Part 94: Ariel System, Vega Sector, Mission 3 (Gameplay)
30th August 2669, Ariel System (Mission 3), Vega SectorTCS Victory
The Victory retreats from the Ariel system, fending Kilrathi attacks off along the way. The cats, however, have anticipated the Terran line of retreat and have their own suprise waiting.
Conversation videos (Youtube) (Polsy/Gamerstube)
Briefing Video (Youtube) Briefing Video (Gamerstube/Polsy)
This is what Flash thinks of your choice of fighter:
Mission Video (Youtube) Mission Video (Gamerstube/Polsy)
Kills this mission: 8, according to the killboard, partly due to Flash being a kill-stealing jerk and partly because I think the game has suddenly stopped counting Skippers; I'm claiming 10, including the carrier. I don't know who does the official kill statistics, presumably not the wing commander. For simplicity's sake I'll record the lower number, though I reserve the right to revert if I end up within 2 of ivantod's total after WC4 (which I probably won't; I don't think there are enough targets around for much of WC4).
Ship of the day:
Bhantkara-class
Class: Fleet Carrier
Length: 920 m
Mass: 100,000 tonnes
Max Velocity: 130 kps
Cruise Velocity: 100 kps
Maximum Yaw/Pitch/Roll: 5/5/5 degrees\second
Weapons: 8x laser turret
Shields: Front: 2000cm durasteel equivalent all sides
Armour: 1000 cm durasteel equivalent all sides
Other: Large fighter complement, exact size unknown.
(Image taken from CIC/WCPedia, because it was pretty decent and I felt it was about time to get the update out the door rather than spending half an hour making my own)
Official Strategy Guide: Technically, it's not impossible for a team of fighters to take out a cruiser, scout or carrier, but it's usually not worth the effort. If you're flying support for a friendly cap ship against one of these bad boys, concentrate on the escorts and let mama worry about the big nasty. If all the escorts are gone, you might want to make a quick strafing run against an enemy turret, if you feel particularly heroic, but don't worry about seriously trying to disable the enemy battle wagon all by yourself. If you do decide to join your cap ship in attacking an enemy battle wagon, make sure and concentrate on the turrets on a side other than the one your cap ship is concentrating on, to divide the enemy's shield regeneration rate. If you're out on a patrol or mission, and you run into a ship this size, just run away if it's at all possible for you to do so. If you feel you absolutely must try to take a cruiser, scout or carrier on, follow the same general strategy outlined for Destroyers. Your wingman had better be in good shape, because if he's not you're going to be using all your gun energy just to counter the target's shield regeneration, while doing little if any real damage. If the target is a carrier, your best bet is definitely to fly through and attack from inside.
I say: I don't know if the strategy guide was written based on an earlier version of the game in which capital ships were much harder to kill or something, because the Bhantkara is cannon fodder to any Confederation ship provided its pilot can be bothered to be a little patient. The Longbow carries enough torpedoes to down it conventionally; the Arrow, Hellcat, Thunderbolt and Excalibur all fly into the hangar bay, match speed and start blasting; neither the carrier's shields nor turrets have any effect there, and no fighter ever manages to figure out how to get to you, so it's just a matter of time (and of speeding up to get out of the hangar when the carrier goes up). Takes quite a while though - one to two minutes in a Hellcat.
Total kills (Wing Commander III): 15 missions / 131 kills
Total kills (this thread): 41 missions / 496 kills
Total kills (including previous thread): 151 missions / 1411 kills
Next time on Let's Play Wing Commander:
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