Favorite Bombing run...

Favorite bombing run

  • Wc1

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Wc2

    Votes: 12 50.0%

  • Wc3/4

    Votes: 5 20.8%

  • WcP

    Votes: 6 25.0%

  • Privateer

    Votes: 1 4.2%
  • Total voters
    24
frostytheplebe

frostytheplebe

Seventh Part of the Seal
I know this has been done before, but we do have some new guys, so I'd be interested in some of the newbies opinions on this one;

What is your favorite bombing run? WC 1- SO?

WC1: No torpedos for a one hit kill, and afterburners can be both a blessing and a boon. If you go in and the flak trashes your ship, you can use the AB to get out fast... that said I've seen (and performed) a newb move trying to burn past the flak and slammed into the hull of the capship guns blazing, and in WC, you don't take the enemy with you. That said, Neutron guns work pretty well against cap ships here and make the kill a little quicker.

WC2: My favorite. Has a real WW2 feel, awesome music, and it keeps you on the edge of your seat. No Afterburners, flak blowing up all around you, and fighters on your tail. I love it!

WC3/4: You have torpedos, you have afterburners, you have a shitty bomber, and a heavy fighter that can carry a torpedo. Guns will also work against the cap ships, though they seem less effective in WC3.

WCP: Phase shields like WC2. Except this time, you can't fire torpedos indescriminently, you have to target either the bridge or the engines to kill the enemy capship. I'm not sure why they even bother having secondary targets like the launchers. I've never seen much evidence that killing them doesnt do anything.

Privateer: ... I dunno. I like the rapid fire torpedos, I'd like them better if it didn't take 2 full packs to bring down a transport.
 
frostytheplebe said:
burn past the flak and slammed into the hull of the capship guns blazing, and in WC, you don't
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Hmmm interesting point, but are you sure? I know you can kill fighters with collisions, I've never suceeded in killing a capship kamikaze style, but I wonder if it's possible if you've taken all of it's shields out first.

And I chose WC3, but I always do in things like this, after all, it has the most important bombing run of all :)
 
My favorite bombing run is the mission early on in Wing Commander II where you fly Ferrets to escort Broadswords against a Fralthra. It's so neat because it's a just touch more complex than previous missions but in a seamless, natural way--your success relies on your ability to escort the bombers safely... but then you're helpless to do the thing that actually wins.
 
Bandit LOAF said:
My favorite bombing run is the mission early on in Wing Commander II where you fly Ferrets to escort Broadswords against a Fralthra. It's so neat because it's a just touch more complex than previous missions but in a seamless, natural way--your success relies on your ability to escort the bombers safely... but then you're helpless to do the thing that actually wins.
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I remember that mission! I also remember that while I accomplished that mission, the bombers NEVER made it back.
 
frostytheplebe said:
I remember that mission! I also remember that while I accomplished that mission, the bombers NEVER made it back.
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Another great aspect of it that was also entirely inside the gameplay--there was an ambush *after* you torpedo the Fralthra, and the player has to decide how seriously he's going to take the lives of the NPCs now that they aren't important to the game.
 
Bandit LOAF said:
Another great aspect of it that was also entirely inside the gameplay--there was an ambush *after* you torpedo the Fralthra, and the player has to decide how seriously he's going to take the lives of the NPCs now that they aren't important to the game.
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I always thought those two bombers were slightly weaker then when we get to fly them. They just died way too easy.
 
WC1: only one I'd call "bombing mission" is the last one; WC1 and Privateer don't have real bombing runs
WC2: between exciting and frustrating, too much time goes on waiting shields to go up again for another run (on bombers)
WC3/4: kind of like 1/Priv with mean turret fire; my least favourite

Prophecy: I like it best. Though there's good difference in WC2 depending on what you're shooting, Prophecy gives more variance. It's good to have two types of torps and being able to shoot engine adds some tactics (I would've liked to see capture missions). And the locking is slightly more reasonable than WC2's, making it more a run and less waiting.
It's pity wingmen are such idiots and waste their torps, especially when you need some of them to hit to win mission. But generally bombing capships is one of better things is WCP.
 
Every bombrun in WCII I liked. Especially that Torpedo Run music. I like the old MIDI stuff better than that new MIDI stuff. Every run was an edge of your seat ride.
 
Bandit LOAF said:
My favorite bombing run is the mission early on in Wing Commander II where you fly Ferrets to escort Broadswords against a Fralthra. It's so neat because it's a just touch more complex than previous missions but in a seamless, natural way--your success relies on your ability to escort the bombers safely... but then you're helpless to do the thing that actually wins.
Click to expand...

I love that mission. The last time I played it, I'd just gone back from running through Prophecy (and WC4...?) again, and then three missions in I'm in a bomber escort mission again. I'd always associated big flights of ships with the later games, but there you are, with Shadow and Broadswords hitting autopilot in 1991. When I launched off the carrier and watched the bombers flying around, it really didn't match my earlier memories of WC2 at all... it felt almost like deja vu from Prophecy, right through the autopilot sequence. That really gave me some appreciation for the measure of continuity Origin maintained through seven years.


Anyway, as far as the topic goes, I'll probably have to go with Wing2 on this, though I have to admit that I rarely ever do it. Bad points, same as good points: no afterburners, flak blowing up all around you, fighters on your tail, and the bad guys pointing their big guns at you while you have to fly straight and level. I'm not actually even sure I killed a single proper capship in that game; either I'd let my wingmen do it, or run and fail that part of the mission (the one near the end of the game where there's a Ralatha or Fralthra you have to kill.) The one mission where you have to tractor that comm pod, I always play by luring the destroyer away from the pod, then dashing back at full speed, picking it up and getting the hell out before it can respond.

I really have to reload Armada again. I have only very dim memories of the flak there, but it's always been made out as ferocious.

frostytheplebe said:
I always thought those two bombers were slightly weaker then when we get to fly them. They just died way too easy.
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I think the player Broadswords actually have very heavy shielding - I dimly remember some stats Quarto or someone extracted from the game that showed them as having 500 units of shielding, which is more than some of the capital ships you're going up against. I guess that doesn't apply to the NPC ships.

If that's true, than it's something they carried over to at least WC4; the Prima official guide makes a point of mentioning that your ship is always stronger than everyone else's. (Though it also devotes a section to warning against the use of cheat codes on pain of your computer imploding.)
 
I'm sure all the broadswords in WC2 have the same shield and armour stats in-game.

The bombers can die quite easily in that mission because of the Drakhai Sartha pilots. If you take too long then they'll easily kill the broadswords outright with guns and dumbfire (reminds me of Standoff!), or all they need to do is to simply weaken the shields and the Fralthra does the rest with its flak guns.
 
The WC3 bombing run. Just love the sounds of the lock beeping and after a while you hear that beep that the torpedo is locked.
 
iCe said:
The WC3 bombing run. Just love the sounds of the lock beeping and after a while you hear that beep that the torpedo is locked.
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If we're talking about beeps, Armada has the best shriek sound when missiles lock.
 
WC3, because there's a torpedo run that made me feel like a real bad-ass.

The Locanda mission to stop the Cats from launching bio warheads at the planet.
As soon as you hit the first nav. point, you've got a Ralarrad's butt in front of you, bio-missiles streaking towards Locanda and Strakhas dancing all around.

I go full guns on the destroyer's aft shields and switch to my torpedo as soon as they go down. I don't event wait for the lock sequence. I hit the afterburner and aim straight at the engines. I launch my torpedo about half way in and skim the bottom of the destroyer, still at full afterburner. The Ralarrad can't maneuver in time and if my timing is right, my ship is just ahead of the kill zone, going at 1000kps towards the bio-missile.

Anyway, it involved a torpedo and it made me feel like a bad-ass.
 
...I didn't think you could fire torpedoes without a lock. Otherwise they'd be no different to a really, really big dumb fire.
 
Wedge009 said:
...I didn't think you could fire torpedoes without a lock. Otherwise they'd be no different to a really, really big dumb fire.
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Well you can't, but I did notice in WC2 once after destroying a Fralthra, I turn towards a single Drakhri and next thing I know, it hits afterburners, trying to get away from... something. Closer investigation was a very large, slow moving, missile. The last torpedo fired had somehow acquired a fighter as a target. I didn't bother shooting it until the torp blew up, it was too funny to spoil.
 
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