Secret Missions 2 Replay Week 2

Dundradal

Frog Blast the Vent Core!
Hello again Pilots,

I'm still a bit behind with schoolwork so my apologies for not being caught up. Hopefully by the end of the week I can be fully caught up and back in the action.

This week we've got 6 missions again this week. Corsair 1-4 and Near Firekka 1 and 2.

Good hunting.
 
Could Jazz in those Dralthi suck any more if he tried? Just afterburning my way through Corsair 1 he died on 5/6 times :( Never mind trying to fight anything.
 
Aaagh, accidently closed the tab while I was writing this....

Corsair 1: Flying with the new guy Jazz, seems alright, unfortunately we are in the Dralthi... I really hope the Kilrathi don't realise we aren't one of them. The large wing of Hhriss on the way to Nav 1 don't seem convinced, so I afterburn past them as fast as I can. A pair of Snakeirs await at Nav 1, I afterburn in as these don't seem convinced either and target each one. I hope I've got all the information we need... I dodge the fighter screens and make my way back to the Tiger's Claw, Jazz still safely on my wing.

Corsair 2: Still in the Dralthi... I swear the Kilrathi aren't convinced by the charades though. On the way to Nav 1 we find some Jalthi, we take them out but Jazz is severely damaged in the process, knowing how flimsy these things are (after all, I've blown enough of them up) I send him home. Nav 1 and 2 find me fighting Kilrathi in Rapiers again, just how many brand new fighters did they capture? The delivery ship or something?

Near Firekka 1: I'm flying with Doomsday now, dour fellow, but hey, he's a Kiwi! Back into a Terran fighter too! I'm glad, even if it is a Hornet. I decide to take a different plan of action to the Colonels and fly to Nav 2 first. A wing of Dralthi await but they didn't seem to expect anyone coming from the Tiger's Claw. One of them trys to escape but I chase him down. We move on to Nav 1 where we find the 2 Draymans, one jumps out and the two Grathas move to attack the remaining ship. We take them out from behind and hook up with the Drayman. It jumps out at Nav 2 and we return safely.

Near Firekka 2: Back in the pancakes... this troopship better be worth it! The Gratha on the way to Nav 1 don't seem convinced to we afterburn to Nav 1. Amazingly the wing of Hhriss there don't realise we aren't Kilrathi! The Drayman jumps out... I hope we find it again soon. Get to Nav 2 where a few Jalthi are buzzing around, and thankfully the Drayman is here too! The unsuspecting Jalthi are made short work of, and it seems the marines have done their job too. We hook up with the Drayman and head home. Unfortunately the Kilrathi have other ideas and send a few Krant's to stop us. They seem to underestimate us however as we easily blast through them and get the Drayman safely back under the protective wing of the Tiger's Claw.

Interlude: Doomsday and Jazz are back to the TCS Austin, Jazz seems a bit funny with me and seems insistent we'll meet again. Both of them seemed fairly decent pilots so I hope so.

Corsair 3: The Tiger's Claw is under attack! Hunter and I launch in Raptors, thankfully it's only some Dralthi and Salthi. Two of the Dralthi even turn tail and run! Nav 1 is clear, but Nav 2 finds a Ralari guarded by 3 Grathas, we manage to take out the fighter cover before turning ours guns on the destroyer. Nav 3 finds a Snakeir guarded by a mere 2 Jalthi, this is worrying, where is the rest of it's fighters? We take the carrier and it's fighters out before high tailing it back to the Tiger's Claw. Surprisingly only 2 Dralthi are attacking her, perhaps the ones from earlier returned? We take them out in short order.

Interlude: Iceman says they have founds 2 human traitors, they belong to a group called the society of Manderins, what could make a person turn traitor when we are fighting for our very survival? Knight has decided to pass up becoming a flight instructor, a shame, he'd make a good one.

Corsair 4: We need to take out the Kilrathi troopships to prevent them reaching Firekka. Nav 1 finds 2 wings of Salthi, the second wave all turn on Hunter damaging him enough that he needs to return to base. I continue on alone, the marines are depending on me to do my job! I find a Dorkir protected by some Dralthi. I quickly go for the Dorkir before the Kilrathi realise what's happening before turning on the fighters. I continue on to Nav 2 finding to my surprise a solitary Dorkir on it's own with no fighter cover! I take it out and clear out a couple of Hhriss in the asteroid field on the way home.
 
Corsair 1:

I'm a little suprised at Shotglass' attitude, I guess getting shot up and many years of war have taken their toll on him. Still, I'm glad we didn't Airlock the Kilrathi, it would be a sure sign of Paladin's fear that we're turning into them. Jazz seems to be acting fairly normally considering what we find out about him later and again Iceman thinks we wouldn't survive Thor's Hammer. Jazz seems to hint that a Bengal-class posting is more prestigous than a Gettysburg-class one.

(I'm playing KS, so these missions will be not according to plan)

Stuck flying the pancakes in this mission. The techs need to work on their communications software, it fooled the Cats at long range, but every time they got close it was either dogfight or hit the burners. Given that we're on recon duty I chose discretion over valour. It was strange watching a Dralthi land on the Claw.

Corsair 2:

Shotglass and Knight are worried about facing down 5 times the odds we faced in Thor's Hammer and I can't say I really blame them. I think Knight's being a little paranoid, though. It doesn't seem to have put him off his food. I think Spirit's emptiness is rather related to her getting over her fiance's capture.

Another round of running away in the Pancake. At least this time I took some Jalthi out. Not that it was easy. The Dralthi handles alright, but the shields go down at the drop of a hat. Which is why I ran right past the Rapiers at Nav 1, I know how easy Dralthi are in Rapiers and don't want to be on the receiving end of that. Tactical may have finally cottoned on to the idea that the comms stuff isn't working.

Near Firekka 1:

Maniac continues to snap, I can't say that I'm suprised but it's still a worry that he'll be put back on the flight line. Loved meeting Doomsday for the first time. Despite his attitude I always get the feeling he has a great sense of humour. Hunter's family are throwing themselves pretty seriously into the war, I hope the sister isn't out for revenge, that never ends well.

As much as I appreciate the Hornet's speed and manueverability. I wish the Colonel had given us something with a bit more bang to protect the transports with. Even Salthi take ages to destroy with 2 laser cannons. It got even worse at Nav 2 when a Dralthi shot off a laser cannon. I was tempted to count the number of shots needed to blow a Dralthi up.

Near Firekka 2:

It seems the mystery of the missing transport has caught command's attention. No doubt we'll be sent out to track it down.

Back in the Pancake for this mission. Tactical still hasn't cracked those communication codes, so there's a fair bit of time spent running. Once we meet up with the Powell, though, we get a chance to blow up some stuff. During the battle with the Krant there's a little tally running in my head of the number of hits I've taken.

Corsair 3:

The Austin is pulling back and taking Doomsday and Jazz with it. Is it just me or is there something sinister about the way Jazz is talking? It's probably just WC2 talking.

Note to the Drakhai training corps. While charging ahead may inspire the other pilots, it's best not to do so in a Dralthi against a Rapier. This mission felt like one from Thor's Hammer. Launching into a furball around the Claw, tracking down and nailing a Destroyer and a Carrier then returning home to find another bunch of cats making a run at my Carrier. I get a Gold star for saving one of our carriers while depriving the Kilrathi of one of theirs.

Cosair 4:

I've got another mission in 8 hours, so no chance of finding out what Blair's usual is this time around. Besides the fact that it's not tea, which seems kind of obvious. It seems the Kilrathi aren't the only one's with loyalty difficulties as the Society of Mandarins raises it's ugly little head. Looks like Knight is going to stay with us, I guess he likes making a difference out here.

Lots of Kilrathi in this mission. I saw a Drakhai in a Salthi use an interesting manuever. He lined up in front of anothe Salthi and rolled as they both fired. None of the rear ship's fire seem to hit him and it doubled their effective firepower. Until the Drakhai blew up, anyway. The fight against the Hriss in the asteroid was tense, not being able to use afterburners to avoid much fire the fight resembled a brawl more than a dogfight.

Both Transports are taken out and the Marines accomplish their mission.
 
Hey guys,

just wanted to say I'm still alive with this, but school has taken over my life at the moment, so I'm going to be pretty far behind. I'll continue to manage the replay but won't be caught up for a bit. So don't give up the fight against the kats!
 
Corsair 3:

The Austin is pulling back and taking Doomsday and Jazz with it. Is it just me or is there something sinister about the way Jazz is talking? It's probably just WC2 talking.

If you pick something up, it's probably intentional. SM2 & WC2 were written at the same time by the same people, along with Freedom Flight. SM2 was supposed to be a big setup for the events in WC2.
 
If you pick something up, it's probably intentional. SM2 & WC2 were written at the same time by the same people, along with Freedom Flight. SM2 was supposed to be a big setup for the events in WC2.

They did a good job of it. There are a lot of little hints floating around the two. It's strange the Firekka didn't show up in WC2, though, if they were the focus of the setup pieces.
 
I've always suspected that there must have been a conscious decision not to use the Firekkans again -- we hear about them only in obscure side references after Crusade. We also know they were removed when they redid the game as Super Wing Commander... and then replaced with the Dolosians when they told the same story in Wing Commander Academy. I wonder if the folks in charge decided that 'all the aliens look like big versions of animals' wasn't a good long-term concept...
 
I've always suspected that there must have been a conscious decision not to use the Firekkans again -- we hear about them only in obscure side references after Crusade. We also know they were removed when they redid the game as Super Wing Commander... and then replaced with the Dolosians when they told the same story in Wing Commander Academy. I wonder if the folks in charge decided that 'all the aliens look like big versions of animals' wasn't a good long-term concept...

It may also have been an attempt to keep things simple with "Humans = Good, Aliens = Bad".

Do you think that Forschten was asked to have the Firekkans leave the Confederation at some point, leading to that scene in Fleet Action?
 
Do you think that Forschten was asked to have the Firekkans leave the Confederation at some point, leading to that scene in Fleet Action?

It's possible, but I doubt it - I don't think there was ever *that* level of conscious shaping of the Wing Commander universe on Origin's part. My bet would be that at very most he may have been told that the Firekkans were (at some point) an abandoned concept and that he could do whatever he wanted with them.
 
It's possible, but I doubt it - I don't think there was ever *that* level of conscious shaping of the Wing Commander universe on Origin's part. My bet would be that at very most he may have been told that the Firekkans were (at some point) an abandoned concept and that he could do whatever he wanted with them.

That sounds a lot more likely, I realised my question sounded a little dumb when I re-read it today.

Do we know how detailed the outlines given to the writers were? They must have had a fair level of detail on how to set the universe up for the next game. Especially the transition from SO2 to WC3. While SO2's campaign seemed a little desperate for the Confederation, it doesn't give the same feeling of humanity on the ropes.

At least, that's how I remember it, I'll find out how accurate those memories are in the coming weeks.
 
Do we know how detailed the outlines given to the writers were? They must have had a fair level of detail on how to set the universe up for the next game. Especially the transition from SO2 to WC3. While SO2's campaign seemed a little desperate for the Confederation, it doesn't give the same feeling of humanity on the ropes.

At least, that's how I remember it, I'll find out how accurate those memories are in the coming weeks.

You can see an example with the bible in the document archives. http://download.wcnews.com/files/documents/WC_Bible_High.zip
 
It was strange watching a Dralthi land on the Claw.

I had the same fealing watching it lands :)

Corsair1: Don't ask my how but I managed to kill both carriers and their escort. I hadn't engaged 5 Hriss before and run away from a wing of Jalthi on my way back. I wast badly damaged (generator was hit) and very low on fuel (just enough to escape the Jalthi). But I killed both carriers!

Dralthi isn't that bad in a dogfight. It's certainly better than a Hornet or Scimitar. It is extremely manouverable and it's guns are so close to each other. Also it has 5 missles (I like dumbfires). You have to avoid enemy fire not to mention collisions but it's quite easy as the Dralthi is quite fast. I don't know why so many of you guys hate Dralthis. Quite decent ship besides its shields and armour (and visibility) :D
 
Dralthi is bad in that it can't take a licking and keep on ticking like the Scimitar can. You can't afford to take many hits in the Dralthi, and you have to decide whether to run or fight often...
 
Dralthi is bad in that it can't take a licking and keep on ticking like the Scimitar can. You can't afford to take many hits in the Dralthi, and you have to decide whether to run or fight often...

At least you can run away, Scimitar is very slow so runnin away in it isn't always succesfull. You have to exploit Dralthi's agility and speed to fight on equal terms. If you just head straight and fire you're dead.
 
As they say in another great EA franchise.....Welcome Back Commander.

I'm going to start and catch back up. It's going to take a while, but I want to be caught up as we get closer to the finish. I'm going to try and do a week every few days. Hopefully, I can keep to it over the holidays.

This week is a bit brief for me. I'll keep improving them though...

Corsair 1

The Drathli. Shooting these down has always brought me a special joy. Bringing down Kilrathi in one of their own ships makes it all the sweeter. This first mission is recon. We need to check out the Kilrathi fleet before making any serious moves.

This mission has 2 Snakiers, which is one of the few (if not only?) time a player gets to see two kilrathi fleet carriers that close together. For this attempt I'm much more into the speed run than the slugfest. I target the capships destroy only the ships I need to and burn the hell out of there. Better to live another day...







Corsair 2

Another mission in the Drathli. It's too bad that later games didn't give us another chance to fly enemy ships (unless you count the Lance in WC4). I wouldn't mind flying a Gothri or Vaktoth...

Another recon mission. This one is certainly easier than the previous as far fewer enemies. Again I resort to the high speed approach and zip through the nav points without letting the kitties know I'm there.





Near Firekka 1

These are the missions I dreaded as a young wingnut. Trying to save Drayman in SM2 was a nightmare I could not escape. 3 attempts and I finally bring the ship home against the kilrathi.

I have little problem with the Gratha, but the Drathli leave the Drayman in need of several months of dry dock repairs. Still she made it.




Near Firekka 2

Another chew and screw mission. I don't try to engage anybody, instead I simply run through the nav points and get back to the Claw ASAP. At least the Drathli has a bit of speed to get it through these situations.



Corsair 3

A mission I love. Flying the Raptor, two capships (one a carrier no less!) and plenty of kitties to take out.

Nav 1 is a cinch as I destroy the first 10 enemies with little problem.

Nav 2 is a little challenge, but I do love to destroy Gratha. The Ralari is a nice bonus.

Nav 3 is the big bastard. I love to kill capships, especially important ones and a fleet carrier is one of the most. 2 Jalthi for escort seems a bit light, but I did already take out 16 fighters before. Flying the Raptor after the Drathli is a dream come true.

The Raptor isn't too badly banged up, but it won't be on the next mission that's for sure.


Corsair 4

Time to kill some Kilrathi Marines.

The 10 Salthi at Nav 1 aren't much of a problem. I get slightly banged up. The Raptor will continue on. I still thought about just running away though. 2 waves of 5 light fighters are just as dangerous as 2 heavies. The damage to the Raptor isn't bad. It isn't going to help me though.

Nav 2. Killing capships in asteroids. Ugly. I have to redo this mission twice because I nail rocks. Bastards. The Hhriss are the real trouble here and fighting in asteroids has proven not to be my speciality.
 
Welcome back indeed! The special bonus is that I have yet to do the first Wing Commander. After my experiences with how to do WC2, I have a good feeling on how to successfully record the WC1 missions. After completing WC1, I'll look at WC2 including both Special Ops to see if I can get the alternate and missed missions.
 
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