Some things I like about Wing Commander 4

No, I mean I have always used the Flash-Pak on Ella or Vesuvius in the course of a play through, I have never not used it at all. Does not using it on either target at all make any noticable difference?
 
Not that I'm aware of. You can decline to use the Flash-pak on Ella star base and the Vesuvius, but there's nothing special that happens from doing so.
 
There is a caveat, however: Because you choose the FP Ella option doesn't mean you actually have to use the FP to kill the station.

If you select to attack Ella but destroy it with conventional weapons instead of flashpaking it, you still have the FP available for the Vesuvius, later.

True I forgot about that sequence.

Another thing...I forget if it is possible to leech Ella as well?
 
I don't think so. I'm quite sure I've tried it at least once before. And I would think that if you choose to attack the star base, that its destruction would be the key mission objective.
 
Nope, the Lexington has the alternate Leech scene, but Ella's two videos are either destruction or running past it. I seem to recall that you can take the flashpak along, destroy the station via other means, and keep the flashpak for the Vesuvius...
 
I seem to recall that you can take the flashpak along, destroy the station via other means, and keep the flashpak for the Vesuvius...
You can. It's how I beat the game the first time. The thought of going after the Vesuvius with conventional weapons was unappealing to me (buying into the in-universe description of it being nearly invulnerable, and using the FP on the inside the only way to kill it), and taking a page from Brave Sir Robin (bravely running away) at Ella was similarly unappealing. :p
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you destroy the Ella superbase either by flashpack or conventional means, don't you get the downer ending of Blair becoming the new head of the Black Lance? Or is that just if you use the FP? Anyway, I like the mega-happy ending, so I just sneak past the base.
 
The ending is decided based on the relative 'morale' of Panther and Hawk. If Hawk has a higher morale than Panther, Blair becomes a Confederation admiral. Taking choices that Hawk favours, such as destroying the Ella star base and ignoring Panther's pleas for the innocents aboard it, will naturally point you in the direction of admiralty.
 
So the moral is, if you kill innocents to prevent a war, then you get promoted. Yeah, that is the kind of guy we want commanding our troops. :p

There must have been a seminar that year on "do the ends justify the means" cause that seems to be the main philosophical question posed by WC4 and Ultima 8 (both worked during the same timeframe, or close to it)
 
There must have been a seminar that year on "do the ends justify the means" cause that seems to be the main philosophical question posed by WC4 and Ultima 8 (both worked during the same timeframe, or close to it)

Ultima VIII coming out in March 1994 *seems* close to Wing Commander IV in February 1996--but it's a whole different geological era when you're looking at just Origin's history. :)
 
I don't think it was so much a promotion as the irony of having Blair become what he (and the others) were fighting against: another Tolwyn. As Blair reveals in the 'normal' ending, he's perfectly content to be 'just' an instructor, as long as he keeps flying.
 
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