Newb Question - highest rank in WC1?

1ukelele1

Spaceman
Hey Gang,

GameTap has made it easy for me to enjoy the game that got me fired from my first (and only) computer store job! Ah yes, I can still see my boss march up to that old 386 PC for the dozenth time and shut it off because he was so pissed at me. Such sweet memories, and now I can actually play the entire game!

Has anyone ever been promoted to Lt. Colonel in WC1? If so, how did you do it? I've heard that taking less (or no) damage on missions can help you get promoted faster. Any hints as to how I can earn those silver oak leaves?

Also, how many medals are possible in WC1? What is the max # of Bronze, Silver and Gold stars anyone has gotten? Just curious.

Later,

uke
 
Welcome to the forums. Major is the highest rank in Wing Commander 1. Lt. Colonel becomes possible in The Secret Missions. Certain missions are preset to be eligible for certain medals if you meet key criteria. Things like ranks, medals and progress through various systems are based on points allotted from achieving certain obectives. It's a little more complicated than in most WC games. Damage does not factor in.
 
Hey Gang,

GameTap has made it easy for me to enjoy the game that got me fired from my first (and only) computer store job! Ah yes, I can still see my boss march up to that old 386 PC for the dozenth time and shut it off because he was so pissed at me. Such sweet memories, and now I can actually play the entire game!

Has anyone ever been promoted to Lt. Colonel in WC1? If so, how did you do it? I've heard that taking less (or no) damage on missions can help you get promoted faster. Any hints as to how I can earn those silver oak leaves?

Also, how many medals are possible in WC1? What is the max # of Bronze, Silver and Gold stars anyone has gotten? Just curious.

Later,

uke

Well, I'm no great shakes anymore, but when I replayed WC about 3 months ago, I ended up with the following in my last save, after completing Venice 3: 5 Gold, 3 Silver, 3 Bronze, and 1 eject medal (Gold Sun?, the name escapes me for the moment. Ejected on purpose from a mission I couldn't lose, just to get it. ;) ). I got the Pewter Planet in Venice 4, but, of course, could not save it. At the last save of SM2, I had: 9 Gold, 4 Silver, 6 Bronze, 1 Gold Sun, and 1 Pewter Planet.

Mark Minasi in "Secrets of the Wing Commander Universe" (Sybex, 1994) provides much detail on how the WC games score your progress. The original WC (SM, SM2) is the most complex. You earn both Victory points and Medal points in each mission (so many for each ship and ship-type kill). You need so many Victory points to win each mission-series. Medal points are accrued also for killing ships, but don't appear to carry over from one mission to the next. Medals are only available for certain missions, but to get them you have to garner the necessary medal points......which means send your wingman home or keep him from getting your rightfull kills. :)

Promotions are also based on Medal points, but, according to Minasi, there's also a random factor in when you might get one.

The above is from looking at my last save, a glance at Minasi and memory, so if anyone detects gross error, don't hesitate to jump in.
 
Basically, if you kill the right enemies (YOUR kills, not your wingman's), and protect the right friendlies, you will get the Medal for that mission if there is one. Generally speaking, the higher the honor, the more stringent the requirements--Bronze Stars are easy, but the Pewter Planet is much harder.
 
Lt. Colonel in Secret Missions, so Colonel is never available in SM1 or 2?

Not in the same way - at the end of Secret Missions 2 Halcyon tells you he's being promoted and that you will replace him... but you don't get to see a new insignia or anything.
 
Well, I'm no great shakes anymore, but when I replayed WC about 3 months ago, I ended up with the following in my last save, after completing Venice 3: 5 Gold, 3 Silver, 3 Bronze, and 1 eject medal (Gold Sun?, the name escapes me for the moment. Ejected on purpose from a mission I couldn't lose, just to get it. ;) ). I got the Pewter Planet in Venice 4, but, of course, could not save it. At the last save of SM2, I had: 9 Gold, 4 Silver, 6 Bronze, 1 Gold Sun, and 1 Pewter Planet.

Mark Minasi in "Secrets of the Wing Commander Universe" (Sybex, 1994) provides much detail on how the WC games score your progress. The original WC (SM, SM2) is the most complex. You earn both Victory points and Medal points in each mission (so many for each ship and ship-type kill). You need so many Victory points to win each mission-series. Medal points are accrued also for killing ships, but don't appear to carry over from one mission to the next. Medals are only available for certain missions, but to get them you have to garner the necessary medal points......which means send your wingman home or keep him from getting your rightfull kills. :)

Promotions are also based on Medal points, but, according to Minasi, there's also a random factor in when you might get one.

The above is from looking at my last save, a glance at Minasi and memory, so if anyone detects gross error, don't hesitate to jump in.
That's quite a medal collection you've got there! I wonder if anyone's mapped out the maximum medals possible in WC1. I read here http://www.adrr.com/wing/01.htm that it's possible to save the Ralari (getting the silver) but lose the Kurasawa series in order to get the gold, silver, and bronze possible in each successive Rostov mission. I think I'm going to figure out the "path of most medals" and then see if I can do it! I'll post it later, when I have time.

P.S. - Don't know if anyone has the patience (or lack of skill) I have, but I must have tried to save the Ralari *literally* at least 50 times! I was successful 3 of those times, but only on the 3rd success was I able to get 7 kills (6 necessary I hear) to get that silver. I was so lucky on that trip one of the Gratha rammed the back of my Rapier while I was trying a quick spin move. I had knocked down it's shields and done some front armor damage, so the collision toasted it (while doing plenty of damage to my ship). Just thought I'd share.
 
I failed to get the Silver for McAuliffe 3 (saved the drayman, but didn't get Bhurak. Just didn't feel like doing it again for some reason) and I couldn't save the Ralari, which cost me another Silver, but sent me to the Rostov series for the medals there. As far as I can recall, I've only saved the Ralari one time.....and that was back in 1992 on a 386sx 20 (ran slooow on that rig). I tried it a couple of times this time out, but decided it just wasn't going to happen in any reasonable length of time (if at all). I commend you for your persistence. :)
 
I have started my "path of most medals," looking to earn the most Gold, Silver and Bronze Stars possible for WC1. Here's how it goes:

Enyo - lose but get Bronze on mission 2

Gateway - save the Claw for Silver on M2, lose the Drayman but get all 8 kills on M3(including Bhurak) for another Silver :). You lose the sequence and get a chance at more medals by going to Chengdu before Brimstone

Chengdu - M1 Gold (not sure if you need to be perfect), you must get all 10 including Dakhath on M2 for Bronze (challenging), M3 Silver. You are winning this series to go to Brimstone.

Brimstone - A perfect 9 kill M3 gets you Bronze. Win Brimstone to advance to Dakota.

Dakota - 8 kills M1 Silver, 8 kills M2 Silver, 12 kills + Knight lives (send his butt home) M3 Gold (yeah, baby!). You are winning Dakota to advance to Kurasawa.

Kurasawa - Lose M1 (of the 3 Dorkirs, take out only the 2nd OR 3rd plus fighters if you are looking for kills), we all loooove M2 and you must get 6 kills plus save the good ol' Ralari to get your Silver Star, M3 save your old commander on the Exeter if you want - it doesn't matter you are still losing and heading to Rostov for some more medal action!

Rostov - according to http://www.adrr.com/wing/01.htm you must return home damage free to get the M1 Bronze (not sure but will confirm), 9 kills net a Silver Star on M2, another 9 kills (including Khajja and Fralthi) net a Gold Star on M3. From there you are Venice bound.

Venice - a perfect 9 kill score may get you NO MEDAL for M1. However, I will try to do this damage free to see if this will trigger the Silver Star mentioned here http://www.cheatchaser.com/pc/w/wing-commander-guide.html, a perfect 13 kill score gets you NO MEDAL on M2 :(, another perfect 9 kill run on M3 earns you a Bronze.

As far as I could figure, following the mission tree this way leads to entering Secret Missions with: 5 Bronze, 8 Silver (if I'm right about M1 Venice), and 3 Gold. These would be added to your Golden Sun, Medal of Honor, and rank of Major for the most hardware possible at the end of WC1. Yay!
 
Where are you ejecting for your Golden Sun? I think I did it on one of the no-medal Venice missions...after I ran my kill score up a bit.
 
The trick to the Ralari mission, I've found, is to ignore the two closest fighters and get the two attacking it from the rear - where the Ralari has paper for armor.
 
Where are you ejecting for your Golden Sun? I think I did it on one of the no-medal Venice missions...after I ran my kill score up a bit.
I ejected on the first Enyo mission, after I killed everything. I think on any mission where you are looking to lose the sequence and no medal is available you are free to eject and not worry about going off the max medal path. If you are looking for max kills along with medals you can eject at the end of the mission (again, in a losing sequence) and get credit for kills but no sequence "victory points." I hope that makes sense...
 
The trick to the Ralari mission, I've found, is to ignore the two closest fighters and get the two attacking it from the rear - where the Ralari has paper for armor.
Thank you for the Ralari tip! I will definitely try that next time I'm up against those 4 *#&$!@#* Gratha.
 
Chengdu M2 - I have a correction to make: according to Wedge009's (pretty cool, btw) website, http://wedge009.net/wc/wc1/chengdu.php the dialog script shows a Bronze after 7 kills. Also, I just received a Bronze for only 9 kills. This is an addendum to the "path of most medals" post above. You do not need the perfect 10 kills for a Bronze medal.
 
I always thought of the Golden-Sun medal as a kind of a "Symbol of Cain" -
'you ditched your multi-million credits craft, and we want to be damn sure everybody knows it - and we mean EVERYBODY!!!!'
 
I always thought of the Golden-Sun medal as a kind of a "Symbol of Cain" -
'you ditched your multi-million credits craft, and we want to be damn sure everybody knows it - and we mean EVERYBODY!!!!'

I agree. And there's no reason to ever get the Gold Sun, except deliberately....or unless you're playing wc in some kind of "iron man" style.
 
I agree. And there's no reason to ever get the Gold Sun, except deliberately....or unless you're playing wc in some kind of "iron man" style.
Yeah, I want everyone to know that I "bravely sacrificed my ship" to save my own yellow butt. And as a bonus, it looks real nice on my uniform...
 
Thank you for the Ralari tip! I will definitely try that next time I'm up against those 4 *#&$!@#* Gratha.
t.c. cgi - I saved the Ralari after about 10 or 12 tries! Wow! Protecting it from the rear made a huge difference. Luck did play a role, but your suggestion helped. Thanks again!
 
I only saved the Ralari once, but I realy liked the Raptor... and flying in the Rostov system... so I never did mind it too much...
 
I agree. And there's no reason to ever get the Gold Sun, except deliberately....or unless you're playing wc in some kind of "iron man" style.
Hey gang,

If you are any good (unlike me) you can probably StR in just a few tries by trying t.c.cgi's "protect the back end" method mentioned above.

I think also, you have to know how the game is going to react (processing-wise) and remember to adapt with that in mind until you succeed. A good starting place is to attack far Gratha after you release Bossman. Missiles from far away isn't a bad idea, either, but keep practicing aiming your ships guns. Eventually train yourself to make an accurate volley almost every time while you approach a Gratha starting its volley on the Ralari. If you can knock down shields and do damage, your missiles will have a good chance of killing the Gratha or wounding it so bad it will limp around until you kill it. This way you can also compensate for a lack of flying skills, by making up for them with shooting skills, in a Rapier... (something just sad about that). Some of us just suck at flying I suppose...

P.S. - I hope to become a really good flyer one day.
 
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