First Ever Prophecy Simulator Guide

The research for one of our recent posts required that we determine what starbases appeared in Wing Commander Prophecy's simulator. Just one problem: there's no guide to the simulator missions online! We decided to create our own and have added a super detailed page for all ten missions to the WCPedia:

• Level 0: Basic Flight Training
• Level 1: Basic Offensive Strategies
• Level 2: Defensive Strategies and Escorting
• Level 3: Heavy Weapons Training
• Level 4: Kilrathi Fighter Gauntlet
• Level 5: Timed Fighter Sweep
• Level 6: Capital Ship Sweep
• Level 7: Carrier Defense
• Level 8 Alien Fighter Gauntlet
• Level 9: Advanced Alien Fighter Gauntlet

We've done a lot of research into how Wing Commander Prophecy works to figure out things like how the gauntlet spawns work... and in the process we've learned some very interesting new things about these oft-ignored missions! Here are some of the high points:

• If you approach within 6,500 klicks of the TCS Starbase in Mission 0 it will spawn a single Dralthi. If you destroy that Dralthi, you'll get to fight a wave of Vaktoth! This is an intentional Easter egg which the game itself refers to as the 'Cleaning Crew'. The idea is that there are hidden ways in this mission to increase your score (which Blair alludes to in the in-game description).
• Mission 0 also has a cool undocumented feature that also speaks to that goal. The game spawns a Dralthi drone for you to fight at Nav 3. It turns out the game judges the time it takes you to kill the Dralthi. If you destroy it in under ten seconds, the 'ace' wave, two Vaktoth, spawn. If it's within twenty seconds then the 'advanced wave', two Dralthi, apear. If it takes you longer than that then no additional enemies appear!
• The cargo containers in Mission 1 are leftover from Prophecy's multiplayer feature. Internally, they're intended to contain reloads for the Wasp's swarmer missiles!
• Mission 2 has two cut nav points that are still present in the game but inaccessible through regular play. Nav 3 has another wave of Kilrathi and then there's a scripted encounter if you return to where you start that has the Midway and a squadron of pilots named after the developers jump in!
• Prophecy's official guide describes the final mission as having six waves of destroyers. They're actually increasingly powerful capital ships that include two carriers and end with a Kraken ship-killer!

We aim to use this format to do the rest of the Prophecy missions in the coming weeks. If you have any suggestions for what we should add or change, please post them to the forums!