Part 11: Sabre Pursuit, Capella System, Gemini Sector (Story and Gameplay)

7th August 2668, Capella System, Gemini Sector
Episode 1, Mission 6 - Sabre Pursuit

Captain Bradshaw launches in one of the two captured Sabres to chase down the fleeing pirate.

Mission Briefing:
No time for a briefing, other than "Follow that Sabre!"


Mission Video (Youtube)

Kills this mission: 1

This mission is really not helping my kill average, is it? Anyway, this is probably the easiest mission yet, and it's still pretty easy in a Gladius. The only way you might reasonably lose to Sparrow is if you get tagged with a missile, or decide that going head-to-head in identical fighters is clever. One-on-ones are very rarely difficult in Wing Commander games (3 almost manages it, once).

This mission has two endings depending on whether or not you pick Sparrow up. It also changes a few subsequent cutscenes, and I'm not sure if I know all of the ones that are different - also it'd be something of a pain to have to play all the missions twice - so we're going to make this choice, or rather, you guys are. Pick Sparrow up or leave her? I'll leave that open for somewhere around 24 hours, following which I'll post a big storyline update which will have the consequences of that decision, the cutscenes for the end of episode 1, the start of episode 2, and probably an excerpt from Fleet Action in an attempt to make some sense of them.

Tactics Corner

It's a duel. We're both in Sabres. Shoot at the other one, especially when it's turning. Not a huge amount of room for fancy tactics really. Also nobody who got this far is likely to have any difficulty with this mission. There is an easier mission, on the losing path of episode 5, but only one.

Paths not taken:
If you fly this mission in a Gladius it's slightly different. For starters, you don't manage to catch Sparrow before she jumps to the Famine system, leading to the following dialogue:

: Lionheart, I've reached the jump point. Nothing here. How sure are we this is where the Sabre was headed?
: You tell us, Captain. Scan the area near the jump buoy, see if your computer picks up jump traces.
: Scanner ready. Move within 5,000 metres of target and press I to activate.
: Scanning samples for analysis. Please wait.
: Sample scanned. Running analysis.
: A jump trace has been detected. Analysis indicates jump drive activation 13 minutes ago.
: Looks like we may have a match, Lionheart. I'm transmitting data. Should I make the jump?
: Data recieved. You have permission to jump. Your orders remain the same - find that Sabre.
: If they don't surrender, kill them. The Lionheart is enroute and will follow you to Famine as soon as possible.
: Roger that. Activating the jump drive.

Then you jump through to Famine, pick up on Sparrow's exhaust trail and track her down eventually. It's the same one-on-one fight, and not even really any harder since you've got the fighter-loaded Gladius's eight missiles to play with, while you're only carrying a single torpedo (limited use in a fighter engagement) in the Sabre. The dialogue is exactly the same as in the Sabre case, with the exception that the Lionheart follows you through the Famine jump point and picks you up on that side of it.

I've never succeeded in making Sparrow taunt me in this fight. My guess is she doesn't have appropriate taunts.

Ship of the day:
Gilgamesh-class

Class: Destroyer
Length: 312.11 Meters
Mass: 10,000 tonnes
Max Velocity: 250 kps
Afterburner Velocity: n/a
Maximum Yaw: 2 dps
Maximum Pitch: 2 dps
Maximum Roll: 2 dps
Weapons (as designed): Flak Cannon (2x) Anti-Matter Guns (2x)
Weapons (TCS Lionheart, 2668): Three additional turrets; I think they're all flak cannons.
Shields: Phase Shields
Armour: Front: 2500; Right: 2000; Left: 2000; Rear: 2500.

Game says: The Gilgamesh-class destroyers have balanced defensive and offensive capabilities, and therefore are used in a number of different roles, though Confed has better destroyers when it comes to pure strike strength. In several sectors, they make up the bulk of Confleet's operation forces since the signing of the truce.

I say: The Lionheart is a pretty good home base, putting out a decent amount of firepower. It can generally take care of itself well enough that you don't have to worry about protecting it, and you can even hide behind it on occasions. However, enemy forces in the prologue are somewhat light on anti-capship munitions. Still, seven turrets is respectable; and they do a reasonable amount of damage too. Say goodbye to it, though; the TCS Lionheart is about to be decommissioned.

Total kills (Standoff): 6 missions / 50 kills
Total kills (including previous thread): 119 missions / 972 kills

Next time on Standoff:
Kilrathi? In a Wing Commander game? Surely not.