Wingleader Code Shows Off Kilrathi Pilot Logic (March 8, 2020)

[ChrisReid]

Anatoly Shashkin has posted another awesome bit of WC history. He's shared several pages of preliminary programming for Wingleader, which was the intermediate name for Wing Commander before release. The depiction includes some of the methodology behind how the Kilrathi approach a target, maneuver / evade and retreat for home. It's pretty cool to see what eventually turned into the pilot behavior that we all know and love! You can find more great throwbacks on the DOSNostalgia Twitter feed.

Some AI code from Wingleader, a game that eventually became Wing Commander

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Original update published on March 8, 2020

 

[Bandit LOAF]

Anyone can have a look at this! The BRAINS.C file shown here was included with the Wing Commander I rolling demo and will open right up in a text editor. (And anyone interested in the WC1 AI should check out the Wing Commander I & II Ultimate Strategy Guide which reprints exactly how each enemy and ace 'thinks'.)

 

[wiese.hano]

Regarding the code for an escape. Is there any situation somewhere in the game where a Kilrathi pilot escapes? Does it refer to WC1?

 

[Bandit LOAF]

Regarding the code for an escape. Is there any situation somewhere in the game where a Kilrathi pilot escapes? Does it refer to WC1?

Yes, AI pilots will retreat if they are badly damaged or if their objective has been met (say they were attacking a Drayman and have destroyed it but not you). It's much more common in Wing Commander I though it still happens on occasion in the later games.

 

[Dyret]

Bhurak will also always run away when he starts taking meaningful hull damage in my experience. Wouldn't surprise me if the same applies to the other aces in theory, but their fighters don't really facilitate that sort of thing.

 

[-danr-]

'Imperial Wingmen'

What a different game it would have been if we'd gone with the 'morally questionable' humanity right from the beginning, instead of waiting for Tolwyn to turn up and take us down that road later.

 

[JasonRocZ]

👍

 

[DefianceIndustries]

'Imperial Wingmen'

What a different game it would have been if we'd gone with the 'morally questionable' humanity right from the beginning, instead of waiting for Tolwyn to turn up and take us down that road later.

I think it would sell better today than when WC1 originally launched, but there's a part of me that really loves the 4-color naivete of the finished product.