Wing Commander 3 Strategies

Mjr. Whoopass

Mjr. Whoopass

<FONT color=lightblue><B>I was going to say someth
In alot of posts people end up mentioning strategies (for destroying skippers, for using the shelton slide, whether or not to use autotarget, etc.). I thought it would be nice for people to share their strategies for success. I decided to limit it to WC3 since that's increadibly broad enough and most people here (myself especially) have played it.

So what's been your secret to success? Have you picked up certain tricks to certain missions? Is there a way to use a certain fighter? etc.. etc... Display your WC3 combat genius here.
 
I guess I'll get this kicked off with a stategy I posted earlier that made me think of this topic:

You can beat any capship by using the arrow's evasiveness, putting LOTS of power to it's shields, and attacking the capship only after enemy fighters have been dealt with (or down to 1 or 2 fighters if the capship will launch more). 1. Move in and shoot it with lasers until your shields are depleting 2. turn around and fly away while darting around until shields repair: then repeat! Preferably do this after telling your wingman to "form on my wing" and "break and attack" when you both get lined up with the ship's ass. You should come out with "Not a Scratch" as Flash would say (although he won't form on your wing :D)

Comment on this or post a totally diff. WC3 strategy
 
Never ever ever take the Hellcat or Longbow unless you can't help it. They both suck. Always take the Arrow, and if you can't, take the Thunderbolt. If the Excalibur is availible, the choice is obvious. The Arrow is so fast you can waste any Kilrathi fighter with little problem, and destroying carriers and cruisers is easy. For Cruisers, don't tell your wingman to engage, he/she will get wasted by a combination of Anti-Matter turrets and stupid AI. Instead, charge straight into the engines, in the turret blind spot, and hammer away. This works the same way for destroyers and flying into the flight deck of a carrier is simple. Attacking Corvettes are the hardest ship to attack, as they have no blind spot. Turrets can become pretty annoying, so make your attack runs short and sweet. Go for the middle.
 
I always did well with the Hellcat. Focus your ships power supply into front shields and guns. if your wingman is doing his job you wont take a missle up the tailpipe
 
Carriers were cake, I actually used the escorts. Fly into the hangar bay with an Arrow, match speeds and slide along with the thing, shoot liberally. The fighter's outside will struggle to find a shooting solution, and occasionally pop guns, missiles or their own idiotic selves into the side of the ship you're trying to kill.

It's funny, I honestly struggled more with Corvettes than I did with any other capship. The turrets on those cats are both excessive and well placed, tough nuts to crack.

In dogfights, again with the Arrow typically, I prefer not to lock targets. Instead, I jump around from fighter to fighter. It prolongs the engagement a bit, so isn't the best strategy when you're defending something, but switching targets frequently and at random, combined with the Arrow's quickness, makes you almost impossible to hit. I'd get through wave after wave without my shields dropping.

Also, the leech trick works if you're into the whole, easy thing.
 
The arrow's shelton slide in effect gives you UNLIMITED AFTERBURNERS! It's the only ship (other than the Excal. of course) where you can cruise at 1400 km/s for an unlimited time without burning fuel. This can come in handy when you're trying to survive a tough Nightmare level mission or one where the enemy gets in a lucky missile shot. If you're about dead (especially when swarming Dralthi's keep shooting those annoying missiles that take 20 seconds each to shake) hit the burners while darting around (changing geometric plane) so you won't get hit. When you're up to speed hit the slide and turn around. You will be travelling backwards at around 1400 km/s.. shoot the enemies to keep them at bay as you coast away. You can do this into and out of checkpoints too if you want to do something else while your ship travels there (pay bills, get a snack, whatever). Even let your enemies follow you back to the Ajax/Coventry/Victory/ to get nailed by the big guns.. You can also do this with capships.. 1400 km/s runs without wasting fuel.. but it's not near as effective as the invincible techniques of the above posts. It's best use is like having a "get out of jail free" card. BTW. you don't have to shelton slide all the way to the next checkpoint, the autopilot will kick in as soon as the enemies are off your targeting radar.
 
I honestly struggled more with Corvettes than I did with any other capship. The turrets on those cats are both excessive and well placed, tough nuts to crack
Click to expand...

The Corvettes are increadibly easy to destroy. As you line up behind it, tell your wingman to "form on my wing" then as you're behind it and just about in firing range, order your wingman to "break and attack". You should already have your shields charged very high. Shoot it until your shields take a notch or 2 of hits. Then turn your back to the corv. while darting around (if you do this it won't hit you) till the shields recover. Most likely it will already have blown up from your wingman by the time you turn for a second pass, but if not repeat until it's gone. If you do this right, you should NEVER EVER take any damage from a corvette- and you're wingman(woman) will be fine too. You may as well shoot at the rear turret since you're shooting the back of the Corv. anyway. Sometimes you get lucky and take it out before you blow the ship up. Not that it matters though, because the Corv's going down without penatrating you shields anyway..
 
why think?, just fly and fight and send your wingman home in case of trouble.

a less noble strategy is to hammer the opposition down to a single crippled fighter, tell your wingman to ignore it and take on the capship together. the ship won't send the second wave out, and it's a sitting duck...

not much glory fighting like this though...

a tip for the mods in development, say it would take three-five minutes to clear the flight decks and launch another wave. it'd fix a "convinient" problem like this, also add the ability to destroy/mess up enemy hangars and launch tubes?

might be hard to do to working with an existing engine, but i'd like the idea.
 
I like flying with a wingman though.. it adds an extra level of character interaction that makes these games fun.. and if they die, well, it's their fault as much as mine, so as Flash says "It's a war.. people die all the time". Plus esp. on nightmare level some of the missions get really hairy.. has anyone noticed how annoying those Dralthi missiles are? They lock on and you shoot 2 or 3 decoys, then they lock on again, you afterburn, shoot decoys, and they're STILL on your tail until they explode (is this just a bug in my comp or what?) Anyway it's handy to have a wingman as bait for some of those missiles.
 
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