Posted February 15, 2017
Having gone from "this game is impossible" to "this game is awesome" over about two months, I thought I'd post some tips for other people who start out thinking this game is impossible.
1. Get a joystick. The game’s unplayable (in my experience) with a keyboard and mouse. I don’t know if this is some side-effect of the emulation, or what. But joysticks are pretty cheap these days, you don’t need one with pedals and stuff. You can also use an application like Joystick Mapper to map buttons off the keyboard to the joystick. I use a Thrustmaster T.16000
2. Get an FAQ and see what's coming up and what your objectives really are, then plot your course accordingly. You can do the nav points out of order, and sometimes skip them entirely. If your goal is "find and destroy a ralari" you can just jet to its location, drop your missiles, then fly away. If your mission is escort a ship from Nav 1 to Nav 2, you could fly to Nav 2 first and wipe out any waiting enemies before picking up your escort at Nav 1. Your goal is rarely "kill everything in order", so keep an eye on the ball. Here's a good FAQ - https://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/524291-wing-commander/faqs/9829.
3. When dogfighting, keep the throttle jammed at max (and note that the throttle automatically drops when you come out of autopilot). This game is all about outmanoeuvring your opponents. The faster you go, the easier that is.
4. Don’t use the background to judge how fast you’re turning. This was a lightbulb moment for me - when you turn, the background will make it look like you're turning at the same rate regardless of what ship you're using. The only way to really tell how fast you’re turning around is to compare yourself to other ships. That’s why when you fly a Hornet, the other ships seem slow, but in a Scimitar, they seem fast. Once you realise this it becomes easier to predict how enemy ships will move, based on what ship you're flying and what ship you're facing.
5. Evade evade evade. None of the ships can take much damage, so the key is to avoid getting hit, not trading hits. If someone lands a few shots on you, get the hell out of there. Which brings us to tip 6…
6. Use your jets. When you use the jets you’re very hard to hit, and you can outrun missiles. You can use jets to close with a wing of fighters, or to get out of there when your shields are down to zero.
7. Go easy on the trigger. Your guns recharge FASTER if they don’t get completely depleted. You can only fire a few shots before they’re completely wasted, so you’re better off setting your guns to full, and almost never firing more than two shots at a time. (Hornets are the exception to this rule, their lasers don't use much power)
1. Get a joystick. The game’s unplayable (in my experience) with a keyboard and mouse. I don’t know if this is some side-effect of the emulation, or what. But joysticks are pretty cheap these days, you don’t need one with pedals and stuff. You can also use an application like Joystick Mapper to map buttons off the keyboard to the joystick. I use a Thrustmaster T.16000
2. Get an FAQ and see what's coming up and what your objectives really are, then plot your course accordingly. You can do the nav points out of order, and sometimes skip them entirely. If your goal is "find and destroy a ralari" you can just jet to its location, drop your missiles, then fly away. If your mission is escort a ship from Nav 1 to Nav 2, you could fly to Nav 2 first and wipe out any waiting enemies before picking up your escort at Nav 1. Your goal is rarely "kill everything in order", so keep an eye on the ball. Here's a good FAQ - https://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/524291-wing-commander/faqs/9829.
3. When dogfighting, keep the throttle jammed at max (and note that the throttle automatically drops when you come out of autopilot). This game is all about outmanoeuvring your opponents. The faster you go, the easier that is.
4. Don’t use the background to judge how fast you’re turning. This was a lightbulb moment for me - when you turn, the background will make it look like you're turning at the same rate regardless of what ship you're using. The only way to really tell how fast you’re turning around is to compare yourself to other ships. That’s why when you fly a Hornet, the other ships seem slow, but in a Scimitar, they seem fast. Once you realise this it becomes easier to predict how enemy ships will move, based on what ship you're flying and what ship you're facing.
5. Evade evade evade. None of the ships can take much damage, so the key is to avoid getting hit, not trading hits. If someone lands a few shots on you, get the hell out of there. Which brings us to tip 6…
6. Use your jets. When you use the jets you’re very hard to hit, and you can outrun missiles. You can use jets to close with a wing of fighters, or to get out of there when your shields are down to zero.
7. Go easy on the trigger. Your guns recharge FASTER if they don’t get completely depleted. You can only fire a few shots before they’re completely wasted, so you’re better off setting your guns to full, and almost never firing more than two shots at a time. (Hornets are the exception to this rule, their lasers don't use much power)
Post edited February 22, 2017 by iiago