Blackmane Losing path missions

Sharpshooter

Rear Admiral
Hi everybody!

So, I was replaying the GOG version of Wing Commander 3, and I decided to let the Kilrathi warheads reach Locanda IV (I used autopilot to fly straight back to the Victory after destroying the enemy ships but not the warheads) so that I could play the alternate versions of the Blackmane missions.

However, I seem to have reached a dead end, as the Blackmane Losing Path appears to be unwinnable.

No matter what I do, the three transports in Blackmane 1 won't jump out - they just fly past the jump buoy and continue on their way, forcing me to either 1) Manually fly back to the Victory, or 2) Fire on the friendly transports in order to destroy them so that I can use the autopilot feature. Needless to say, both options result in mission failure.

Then I played Blackmane 2 (AKA the pulsar mission), but I didn't see any pulsar and the transports wouldn't jump out, much like the previous mission.

Finally, I played Blackmane 3. Hobbes got killed by one of the booby-trapped transports when it blew up. Aside from that, the mission was a success. However, in spite of Rollins telling me that we were going to "start taking it to the Kilrathi for a change", I saw the Hobbes funeral scene and then the Victory jumped to the Proxima system.

I wondered whether there was a problem with the GOG version of Wing Commander 3, so I took out my old Wing Commander 3 CDs, made ISOs of them, and installed the French version of Wing Commander 3 on my PC. I ran into the exact same problems, with just one thing that wasn't the same : so far I've been unable to get the Hobbes funeral scene with the French version (Hobbes seems to always survive ejection).

So, I'd like to ask : Has anyone ever successfully finished the Blackmane Losing Path? Is there a version of WC3 out there that actually allows you to win these missions?
 
Hobbes' death, although rare, always triggers the losing endgame and return to Proxima. That's the only factor at Blackmane that causes you to end up with the total defeat.

So if you're asking if Blackmane can be lost without losing the whole game, the answer is yes, absolutely, you'll end up in Ariel regardless.

Just keep Hobbes alive and you'll be fine.
 
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Ah, perhaps I should clarify things.

There are two series of Blackmane missions : The first one is the one everyone knows about. In the first mission of this series, you must defend the Blackmane base and kill Paktahn ace Bloodmist. The second series, not nearly as well-known, is the one that you get when you fail the Locanda series. The dialogue for this series can be found on Wedge009's website, here : https://wedge009.net/wc/wc3/blackmanel.php
In the first mission of this second series, you must protect three transports from a Kilrathi carrier and her fighters.

In my original post, I was talking about the second Blackmane series. The first two missions for this series appear to be buggy and unwinnable. The third mission seems winnable, but more often than not the game will kill off your wingman even if you manage to bring him/her back safely. Also, it would seem you always end up jumping to the Proxima system, even if you win this mission.

My guess would be that the WC3 developers never finished those missions. It's too bad : the second mission, where you would have had to stay in the shadow of a planet orbiting a pulsar, sounded really interesting.

To answer your post : With the French version, I tried sending Hobbes back to base in the third mission. He died regardless and I was able to see the French version of Hobbes' funeral for the first time. I mean, wow, I didn't even know it existed, so thanks for that.

Then I tried that third mission again with the English version with Vagabond then Flash, and they both died even though I brought them back safely. Of course, we still ended up jumping to Proxima...
 
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