It begins...

with me, a "long lost" Wing Commander fan/fiend. I played Wing Commander on my parents 386 in the early-mid 90's. I had massive, detailed blueprints of the ships that I thought were awesome! We had a joystick JUST FOR THE GAME!






A number of years ago, I went in search of a way to quickly and easily play Wing Commander again, although this time I was intent to obliterate the game. I clumsily (I am not a computer geek, just a gamer) learned about dosbox and found a digital copy that would play within it. I had no joystick, but I decided I could get by using the keyboard. This was in my gaming prime (see: before kids).



Unfortunately, even in my gaming prime, I did not take the time to play more than the quickest, most deadly and winning route through the game. A measly 6 sectors. 18 missions.



Something was wrong with my chest. A little light on medals.




The kills number wasn't concerning in comparison to the number of missions I had done, it was the totals of both that bothered me. The game seemed a bit short. I knew I had seen 160+ kills before...

Something needed to be done, but alas, even before kids I kept myself busy. My gaming time went elsewhere after learning breifly about the mission paths, and how winning and losing different missions and sectors could influence the totals.

I had got my fix, and I was moving on.

For the time, anyways.

THE BUG RECENTLY HIT ME WITH A VENGEANCE!!

Insert new joystick:



Insert a strategy (beyond kill everything and win every mission):

Main Guide
Guide
Guide
Guide
Notes
Forum

And I often visited some particularly helpful threads on the forum, including this post in particular:

Madman said:

ok: so the medal points are:
salthi 7
dralthi/krant 10
gratha/jalthi/hhriss 15
dorkir 15
ralari 25
fralthi 50
snakeir 70
star post 75
confederation ship (ie wingman) -1
friendly ship saved (ie protect the drayman) 25

in addition, the lumbari in sm2 is also worth 15 (as it is essentially a dorkir).

This information is apparently from "David Raley's Mission.wc" which google finds no hits for.

If anyone has a copy of that, or other similar documents, then i would certainly like to get hold of a copy and I'm sure the CIC would.
EDIT - Ignore that, last line, I have a copy by a different name in my archives!

Click to expand...

And I found I was NOT alone on my quest to shape a path that included a longer more medal-y, kill-y experience. I even found out there may be some parts of WC that have possibly not been fully explored or understood (I have not tried it, but THIS looks helpful if you're looking for even MORE answers):

Bandit LOAF said:

Interesting - CAMP tells me there are SIX medals not listed in MISSIONS.WC... but each time, there aren't enough kill points in the mission to achieve them. This is kind of strange, since there's clearly a different way to set it to 'no value' (a Bronze Star set to 2000.) It's possible that there was some other way to achieve points that was cut from the game, or that these missions were changed to have fewer targets.

Brimstone 2
Silver Star for 100 KP (93 possible)
Port Hedland 1
Silver Star for 185 KP (130 possible)
Venice 2
Gold Star for 190 KP (178 possible)
Hell's Kitchen 1
Bronze Star for 160 KP (138 possible)
Hell's Kitchen 3
Silver Star for 161 KP (100 possible)
Hell's Kitchen 4
Medal of Valor for 220 KP (218 possible)

Click to expand...

This collection of information changed everything, and shifted control of my destiny (and medal collection) in my favor. I could find no evidence that the "Path Of Most Medals" (especially including "all possible kills on that path") had ever been shared in it's complete form. I set my mind to completing this, and documenting it. Below I will post Sector-by-Sector results (medal and chalkboard pics are showing results of the mission they're listed under, should there be something noteworthy to show. Compare to previous update to see changes). I hope you find them interesting, if not helpful!


SOME FINAL NOTES before we dig in:

1) I am a winner. I intend to carry my character forward to SM1&2, so this campaign will end in Venice Sector, and thus I may sacrifice a higher medal count obtainable by finishing in Hell's Kitchen.

2) I learned how to transfer pilots from WC to the SM1&2 and improve the game here, and improve the sound here. I also understand that this might be helpful during a transfer (and maybe to learn more about the game to?), but I have not used it.

3) BANDIT Loaf has been exceptionally interactive and supportive in my noobish quest learn more about WC! Here AND on his twitter! He appears to be at the heart of the current Wing Commander Community!

4) If I haven't included the answer to any of your questions with this post, I probably don't know the answer. I know more than your average dude about WC1 and it's missions, but poke around my links to find your answers, as I am not likely to be checking in on this thread months or years from now, more than on the odd occasion.

5) IF YOU CAN DO BETTER (legitimately) than SHARE!! Post any improvements!!!

ENYO SYSTEM:

Mission 1)

- Auto-pilot towards Nav 1
- Destroy 3 Dralthi
- Skip Nav 1 and change Nav point to Nav 3
- Auto-pilot or afterburner towards Nav 3
- Destroy 2 Salthi before Nav 3
- Eject after scoring the 5 kills

This skipping the Nav points and ejecting will result in you completely failing the mission, and that's enough to fail the system. This is what you want, as the losing path to Gateway will ultimately lead to more medals.






Mission 2)

- Complete Mission (from here on out, complete mission means score ALL possible kills, safely escort any Confed ships, don't let your Wingman die, hit all Nav points, don't eject)

GATEWAY SYSTEM:

Mission 1)

- Complete Mission (I received my first promotion here)





Mission 2)

- Complete Mission






Mission 3)

- Auto-pilot towards Nav 1
- Engage and destroy the 2 Gratha
- Head to Nav 1 and make rendezvous
- Auto-pilot back towards the Claw
- Engage and destroy the 4 Salthi, including Bhurak
- Destroy the Drayman
- Head back to the claw and land

Losing the Drayman loses the mission, which is enough to lose the series. THIS IS WHAT YOU WANT IF YOU WANT MEDALS!

CHENGDU SYSTEM:

Mission 1)

- Complete Mission





Mission 2)

- Complete Mission









Mission 3)

- Complete mission

BRIMSTONE SYSTEM:

Mission 1)

- Auto-pilot towards Nav 1.
- Take out the Salthi and 3 Gratha
-Change Nav to Nav 2
- Head towards Nav 2
- Destroy 2 Krant
-Eject

I'll be honest here and say that you MAY be able to land, as long as you don't hit any of the Nav points (but make all the kills), and still lose enough points to help you towards losing the system, which is what you want. You "possibly" (you would need to test) could even just "Complete Mission" here, but I doubt it.

This System I documented the poorest. Suffice to say I'm nearly positive that this mission cannot be done perfectly when considering you need to fail the sector. You need to fail mission 2 (read ahead) too, but failing mission 2 alone is not enough to sink this series. I recommend using separate save slots to save before mission 1, before mission 2 and before mission 3 here, if you have them available, just too hedge your bets. I'm 90% sure I remember how this went, but why take the chance if you have extra save slots?


Mission 2)

This is a mission with a rumored possible Silver Star, but there is no proof anyone has ever gotten it, or any knowledge (yet) of how to get it.

Seeing as nobody knows how to achieve it, (I've tried letting Maniac die under enemy fire, and completing the mission), and we need to fail this system...

- Complete Mission UNTIL you make your 8th kill.
- Destroy the Exeter, if not already destroyed.

I cannot remember if I ejected here. I don't think so, but keep it in mind if you don't advance to Hubble's Star system next.

Somewhere in this system I was promoted! Maybe you can complete mission 1? Maybe I got promoted even with these results.





Mission 3)

-Complete Mission EXCEPT DO NOT KILL KHAJJA. This will cost you his kill, another wave of 2 Krants, and a Bronze medal BUT open up a silver medal later on in Venice ( that you cannot acheive without Khajja being killed there).

- Instead, after destroying the other 3 Krants and the Dorkir, afterburner back towards the Claw until Khajja is out of range.

-This is 100% how I did mission 3, so just the first 2 missions have some fog about the ejecting vs landing (I'm almost positive you cannot "complete mission" 1).

You trade some kills and a Bronze for a Silver later, and I call that an upgrade.

PORT HEDLAND SYSTEM:

Mission 1)

- "Complete Mission" until you destroy the final Gratha, your 7th kill of the mission.

- If the Drayman hasn't been destroyed, destroy it.

Here I will note that I often try my best to allow a final enemy fighter to destroy the few Confed ships I want sunk, but destroyed is destroyed in game, in a nearly black and white way. As long as I don't destroy the Claw, I'm held criminally blameless for destroying Confed ships, probably because "friendly fire happens" .

No "TCSO show" I guess, but this is the final system you must fail.





Mission 2)

- Complete Mission





Mission 3)

- Complete Mission EXCEPT the Exeter must be destroyed (the Gratha destroy it or you do). This will allow you to fail the series. All winning from now on, I promise.
- Hint:
The engagement with the Fralthi and the 4 Krants has a catch as the Fralthi appears to jump away relatively shortly after the total number of ships (Confed and Kilrathi) totals less than 5 (including you and maybe your Wingman, if he hasn't jetted home or had you send him home). Take out 2 Krants (or only 1 if Knight is gone) and then take out the Fralthi before cleaning up the remaining Krants after.

HUBBLE'S STAR SYSTEM:


Mission 1, 2 and 3)

- Complete Missions

1)



2)



3)

ROSTOV SYSTEM:

Mission 1)

- Complete Mission





Mission 2)

- Complete Mission





Mission 3)

- Complete Mission, but DO NOT DESTROY KHAJJA! You miss another kill here, in sacrifice for that silver later. You still get a gold medal here without killing Khajja.

VENICE SYSTEM:

This system I'm posting the 1st mission separately. A second post will complete the system.

Mission 1)

- Hunter must be killed by enemy fire in this mission to achieve a medal.
- If you have spared Khajja, he will be here and you get to kill him. He must be here to get the medal.
-Complete the mission, losing Hunter to enemy fire along the way




Because of all the factors involved, imo this is the hardest medal to receive (of the ones currently known to be winnable) in WC1. There are a couple, maybe even a few missions i may describe as "harder" to "complete" (or even to complete as described in my guide, such as I've described Port Hedland 3) but this one isn't easy, and it's even harder to do as I've instructed!

VENICE SYSTEM:

Mission 2)

- Another mission where it both does and does not technically look possible to win a Gold Star
- To the best of my knowledge, nobody has gotten it.
- Complete Mission regardless






Mission 3)

- Complete Mission





Mission 4)

-Complete Mission





Total Medal/Star Tally:




6 Bronze
8 Silver
3 Gold
1 Golden Sun
1 Pewter Planet Medal Of Valor

207 kills


I believe there are paths with more kills, including this one, at the sacrifice of medals. This same path ending in Hell's Kitchen would give you an extra gold Medal (and possibly more), but you lose the game. You fly a lot of the Hornet and Scimitar on this path too.

Anybody else have a campaign like this to share?

Very interesting. And you did confirm that Hunter does need to die to win the medal in Venice 1. I'm kind of surprised that most guides I've found have inaccurate/incomplete medal information. I'm still wondering how to get the Gold Star in Firekka 2.

Personally, I always try to get the best possible outcome in my playthroughs. He's Col. Blair! He doesn't fail missions! So I ended up getting 4 Bronze, 4 Silver, 2 Gold and a Medal of Valor in the main campaign. 151 kills in my last playthrough. Or 8 Bronze, 7 Silver, 6 Gold and 2 Medals of Valor total including the Secret Missions

bsmith1702 said:

Very interesting. And you did confirm that Hunter does need to die to win the medal in Venice 1. I'm kind of surprised that most guides I've found have inaccurate/incomplete medal information. I'm still wondering how to get the Gold Star in Firekka 2.

Personally, I always try to get the best possible outcome in my playthroughs. He's Col. Blair! He doesn't fail missions! So I ended up getting 4 Bronze, 4 Silver, 2 Gold and a Medal of Valor in the main campaign. 151 kills in my last playthrough. Or 8 Bronze, 7 Silver, 6 Gold and 2 Medals of Valor total including the Secret Missions

Click to expand...

That "usual" play-through of yours for WC1 sounds VEERRY familiar. I think I've finished WC like that at least a few times when I was younger on my 386 . I suppose I did not try letting Hunter live when I did my play through where I kept Khajja alive. 100% certain that Khajja must be there though, and I'm fairly confident Hunter must bite it too. I think Firekka 2 is a SM mission? I have not played the SMs yet, but I WILL want to extend this "most medals possible" through the SMs, so maybe I can get back to you about Firekka at some point

*EDIT: Bandit and I talked about this on twitter. He's the one who first tested and confirmed the Khajja/Hunter relationship for me. It inspired a re-do campaign for me, and I re-confirmed it and took pics of the ceremony. See his tweet here, and look up more of our conversation by searching "@kevinjamieson86 @banditloaf" on twitter.

So my little help paid off, I guess.

Just voted 'Kills' because that's what I'm up to right now.
I've been recording my gameplay of WC1(including SM, SM2) missions. I took Winning Series Path including Terminal Series(Brimstone and Rostov) for the SM transfer.
No wingmen killed, Bronze 9 / Silver 8 / Gold 7 / GoldenSun / PP 2, with 700+ kills.
I did most of the Losing Series missions separately but stuck at Hell's Kitchen 1 due to the badly coded MODULE.000 gamedat.

Oh, and don't bother with that Firekka 2 medal, because you won't get one(9999 kill points).

YPersonified said:

So my little help paid off, I guess.

Just voted 'Kills' because that's what I'm up to right now.
I've been recording my gameplay of WC1(including SM, SM2) missions. I took Winning Series Path including Terminal Series(Brimstone and Rostov) for the SM transfer.
No wingmen killed, Bronze 9 / Silver 8 / Gold 7 / GoldenSun / PP 2, with 700+ kills.
I did most of the Losing Series missions separately but stuck at Hell's Kitchen 1 due to the badly coded MODULE.000 gamedat.

Oh, and don't bother with that Firekka 2 medal, because you won't get one(9999 kill points).

Click to expand...

YES, you were helpful in a number the threads I linked to above! I only decided to post results and a thread once I saw that you had gone Dakota/Kurasawa, instead of Port Hedland/Hubble's Star (which will land an additional 2 bronze than Dakota/Kurasawa). I also messed up with Khajja and Venice 1 my fist run at this path! You need to sacrifice the Bronze at Brimstone 3 to get the Silver at Venice, which sucks a bit.

I didn't get a gold medal on Chengdu 1.

Man, Hubble's Star mission 2 is so frustrating. Four Gralthas against two Draymans, one of them is usually blown up within seconds.
I managed to save one occasionally, but never both so far, which is apparently required for the Bronze Star in this mission.
I've been banging my head against this for hours now.

On the bright side, with the WCAT mod, you now don't need to sacrifice your wingmen anymore to get the "impossible" medals.
At least it worked in the Brimstone 2 mission, where I got the Silver Star by just completing the mission (i.e. I also saved the Exeter there, I'm not entirely sure if that was required).

@The Kitness
Chengdu 1 suffers heavily from a game engine limitation, where the first wave of Krants blow themselves up if they get inside a new "region" with ships, e.g. too close to the Tiger's Claw. So you'll have to be quick to destroy them.
If you do so, another wave with 2 Krants and 1 Ralari should spawn eventually, although even this can be buggy it seems. Anyway, you'll have to destroy these as well to get the Gold Star.

It's not entirely clear from the mission debriefing either, as the text reads as if you've completed the mission just fine if the Hornet you were supposed to escort has landed safely - however the audio still plays the "loosing" music.

On literally my last attempt yesterday I finally managed to complete Hubble 2 with both Draymans alive. Right now I don't intend to repeat that mission in the future. 😅

I also recorded it, maybe somebody can learn from it:

I might do a full video capture of all the max medal missions, but I've only started for this mission, so I would have to repeat all the previous ones. Not this one though...


Also here are some observations from my attempts:

• I deliberately reduced the cycles/s in DosBox to 5000 to get the "slomo" effect
• try to not damage your armor against the first four Dralthi, you'll need it
• don't be afraid to ram a Gratha. In fact, it may be the only way to get rid of them quickly enough. I did so for the third Gratha.
  This is why you shouldn't have damaged your armor before
• I did not find a noticeable difference between manually flying to the Draymans vs. using the auto pilot. Also manually approaching from a different angle didn't make it any easier for me. You do get a little bit more time to command your wingman when flying manually though
• whom you should command to attack one target, and yourself choose a different one to fire at
• get behind a Gratha and lower its shields with some gun shots and try to kill it ASAP with a missile (although I missed both of my dumb fires and simply got a lucky first kill 😌)
• you can try to taunt them to make them attack you, which might or might not work. I've actually created an AutoHotKey macro for this, but it also doesn't always work correctly, because any key presses (like hitting afterburner) will interfere with it
• repeat for hours or days until success

Nice. As satisfying as it can be to defeat these slog missions, I really want to add some combat difficulty settings. 😅 If only to make more casual fun playthroughs possible...

@AllTinker
While you're here, I don't suppose you've changed anything for Venice mission 2?
The Wiki says you need 190 medal points for a Gold Star, but there only spawn 4 Graltha, 4 Salthi, 4 Krants, and one Fralthi, totaling to 4*15 + 4*7 + 4*10 + 50 = 178 points, so 12 points short (which would be e.g. the difference between 4 Salthi and 4 Dralthi, I suppose they probably reduced the difficulty of the mission during beta testing, but forgot the medal points).
I haven't yet managed to kill all the ships by myself, so cannot be sure if 178 points would actually be enough or not.

I *did* notice that the 165 medal points mentioned there for Venice mission 1 were incorrect, at least for the WCAT mod, as I needed the full 180 points from all the kills + the ace kill instead (but no wingman death, as promised). Killing the ace but leaving one ship alive / to the wingman was not enough for the Silver Star in that mission, so I wonder if anything changed for mission 2 as well.

// Edit
Also, flying a Rapier with the mouse is barely possible for me. Maybe my brain is now hardwired to the Scimitar after so many missions on the losing path with it, but I'm constantly overshooting my maneuvers now. It's just too agile with the mouse. I already reduced my mouse sensitivity, switched off the new mouse behavior in WCAT, and reduced the CPU cycles to 9000, but I still have to be very careful to not make too quick mouse movements. 😵

sp00n said:

While you're here, I don't suppose you've changed anything for Venice mission 2?
The Wiki says you need 190 medal points for a Gold Star, but there only spawn 4 Graltha, 4 Salthi, 4 Krants, and one Fralthi, totaling to 4*15 + 4*7 + 4*10 + 50 = 178 points, so 12 points short (which would be e.g. the difference between 4 Salthi and 4 Dralthi, I suppose they probably reduced the difficulty of the mission during beta testing, but forgot the medal points).
I haven't yet managed to kill all the ships by myself, so cannot be sure if 178 points would actually be enough or not.

Click to expand...

I haven't changed anything for Venice 2, but this is interesting info - it's definitely 190 points needed presently... I'll do some testing on my end - I'm keen to fix any medal scores which are beyond what's actually achievable!

sp00n said:

Also, flying a Rapier with the mouse is barely possible for me. Maybe my brain is now hardwired to the Scimitar after so many missions on the losing path with it, but I'm constantly overshooting my maneuvers now. It's just too agile with the mouse. I already reduced my mouse sensitivity, switched off the new mouse behavior in WCAT, and reduced the CPU cycles to 9000, but I still have to be very careful to not make too quick mouse movements. 😵

Click to expand...

Hmmn, sounds like I should add another optional mouse mode... I'll try adding one with a flatter response curve to the next version (as another option). The current ramps - both stock and my modified one - have fairly aggressive acceleration...