Sharpshooter
Rear Admiral
Hello everyone!
So I've been replaying Wing Commander 4 (...again) and I was wondering how the game's programming handles Panther and Hawk's morale. It turns out that in the save files, Panther's morale is stored at 0x600 and Hawk's morale is stored at 0x5fe.
After some testing, it appears that every Panther/Hawk choice works exactly as intended. It is also true that a tie between Panther's morale and Hawk's morale gives you the good ending. For the record :
However, unlike what one might think, it would seem that Panther and Hawk do not, in fact, start at 0 morale. They both start at 5 morale. Also, no matter how hard you try, you cannot get the good ending if you side with Hawk for all of the "big three" :
Orestes (Panther) "Yeah... You'd think" - Panther 6, Hawk 5
Orestes (Hawk) "This guy is bloodthirsty" - Panther 6, Hawk 4
Pasqual (Hawk) "Straighten this kid out" - Panther 7, Hawk 4
Pasqual (Hawk) "Bitter guy" - Panther 7, Hawk 3
Peleus (Panther and Hawk, Circe or Speradon choice) "Hawk's right" - Panther 6, Hawk 4
(Speradon, Hawk) "What a whiner" - Panther 6, Hawk 3
(Speradon, Panther and Hawk) "We die trying" - Panther 5, Hawk 4
(Callimachus, Sneak by Ella or Nuke Ella) "Hawk's right, this is war" - Panther 4, Hawk 5
Of course, this also means that you cannot get the "evil" ending if you side with Panther for all of the "big three".
Interestingly enough, the first two choices for Hawk (in Orestes and Pasqual) can be skipped. In that case, Hawk's morale will be unaffected after the choice you choose to skip.
Panther and Hawk's morale seems to affect how they much damage they do not mind taking before ejecting, so theoretically, you should try to keep it as high as possible for both of them.
And now, as an example, here are a few suggestions for some paths you could take. Bear in mind I've never actually tested some of these, but I'm fairly sure they would work regardless.
"Trying to stick to the novel" path : In this path, you will stay with Confed at the beginning of the game, as well as go to Speradon and refuse to use the Flash-Pak on Ella. You will get the good ending.
Panther 5, Hawk 5
Stay with Confed
"Straighten this kid out" - Panther 6, Hawk 5
"He's missing the point..." - Panther 6, Hawk 6
"Hawk's right" - Panther 5, Hawk 7
"Time to be a captain" - Panther 5, Hawk 8
"There's always hope" - Panther 6, Hawk 7
"Panther's right, we can't kill civilians" - Panther 7, Hawk 6
"Mostly good" path : This is my favorite path. You defect and agree with Panther on most choices except for Speradon, while keeping Hawk's morale as high as possible. You get the good ending.
Panther 5, Hawk 5
Defect to the Border Worlds
"Yeah... You'd think" - Panther 6, Hawk 5
"Gotta admit. I did." - Panther 6, Hawk 6
"Straighten this kid out" - Panther 7, Hawk 6
"He's missing the point..." - Panther 7, Hawk 7
"Hawk's right" - Panther 6, Hawk 8
"Time to be a captain" - Panther 6, Hawk 9
"There's always hope" - Panther 7, Hawk 8
"Panther's right, we can't kill civilians" - Panther 8, Hawk 7
"Mostly morally questionable" path : Another favorite of mine, on this path you pick the major "evil" choices and get the "evil" ending, while going to Circe.
Panther 5, Hawk 5
Stay with Confed
"Straighten this kid out" - Panther 6, Hawk 5
"He's missing the point..." - Panther 6, Hawk 6
"Panther's right" - Panther 7, Hawk 5
"Tempting, but I can't let that happen" - Panther 8, Hawk 5
"We die trying" - Panther 7, Hawk 6
"Hawk's right, this is war" - Panther 6, Hawk 7
"Easy peasy" path : One of the easiest paths you can take, you will defect, go to Speradon for the nifty rewards, skip the difficult Sneak by Ella mission, and still get the good ending. Pretty boring, actually.
Panther 5, Hawk 5
Defect to the Border Worlds
"Yeah... You'd think" - Panther 6, Hawk 5
"This guy is bloodthirsty" - Panther 6, Hawk 4
"Straighten this kid out" - Panther 7, Hawk 4
Skip Hawk choice in the Pasqual system - Panther 7, Hawk 4
"Hawk's right" - Panther 6, Hawk 5
"Time to be a captain" - Panther 6, Hawk 6
"There's always hope" - Panther 7, Hawk 5
"Hawk's right, this is war" - Panther 6, Hawk 6
"Karma Houdini"/"Speedrun" path : On this path you will pick all of the major "bad" choices... And get the good ending anyway. Might be even easier than the "Easy peasy" path for some people. Actually shorter, too.
Panther 5, Hawk 5
Stay with Confed
"Straighten this kid out" - Panther 6, Hawk 5
Skip Hawk choice in the Pasqual system - Panther 6, Hawk 5
"Hawk's right" - Panther 5, Hawk 6
"What a whiner" - Panther 5, Hawk 5
"There's always hope" - Panther 6, Hawk 4
"Hawk's right, this is war" - Panther 5, Hawk 5
"The evil within" path : The opposite of the "Karma Houdini" path, you will be picking all of the major "good" choices and get the "evil" ending. I have no idea why you would want to do that, but here you go.
Panther 5, Hawk 5
Defect to the Border Worlds
"She's dreaming" - Panther 4, Hawk 5
"Gotta admit. I did." - Panther 4, Hawk 6
"Straighten this kid out" - Panther 5, Hawk 6
"He's missing the point..." - Panther 5, Hawk 7
"Panther's right" - Panther 6, Hawk 6
"Maniac's on his own" - Panther 5, Hawk 6
"We die trying" - Panther 4, Hawk 7
"Panther's right, we can't kill civilians" - Panther 5, Hawk 6
"Fully good"/"Panther's biggest fan" path : Defect and side with Panther at every opportunity (and never side with Hawk). Not recommended if you like having Hawk as your wingman. It's been a while since I last did this one, so technically I'll admit I'm not 100% sure whether Hawk's morale can actually go below 1. Good ending, obviously.
Panther 5, Hawk 5
Defect to the Border Worlds
"Yeah... You'd think" - Panther 6, Hawk 5
"This guy is bloodthirsty" - Panther 6, Hawk 4
"Straighten this kid out" - Panther 7, Hawk 4
"Bitter guy" - Panther 7, Hawk 3
"Panther's's right" - Panther 8, Hawk 2
"Time to be a captain" - Panther 9, Hawk 2
"There's always hope" - Panther 10, Hawk 1
"Panther's right, we can't kill civilians" - Panther 11, Hawk 0
"Fully evil" path : Stay with Confed and side with Hawk at every opportunity afterwards (and never side with Panther). Not recommended if you like having Panther as your ally. Evil ending, obviously.
Panther 5, Hawk 5
Stay with Confed
"Do I look like I have all the answers?" - Panther 4, Hawk 5
"He's missing the point..." - Panther 4, Hawk 6
"Hawk's right" - Panther 3, Hawk 7
"Time to be a captain" - Panther 3, Hawk 8
"We die trying" - Panther 2, Hawk 9
"Hawk's right, this is war" - Panther 1, Hawk 10
"Hawk's biggest fan" path : Defect and side with Hawk at every opportunity (and never side with Panther). Also evil ending (duh). Not recommended if you like having Panther as your ally. Again, not wholly sure whether Panther's morale can actually go below 1.
Panther 5, Hawk 5
Defect to the Border Worlds
"She's dreaming" - Panther 4, Hawk 5
"Gotta admit. I did." - Panther 4, Hawk 6
"Do I look like I have all the answers?" - Panther 3, Hawk 6
"He's missing the point..." - Panther 3, Hawk 7
"Hawk's right" - Panther 2, Hawk 8
"Time to be a captain" - Panther 2, Hawk 9
"We die trying" - Panther 1, Hawk 10
"Hawk's right, this is war" - Panther 0, Hawk 11
(Note : As usual, I used the original version of WC4 - the English PC version with 6 CDs)
EDIT : To clarify, "the big three" above refers to the three choices that give +1 to Panther and -1 to Hawk, or -1 to Panther and +1 to Hawk (see the quoted message for this). As to what I mean by "major good/bad choices", this refers to the following choices :
1) Defecting (which, as far as I know, is more commonly seen as "good" even if it doesn't affect the ending directly) or staying with Confed (the "bad" choice);
2) Choosing Circe ("good") or Speradon ("bad"),
and
3) Choosing to do Sneak by Ella ("good") or choosing to use the Flash-Pak on Ella ("bad").
So I've been replaying Wing Commander 4 (...again) and I was wondering how the game's programming handles Panther and Hawk's morale. It turns out that in the save files, Panther's morale is stored at 0x600 and Hawk's morale is stored at 0x5fe.
After some testing, it appears that every Panther/Hawk choice works exactly as intended. It is also true that a tie between Panther's morale and Hawk's morale gives you the good ending. For the record :
Bandit LOAF said:As already mentioned, the final cutscene is based on whose morale is highest (Hawk or Panther). It's actually quite a bit more complex than any one decision. There are three major decisions between the two, which either give +1 Panther/-1 Hawk or +1 Hawk/-1Panther:
Hawk and Panther are arguing on the bridge: "There's always hope" vs. "We die trying"
Speradon or Circe: "Panther's right" vs. "Hawk's right."
Bypass or destroy Ella: "Panther's right, we can't kill civilians" vs. "Hawk's right, this is war"
Each character also has two conversations where you can effect *only* their morale:
Panther-
Panther at the bar: "She's dreaming" / "You'd think..."
Catscratch and Panther talking about fighting the Kilrathi: "Straighten this kid out" / "Do I look like I have all the answers?"
Hawk-
Did you enjoy fighting the Kilrathi?: "Gotta admit, I did" / "This guy is bloodthirsty"
Argument about the Kilrathi: "He's missing the point" / "Bitter guy"
... then, depending on which system you go to (Circe or Speradon), you get a second point to add or remove from the person you supported. These effect only the person you previously sided with (so they can either negate or double the number of points added to your choice).
However, unlike what one might think, it would seem that Panther and Hawk do not, in fact, start at 0 morale. They both start at 5 morale. Also, no matter how hard you try, you cannot get the good ending if you side with Hawk for all of the "big three" :
Orestes (Panther) "Yeah... You'd think" - Panther 6, Hawk 5
Orestes (Hawk) "This guy is bloodthirsty" - Panther 6, Hawk 4
Pasqual (Hawk) "Straighten this kid out" - Panther 7, Hawk 4
Pasqual (Hawk) "Bitter guy" - Panther 7, Hawk 3
Peleus (Panther and Hawk, Circe or Speradon choice) "Hawk's right" - Panther 6, Hawk 4
(Speradon, Hawk) "What a whiner" - Panther 6, Hawk 3
(Speradon, Panther and Hawk) "We die trying" - Panther 5, Hawk 4
(Callimachus, Sneak by Ella or Nuke Ella) "Hawk's right, this is war" - Panther 4, Hawk 5
Of course, this also means that you cannot get the "evil" ending if you side with Panther for all of the "big three".
Interestingly enough, the first two choices for Hawk (in Orestes and Pasqual) can be skipped. In that case, Hawk's morale will be unaffected after the choice you choose to skip.
Panther and Hawk's morale seems to affect how they much damage they do not mind taking before ejecting, so theoretically, you should try to keep it as high as possible for both of them.
And now, as an example, here are a few suggestions for some paths you could take. Bear in mind I've never actually tested some of these, but I'm fairly sure they would work regardless.
"Trying to stick to the novel" path : In this path, you will stay with Confed at the beginning of the game, as well as go to Speradon and refuse to use the Flash-Pak on Ella. You will get the good ending.
Panther 5, Hawk 5
Stay with Confed
"Straighten this kid out" - Panther 6, Hawk 5
"He's missing the point..." - Panther 6, Hawk 6
"Hawk's right" - Panther 5, Hawk 7
"Time to be a captain" - Panther 5, Hawk 8
"There's always hope" - Panther 6, Hawk 7
"Panther's right, we can't kill civilians" - Panther 7, Hawk 6
"Mostly good" path : This is my favorite path. You defect and agree with Panther on most choices except for Speradon, while keeping Hawk's morale as high as possible. You get the good ending.
Panther 5, Hawk 5
Defect to the Border Worlds
"Yeah... You'd think" - Panther 6, Hawk 5
"Gotta admit. I did." - Panther 6, Hawk 6
"Straighten this kid out" - Panther 7, Hawk 6
"He's missing the point..." - Panther 7, Hawk 7
"Hawk's right" - Panther 6, Hawk 8
"Time to be a captain" - Panther 6, Hawk 9
"There's always hope" - Panther 7, Hawk 8
"Panther's right, we can't kill civilians" - Panther 8, Hawk 7
"Mostly morally questionable" path : Another favorite of mine, on this path you pick the major "evil" choices and get the "evil" ending, while going to Circe.
Panther 5, Hawk 5
Stay with Confed
"Straighten this kid out" - Panther 6, Hawk 5
"He's missing the point..." - Panther 6, Hawk 6
"Panther's right" - Panther 7, Hawk 5
"Tempting, but I can't let that happen" - Panther 8, Hawk 5
"We die trying" - Panther 7, Hawk 6
"Hawk's right, this is war" - Panther 6, Hawk 7
"Easy peasy" path : One of the easiest paths you can take, you will defect, go to Speradon for the nifty rewards, skip the difficult Sneak by Ella mission, and still get the good ending. Pretty boring, actually.
Panther 5, Hawk 5
Defect to the Border Worlds
"Yeah... You'd think" - Panther 6, Hawk 5
"This guy is bloodthirsty" - Panther 6, Hawk 4
"Straighten this kid out" - Panther 7, Hawk 4
Skip Hawk choice in the Pasqual system - Panther 7, Hawk 4
"Hawk's right" - Panther 6, Hawk 5
"Time to be a captain" - Panther 6, Hawk 6
"There's always hope" - Panther 7, Hawk 5
"Hawk's right, this is war" - Panther 6, Hawk 6
"Karma Houdini"/"Speedrun" path : On this path you will pick all of the major "bad" choices... And get the good ending anyway. Might be even easier than the "Easy peasy" path for some people. Actually shorter, too.
Panther 5, Hawk 5
Stay with Confed
"Straighten this kid out" - Panther 6, Hawk 5
Skip Hawk choice in the Pasqual system - Panther 6, Hawk 5
"Hawk's right" - Panther 5, Hawk 6
"What a whiner" - Panther 5, Hawk 5
"There's always hope" - Panther 6, Hawk 4
"Hawk's right, this is war" - Panther 5, Hawk 5
"The evil within" path : The opposite of the "Karma Houdini" path, you will be picking all of the major "good" choices and get the "evil" ending. I have no idea why you would want to do that, but here you go.
Panther 5, Hawk 5
Defect to the Border Worlds
"She's dreaming" - Panther 4, Hawk 5
"Gotta admit. I did." - Panther 4, Hawk 6
"Straighten this kid out" - Panther 5, Hawk 6
"He's missing the point..." - Panther 5, Hawk 7
"Panther's right" - Panther 6, Hawk 6
"Maniac's on his own" - Panther 5, Hawk 6
"We die trying" - Panther 4, Hawk 7
"Panther's right, we can't kill civilians" - Panther 5, Hawk 6
"Fully good"/"Panther's biggest fan" path : Defect and side with Panther at every opportunity (and never side with Hawk). Not recommended if you like having Hawk as your wingman. It's been a while since I last did this one, so technically I'll admit I'm not 100% sure whether Hawk's morale can actually go below 1. Good ending, obviously.
Panther 5, Hawk 5
Defect to the Border Worlds
"Yeah... You'd think" - Panther 6, Hawk 5
"This guy is bloodthirsty" - Panther 6, Hawk 4
"Straighten this kid out" - Panther 7, Hawk 4
"Bitter guy" - Panther 7, Hawk 3
"Panther's's right" - Panther 8, Hawk 2
"Time to be a captain" - Panther 9, Hawk 2
"There's always hope" - Panther 10, Hawk 1
"Panther's right, we can't kill civilians" - Panther 11, Hawk 0
"Fully evil" path : Stay with Confed and side with Hawk at every opportunity afterwards (and never side with Panther). Not recommended if you like having Panther as your ally. Evil ending, obviously.
Panther 5, Hawk 5
Stay with Confed
"Do I look like I have all the answers?" - Panther 4, Hawk 5
"He's missing the point..." - Panther 4, Hawk 6
"Hawk's right" - Panther 3, Hawk 7
"Time to be a captain" - Panther 3, Hawk 8
"We die trying" - Panther 2, Hawk 9
"Hawk's right, this is war" - Panther 1, Hawk 10
"Hawk's biggest fan" path : Defect and side with Hawk at every opportunity (and never side with Panther). Also evil ending (duh). Not recommended if you like having Panther as your ally. Again, not wholly sure whether Panther's morale can actually go below 1.
Panther 5, Hawk 5
Defect to the Border Worlds
"She's dreaming" - Panther 4, Hawk 5
"Gotta admit. I did." - Panther 4, Hawk 6
"Do I look like I have all the answers?" - Panther 3, Hawk 6
"He's missing the point..." - Panther 3, Hawk 7
"Hawk's right" - Panther 2, Hawk 8
"Time to be a captain" - Panther 2, Hawk 9
"We die trying" - Panther 1, Hawk 10
"Hawk's right, this is war" - Panther 0, Hawk 11
(Note : As usual, I used the original version of WC4 - the English PC version with 6 CDs)
EDIT : To clarify, "the big three" above refers to the three choices that give +1 to Panther and -1 to Hawk, or -1 to Panther and +1 to Hawk (see the quoted message for this). As to what I mean by "major good/bad choices", this refers to the following choices :
1) Defecting (which, as far as I know, is more commonly seen as "good" even if it doesn't affect the ending directly) or staying with Confed (the "bad" choice);
2) Choosing Circe ("good") or Speradon ("bad"),
and
3) Choosing to do Sneak by Ella ("good") or choosing to use the Flash-Pak on Ella ("bad").
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