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Wing Commander seriesWC 1 asteroid fields: Incoming rocks arrgh *BOOM*(31 posts)(31 posts)
(31 posts)
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Posted December 03, 2011
What is the ideal way of going about navigating the asteroid fields in the first WC game? I find them to be more deadly then the Kilrathi fighters - they just throw themselves at your fighter, appear in many a mission, are very tricky to dodge, and just one collision is enough to ruin your day.
Posted December 03, 2011
set your speed to 250.
(or some other number, it is in the manual i think)
Posted December 03, 2011
Even at that speed I still find myself being smashed to bits by the asteroid that threw itself right in front of me.

Which is funny, given the fact I have been playing games all my life. Dodging rocks shouldn't be all that hard, yet with them throwing themselves directly at me in a 2.5D environment...
Post edited December 03, 2011 by crimecities
Posted December 03, 2011
you could lower your DOSbox processor emulation speed. F11 lowers it and F12 raises it.
Posted December 04, 2011
Don't go too fast, (and yeah, make sure your dosbox settings aren't making things run at a silly speed), and make sure you quickly swing the ship so the asteroid is out of your field of view when you do see one about to hit. Then correct your course and continue... repeat as necessary. You can also shoot asteroids, if it helps.

I seem to recall that it was possible to avoid the asteroids entirely by turning on the afterburners and tilting your ship up and down. But, that's definitely an exploit, since it makes no sense that going faster should make dodging asteroids easier... limitations of the game engine I suppose. So if you're really frustrated, you could always try that. :P
Posted December 04, 2011
It seems the problem lies in me always over steering or under steering to avoid the asteroid - especially when flying in 3rd person mode.

No matter, guess I'll go with Nedrix's suggestion and just boost through like Han Solo, only with less odds of survival. Thanks!
Posted December 11, 2011
Fly slower than 250 if you're still getting bounced around. If all else fails jam the afterburners and hope for the best like Nedrix said. Sometimes the rocks don't hurt you if you do that, though sometimes it means instant death.
Post edited December 11, 2011 by Obviously
Posted December 14, 2011
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crimecities: What is the ideal way of going about navigating the asteroid fields in the first WC game? I find them to be more deadly then the Kilrathi fighters - they just throw themselves at your fighter, appear in many a mission, are very tricky to dodge, and just one collision is enough to ruin your day.
Like most say, set speed to 250, or just keep whatever the speed is when it comes out of autopilot. When you see an asteroid comming towards you turn left or right (don't complicate things by turning up or down) as you have a wider viewing angle. Once the asteroid has passed resume your original heading. If you see a clump of asteroids turn away to avoid then resume normal heading.
Posted December 14, 2011
Thanks for the tips everyone, it took me about ten attempts to get a good run at just the first mission, because an asteroid would always come out of nowhere and kill me in one hit!

Now I've finally realised that dodging up and down can just make you more vulnerable most of the time, because there could be an asteroid right above you that you can't quite see until you move up and hit it...

Now that I've finally figured out just turning left and right to dodge, and only going up/down if there's a wall of asteroids from left to right going towards you, I'm a lot more confident going into the next mission.

That said, on one of the runs, an asteroid managed to hit me from the side which I never even saw... but at least that only happened once in the ten times I had to attempt those darned asteroid fields!
Posted December 14, 2011
Can try upgrading your shields.. man loved this game.

There's no other game that comes close! Except for maybe Starlancer. Can't believe since then there aren't any more games like this. Doh!
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Malorie: Thanks for the tips everyone, it took me about ten attempts to get a good run at just the first mission, because an asteroid would always come out of nowhere and kill me in one hit!

Now I've finally realised that dodging up and down can just make you more vulnerable most of the time, because there could be an asteroid right above you that you can't quite see until you move up and hit it...

Now that I've finally figured out just turning left and right to dodge, and only going up/down if there's a wall of asteroids from left to right going towards you, I'm a lot more confident going into the next mission.

That said, on one of the runs, an asteroid managed to hit me from the side which I never even saw... but at least that only happened once in the ten times I had to attempt those darned asteroid fields!
Posted December 24, 2011
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Wingun: Can try upgrading your shields.. man loved this game.

There's no other game that comes close! Except for maybe Starlancer. Can't believe since then there aren't any more games like this. Doh!
Uh... Freespace ? :)
Posted December 31, 2011
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crimecities: especially when flying in 3rd person mode.
Eh... why would you ever do that?
Posted January 03, 2012
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Wingun: Can try upgrading your shields.. man loved this game.

There's no other game that comes close! Except for maybe Starlancer. Can't believe since then there aren't any more games like this. Doh!
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Narwhal: Uh... Freespace ? :)
Nah.. Freelancer!!
Posted January 30, 2012
Well flying through an asteroid field isn't supposed to be a safe and pleasant experience. You will figure out the best way to avoid them with experience. It is more of an art than a science.

If you look at your navmap, unless the waypoint is in the middle of the asteroids, or its a scouting mission where you have to touch each point, then you might be able to fly around it.
Posted January 30, 2012
my experience was always that the slightest touch of 'burner in an asteroid field was a guaranteed way to achieve sudden death, to the point that I'm fairly sure the game just spawns asteroids right in front of you as soon as it recognises you doing it. I guess I was never smart enough to work out that exploit! I agree with the above, 250 but you can get away with 350-400 if you're quick and/or desparate. I go up, down, left, right but just get the hell away from everything you see. You can always put a nav point to go around the field if its really annoying.

People who rate freelancer up there weird me out. Did you people never play elite/frontier or something? :)

Anyhoo, thats an Elite or privateer related discussion. We're in the Xwing/Freespace/Starlancer mold here.
Post edited January 30, 2012 by andyf
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Wing Commander seriesWC 1 asteroid fields: Incoming rocks arrgh *BOOM*(31 posts)(31 posts)
(31 posts)