What mode did you fly in?

mustanger

Rear Admiral
I don't know if this has been discussed before, but in WC's 3 and 4 (and possibly prophecy, I don't remember) You had the option of changing the way you ship handled in the options menu.

1) You could make it so that when you turned left, the ship also rolled a bit (I think this was the alternate flight mode)

or

2) It would make a level turn, much like WC's 1 and 2.

How did you guys fly?

Personally, I chose option number one :)
 
Default mode... So probably number 2. I prefer to handle rolling myself, although admittedly having a joystick could make things easier.
 
Default settings.

Back in the glory days I had the full Thrustmaster setup, so I handled roll with the rudder pedals.
 
I operated in the mode which didn't cause your ship to roll. I didn't see much of a point in having your ship roll/turn. It made an extra calculation for lining up your guns on the enemy. Only in the rare case where the enemy is below and to the right or below and to the left could it possibly be handy on offense. More often than that, the enemy is either directly to the side or above and to the right/left. Even if it was below and to a side, I wouldn't find it all too handy.

I suppose a roll/turn could be useful in evasive maneuvers by changing plane while the enemy is targeting you. Rolling otherwise required me to press buttons that were too distant from the afterburner/decoy/voice commands area of the keyboard that I liked to have my hand over. To me the defensive value isn't worth it since the generally superior number of enemies makes it a more offense oriented game. Any other ideas for why someone would choose the roll/turn option?
 
I didn't have much of a problem with either. As I recall, the Longbow has the turn-and-roll movement set by default.
 
I didn't have much of a problem with either. As I recall, the Longbow has the turn-and-roll movement set by default.

I remember that. I also remember that I found it somewhat annoying. I think that annoyance would be exaggerated with a faster fighter.
 
I never really liked the way that the fighters rolled in Wing Commander, I guess I'm just too used to normal jet sims. The rolling turn seemed more natural to me.
 
What differences were there between the default settings of WC3 and WC4? I can seem to recall any.
 
Default, the two sweetest words in the English language!

Actually, I didn't ever try the other one - but the Wing Commander Computer is going to make a glorious comeback *this weekend* after I get a paycheck for the first time in forever... so, hurray!

Space Point
 
That's great to hear!

I've been squeezing in a lot of WC lately. WCP, Standoff and Armada have been almost a daily routine.

Armada over the net is great. Chris and I had a good game last night, even though I got trashed. As he said he's "really good at quick combat." :D
 
Yeah, I noticed that. I was the Kilrathi last night. At one point I sent 10 fighters (mix of all types) against 4 of his (I think it was an Arrow, Phantom and 2 Wraiths), none of my fighters survived. Later on a similar situation happened except I sent 12 fighters towards his 5 or 6. I nailed all his but only escaped with one Goran.
 
The Wraith and the Shok'lar are the real winners in Armada - they both have effective tactics that can almost always guarantee a victory in fought-combat. The Wraith is easy, fire your leech and then gun the guy down quick... the Shok'lar can use its cloaking device effectively (and highly frustratingly), but it takes some practice to get it right.
 
Do we have an understanding of how the quick combat mode works in Armada? That is, do we know how it decides battle results?

I was amazed last night at some of the outcomes. At one point Chris sent around 20 fighters at my carrier, which had around 4 fighters onboard and a transport. Most of his were heavy fighters as well, so I figured I was done for sure.

Somehow my transport put up one hell of a fight and I was able to survive another turn. I think he walked away with under 10 fighters. I was just surprised to see how the system was deciding outcomes.
 
I *think* the exact math of it is in the Playtester's Guide - I can dig it out at home.

I believe it doesn't make as big an allowance for fighter classes as you would expect.
 
Since I have the guide here with me, I can give you the numbers:

Arrow/ Dralthi have a 50 % chance of success against each other, 25 % against Shok'lar/Phantom, 10 % against Wraith/Jrathek, 5 % against Gladius/Kor-larh and 2 % against Banshee/Goran.

Phantom/Shoklar have a 75 % chance of success against Dralthi/Arrow, 50 % against each other, 25 % against Wraith/Jrathek, 10 % against Gladius/Kor-larh , 5 % against Banshee/Goran.

Wraith/Jrathek have 90 % chance against Dralthi/Arrow, 75 % against Shok'lar/Phantom, 50 % against each other, 25 % against Gladius/Kor-larh and 10 % against the Banshee/Goran.

Gladius/Kor-larh: 95 % against Dralthi/Arrow, 90 % against Shok'lar/Phantom, 75 % against Wraith/Jrathek, 50 % against Gladius/Kor-larh and 25 % against the Banshee/Goran.

Goran/Banshee: 98 % against Arrow/Dralthi, 95 % against Phantom/Shok'lar, 90 % against Wraith/Jrathek, 75 % against Gladius/Kor-larh and 50 % against each other.

All fighters have 100% success against transports, transports have 50 % of success against each other.

During quick combat, the PC randomly selects one ship of each side and pits them against each other. The loser is eliminated, the winner gets back into the pool. Even your transports can be picked.
 
Alternate flight mode.

It just "Felt"better.. I liked the way my ship behaved in that mode, felt more specacular.
 
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