wing 1 and 2 options

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starlord

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Hi,

just wandering: is there a way to choose a difficulty setting in WC1 and WC2? (like the later games) and possibly options like invincibility?

Jaques keeps getting beaten in those games and can't see the unravelling story.

thanks for answering.
 
but that's cheating!

Nope, there are no dificulty levels to choose... but I don't know if there are Cheats.

In my opinion: This is not a movie, you must play it to see the story... for Watchers-only there are the TV Series like Battlestar Galactica... (I like that show)

This is a common phenomenom in narrative games.
 
just wandering: is there a way to choose a difficulty setting in WC1 and WC2? (like the later games) and possibly options like invincibility?

Howdy! There's no [O]ptions menu in the first two games, but there is an invulnerability cheat. You can read instructions on how to activate it here: https://www.wcnews.com/cheats.shtml

In my opinion: This is not a movie, you must play it to see the story... for Watchers-only there are the TV Series like Battlestar Galactica... (I like that show)

I think we generally moved past this kind of mean-spirited attitude in 1994. Some people simply aren't good at video games and would still like a chance to enjoy the story. This is the very reason companies began offering options like invulnerability built in to the games.

I remember some years back when I suffered through some risky eye surgeries and could barely see for two years... I still wanted to enjoy Wing Commander (as should anyone), and the 'finger of death' cheat let me do that. Live and let live, buddy.
 
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I think we generally moved past this kind of mean-spirited attitude in 1994. Some people simply aren't good at video games and would still like a chance to enjoy the story. This is the very reason companies began offering options like invulnerability built in to the games.

I remember some years back when I suffered through some risky eye surgeries and could barely see for two years... I still wanted to enjoy Wing Commander (as should anyone), and the 'finger of death' cheat let me do that. Live and let live, buddy.

I'm not forbidden anything... You can do whatever you want.... But I think that a videogame it's for play it.
It's like if you see a horror movie and you go forward in the scary scenes... ok, you can understand the story but you are missing something that is for what is made for. It's a Big Mac without the meat.

but I repeat: Do what you please... :cool:
 
I'm not forbidden anything... You can do whatever you want.... But I think that a videogame it's for play it.

But I'm *telling* you -- not suggesting, not arguing -- that it is sometimes impossible for people to play through a game on their own.
 
if any of you have ever tried playing wc3 or 4 without a joystick, you know what loaf means

easy mode with the auto-targetting guns was a lifesaver
 
Yeah. I mean, obviously it would be great if everyone could enjoy the games to their absolute fullest forever... but the world doesn't work that way, and I think we've matured enough to understand that. We don't need to attack people for wanting to "cheat". It's just a lame superiority complex -- and we have much better reasons to claim we're better than everyone else... we are, after all, Wing Commander fans!
 
indeed.

jaques' only taste in videogames was RPG crud like cesar, yet when I showed him the old WC pearls, he couldn't resist to knowing if the confed finally succeded in destroying K'thitrak'mang or the sivar.

I lend him by laptop in order for him to see for himself (I hasen't going to play all through the games just for him to know).
 
Yeah. I mean, obviously it would be great if everyone could enjoy the games to their absolute fullest forever... but the world doesn't work that way, and I think we've matured enough to understand that. We don't need to attack people for wanting to "cheat". It's just a lame superiority complex -- and we have much better reasons to claim we're better than everyone else... we are, after all, Wing Commander fans!

LOAF is right, and considering how old some of the games are today, many people could find them very hard to play... It takes a while to get used to piloting in Privateer 1, for instance, due to the sprite based 3D engine. Some people just wanna know what happens in WC2.
 
Yeah. I mean, obviously it would be great if everyone could enjoy the games to their absolute fullest forever... but the world doesn't work that way, and I think we've matured enough to understand that. We don't need to attack people for wanting to "cheat". It's just a lame superiority complex -- and we have much better reasons to claim we're better than everyone else... we are, after all, Wing Commander fans!


I did not attack anyone. I said what I think.

And just for the records... I am not a Wing Commander Fan, Yet.

I like the game and I am immersed in the story so far, but to be sincere there are a few things that I dont like and prevent me from becoming a fan.

The most important one it's the race of the enemies... a Lion-Human race it's not too serious to me.

And I got a Question, since I have not played the last games...

Do the big ships keep on being so defenseless?

I know that in WC1 has technological limits, but there are things that I don't like
and it's not for the antiquated technology.

whitout offese.
 
The most important one it's the race of the enemies... a Lion-Human race it's not too serious to me.

Between green big-headed martians, bug/squid hybrids, blobs with claws and tentacles, and gorillas with SCUBA-helmet heads, I really don't think space cats are all that silly. :)
 
I did not attack anyone. I said what I think.

But what you "think" is wrong, and is offensive to certain groups of people.

The most important one it's the race of the enemies... a Lion-Human race it's not too serious to me.

They're visually based on Larry Niven's Kzinti -- and it's difficult to think of a better example of mainstream 'hard' science fiction than Known Space. They're plotted out as an allegory for Imperial Japan, as the first three games are essentially the Pacific War in space.

The Kilrathi are developed quite a bit in later games and novels, though I personally enjoy the fact that you never really see anything about them in the original... it's an interesting obstructed point of view that the later narratives lose.

Do the big ships keep on being so defenseless?

Killing capital ships becomes much harder in Wing Commander II, where they can only be damaged with a special type of missile (the torpedo) that takes twenty seconds of line-of-sight lock to fire. At the same time, that game improves the effectiveness of their flak by quite a bit.
 
Killing capital ships becomes much harder in Wing Commander II, where they can only be damaged with a special type of missile (the torpedo) that takes twenty seconds of line-of-sight lock to fire. At the same time, that game improves the effectiveness of their flak by quite a bit.

Plus the fact that the torpedoes can be shot down by flak makes it that much harder, and the flak gunners got more accurate as the game progressed, with K'Tithrak Mang having the sharpest eyes that I'd noticed in the game.

The only way I'd ever found to effectively get a torpedo through Mang's flak gunners was to afterburn straight in and release the torpedo when you're CLOSE to the station. Using that technique, however, also left you a short space to pull up and out in time, before you bashed the station while hopefully not being torn to shreds by flak as you're making the run in the first place.

I HATED the lock-on time, especially when I was being shot at from all directions. Then again, it did give it an interesting angle for having to set up your shot instead of just quick-firing it.
 
They're visually based on Larry Niven's Kzinti -- and it's difficult to think of a better example of mainstream 'hard' science fiction than Known Space. They're plotted out as an allegory for Imperial Japan, as the first three games are essentially the Pacific War in space.

Interestingly enough, on the trivia side of things, I do remember reading a few of the "Man/Kzinti Wars" books back in the mid 90s. Interesting stuff. I wonder though, LOAF, do you know if Niven originally created the Kzinti or if might have been someone else? I remember first seeing the Kzinti a few times in the old Star Trek animated series. Was that Niven back then as well?
 
Good question. Yes, that was Niven adding his space cats to Star Trek.

He adapted one of his 1960s Known Space stories, "The Soft Weapon" into a Star Trek animated episode called "The Slaver Weapon". You can find The Soft Weapon in a collection of Known Space short stories called "Neutron Star".

"Canonical" Star Trek has avoided referencing the Kzinti again, but they remain a favorite of various elements of the fandom. Kzinti are also one of the major factions of the "Starfleet Battles" series of games, which has evolved separately over the years from Star Trek's ordinary continuity. As was the style at the time, Alan Dean Foster adapted all the TAS episodes into novels called 'Star Trek Log {number}'... so, in Star Trek Log Ten you can read Foster's prose adaptation of Niven's script adaptation of Niven's original short story!

Niven also wrote some of the daily 'Star Trek' comic strips in the 1970s, and these may also have included Kzinti at some point (I don't honestly remember).

Also -- TAS will finally be out on DVD next week, the last Star Trek show that needed a release... so if you want to see cartoon Kzinti again, now is your chance!

The actual "Man Kzin" wars books are primarily spinoff stories written by other authors, and they're far more recent than most of Known Space -- the Man-Kzin series started some fifteen years ago, around the same time the original Wing Commander came out. The Kzinti themselves were created (I *think*) in 'The Warriors', a 1966 short story. They've since been background players throughout Known Space, most famously in the Ringworld books.
 
I wasn't sure if it was the first appearance or just the first story specifically about them (to the original poster, The Warriors is reprinted in several of the MK collections -- the first of which is kept in print, if you're interested in the story).
 
Speaking of WC1 cheats - I'm not sure how he did it, but back in the day, my buddy was able to outfit a WC1 fighter with up to ten weapons of choice. A simultaneous salvo of ten neutron guns was awfully devastating, but it drained your weapon power to zero each time so there was no quick second shot. Nine darts and a single backup gun on a Hornet was fun too. Anyone else ever play with that program?
 
Speaking of WC1 cheats - I'm not sure how he did it, but back in the day, my buddy was able to outfit a WC1 fighter with up to ten weapons of choice. A simultaneous salvo of ten neutron guns was awfully devastating, but it drained your weapon power to zero each time so there was no quick second shot. Nine darts and a single backup gun on a Hornet was fun too. Anyone else ever play with that program?

You can do this with WCVIEW, which is available in our files section.
 
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