned out. Darn!
Then the fighters are on me, three Hellcats. I dealt with them
with ImRecs and Stormfire, then fed the closest turrets with one
ImRec each. At 65% shields I don't need to worry about getting
hit much. When I got all the fighters, I launched the MIPs at the
station.
[Random number of Hellcats, 2 - 4 initially. If you failed to
destroy the radar buoy quickly another 2 - 4 will appear.]
Sosa and Vagabond got inside, where instead of just technicians,
they found heavily armed guards. Vagabond bought it trying to
cover Sosa with the info.
Only Sosa relaunched, with the info, and I tractored her back in
and went back to INTREPID.
We honored Vagabond by committing his "remains" to the deeps of
space...
Sosa and Eisen are busy decoding the comm data that she gathered
on the station.
Maniac is in the galley, and somehow he's STILL winning at cards.
[Go to G1]
7.7 Series F: Hunt down Intrepid
I didn't defect, so I am now hunting down the ship that
supposedly picked up Captain Eisen and Maniac. I will do what I
needed to, but Captain Paulsen and Seether are getting on my
nerves...
7.7.1 F1: Hunt down Eisen
Paulsen and the new Colonel is on the Flight Deck greeting us
returning from the failed effort to hunt down Eisen. The new
Colonel, callsign "Seether", said that the traitor will pay.
At the officer's lounge, Catscratch is morose again. He just
don't understand how Eisen could betray the Confederation... I
don't either... But I'm sure he has his reasons...
At the briefing room, Paulsen and Seether planned a series of
search and destroy missions, looking for the ships that Eisen is
heading to.
As I am expecting heavy opposition and need to torpedo the other
craft at a moment's notice, I picked Longbow, though Hellcat is
available.
At Nav 1 was 4 pirate light fighter, followed by 4 Arrows. Dealt
with them by occasional ramming, missiles, and good aim. Two
Banshees blocked Nav 2. The heavy stuff is at Nav 3: four
Avengers. Returned to Lexington without further incident; no sign
of our counterpart.
7.7.2 F2: Seether as Wingman?
In the officer's lounge, Paulsen is there and he motioned me to
sit down beside him. He commended me for doing what must be done,
but his attitude toward Border Worlders is... disturbing. And
when he mentioned reasons to fly for, honor is not one of them.
Only obedience. Perhaps realizing he said too much, he retired to
Eisen's quarters, now his.
Catscratch saw Paulsen went into Eisen's cabin, and he's not
happy about it. What did I think?
[What a self-important bastard. + / Everything's going to hell.
- ]
Seether is again with Paulsen in the briefing room. He
volunteered to clock some flying time, and he assigned himself as
my wingman. Only Longbows are available.
We adjusted power and took off, and is Seether efficient! He
killed enemies with minimum number of shots, but his attitude
toward the Border World pilots is disturbing, just like Paulsen.
We saw 4 banshees at Nav 1. Normally Banshees can give Longbows a
hard time, but Seether went through them like scythe on wheat...
He batch launched missiles, which destroyed one. His front guns
wounded one. He finished that one by his rear guns as he flew by.
Then he rammed one on the side, destroying it as well after a few
shots. I just managed to kill one.
Nav 2 shows 4 Avengers, and Nav 3 shows 4 Banshees, neither group
lasted long under both Seether and I. Seether tractored an
ejected pilot in, then we landed on Lexington.
7.7.3 F3: Redemption
Seether landed first. As I landed I found Seether interrogating
the pilot he had just tractored in. After getting no useful
answers, he shot the man right in front of me. When I threatened
to tell Paulsen, he just laughed, and said, "Who do you think
actually runs this ship?" He's right. Paulsen actually takes his
orders. It's useless. I stormed off the flight deck.
Paulsen ordered a briefing, and for once, Seether is not there.
LEXINGTON has managed to block off the other jump point in the
system, where the other ship must come. They will block the jump
point and be ready to destroy the other ship. I'll be flying a
Hellcat and Catscratch has been assigned as my wingman.
Just as Catscratch launched, after four Hellcats and 4 Longbows,
Eisen came on the comm, asking me to defect now, as he has more
information available that Confed is behind the attacks. I
decided to join him. As I never launched, I spun around, locked
on to LEXINGTON's innards, and batch launched my missiles INTO
the flight deck. A couple salvoes later LEXINGTON started to
blow, and I afterburnered my way out.
[If you don't defect, BWS INTREPID launches wave after wave of
ace fighters until LEXINGTON and you are destroyed.]
[If you flew out earlier, you need to destroy the fighters and
bombers outside, then turn around. Better to stay inside to start
with.]
A shuttle pulled away from the wreckage of the once proud Confed
carrier TCS LEXINGTON just as the BWS INTREPID jumped away.
Onboard the shuttle is a pilot, Captain Paulsen, and the unknown
pilot/Colonel with the hard eyes. The colonel then "permanently
reassigned" Captain Paulsen.
I landed on the INTREPID with Catscratch and noticed Panther and
Hawk on the flight deck. We were old comrades back in the war.
And they still argue each other to death.
In the meanwhile, back at Confed HQ... Tolwyn and Paladin are
looking at the almost finished TCS VERSUVIUS supercarrier, as
Tolwyn broke the news that Colonel Blair had defected to the
Border Worlds. Paladin was utterly shocked...
A grizzled mechanic is on the Launch Deck directing repair
efforts on the fighters and bombers. His callsign is "Pliers",
and he performs miracles with junk, really. I decided that the
chief mechanic is always a person to keep on your good side.
[Bet this old coot knows what he's doing. + / Here's a guy they
should have put out to pasture. - ]
Lt. Velina Sosa and Maniac are in the Galley. Sosa is the comm
officer and one of the most brilliant codebreakers in Border
Worlds or Confed, (and pretty too! but not my type...) and she's
starting to find a lot of secrets that Confed don't want people
to know about...
I found Eisen and Maniac at the Control Bay. I expressed regret
at trying to gun them out of the sky earlier, but they said that
they understood. Their only regret was not being able to pick up
Vagabond...
Maniac is in the Galley, and he's not too happy about his future
prospects in the Border Worlds, something about a "long hard road
ahead"...
7.8 Series G: Protect Kilrathis and escort them home
Well, simple enough. I found Kilrathis going to their new home on
Pasqual being attacked, so we helped them.
7.8.1 G1: Rescue Who? (Orestes)
Eisen delivered the briefing: a nearby convoy is broadcasting
SOS. We don't know who that would be, but they're running all
over the place trying to get away from whatever is giving it
grief. Take a wingman and bring that convoy back.
I took Primate as wingman and Banshees.
Upon arriving at Nav 1, we found the convoy, with an old
"friend"; Melek, Prince Thrakkath's former retainer... This is a
Kilrathi convoy! They are under attack by two Pirate light
fighters, two Pirate Arrows, followed by 2 Thunderbolts and 2
Arrows, then 2 cloak-able Arrows.
These fighters seem to concentrate on the Kilrathi shuttles, but
the Kilrathi are not sitting there to be slaughtered. There are a
couple Dralthis covering the convoy, and our firepower made the
difference.
We brought the convoy back without further attacks.
7.8.2 G2: Save the Kilrathi (Pasqual)
We jumped to Pasqual system... Which is where Melek and his
convoy's heading.
Eisen and Melek are discussing their situation in C&C, where
Melek showed a recording of unknown fighters attacking his ships.
One of the fighters launched a disc-like object, which destroyed
a Kilrathi transport. Then that fighter dropped a mine then lit
the afterburners, riding the mine's explosion wave front. Hawk
recognized the pilot...His call sign is Seether, now in Confed
Intelligence. Eisen asked for a copy of the data, which should
help him prove his case.
Panther and Catscratch are having a little discussion on whether
Eisen is making the right call.
[Straighten this kid out. Panther + / Catscratch - Do I look
like I have all the answers? Panther - / Catscratch + ]
I found Melek in the Galley. He asked what does "payback" mean,
and promised to help Pliers to tinker with his primitive cloaking
device.
Hawk was trying to get some sleep in Ship's Hold, and even he's
having doubts helping the Kilrathi.
[He's missing the point. + / Bitter guy. - ]
I went back to C&C when I found Eisen packing up. He got a copy
of all the data we got on this Confed conspiracy. While nothing's
definite, he felt that this will have to be enough, and he'll
sneak off into Confed space and seek out his friends in the upper
echelons. We wish him good luck... Eisen left me in command of
the vessel.
All right, mission briefing time. Melek reported that "pirates",
which we now know to be disguised Confed fighters, are bombing
the Kilrathi planet, Pasqual X, where Kilrathi were allowed to
resettle after the war. We are to relieve this planet. Destroy
all fake Avenger bombers.
I took Avenger since I thought I need the firepower, and I wasn't
disappointed. I also loaded up on Leech missiles to slow down the
enemy. We found 2 Avengers and 4 Banshees at each of the three
intercept nav points. I sent my wingmen after the Banshees while
I targeted bombers with Leech missiles and Stormfire cannon. None
made it past us.
[If ONE of those Avengers make it past you, you lose!]
7.8.3 G3: Escort Melek (Pasqual?/Orestes?)
Found Catscratch and Sosa getting a little friendly in the
Galley. Sosa's got Catscratch straightened out, which is good.
Hope she keeps him that way.
Dekker, the jarhead (marine) leader and his troops arrived, and
they're ready to go to work. Great, since I got a mission for
them.
Mission time... Melek is returning to a starbase, which is not
answering any hails. We will escort his shuttles in and Dekker
will blast into the starbase making sure nothing's wrong.
At Nav 1 we found two pirate light fighters, who went after the
shuttles immediately. Had to missile them to keep them away.
At Nav 2, the base looks quiet, yet doesn't answer to hail.
Nothing around either, strange... I hung around for a while, but
no signs of enemy presence. Hmmm... Something's wrong. I batch
armed my missiles, then called for the shuttles. As soon as I
call in the shuttle, BLAM! Four cloaked Arrows uncloaked!
Fortunately I was ready for them, as I launched my missiles,
which immediately took out one, and crippled the other. The rest
are history.
7.9 Series J: Dead Zone
Peleus system has been blanked out. Nothing is coming out, just
like a black hole. Whatever BWM had sent in has not returned.
We're going in ourselves...
7.9.1 J1: Dead Zone (Peleus)
In the Peleus system... Three Banshees flew into a zone when the
targeting system went into a fritz, as two Excaliburs appeared
behind them. One Banshee died immediately. One is running for it
as the other one stayed and fight, but the missile he launched
did not seek and destroyed the other Banshee instead. He died
seven seconds later, as the two attacking Excaliburs disappeared
into the void...
Admiral Wilford, who's the big BWM in command of the sector, sent
message to INTREPID. Something is very wrong in the Peleus
system. We are losing ships there yet there seems to be no enemy
presence. INTREPID is ordered to jump to Peleus to investigate.
As soon as we arrived, all sensors, comm, shields, etc. went
down. The engines still work though... I ordered full reverse. We
need to find a way out of this "black hole"... Or we're really
sitting ducks.
An hour later, we are barely out of this black hole, or a field,
more precisely. Whatever is causing this is INSIDE, so we need to
go in and find it...
Mission time... Situation is bleak but not hopeless. We need to
go inside and FIND the source, and take it out. It's simple as
that, and the entire Border Worlds are depending on us.
Pliers is waiting at the Control Bay. His people have added armor
on all the fighters, so we should increase engine power. Also,
only dumbfire missiles would be of any use. I decided to take
Avenger, since I felt I need the bulk. [You could take Vindicator
of Banshee...]
Adjusted power and took off. Engine gets a little extra power,
zero to shields, less to DamCom, rest to guns.
On the way to Nav 1 2 Excaliburs jumped us. We know they are
around, but the radar didn't work. Fortunately the lock indicator
still works. Just lock and follow the yellow reticle. As
Excalibur come head on I fed it a dumbfire, while avoided its
Tachyon cannons with short bursts of afterburner. Nav 1 itself
was clear. On the way on Nav 2 we were jumped to 2 Bearcats, same
tactics. On the way to Nav 3 there are two MORE Bearcats. Upon
arriving at Nav 3, Sosa somehow got through and said that hostile
fighters are emerging from the cloud. I reset power to normal.
Found 2 Excaliburs outside the cloud, engaged it after ordering
break and attack. I managed to kill one after destroying its
front shields with a dumbfire, then as it evaded, I followed on
afterburner and stitched its tail with Stormfire. The pilot
ejected. My wingman destroyed the other, so I picked the ejected
pilot up.
[If you picked a craft without a tractor beam, 2 more Bearcats
will appear. Just go home. Someone else will pick up the ejected
pilot.]
7.9.2 J2A/B: Find that Jammer...
[Depending on whether you help the Vet out just before A1, you
will fly J2A or J2B...]
J2A: Panther and Hawk was interrogating the pilot I picked up and
things are getting ugly when I intervened. I recognized the
face... I helped him out on Nephele... Which seems a lifetime
ago. He said he owes me one and he decided to cooperate. He was
only flying for the money.
Mission briefing is simple: we have some ideas where that jamming
ship will be. We'll patrol those points and hope we see that
ship, and nail it when we find it.
Found 2 Bearcats and 2 Excaliburs blocking our way at Nav 1, but
no ship. At Nav 2 we found 2 Bearcats, and at Nav 3, we found the
jamming ship guarded by 2 Bearcats and 2 Excaliburs. The jamming
ship periodically cloaks but it's big enough to hit even without
knowing where exactly it is. :-)
J2B: Panther and Hawk was interrogating the pilot I picked up and
things are getting ugly when I intervened. I recognized the
face... I tried to straighten him out on Nephele. He still bears
a grudge and there will be no cooperation from him.
Mission briefing is simple: we have some ideas where that jamming
ship will be. We'll patrol those points and hope we see that
ship, and nail it when we find it.
Found 3 Bearcats blocking our way at Nav 1, no ship. At Nav 2 we
found 3 Bearcats, another 3 at Nav 3, and finally at Nav 4, we
found the jamming ship guarded by 2 Bearcats and 2 Excaliburs.
The jamming ship periodically cloaks but it's big enough to hit
even without knowing where exactly it is. :-)
[WARNING! You may see AUTO light comes on as you destroy the
fighters around the jamming ship. DO NOT LEAVE! If you don't
destroy that ship you LOSE THE WHOLE GAME!]
All right! Finally Peleus is saved...
As the jamming ship was destroyed, a space station was spotted
just off the INTREPID's bow, and a shuttle is leading in a hurry.
Dekker, the ranking officer present, decided that he will
intercept that shuttle to see who that is, and took off in his
marine shuttle...
As I landed onboard, I found Maniac in the Control Bay, shaking
his head. As I approached him, he said, "You'll never believe who
Decker just hauled onboard." Who? Decker did WHAT while I was
away? Huh? I headed down to the hold, which is where Decker had
stowed the prisoner... And the prisoner is... Admiral
Tolwyn?!?!?!
Tolwyn said that he agrees with my suspicions that certain
elements within the Confed are engineering the attacks, which is
why he is investigating out here. Then he asked a tough
question... "Am I your prisoner of war?" [I owe him. / I owe
him nothing. ]
[If you picked "I owe him."] I see Tolwyn off in his shuttle,
hoping that he will do something about it... And Dekker was not
too happy. He thinks that I'll regret that decision. We'll see...
[If you picked "I owe him nothing."] Later I found Dekker and
Maniac in the control bay. Maniac looks chastised and Dekker is
sighing in despair. Dekker broke the silence; "Tolwyn had
escaped." WHAT!?!?!? And it was Maniac who let him go! *sigh*
The weary never rests. Admiral Wilford called again. I got to
pick whether we go to Circe to help the legitimate Border World
government maintain control against mercenaries, or head for
Spearadon to conduct a little weapons raid. Hawk likes the
Spearadon raid, while Panther want to help save lives at Circe.
[Hawk's right - head for Spearadon / Spearadon --> Go to Series L
Panther's right - head for Circe / Circe --> Go to Series K]
7.10 Series K: Circe War
Found Maniac and Dekker in the galley. Maniac was trying his
macho stuff on Dekker, who doesn't take that stuff any way.
Maniac then really insulted Dekker, who replied with "I'll kick
your ass!"
[Maniac's gonna get creamed! (Dekker - / Maniac +) / This I
gotta see! (Dekker + / Maniac -) ]
[If you picked "Maniac's gonna get creamed!"] Just as Dekker is
about to take a swing, I stepped in. It was tempting to see
Maniac get a taste of his own medicine, but can't really let that
happen. Dekker was not happy at all, and kept saying how fighter
pilots protect each other.
[If you picked "This I gotta see!"] I sat there as Dekker put his
marine training to use. Maniac didn't have a chance. "Oooh! Aaah!
Ouch! All right! You win!" Then Maniac left after hurling a
departing shot at me, "Thanks a lot, ace!"
In the ship's hold Panther was polishing his pistol and warning
me about Maniac, "your friend with the overactive glands. " So am
I going to do something about it?
[Tempting, but I can't let that happen. + / Maniac's on his own.
- ]
Briefing time. Admiral Wilford gave us three possible missions in
the Circe system:
KA: Shut down tank offensive
KB: Cover the evac transports
KC: Search and Destroy
[You get to pick two out of the three, then you go to K3]
7.10.1 KA: Shut down tank offensive
The mercenary tanks are pushing toward the climate control center
with intentions to destroy it. Take out all the tanks before they
reach the control center.
Only Vindicator is available. I added ImRec missiles.
Adjusted power and took off. Was intercepted by 4 Hellcats before
reaching the planet. No problem between my wingman and I. At
Circe we found 4 Hellcats and 10 Tanks at the Control center. I
sent my wingman after the fighters, trust him to keep them off my
back, while I fed each tank an ImRec, closest first, followed by
a burst from Stormfire. All were destroyed before they reached
the control center.
[No tanks must reach the control center or you lose, but you go
on to the next mission regardless of the outcome any way.]
7.10.2 KB: Cover Transport Boarding
Mission is simple: cover the shuttles evacuating the residents to
the BWM frigates. We don't know what's out there... But expect
enemy fighters.
[This is the hardest of the three choices at Circe.]
Only Vindicator is available.
Took off and adjusted power. Nav 1 near the system is clear
except for the three shuttles which had just climbed out of the
gravity well, no enemy in sight.
[You will see a randomly chosen force of 2 "pirate light
fighter", 2 pirate Arrows, and 2 Pirate Thunderbolts.]
At the drop off point 2 pirate light fighters and 2 pirate
Thunderbolts attacked us. Had to use a few missiles on the
Thunderbolts as they have too much armor. All shuttles made it
though.
[Take out the Thunderbolts first. They are quite dangerous.]
We returned to Nav 1 for another three shuttles. More enemy
fighters attacked us on this run at Nav 2, two pirate light
fighters and 2 pirate Arrows. Two out of three shuttles made it
as I ran out of missiles in mid-fight. Next one won't be easy...
On the third and final run, 4 pirate light fighters jumped us
after we picked up the last three shuttles. My wingman went after
one right away, while I'm determined to kill one quickly and make
it an even fight. I fired at one, then looped around to chase it
with afterburner on. As it came within range and slowing down, I
sideswiped it in a collision. While I was somewhat damaged (all
left armor gone, some left side damage), that fighter is history
after I added a couple shots. Unfortunately, the other two enemy
fighters have taken out another shuttle in the meanwhile before
we destroyed them.
[Six out of nine shuttles must survive or you lose, but these
missions are actually of little consequence.]
7.10.3 KC: Search and Destroy
Wilford's mission is simple: search out the enemy and destroy
them. Vindicator, Banshee, and Avenger are available. Call me
biased, but I always take the Avenger when available.
[No matter in what sequence you approach the Nav points you'll
get the same enemy sequence.]
Adjusted power and took off. Found 2 unknown heavy fighters at
Nav 1 [note: this may be random] and these ships carry a heavy
punch! Took a while to destroy them.
On the way to Nav 2 two pirate light fighters and two
Thunderbolts jumped us. Had to help my wingie to handle the
Thunderbolts.
Nav 2 was clear.
On the way to Nav 3 two pirate light fighters and two
Thunderbolts jumped us again.
At Nav 3 we found a Destroyer with 4 Excaliburs flying CAP. That
was a big furball, shots flying in all directions. Destroyer was
launching replacement Excaliburs as we killed them. We must have
killed about ten or twelve before they stopped coming. By that
time we were too damaged and out of missiles to kill the
destroyer, and had to return to the Intrepid.
7.10.4 K3: Catscratch's Fate
Found Maniac really impressing Catscratch in the galley. Maniac
is quite charming on the first look, and I guess a good role
model for young and naive newbies like Catscratch. I tried to
drill some sense into his head though, explaining that Maniac had
already used up all the luck on this ship, while Maniac goes off
on "fly with style, and leave a name not just on a gold watch".
So I asked the kid, "Do you want your name on a gold watch, or a
coffin?"
Wilford called to pull us off whatever we were doing to interdict
enemy's supply line. It's going through a nebula, which is why it
took us so long to find it. Any way, destroy that convoy. Also,
Wilford spotted this strange satellite that he wants to take a
look. Catscratch volunteered.
Avenger, Banshee, and Vindicator are available. I prefer Avenger.
Adjusted power and took off. On the way to Nav 1 2 Hellcats and a
Thunderbolt jumped us. Took care of them easily.
On the way to Nav 1, Sosa appeared on the Comm. Catscratch ran
into heavy opposition and his Avenger was leech. Enemy fighters
are closing in. Will I go rescue him? [Affirmative / Negative]
[Affirmative] Sosa downloaded new Nav info, where we found 1
Longbow (who's about to tractor Catscratch) and 4 Thunderbolts (I
think there's an ace or two), and of course, Catscratch in his
disabled Avenger. I charged in and fed the Longbow full of
missiles, while my wingman went after the Thunderbolts. Those two
aces were hard to kill... But at the end, we destroyed them.
Catscratch ejected, I pulled him aboard, and destroyed his
Avenger.
Catscratch was quite grateful, but there was Maniac saying "I
never told you to actually DO it!" Then I exploded. Maniac, shut
the hell up! Catscratch, consider yourself on probation, then I
added under my breath, "for the rest of the decade". [Go to K4]
[Negative] Tough luck, kid. I can't jeopardize the mission just
for him. I continued, and found the convoy at the specified
coordinates. There was 1 cruiser and 3 transports, covered by 4
Thunderbolts. My wingman went after the Thunderbolts while I
torpedoed the cruiser. Then I helped my wingman cleanup the CAP,
then destroyed the transports.
I landed onboard the INTREPID, and presided over Catscratch's
funeral. Afterwards Sosa tried to "comfort" me. (It’s NOT what
you think!) I know they were close... It was really hard...
[Go to K4B]
7.10.5 K4: Get to pick...
Plier asked me if I want to try his cloaking device.
[Who needs wingmen? + / I prefer a wingman. - ]
Panther and Hawk are in the C&C. Eisen had left for a while, I
wonder what happened to him... Is there any hope? Hawk's the
pessimist while Panther's the optimist.
[There's always hope... Panter + / Hawk - // We die
trying... Panther - / Hawk + ]
Wilford called again. While that convoy went through unscratched,
things are not looking TOO bad. Another convoy is coming through.
Or, they found a command & control center on Circe V. They can
use Dekker down there to plant a few bombs. Which mission would
you take?
[K4A: Convoy again / K4B: Sabotage]
7.10.6 K4A: Convoy again...
I hate to leave things unfinished. We're going after the convoy.
I took the Avenger. [Depending on what you told Pliers in K4, you
either get a wingman or you get his cloaking device.]
[Hint: Take some Leech missiles, you'll need it later.]
I adjusted power and took off. Found the convoy at Nav 1, 3
transports covered by 4 Hellcats. I used no missiles nor
torpedoes here.
After destroying the transports, Admiral Wilford came online. He
needs us to disable a ship, which is VITAL to Border Worlds
cause. Dekker is on the way with his marines. Sosa downloaded the
new Nav point, and has some Confed IFF codes also. That should
help me get by a few hostile fighters.
I closed on the next Nav point, found a strange looking transport
covered by two of those new heavy fighters, though they are
friendly due to my new IFF codes. I armed my remaining missiles,
lined up behind one of them, and let go. BLAM! One down, one to
go. The other one I hounded and sprayed it with Stormfire. It
exploded, and I managed to disable the ship with Leech guns just
as Dekker arrived and docked. Another two of those heavy fighters
showed up, took care of them after using my cloaking device to
sneak up on one. Batched missile launch really helps.
After Dekker reported alright, I autopiloted and landed on the
Intrepid.
7.10.7 K4B: Sabotage
Admiral Wilford ordered me to transport Dekker and two other
marines in MIPs to a command and control center found on Circe V.
Dekker will sabotage the station.
Only Vindicator is available. [Depending on your choice in K4,
you will either get a Wingman or Plier's cloaking device. If you
do take the cloak, don't use it until you reach the planet.]
No opposition in space was found. At the planet, we found three
Hellcats and 5 ground turrets. I had to use my missiles on the
turrets and cloak repeatedly to get rid of the turrets, then the
fighters are no problem. After all fighters are destroyed, I
launched the MIPs one by one, and watched the MIPs docked. As
soon as the last docked, another 2 Hellcats showed up, but they
are no match to me.
Dekker got in okay and came out without a scratch, and I picked
up the MIPs. After we climbed out of the gravity well Admiral
Wilford called. He needs us to disable a ship, which is VITAL to
Border Worlds cause. Sosa downloaded the new Nav point, and has
some Confed IFF codes also. That should help me get by a few
hostile fighters.
I closed on the next Nav point, found a strange looking transport
covered by two of those new heavy fighters, though they are
friendly due to my new IFF codes. I armed my remaining missiles,
lined up behind one of them, and let go. BLAM! One down, one to
go. The other one I hounded and sprayed it with Stormfire. It
exploded. I launched my remaining leech missile, fired it at the
transport, then armed my Leech guns and disabled the transport,
then I launched the MIPs at the transport. Another two of those
heavy fighters showed up, took care of them after using my
cloaking device to sneak up on one. Batched missile launch really
helps.
After Dekker reported alright, I autopiloted and landed on the
Intrepid.
[You MUST take that transport intact. Failure means Border Worlds
will LOSE, and so will you.]
[Goto M1]
7.11 Series L: Spearadon Weapons Raid
The objective is raiding weapons, and there are plenty of targets
around.
[I personally prefer this series. You get to play with the cool
weapons that you've borrowed from Confeds.]
Found Maniac and Dekker in the galley. Maniac was trying his
macho stuff on Dekker, who doesn't take that stuff any way.
Maniac then really insulted Dekker, who replied with "I'll kick
your ass!"
[Maniac's gonna get creamed! (Dekker - / Maniac +) / This I
gotta see! (Dekker + / Maniac -) ]
[If you picked "Maniac's gonna get creamed!"] Just as Dekker is
about to take a swing, I stepped in. It was tempting to see
Maniac get a taste of his own medicine, but can't really let that
happen. Dekker was not happy at all, and kept saying how fighter
pilots protect each other.
[If you picked "This I gotta see!"] I sat there as Dekker put his
marine training to use. Maniac didn't have a chance. "Oooh! Aaah!
Ouch! All right! You win!" Then Maniac left after hurling a
departing shot at me, "Thanks a lot, ace!"
In the Control Bay, Plier asked me if I want to try his cloaking
device. [Who needs wingmen? + / I prefer a wingman. - ]
Panther and Hawk are in the C&C. Eisen had left for a while, I
wonder what happened to him... Is there hope? Hawk's the
pessimist while Panther's the optimist. [There's always hope...
Panter + / Hawk - // We die trying... Panther - / Hawk + ]
In the ship's hold Hawk warned me about Maniac, "your friend is
really pissing me off." So am I going to do something about it?
[Time to be a captain. + / What a whiner. - ]
Briefing time. Admiral Wilford gave us three possible missions in
the Spearadon system:
LA: "Borrow" some fighters
LB: Attack weapons plant
LC: Attack carrier
[You get to pick two out of the three, then you go to L3]
[Note: Series L is also the missions where there's a SECONDARY
mission such as taking out another fighter group, another ship,
etc. Assign your best wingmen to the task, even to the point of
taking someone who's not so good. Competition is stiff there.]
7.11.1 LA: "Borrow" Fighters
Confed Bearcats are being tested in an asteroid belt. We have
been ordered to disable a few in the drydock so BWS Tango can
come pick them up. There's just one catch: Radar buoy in the
asteroid field.
[This one is quite tough. I suggest LB and LC instead.]
Vindicator, Banshee, and Avenger are available. I picked Avenger
(but I know some prefer Banshee) [Depending on what you told
Pliers in K4, you either get a wingman or you get his cloaking
device.]
As I need to disable crafts, I picked half Leech and half ImRecs.
I adjusted power and cloaked. At I arrived at Nav 1, I found the
radar buoy and 2 Hellcats, 1 is an Ace. I got close to the buoy,
locked on with torpedo, then uncloaked and launched. The buoy
exploded as those fighters realized that I'm behind them. They
came around quickly, but they are still no match to me. One of
them must have radioed out though since 6 Hellcats (half Aces)
came to join the fray. On the other hand, my use of cloak sure
threw them out of balance. I went after the aces first.
At the drydock, I spotted 4 Bearcats, my target, and 4 covering
Hellcats. After taking care of the CAP I disabled all fighters in
the drydock and left the area for INTREPID.
7.11.2 LB: Attack weapons plant
Straightforward mission: escort Dekker to the weapons plant, fry
the escorts, and make sure Dekker gets in okay. That's it.
I picked Avenger again though Vindicator and Banshee are
available.
[If you picked LA first, captured Bearcats are also available.]
[Depending on what you told Pliers in K4, you either get a
wingman or you get his cloaking device.]
Adjusted power and took off. Found 4 Hellcats (with 1 ace) at the
weapons plant, followed by 2 Hellcats (1 ace). Once those
fighters are taken care of Dekker docked and took over the plant,
and I went back to INTREPID.
7.11.3 LC: Attack Carrier
Now here's a juicy target: a Concordia-class carrier [Gee, she
sure has changed since last time I've seen her in WC2!] down for
repairs and practically no CAP. We'll disable her and take all
the good stuff. I can stop the carrier by either leeching her or
by blowing up her engines and all turrets.
Vindicator, Banshee, and Avenger are available. I picked Avenger
(but I know some prefer Banshee) [If you played LA before this,
you would also have Bearcats available.] [Depending on what you
told Plier in K4, you either get a wingman or you get his
cloaking device.]
As I need to disable the ship, I took half Leech and half ImRec.
On the way to the carrier I was jumped by 4 Arrows with 1 Ace,
had to use a few of my missiles to get them, saved 2 Leech for
the ship, rest to slow down the Arrows so I can hit them easier.
At the carrier, I found 3 Hellcats (1 ace) covering her. I dealt
with them with my remaining missiles (except the 2 Leech), only
to find 3 more Hellcats. After that, I launched the Leech
missiles at the carrier, added a couple bursts from the leech
gun, and she's disabled.
[Trust me, it's much easier to Leech her than to shoot out all
the turrets AND the engines. If you aren't careful, the carrier
blows up, then... Yikes...]
7.11.4 L3: Catscratch's Fate
Found Maniac impressing Catscratch in the galley. Maniac is quite
charming on the first look, and I guess a good role model for
young and naive newbies like Catscratch. I tried to drill some
sense into his head though, explaining that Maniac had already
used up all the luck on this ship, while Maniac goes off on "fly
with style, and leave a name not just on a gold watch". So I
asked the kid, "Do you want your name on a gold watch, or a
coffin?"
Wilford called to pull us off whatever we were doing to
Infiltrate enemy's supply line. It's going through a nebula,
which is why it took us so long to find it. Any way, I'll be
launching the MIPs carrying Dekker and his group into the lead
ship of that convoy. Also, Wilford spotted this strange satellite
that he wants to take a look. Catscratch volunteered.
Only Avenger can carry the MIPs.
On the way to Nav 1, Sosa appeared on the Comm. Catscratch ran
into heavy opposition and his Avenger was leech. Enemy fighters
are closing in. Will I go rescue him? Darn... What a choice...
[Affirmative / Negative ]
[Affirmative] Sosa downloaded new Nav info, where we found 1
Longbow (who's about to tractor Catscratch) and 2 Hellcats, and
of course, Catscratch in his disabled Avenger. I charged in and
fed the Longbow full of missiles while my wingman went after
others. After all enemy fighters are destroyed, Catscratch
ejected, and I pulled him aboard. I then destroyed his Avenger
and went back to INTREPID as it was too late to sneak up to the
convoy.
Catscratch was quite grateful, but there was Maniac saying "I
never told you to actually DO it!" Then I exploded. Maniac, shut
the hell up! Catscratch, consider yourself on probation, then I
added under my breath, "for the rest of the decade". [Go to L4]
[Negative] Tough luck, kid. I can't jeopardize the mission just
for him. I continued, and found the convoy at the specified
coordinates. There was 1 cruiser and 2 transports, covered by 4
Hellcats. We went after the fighters, then I launched the MIPs at
the cruiser. While waiting for Dekker, I destroyed the
transports. I landed onboard the INTREPID, and presided over
Catscratch's funeral. Afterwards Sosa tried to "comfort" me. (I
mean I ironically!) I know they were close... It was really
hard... [Go to L4B]
7.11.5 L4: Second Chances...
Pliers asked me if I want extra punch in the craft.
[I could use the extra firepower. + /I got a need for speed. -
]
Panther and Hawk are in the C&C. Eisen had left for a while, I
wonder what happened to him... Is there hope? Hawk's the
pessimist while Panther's the optimist.
[There's always hope... Panther + / Hawk - // We die
trying... Panther - / Hawk + ]
Wilford called again. While that convoy went through unscratched,
things are not looking TOO bad. Another convoy is coming through
and we can try inserting Dekker again. Or, three pilots in
Bearcats wants to defect. Escort them in. Which one?
[L4A: Convoy again / L4B: Escort defectors]
7.11.6 L4A: Convoy again...
I hate to leave things unfinished. We're going after the convoy.
I took the Avenger, the only MIP-able craft. [Hint: Take LOTS of
Leech missiles, you'll need them, really.]
I adjusted power and took off. Found the convoy at Nav 1, 2
transports, 1 cruiser, covered by 4 Hellcats followed by 2 more.
I used only one Leech missiles here.
After infiltrating the cruiser, Admiral Wilford came online. He
needs us to disable a ship VITAL to Border Worlds cause. I pulled
Dekker and his people back. Sosa downloaded the new Nav point,
and has some Confed IFF codes also.
I closed on the next Nav point, found a strange looking transport
covered by two of those new heavy fighters. One is an ace. I
armed my remaining missiles, lined up behind the ace, and BLAM!
One down. The other I hounded and sprayed it with Stormfire. I
then managed to disable the ship with Leech guns. I launched the
MIPs and watched them dock. Another two of those heavies showed
up. Took care of them also.
After Dekker reported all right, I went back and landed on the
Intrepid.
7.11.7 L4B: Escort Defectors
Admiral Wilford ordered me to escort in several pilots who wish
to defect with their Bearcats.
Vindicator, Banshee, and Avenger are available. I picked Avenger
with half Leech and half ImRecs.
At the shipyard, we found 3 Bearcats (the defectors) are going up
against 3 other Bearcats. We went after the defenders and cleaned
them up in no time, though another 3 showed up. No problem.
Then Admiral Wilford called. He needs us to disable a ship, which
is VITAL to Border Worlds cause. Sosa downloaded the new Nav
point, and has some Confed IFF codes also. That should help me
get by a few hostile fighters.
I closed on the next Nav point, found a strange looking transport
covered by two of those new heavy fighters, one's an ace. I armed
my remaining missiles, lined up behind the ace, and let go. BLAM!
One down, one to go. The other one I hounded and sprayed it with
Stormfire. I then launched my remaining leech missile and fired
it at the transport, then armed my Leech guns and disabled the
transport, then I launched the MIPs at the transport. Another two
of those heavy fighters showed up, but I took care of them after
using my cloaking device to sneak up on one. Batched missile
launch really helps.
After Dekker reported okay, I auto-piloted and landed on the
Intrepid.
[Go to M1]
7.12 Series M: Investigating what happened...
Pliers is opening up one of the new heavy fighters captured when
he found a disc-like object. "What the heck is this?" ...
I found Pliers at the hangar bay, and he's positively gushing
about the new fighters we've grabbed, which is named "Dragon".
This baby has a REAL cloaking device, heavy guns, two torpedoes,
plenty of missiles, twin fission cannons, and matter-antimatter
engines, (virtually unlimited afterburners). Then Pliers asked,
"Well, wanna try one on?"
[Let me at these babies. + gains use of Dragon / They could be
death-traps. - only Vindicator for M1 ]
A SOS came in from system FT957 in the Telamon system. Something
terrible is happening there. The woman in the message was
desperate and terrified... Then the signal cut off. Admiral
Wilford had received the same signal. INTREPID has been ordered
to Telamon system.
7.12.1 M1: Investigate FT957
INTREPID jumped into Telamon system and I decided to go myself. I
took the Dragon, though I guess I would have been stuck with the
Vindicator if I hadn't been nice to Pliers.
[If you take the Vindicator, all Confed/BL will be hostile, and
all BW will be friendly. If you take the Dragon, all Confed/BL
will be friendly, and all BW will be hostile. ]
Nav 1 was clear.
Between Nav 1 and Nav 2 we were jumped by 2 Banshees, who thought
we were hostile. Had to shoot them though. *sigh*
At Nav 2, we found 2 Dragons piloted by Aces. As I'm in a Dragon,
they appeared as friendly and we were able to go past them
without incident.
Between Nav 2 and the planet were 2 Banshees and 2 Vindicators.
Dealt with them with missiles salvos.
Both Dekker and I then landed on the planet, which looks like a
ghost town... We found the survivors in the camp. Millions of
nanobots were dropped onto the planet; they were encoded to
compare one's DNA against its stored "ideal" profile. If not
matched, the nanobots start to attack the body, and the result is
horrific... Less than 10% of the planet's population survived.
There's nothing that Dekker and I can do. The nanobots are gone.
We got back into space and went back to INTREPID...
Back onboard, in the ship's hold, Sosa is lighting a lot of
candles, which would have to be enough for the dead on FT957. She
asked if she would have died had she went with us, I wouldn't
know...
Maniac was in C&C trying to decode the message from Admiral
Wilford, and I had to give him a hand. Wilford is sending all the
transports he can spare to evacuate all the people from FT957.
Those people will go crazy in a few months if they don't get away
due to survivor's guilt.
Wilford also needs us for a new mission. From all the data that
has been gathered, Intelligence has concluded that the Axius
system is likely to contain a base of the hostiles. We need info
on Axius.
Instead of heading directly for Axius, I ordered a course to the
system one jump away from Axius, which is the Callimachus system.
7.12.2 M2: Jump into unknown
Mission is simple. Two wingmen in Dragon will escort me in a
Dragon, to the jump point to Axius. Where I will jump through
alone and play it by ear. Decker is in command till I get back.
Good luck to myself.
I picked 4 Leech and 6 ImRecs, kept the Torpedoes. Now in
retrospect, I guess I could have taken a Mace or two, but how
could I have known? Any way, I may need the torpedoes.
I adjusted power and took off. Between INTREPID and Nav 1 we were
jumped by 2 Dragons, but it's 3 vs. 2, and for once the odds are
in our favor. They are history in no time.
At the Nav 1 (jump point), the two existing Dragons are going for
the jump point. I aimed toward the jump point and held down the
afterburner, then used Slide to keep my note trained on the two
bogies, then launched missiles as I closed. Those two was forced
to evade the missiles and my wingmen caught them.
Sosa came on the Comm and notified me that they detected a
starbase in the Axius system. Also a very large ship just jumped
into Axius. I better sneak in quietly.
I then jumped through, and saw 4 Dragons on the other side. They
accepted my IFF codes and left me through.
[If you didn't destroy those two Dragons at the jump point you
will see continuous wave of 4 Dragons here until you die...]
I auto-piloted and found this Starbase CAPed by 4 more Dragons.
The Starbase challenged me with a code, but the comm computer
provided the correct codes. [Either code that appear is correct.]
I then landed without incident.
WARNING: Do NOT read this unless you want to find out what
happens next!
The techs in the hangar bay saw my Dragon land, but didn't pay
too much attention. I managed to trick one of the techs over and
knocked him over the head, and took his uniform. I found the
nanobot canisters in the hangar bay, as well as the flat disks
originally found in the Dragon by Pliers and used on many ships,
including the Kilrathi one. Then I looked out, and there was TCS
VERSUVIUS, the supercarrier! I thought she wasn't finished yet...
Yet here it is...
I noticed all these people going off as if to a meeting. I waited
for most of the people to go in first, then I sneaked in behind
them. Seether was in the assembly hall. He was saying something
about the Black Lance. How that they are different, superior...
This is started to sound like everyone here is a part of the
Genetic Enhancement program that Tolwyn had talked about...
Seether then introduced the father of the Black Lance. And as he
stepped into the light at the podium, my heart almost stopped...
The founding father of the Black Lance, and the person behind the
whole conspiracy, is none other than...
Admiral Geoffrey Tolwyn.
In black like the rest of the Black Lance, he talked about how
they are the Confederation's first line of defense, how their
abilities are proven, the gen-select device have been tested, and
now it is time to eliminate the folderol from the human race. The
Kilrathi War has taught us that much.
I must have stood with my mouth agape, when the rest of the group
is cheering. Seether was cheering along when suddenly he stopped.
We locked eyes for a second, and I know I've been recognized. I
snuck out the back door as Seether motioned for the guards.
I ducked into the maze of corridors while drawing my energy
pistol. I don't plan to use it but I may not have a choice. I was
listening for guards when a hand landed on my shoulder. I must
have jumped then I realized that the bad guys would have just
shot me. I turned around, and noticed the hand belonged to a
female scientist, yet she looks familiar... Right! I rescued her
on Tyr VII! She knows that I don't belong here, and she was
forced here herself. She knows of another way to hangar bay, and
I followed her.
We were almost to my fighter when two guards found us. I fired,
they fire back. I hit one, but their shot hit the scientist. I
dragged her behind a crate, then fired back, killing the second
guard. She, mortally wounded, handed me a data disk, and died. I
left for my fighter. I was powering up when I noticed two guards
looking over her body, but they are too late. I turned the
fighter around and took off.
7.12.3 M3: Run for it!
Objective? Stay alive, that's about it.
While the guards are checking over the scientist's body, I
powered up my Dragon, which had been rearmed and refueled.
Unfortunately, there are plenty of opposition in my way...
The four Dragons CAPing the base came after me right away, but I
cloaked and did some evasive which threw them off, and I managed
to get away.
[If you don’t cloak, you will have to destroy 12 Dragons to get
away.]
At Nav 1 4 Dragons are guarding the gate. I destroyed them after
a pitched battle. I then jumped.
As soon as I jumped through, another ship jumped in behind me.
It’s one of those Black Lance transports, and it immediately
launched 4 Dragons. It was another pitched battle as I had used
most of my missiles back before the jump, and I took some damage,
but I dealt with them. Then with the remaining torpedoes, I
nailed the transport, then landed on the INTREPID.
As I was landing Sosa said that a huge ship has left the Axius
system on direct jump route to Sol. It must be the VERSUVIUS...
7.13 Series N: Go by Ella
Seether is reporting to Tolwyn, now onboard the VERSUVIUS and
back in his admiral's uniform, that there has been a security
breach at the base. Tolwyn expected that it was Blair, but
there's nothing that will stop him from reaching Earth.
Dekker was in the Control Bay and even he was surprised that it
was Tolwyn, and he had to state the obvious, "we had him too!".
*sigh* Pliers dropped by and said he figured out that flash-pak.
It superheats the air of the vessel from the INSIDE, destroying
it from the inside. Pretty amazing stuff. Unfortunately we have
only one.
In the C&C, Panther and Hawk are looking at the recorder info
gleamed from my mission. The VERSUVIUS is THE supercarrier,
INTREPID would be absolutely no match. There's no way to catch
her before she reaches Sol, or is there? Perhaps there is another
way... VERSUVIUS is big so she has to go through the standard
jump points. INTREPID, being smaller, can squeeze through the
smaller jump point at Ella system. There is a problem though, the
Ellas superbase in in our way, and it is not likely to let us
through...
Hawk wants to use the flash-pak on the base, while Panther
pointed out that plenty of civilians will be killed if we use
that thing. What should I do?
[Panther's right. We can't kill civilians. Panter + Hawk - go
to N1A
Hawk's right. This is war. Panter - Hawk + go to N1B ]
[Note: This choice actually has an effect at which endgame you
get. Also, you really need the flash-pak for later. I suggest you
go with Panther on this one.]
7.13.1 N1A: Take it from Ella
Objective is short and simple: INTREPID must take everything that
Ellas Superbase can throw at us to make it to the jump point.
Nuking the station is NOT an option, so we'll just have to take
it. Expect lots of ships and fighters in our way, but we have
Dragons to play with... So it may even out. We shall see.
[Pick the best wingmen you got...]
I picked Dragons loaded with Leech missiles, as I don't want to
inflict too many casualties.
[NOTE: You can actually ignore the capships, they won't prevent
you from autopiloting away. Just take out the fighters]
Adjusted power and took off. Ran into a frigate covered by four
Hellcats. I sent my wingmen out after the fighters while I
leeched the frigate with two missiles. [If you don’t, you may see
another 4 Hellcats.]
Then we ran into a cruiser, covered by 2 Hellcats and 2 Longbows.
I went after the Longbows right away as they carry torpedoes and
would be a threat to INTREPID. Fission cannon works quite well on
Longbows. I then went after the cruiser with Leech missiles, and
managed to disable it. [You could just torpedo it... If not,
expect to see 1 Hellcat + 1 Longbow, then another set of those.]
We found a destroyer in our way, covered by 2 Bearcats and 2
Longbows. I went after the Longbows with my guns, set my wingmen
loose against the others, then managed to leech the destroyer
with my last leech missiles. [Expect to see 2 more Beatcats and 2
more Longbows]
We arrived at the jump point and we all requested permission to
land and landed immediately. INTREPID then jumped within view of
Ellas base. [Goto N2]
[If you get left behind, you get to watch 4 Bearcats surround
you...]
7.13.2 N1B: Nuke Ellas
Hawk's right, we MUST get by Ellas. I've arranged for the
fighters to cover INTREPID while I will lead a wingman and nuke
the base with the Flash-pak, then land aboard the INTREPID as we
go after VERSUVIUS.
[While it is possible to destroy the base without using the
flashpak, it is QUITE difficult. It would be easier to fly N1A
instead, but if you like the challenge... Pack lots of dumbfires.
Torpedo the base with both torps, then dump a load of dumbfires
into it.]
Adjusted power and took off. Found 4 Hellcats covering the base.
[If you take too long, expect to see 4 more Hellcats.] I sent my
wingmen after them while I charged in and flash-pak'ed the base.
It went up in a huge internal explosion. I help my wingmen clean
up, then landed onboard the INTREPID at the jump point, and we
jumped after VERSUVIUS. [Goto N2]
[If you don't land on INTREPID in time, you get to watch 4
Bearcats surround you...]
7.13.3 N2: VERSUVIUS did what?!?!?
Success! As we emerged from hyperspace we are right behind the
VERSUVIUS.
Onboard VERSUVIUS, the sensor officer found us closing in from
behind, then Tolwyn ordered full 180, despite the fact that
VERSUVIUS is 15 seconds from the Sol jump point.
Wait a minute... What is she doing? Uh-oh... She's turning around
and launching fighters! Scramble everybody! This is a magnum
launch!
I jumped into my Dragon, the seat was still warm from the last
mission. I ordered break and attack but I don't remember who to
attack! Any way, among us we must have destroyed about 12
Hellcats...
Sosa called that she needs my presence on the bridge right away.
I then landed immediately.
[Sometimes the message doesn't come on, so you have to watch for
the AUTO light. When it comes on, hit A to auto-land.]
[If you don't land, VERSUVIUS will destroy INTREPID.]
7.13.4 N3: St. Helens
As I landed, I can see VERSUVIUS closing and INTREPID buckling
under her assault. Must be something really big for Sosa to call
me onboard... As I popped the cockpit I noticed a jump portal is
forming in front of INTREPID, and out comes ANOTHER huge ship,
just like the VERSUVIUS, and my heart sank...
Then that ship fired past us at VERSUVIUS!
The helmswoman is smart enough to get out of the way of the
giants as we went on a new course away from the two... And I ran
for the bridge.
The rest of the company got there as well, and we found ourselves
staring at Eisen's hologram. The new ship was ST.HELENS, a twin
to VERSUVIUS. ST.HELENS will join the assault on VERSUVIUS, while
INTREPID provide fighter cover.
I get to pick fighters this time, but I went with the Dragon
again.
Took off and immediately started fighting. Had to do some evasive
maneuvers to get some time to adjust my power.
[Order EACH wingman to "break and attack" or they'll just sit
there.]
All together we took out about another dozen or so Hellcats.
VERSUVIUS jumped away, and ST.HELENS will follow, then INTREPID.
I landed quickly, ready for pursuit.
[Land when you've been told to. If you don't land until after
ST.HELENS jumps, you just lost the game.]
7.13.5 N4: Final showdown
ST.HELENS chased VERSUVIUS to the jump point just beyond Jupiter,
still firing at each other... INTREPID following close behind.
[The flash-pak is only available if you haven't used it on the
Ella Superbase.]
I landed and Pliers caught me in the hangar bay. He figured out
the flash-pak and can arm it for me on the next mission. So what
will it be, ace? There is one catch though, you have to deliver
the flash-pak INSIDE the hangar bay.
[It's now or never. + / Too risky. - ]
On the C&C, Tolwyn sent a message too... ST.HELENS wasn't ready
to start with and will not be much use now. He's invincible, so
he claims... We shall see about that...
Eisen confirmed the bad news: ST.HELENS is heavily damaged and
can't fight any longer. Stopping VERSUVIUS will be up to
INTREPID. Well, I have this little gift here called flash-pak
which I intend to deliver personally...
Took off and adjusted power. Found VERSUVIUS there. My wingmen
broke and went after the CAPing Hellcats while I used
afterburners and charged into VERSUVIUS's hangar bay, and nuked
it with the flash-pak. Made it out just as she blew.
[If you don't hurry, you may have to destroy up to 12 Hellcats.]
[If you don't have flash-pak, use torpedoes and dumbfires INSIDE
the hangar.]
7.14 O1: Seether...
Eisen called. Tolwyn was observed leaving in a shuttle and has
probably reached Earth by now, where he will accept his post as
Space Marshal, and use his "investigation" to urge the assembly
to vote for war and exterminate the Border Worlds.
As the only person who had an inside look at Tolwyn's Black Lance
operation, I am the only choice to go to Earth and tell the
assembly the truth... Earth defenses have been alerted and it
would not be wise to approach Earth in force...
I'll be taking my Dragon again. I went with 4 ImRec and 6 Leech
this time.
Not too long after I took off Seether came about, as he comm'ed
me while cloaked, then played his "drop a mine and ride the
shockwave" trick again then uncloaked behind me. I batch launched
my missiles at him. He decoyed some away but one of the Leech
missiles hit, slowing him down. A few more minutes of dogfight
finished him.
I then ran into a starbase covered by laser mines and 4 cloaked
Arrows. The Arrows died first, then I killed a few mines then
torpedoed the base.
[You COULD just afterburner away from the base, but it will take
a LONG time.]
7.15 The Final Sequence...
Tolwyn was giving his speech about how Border Worlds is a cancer
that is growing amongst us, and let us cut it out.
[Seize the moment / Careful. Fools rush in.]
[If you picked "Seize the moment".] I charged into the room,
claiming that the criminal is Tolwyn. Tolwyn ordered the guards
to seize me, but Paladin decided to let me speak... [Continue to
the five choices]
[If you picked "Careful, fools rush in."] Tolwyn was looking
around and noticed me, and before I could utter a word I was
seized by the guards. I pleaded Paladin to let me speak, but he
refused. I was sentenced to be executed for treason not too long
after. [you lose]
[Following are FIVE choices that you get to pick. I think you
have to get three of these correct, i.e. get a reaction from
Paladin, for Tolwyn to trip himself up (hint!) and the Great
Assembly vote for peace. I marked the choices I believe to be
correct with ++ and the other with --. ]
Tolwyn asks, "Do you really believe that this chamber is that
ignorant?"
[You're not sucking me in. ++ / Two can play this game. -- ]
[This is a verbal trap, so don't play his game. Make him play
yours.]
Tolwyn stated, "Please continue, colonel."
[Dance around him. ++ / Confront him. -- ]
[Confront him with facts that he can gloss over? Not me.]
Tolwyn calmly states, "Harmony is maintained THROUGH control."
[He'll trip himself up. ++ / He's mad with power. -- ]
[He's already betraying his pride... Let him hang himself
calmly.]
Tolwyn shrugs at your accusations, "Effective soldiers requires
effective tools."
[Like bioweapons? ++ / Like secret, unmarked fighters? -- ]
[Bioweapons have higher shock value for the Assembly members.]
I shook my head, "The skies are full of criminals, aren't they,
Admiral?"
[Tell them more... ++ / Attack Tolwyn. -- ]
[The idea is to convince the Assembly, not to discredit Tolwyn.
That can wait.]
[So, did you get enough correct? If you did...]
7.16 The Winning Endgame
There are actually TWO winning endgames! Depending on your choice
at N1 (did you nuke Ellas Superbase with the flash-pak, or not),
you'll see different endgames!
If you nukes the base (i.e. followed Hawk's advice), you'll
become Tolwyn... Sending the Black Lance against member planets
who shows signs of rebellion...
If you didn't, you will be teaching Border World cadets how to
fly, get to see Maniac quiet for a while, and have some fun.
7.17 The Losing Endgame
Like the Winning endgame, there are two losing endgames as well.
In the beginning, before you defect, failure to complete mission
and surviving will result in a chastisement from Tolwyn and your
dismissal from the service.
After you defect, if you lose and survived to be captured, you
will be charged with treason and executed, while the Assembly
voted for war and Tolwyn launched his mighty armada against the
Border Worlds...
This does not count the two variations of "death" ending, in
which you are either praised by Tolwyn as a dead hero, or
denounced as traitor.
8 Miscellaneous Information
8.1 Chicken Mode
Okay, mission too hard, so you're chickening out, right? *sigh*.
Okay, I guess you can engage the chicken mode. Beware that this
may corrupt saves games and other files...
wc4 -chicken --> engages "chicken" mode
Ctrl-W and Alt-W will allow you to destroy any target.
8.2 Other Wing Commander 4 References
ORIGIN'S OFFICIAL GUIDE TO WING COMMANDER 4, published by Origin.
-- The guide to WC4, with interviews, too bad no CD this time.
$19.95.
Prima's UNAUTHORIZED GUIDE TO WING COMMANDER 4, published by
Prima -- Who's Prima kidding this time? They don't have official
rights to print something this time so they did an unauthorized
one, and trust me, they don't have more stuff than this one,
which is not a bargain even at $14.95.
