Worst Mission Ever

Kurosawa escort on WC1 is actually fun and give you a respectable chance to go to Rostov, fly with Iceman and rack up your kill board.

Did the DOS WC1 killboard roll over after 128 kills? I know I found my way back to the bottom after Kurasawa->Venice.
 
I always wondered why they didn't use an unsigned variable and allow 255 kills instead. It's not like there is any situation where less than zero kills would be a valid value . . .
 
Maybe there is a line in the code that can subtract a kill and that triggered warnings when using unsigned variables. Or they just made a mistake.
 
Did the DOS WC1 killboard roll over after 128 kills? I know I found my way back to the bottom after Kurasawa->Venice.

There was an infamous overflow bug that could kill Spirit or Angel, but it's caused by errors in the transfer utilities, not WC.EXE itself. WCSAV can fix it.

All pilots can have more than 255 kills. The screenshots below didn't involve shooting down every opponent in the game, but they're close.

End of Vega Sector Campaign:
WC1ScoreVegaSectorEnd.png


End of Secret Missions 1:
WC1ScoreSM1End.png


End of Secret Missions 2:
WC1ScoreSM2End.png


Incidentally, Jazz and Doomsday apparently had zero kills when they joined the Tiger's Claw. Did the Austin send their most useless pilots?

To address the original question, I'd like to nominate Wing Commander 2, Special Operations 1, Rigel Mission A. With Epee versus Epee, you close with the enemy far too fast. I stink at sniping with Particle Cannons, while the computer seems to anticipate my every move. Worst of all your two wingmen, like most wingmen in SO1, don't respond to orders and don't take care to avoid shooting you. It's like flying the WC1 Brimstone missions with Maniac and his evil twin, and they replaced your ship's armor with papier mâché to make it go faster.

There are certainly harder missions, but they're intentionally hard, and narratively rewarding. Rigel A appears to be hard because of flawed design.
 
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Incidentally, Jazz and Doomsday apparently had zero kills when they joined the Tiger's Claw. Did the Austin send their most useless pilots?

Traditionally, any pilot fresh to the deck gets their kill score zero'd. Fresh ship means fresh provings. No matter the rank or experience a nugget is a nugget, and shall remain a nugget till otherwise noted.

W.O.G. to Shellback ceremony helps too lol. Do we have a ceremony like that in WC? First time to cross enemy lines or first military jump? Hard to pay homage to King Neptune in the void...or is it? First time I'd seen a Petty Officer bully his Captain into his dip (mix of various galley leftovers and water, usually in a drum-sized barrel...looks like guacamole and puke) and fish out his captain's pips with his teeth :D. Must've been cleaning toilets for the rest of his cruise but damn was it worth it to see the look on the old man's face.


The U.S.S. Ranger in 1992...and nothing's changed. And people wonder why sailors are a little "nuts"? Anyone else have a Poly Wog story to tell?
 
Incidentally, Jazz and Doomsday apparently had zero kills when they joined the Tiger's Claw. Did the Austin send their most useless pilots?

I think the killboards just count kills since being assigned to the current ship/base, not kills since the beginning of the pilot's career.
 
W.O.G. to Shellback ceremony helps too lol. Do we have a ceremony like that in WC? First time to cross enemy lines or first military jump? Hard to pay homage to King Neptune in the void...or is it?

Hmm...IIRC all of the star deities in Greek mythology were titans, and nobody worships them. Hera would probably be closest thing; among other things, she was "queen of the heavens".

How would you do a wog ceremony in space, though...it usually involves a dip in the ocean at one point unless I'm mistaken. The analogue in space would probably be...what's the word I'm looking for here.................

Fatal. Yep.
 
Traditionally, any pilot fresh to the deck gets their kill score zero'd.

That's what I always figured, otherwise Bossman's 150 kills would be pretty weak for the length of his career by 2654. Same thing happens to Blair's killscore when he joins the Victory.
 
Traditionally, any pilot fresh to the deck gets their kill score zero'd. Fresh ship means fresh provings. No matter the rank or experience a nugget is a nugget, and shall remain a nugget till otherwise noted.

Thank you for the correction.

How would you do a wog ceremony in space, though...it usually involves a dip in the ocean at one point unless I'm mistaken. The analogue in space would probably be...what's the word I'm looking for here.................

Fatal. Yep.

If you do the instinctive thing and hold your breath, yes, you'll rupture your lungs. As long as you avoid that, you'll get 5 to 10 seconds of consciousnous, and after 30 seconds can probably be resuscitated without ill effects. Here, courtesy of TVTropes, is Human Exposure to Vacuum by Geoffrey C. Landis, with references. I fear that the future Marine Corps in space will demonstrate how hardcore they are by competing to spend the most time "outside". Only do this in deep space, since one hazard the linked article doesn't address is radiation exposure. Also don't do this while in formation with other ships - I doubt those nifty glowing engines are only emitting visible light.

Would Confed ships have "decompression drill"? Learning to overcome the instinct to inhale as the air rushes out of your ship could save your life - but the practice itself could easily kill you. It could be the future equivalent of chemical warfare or submarine escape training (which I'm assured are no fun, but survivable) or could be like ejecting from a fighter plane (which you don't practice - it doesn't often kill people, but can easily leave you with a permanent spinal injury and unfit for actual service).

Or, you can go for the purely psychological trauma. Zip the victim into one of these, and see how long they last. Once again, you can compete on duration. Panic, and you'll go through your "one hour" oxygen supply in a fraction of the time.

Also, instead of getting a unit tattoo, have a glove with a symbol cut into it. Spend enough (really, really painful) hours wearing the glove in vacuum, and you'll end up with a permanent scar.

Finally, be sparing if you celebrate with drinks afterwards. Having gone through various stages of oxygen deprivation, you will be vulnerable to alcohol poisoning - not "entertainingly drunk", just "dead". Confed won't be impressed if, after all that expensive training, your unit doesn't keep you alive until your first mission. (Where, if X-COM is accurate, you'll be used as a meat shield for someone with actual experience).
 
Or, you can go for the purely psychological trauma. Zip the victim into one of these, and see how long they last. Once again, you can compete on duration. Panic, and you'll go through your "one hour" oxygen supply in a fraction of the time.

Now THAT is terrifying...
 
Kurasawa Ralari...
At least you're in a Raptor. Anything else would just not have enough firepower to get through the mission. It's really not as hard as everyone makes it. It's about prioritizing whom to attack first, which missiles to fire and when, and realizing which attacks the Ralari is forced to absorb. Above all, the best success in this mission comes when you make all of your shots hit. If it helps, taunt whomever feels like an immediate danger to the destroyer but your time is better spent plotting an intercept.

Just don't put me in that Dralthi-II again! I swear I'll space every one of them for target practice. *suppresses a shudder*. :eek:
 
Maybe theres something to it. Ive always found completing the hardest/worst mission to be the most satisfying...even if many a joystick is lost along the way..
 
At least you're in a Raptor. Anything else would just not have enough firepower to get through the mission. It's really not as hard as everyone makes it.

It's a Rapier, I think you may be thinking of the 'rescue Fralthi' mission from Hobbes' defection in SM1 - which is a little easier if I recall correctly.
 
It's a Rapier, I think you may be thinking of the 'rescue Fralthi' mission from Hobbes' defection in SM1 - which is a little easier if I recall correctly.

Doh! I need to stop taking so much time between replays. It's Kurasawa, should've remembered better.
 
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