So I finished WC 1 and 2, as well as the secret / special missions for both, using an Xbox360 controller / joy2key setup. Extremely frustrating at times but I managed after many weekends.

Now I'm starting on WC3, and although I like the cinematics and improved graphics engine, I'm on the verge of quitting after getting through the first six missions or so (I'm playing the middle or default difficulty level using a MS Sidewinder Precision pro and Joy2key, but I've also fiddled with the keyboard and mouse and xbox controller in an effort to find something effective for combat).

The biggest problem with the game is that unlike WC1 and 2, here the collision detection is so refined and the footprint of your shots so small that landing hits with any regularity using your main guns is a huge hassle. While this wasn't a problem on the first six missions against light fighters and weak capships, I've hit the mission where you're supposed to fight another human pilot in a simulator (I think it's the seventh mission) and it's made me realize that the game will likely be too frustrating to continue after the enemies get tougher.

Specifically, using the keyboard is a no-go: the turn speed is way too slow unless you hold down the shift key, and then it's too fast. In any case the keyboard lacks the precision this game seems to require at the default difficulty level, so it's not really an option.

My flightstick turns the craft at a fixed speed that seems reasonable enough (not sure if it's the same speed or slightly slower than holding down shift with an arrow key). The problem is that while I can follow a target pretty well with the joystick, accurately aiming those tiny little lasers into that tiny reticule while an enemy is zipping around the screen is nearly impossible. I may land a hit here or there but can't do it consistently enough to actually do any damage. Same story with mouse control - the game requires more precision to reliably hit targets with guns than any control scheme seems to offer.

While missiles seem more powerful in this game than in previous Wing Commander games, they seem basically useless against more advanced ships with decoys, such as that human pilot in mission seven or whatever where I'm stuck. (I understand I don't have to beat him to move on).

I think I've read every controls-related post in this forum and from what I gather most folks are figuring out a way to control this game sufficient to make it fun to dogfight relatively skilled opponents, which means there is a way to control this game effectively, if only I can find it. The key seems to be winding down the sensitivity on the joystick but the only posts I've found on that mistakenly say that changing "sensitivity" in dosbox affects the joystick and the mouse both (in reality, it only affects the mouse). A few others refer to winding down sensitivity with a windows app but the Sidewinder is natively supported and has no such app. Same with the xbox 360 controller. So my question is, what am I doing wrong, if anything? Is this game just way way harder than WC 1 & 2? I'm willing to accept that I might just suck, but since I finished WC 1 and 2 and the secret missions, I tend to think I should be able to handle WC3.

Well I had similar problems when I started playing WC3 a few weeks ago using my PS3 controller. I could never get the joystick to move in a fluid manner all the way around in the calibration screen. It always skipped an axis at the top (If I was at the top left and moved right the cursor would stay there and then jump to the top right corner). So very hard to dogfight when you are stuck like that.

So I don't know if you have the same problem, but here is how I fixed it (after reading all the posts on gog regarding WC3 joystick):

First, download the file wc3joy.zip (http://www.gamefront.com/files/4138452) and put the dll in the WC3 folder.
Edit the dosbox config file and set
joysticktype=4axis
timed=false
ems=false
cycles=70000

BTW, setting the cycles to 70000 also seems to fix the FMV sound stutter.

Hope this will fix your problems too.

Yes, the combat in WC3 and WC4 can be very frustrating. Especially when dealing with Aces, i.e. Flash, the human pilot you mention. Use your afterburners, micro manage them by not holding down tab but tapping it. Then wait until the Ace burns out and then they are so much easier to kill. This is the tried and tested method to killing Aces 1 on 1.

In WC4 you will have to deal with OP missiles. Dunno if that can or has been modded to make them more reasonable (less deadly).

Thanks for the replies guys (and/or gals). I've given up on trying to use WC3's native analog joystick mapping for steering on my xbox360 controller - it just seems bugged all to hell on modern systems. So I've set the control mode in the game to keyboard and am using joy2key to map the arrow keys to the left stick on my controller. At least that works predictably, which is to say worse than I'd like.

Recently I've discovered "autoslide" is available in the mission where you fight Flash and am experimenting with that. If it doesn't work I'll try letting Flash waste his afterburner like you suggested. I've also tried firing all my missiles at once like some guides suggest, but on Ace, Flash never gets hit by more than one (because of decoys) and his shields regenerate too fast to make it worthwhile. I have no idea how the folks writing these guides make that strategy work against decoys, which seem pretty much 100 percent effective when used by Flash (but only work about 60 percent of the time when I use them). I also may just drop the difficulty on tough missions, which is nice to be able to do after WC1 and 2 (in which a brutal mission could only be passed by trying over and over or outright cheating).

Apologies for resurrecting a six-month old thread, but I'm posting a few strategy comments in reply here in case someone else is reading this thread later down the line. Aiming effectively in WC3 takes some learning. Here are a few different techniques you can use:

Technique 1: raking the enemy (the official guide uses another term for this, but I forget what it is and I'm too lazy to look it up).
Basically, this technique involves aiming a little bit ahead of the target box, holding down the trigger, and either hoping the enemy flies into it or else swinging your line of fire back across the enemy ship. The official guide says never to use this technique, and while I agree that it's less desirable (it tends to use up may more energy per hit and you have to keep re-setting your aim), I find that it's reasonably effective against Darkets who are generally zipping around too much for precision aiming.

Technique 2: the "bouncing ball"
This technique involves "chasing" the target box with your aiming reticule. I find that this tends to be useless against Darkets and difficult against Vaktoth, but works beautifully on Dralthi IVs with their long slow turning arc. It's also fairly effective against the slow-moving Paktahns, but try approach them from the side - if you tail them, their powerful rear turrets will rip you apart.

Technique 3: the "steady hand"
This technique involves largely ignoring the target box and instead playing "chicken" with the enemy. Keep your aiming reticule aimed at the ship itself rather than the target box, and wait for them to come at you head on for a firing run. As soon as the target box lines up with the ship itself, open fire. Most enemy ships will veer off course after taking just one or two frontal hits, which, if you got your shots off quick enough, should mean you end up suffering very few hits yourself. After a few rounds of this you can take down even a much more powerful ship, as long as your aim is steady. I find this works best against Vaktoth, who love to fly out to a distance and then come at you head on.

Technique 4: "Follow me"
This technique involves baiting the enemy into following you, then switching to rear turrets and blasting them while they've conveniently lined themselves up for you. I only use this technique when flying a Longbow - the Thunderbolt's rear turret is too weak and inaccurate to be very effective. This technique works best when there are only one or two enemies left, so you don't need to worry about getting shot in the front while switched to rear view. This technique is particularly effective against Strakha, who like to decloak directly behind you and and can be taken down quickly before they do much damage to you.

Technique 5: The autoslide
I haven't really mastered autoslide yet, but with practice it seems like it should be possible to jet past an enemy, engage autoslide, and then turn and fire at their back while moving away from them - or alternately, to spin round and fire on a pursuing ship. The usefulness of missiles varies with the situation. The general rule seems to be the better a missile's tracking system is, the weaker its payload.
-Dumbfires are powerful, but unless you're a really good shot, they're probably useless against anything but capital ships and maybe some of the really slow fighters like Paktahns.
-Heatseekers are also relatively powerful, but as a rule I don't like them because they take so long to lock on - against the faster fighters, I find I rarely have time to finish locking on with them, and the Kilrathi seem particularly good at shaking the lock too.
-Image Recs are my favourite all-around missile - quick enough to take down a Darket if you fire when you're following close behind, but powerful enough to take down (or at least heavily damage) something heavier like a Vaktoth if you fire three or four of them at once.
-Friend or Foes are too weak to be very useful against most fighters, but they work reasonably well against Darkets and are probably the best missile for dealing with waves of Strakha (since they automatically lock onto another Strakha if the first one cloaks).
-I haven't experimented much with leeches yet - the one time I managed to score a hit (against a Paktahn) the results were pretty spectacular, but I feel like I haven't quite worked out the trick to reliably connecting with them yet. I suspect that their best use is to disable bombers during defensive escort missions, since you can then leave them there for the friendly capital ship to finish off with its turrets, but as I said, I need to experiment with them more.