What's your favorite Maniac moment?

[Bandit LOAF]

Im sorry this is kinda off topic... but Ive felt this rant coming for a while. lol

Nothing about Wing Commander is off-topic in this 'zone.

Even if I excuse the awful versipn of the used dialogue, why did they have to say things like ..."Tally ho!"... which is possibily the stupidest thing I read. (Did they even say that kind of stuff in Wing 1 or 2?)

Erm, the "stupidest thing you've ever read" is a military term meaning you have a friendly target in sight.

How many times did they have to tell us Blair was slugglish after a jump? Yes, we know that they first time you told us....

As best I can tell from skimming and searching for the word jumpshock, it comes up twice -- once to introduce the concept, and the second time referencing the fact that Blair had to fight to get over it when he was jumping alone at the end of the book.

How many times did they say, "Attack Attack Attack!""Targets Targets Targets!" that got a bit old...

Once and twice, respectively -- and the latter is, again, proper military jargon.

And yes I KNOW Rachel calls Blair "skipper" a few times, and I KNOW Hobbs calls Blair "my friend/old friend" but the novel just uses these words ALL THE TIME.

A full text search of the novel finds 'old friend' used by Hobbes four times:
"It is good to see you, old friend,"
"Then I shall try not to disappoint you, old friend."
"Is that you. . . old friend?"
"Kilrathi do not surrender, my old friend"

... and a full text search of the shooting script finds it *six* times:
"Welcome aboard, old friend."
"I shall try not to disappoint you, old friend."
"Ah, my old friend. As I foresaw, we meet again "
"You have doubts about my loyalty, old friend?"
"Congratulations, old friend."
"I’m very sorry, old friend. I let you down."

And it just seems lazy to kill off ALL the main wingmen. Maniac, Vagabond... everyone! Sure, he didnt know they would make another game but it still seemed kinda silly even so.

This wasn't Mr. Keith's choice, though -- it's in the games script. You will always lose one wingman per mission in the 'Kilrah' series at the end of the game... if it doesn't happen naturally, the game respawns Strakha over and over until you're the only person left.

I agree with that of course, but at least in the context they use the word "Confleet", where it seemed to be "ConFed". At no time (that I can remember) did Wing 3 or 4 ever use the word Confleet. And Im making a guess here but did Wing 1 or 2 ever do it either?--- And in case Im wrong on both these counts, did they EVER use the word in THAT context?(ie, the novel's)

The two uses in the HotT novel are "ConFleet can't afford to throw away ships on meaningless gestures" and "He'd love it if he could lead the ConFleet to victory" -- they're both situations where the goal is to refer specifically to the fleet rather than the nation. (The contraction originates in End Run or Fleet Action -- but it had certainly entered the mainstream and appeared in things like Voices of War by the time the HotT novel was written.)

??? But... we are talking about Wing Commander not Star Trek.... if it was "becoming the trend" and Wing 3 decided to stay with "The Victory" why did all the way up to Prophecy stick stay the same, ie. "The TCS Midway"? Heck, I think even Freelancer used "The" in the same way. Now correct me if Im wrong, but was Wing 1 or 2 different? If not... then it realy makes no sence to me why the novel decided to change it for no reason, and so it wouldnt make much sence the early scripts would have done it different either.

I was refering to the grammar used with actual spacecraft, though... the novel uses *both* fairly commonly, but someone with a more formal grasp of the language would naturally tend to drop the DA. (The games have used both, too -- 'Concordia' and 'the Concordia', etc.)

My bet is that it's an attempt on the part of the author to fix a percieved wrong in the writing of the script -- like how Ohlander made sure to add the "Mt." to the name of the TCS St. Helens...

I mean you really think thats how they wrote it in the the script, even an early one? You think they did that for John Rys Davis' character in LOTR too? Of course not. And why try and write_exactly_the same way someone speaks? Most actors in this are American, and he had to know that so why doesnt he write the way they speak as well? I know he is Scottish but its not necessary to make it stupidly hard for the readers.

No, I think what I said -- that the script probably instructed them to cast someone with a Scottish accent. The novel is probably written that way because that's how Paladin's dialogue was written in the games available to Mr. Keith (WC and WC2).

From his very first appearance in the original game: "Och, laddie, take a seat an’ tilt a glass with ol’ Paladin."

(The novel also describes Paladin as being fair haired -- because, again, when writing the HotT novel, the only source for visual and vocal queues was the original games.)

 

[Mjr. Whoopass]

Getting back to the original topic of "Favorite Maniac Moments": I've had alot more in-game moments with him thanks to our fellow poster "Chernikov" for finding a Mac version of WC4 and selling it to me! I've been working on playing through the game on nightmare level and of all the missions so far (and I'm well over half way through the game)- the most frustrating/memorable Maniac missions has to be the extraction of the scientist after failing the recon mission. Maniac must still be flying by the time the shuttle takes the third building- the frustrating times when Maniac is taken out by a lone Vindicator pales in comparison to these other "Maniac moments" during my attempts to pass this mission: After clearing all the enemies on the first planetary nav point- Maniac for no apparent reason crashes into the ground (he ended up doing that on more than one occasion)! Then a really wierd thing happened: Maniac and I cleared the ground turret and the two fighters when I heard the banging of shields followed shortly by the shuttle declaring "mayday!" I still don't know what made the shuttle explode- it either crashed itself into a building or the ground, or Maniac rammed it. Then there were a couple of frustrating times when Maniac and I were preparing to reach the final nav point when he decided to head for home because his ship took too much damage!

I caught a new Maniac acting moment that I didn't notice my first time playing through the game. In the scene where Maniac grabs the helm, causes the ship to move and an alarm to sound, then says "Who did that!?", there's something he does in the background before that. While the crowd is talking in front- you can watch him trying to put the moves on the "helm" girl on the Border Worlds carrier (who IMO is the hottest WC girl of all the games). While he's talking to her- he tries to give her pointers while pressing a button on the helm, but she only rolls her eyes as if to say "what an idiot" then presses the original button back.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I still wonder what he whispered in Dr. Brody's ear. SLAP!

"Wanna check your gag reflex?"

 

[kilrathisaga_fan]

his stupidist moment is when he is responisable for incoraging rosie to fly faster and then she dies

 

[Mjr. Whoopass]

I would say that letting Tolwyn go when the Intrepid captured him was probably the stupidest thing he's ever done. At that point in the game I thought he was probably a traitor secretly siding with Confed (I thought maybe Tolwyn offered him the promotion of his dreams). I would have grounded him under supervision until I could send him to a BW's prison until the conflict ended. Any of us who've played WC3 knows the kind of damage a traitor can do (even those considered "friends"). As it turned out, it was just (IMO) the stupidest "Maniac Moment". In some ways he had to be really smart as an escape artist, considering there were two armed guards and the alarm sound chimed the very instant I left the room where Tolwyn was imprisoned.

 

[Fruitcake]

I always let Tolwyn go. I felt at that stage of the game that I owed him one. Bad judgement maybe.

 

[Bandit LOAF]

Blair lets Tolwyn go in the novel.

In all fairness, there's not a very good reason to hold Tolwyn at that point in the game.

 

[TopGun]

Plus it wouldn't really help the Border Worlds much, by holding him

 

[ck9791]

My two favorite Maniac moments are from WCIV, and both took place on the Intrepid. THe first was where Maniac was sitting at the console when a comm message from Admiral Wilford was comming in. Maniac was hitting buttons on the terminal and the screen was displaying all sorts of different messages. Blair comes into the CIC and Maniac makes a comment about the console not having a flight stick.

The second is when Maniac is trying to put the moves on the Intrepid's helmswoman and he bumps the helm control, causing the ship to rock, and Maniac says "Who did that?" That was a true Maniac moment.

 

[Mjr. Whoopass]

I'm a bit surprised that the novel has Blair letting him go- keeping him seemed an obvious choice at the time. Perhaps it wasn't as stupid as it seemed to me- though in my version of the game Blair seems to also think that it was a "Maniac move" to let him go. I would've at least kept Tolwyn there to educate him about what was going on since the carrier he sent to do that obviously wouldn't help. Since it was believed that elements within Confed seemed to be causing the problems- Tolwyn would know the potential responsible parties. The Intrepid was basically on a fact finding mission and Tolwyn at the very least would have alot of facts to add. Either he would help them get to the bottom of things or he was guilty- and if he was guilty, there are ways to encourage him to talk. Having him would also give the Intrepid an audience with Confed. Keeping him seemed like less of a hostile act to me than blowing up Confed pilots and their carrier with all it's innocent soldiers aboard (if not the pilots, the cook, bartender, etc..). I was more excited to capture Tolwyn than I was when the US captured Saddam.

 

[Shipgate]

My two favorite Maniac moments are from WCIV, and both took place on the Intrepid. THe first was where Maniac was sitting at the console when a comm message from Admiral Wilford was comming in. Maniac was hitting buttons on the terminal and the screen was displaying all sorts of different messages. Blair comes into the CIC and Maniac makes a comment about the console not having a flight stick.

The second is when Maniac is trying to put the moves on the Intrepid's helmswoman and he bumps the helm control, causing the ship to rock, and Maniac says "Who did that?" That was a true Maniac moment.

That women even seemed slightly enamored with Maniac. I think he had an actual chance with her.

 

[Death]

Keeping [Tolwyn] seemed like less of a hostile act to me than blowing up Confed pilots and their carrier with all it's innocent soldiers aboard (if not the pilots, the cook, bartender, etc..).

In the novelization, the Lexington is only disabled (torp intentionally prematurely detonated in front of the launch tubes, breaking the launching equipment), not killed. Since you're given the choice of which path to chose (disable [leech] or destroy), the novel tells the canon fate of the Lex, much like Locanda was successfully biobombed in the official WCU timeline, according to WC3N.

 

[Edfilho]

I always leeched the Lex. Even though it was full of GE pilots, most of the crew had nothing to do with the conspiracy... Considering how they didn't need to die in order to save Confed, there is no moral justification for blowing the carrier up. Both the game and the novel provide honorable, moral solutions to the problem.

 

[ck9791]

That women even seemed slightly enamored with Maniac. I think he had an actual chance with her.

Compared to the other women we see Maniac try to put his magic on, who shoot him down right away.

 

[FlashFire82]

I always leeched the Lex. Even though it was full of GE pilots, most of the crew had nothing to do with the conspiracy... Considering how they didn't need to die in order to save Confed, there is no moral justification for blowing the carrier up. Both the game and the novel provide honorable, moral solutions to the problem.

This is true... so often you strap into the cockpit and start blasting away... but it provided a moment of something that I would almost call role playing... a moment for you as a character to make a decision on what you thought was right or wrong. I was very glad to see Blair make the same decision I did in the novel...

 

[Cyberion]

my favorite Maniac's saying is "Ok, I might have screwed up, but you know... he is an Admiral".

When he let Tolwyn go in WC4 (if you refuses to free Tolwyn)

 

[iCe]

i realy laughed when maniac sniffs under his arms in WCIV before he tries to score with that female bio-scientist

and the bloopers are realy hilarious (WC3)
"Where the hell is my rubber ducky!"

In WCIV paladin and maniac on the (instructor) end
"Senator, about th..."
"Maniac"
"Yes senator?"
"Shut up"

 

[Maj.Striker]

I was more excited to capture Tolwyn than I was when the US captured Saddam.

Well we just probably need more PC games about Saddam then...that way you could have gotten more excited.

 

[luminon]

I liked it in wcp when Maestro goes to give Maniac a drink during that party after you get promoted to the black widows and Maciac says "I'm a great guy! I'm the best pilot in confed! People look up to me!" At this point I was thinking "being modest as always Maniac."

 

[McGruff]

Well we just probably need more PC games about Saddam then...that way you could have gotten more excited.

A screenshot: