[nafeasonto]

I am really getting sick of this mission I am on.  I don't know whether a script is not working, or I am just having bad luck.  It's the mission where you first discover the asteroid ships.  Everything goes well but when that carrier powers up I destroy all the turrets... AND THEY never destroy the ship .  I do not have the fire power nor shields to sit there and fire at it, (I hate the arrow).

Can I skip this please, I have died several times because the Longbows just take forever to destroy the ship, I wish I was flying a Longbow I would take it out BEFORE it powers up.  Not a very well done mission IMHO. 

[headdie]

didnt have a huge problem with that one, I think i just sat at the back of the carrier blasting it's engines

[Black_Yoshi1230]

If it's the one where you have to destroy those two installations in the asteroid belt and fighters are rigged to look like rocks, I just went "screw it" and shot at the capship's weapon systems BEFORE it powered up (that way, your heavy wing can insta-kill that carrier and you don't have to worry much more).

I don't know how else to say it. WCS doesn't have time compression (making each mission at least fifteen minutes long), therefore, if you really want to skip (I haven't died enough to test this), setting the difficulty to high and killing yourself five times seems to be the only option I can think up.

[Lorric]

I just flew inside the carrier immediately and gutted it from the inside. Then did the same with the base.

I think there are 10 respawns for two seperate waves of fighters in that level, so plenty to keep the bombers occupied.

But trust me, do that and this is an easy victory.

[Mikes]

I actually like that some missions make you think about different approaches a little...   i.e.: not just "pew pew all dead".

I mean... why wouldn't you immediately go for the vulnerable key subsystems of an (still) unpowered carrier?

[Nehemiah]

I always fly inside the hangar of large enemy vessels and go for a firepower kill.  It's a lot of fun!  I like being able to take down capships with my fighter, which is why I can't stand the weapon damage scaling of Freespace 2 that disallows me from blowing up anything larger than a cruiser.

[Phantom Hoover]

right, because a story-centred space sim should totally have single fighters able to blow up any capship they like

[MatthTheGeek]

Why not. It's only impossible if your story setting dictates so.

I'll only drop Antagonist here.

[Phantom Hoover]

a) The Antagonist is very arcadey; WC is not. b) The Antagonist does explain why your fighter is able to rip through the entire Oligarchy fleet single-handedly; WC does not.

[Polpolion]

a) The Antagonist is very arcadey; WC is not.

I'm afraid they're both so arcadey that they can get away with whatever they want. But for sake of argument, why do you feel it would be more realistic to have it so fighters couldn't blow up any capship they like?

[Phantom Hoover]

It's not about realism, it's about internal consistency. The Antagonist isn't at all realistic, but the gameplay and plot do still make sense in comparison to each other. In Wing Commander, the plot is not consistent with single fighters being able to take down capships (otherwise WTF is the point in the carrier-centred fleet design?).

[Lorric]

I once recommended Wing Commander Saga to someone because they wanted to play something where they could destroy any capital ship and not be restricted like in Freespace 2

[MatthTheGeek]

b) The Antagonist does explain why your fighter is able to rip through the entire Oligarchy fleet single-handedly; WC does not.

Exactly my point. It's all about what the story setting allows you to do. There is nothing inherently wrong about "a story-centred space sim having single fighters able to blow up any capship they like".

[Phantom Hoover]

OK, fair point. However, Wing Commander's story definitely does not allow for single fighters being able to blow up any capship they like.

[Lorric]

The fact you can fly inside the capital ships and gut them from the inside is a massive design flaw.

Also, that early mission where your group of capital ships have to escape from a group of capital ships through a jump point, it's possible to fly out there in your bomber and take them all out.

[Grizzly]

The fact you can fly inside the capital ships and gut them from the inside is a massive design flaw.

Since this was possible in WC3 and WC4 as well (and IIRC this was ocasionally officially recommended), I prefer to think of it as a feature.
And hey, single fighters taking down capships has been on-and-off part of WC game design (WC1 had it, wc2 did not unless torpedoes, wc3 definitely had it, wc4 had it in some ways). Up untill prophecy, the design always has been "two fighters on a 4 point patrol taking on the whole world".

[Lorric]

The fact you can fly inside the capital ships and gut them from the inside is a massive design flaw.

Since this was possible in WC3 and WC4 as well (and IIRC this was ocasionally officially recommended), I prefer to think of it as a feature.
And hey, single fighters taking down capships has been on-and-off part of WC game design (WC1 had it, wc2 did not unless torpedoes, wc3 definitely had it, wc4 had it in some ways). Up untill prophecy, the design always has been "two fighters on a 4 point patrol taking on the whole world".

I don't have a problem with being able to take them out. The problem is how easy it is, once you get inside, it's easier than taking out a fighter. I know you could fly inside them in WC3/4, but I think it's something that should have been corrected in this one. Either that or fly inside but take damage somehow. The crew wouldn't let you just gut their ship from the inside.

[Piemanlives]

The thing about being able to fly inside of a vessel and gut it is interesting. Essentially an open flight deck is a massive hole in the armor, at least that is how it can be described.

[The E]

Yes, and the ship designers letting you do that by not covering those weak points is a massive flaw. Why is there no point defence stopping you? Why are the escort fighters letting you do this? Why can't they flush you out? Remember, in order to make this work, you have to be close to motionless relative to the carrier you're blowing up from the inside. Why isn't the carrier maneuvering in such a way as to make this extremely dangerous to you? Just imagine what happens when you float there, and the carrier suddenly rotates along its long axis.

It's not a problem that this is possible. What is a problem is that it's easy, when it should be extremely difficult.