Part 124: Interlude: Alcor System, Vega Sector, Mission 3 (Gameplay)

I'm not sure the Kilrathi actually do feel the same way about the loss of their homeworld - they would lack the historical and cultural callback to Earth that we'd have, since (quoting the WC3 manual) "Kilrathi history never experienced cultures paralleling those of Earth’s ancient Egypt, China, Greece, Renaissance Europe or the Utopian Underground of 2200 – cultures that knew prolonged peace, reflection and artistic development. Because of this, Kilrathi aesthetics remain (by human standards) primitive, more like those of aboriginal cultures on Earth." The Kilrathi are psychologically an outward-looking, expansive power; they look to the frontier, not back to the homeworld.

From a military standpoint, the destruction of much of the Kilrathi shipbuilding capacity (not a crippling amount - they've got the Hakaga shipyards the TCN didn't know about during End Run) and (more importantly) their central command and political direction certainly does remove their ability to threaten nearby races. It's probably not the most clinical way to do it - I'd say it's "genocide" by the modern understanding of the word (which I regard as an overextension, but I'm pretty much outvoted on that one) if not in the classical sense of the term.

Anyway, enough of that. Time for a not-actually-that-mini Update. Vote was suprisingly unanimous to tell Vagabond he should really just relax, and not to go after Hobbes. So we won't.

Alcor System, Vega Sector
TCS Victory

That-didn't-happen content:

So here's what you would have won (this video has no commentary; this isn't a real update, but if anyone's really curious to see what the go-after-Hobbes mission is like, here it is):

Not-mission video (Youtube) (Polsy/Gamerstube)

For those of you slightly less curious, Hobbes is a colossal pain; this is easily the most annoying single-ship engagement. He's flying a Thunderbolt, and we're chasing in a Hellcat. Hobbes is deadly accurate so going head-to-head for more than a couple of seconds is pretty much fatal. You can fence with him and try and nail him as he turns towards/away from you at the end of his firing passes, but (at least on Nightmare) you've mostly got to fly defensively and wait for his afterburner fuel to run out, at which point you can treat him like a Vaktoth and hang around just above and behind him - Confederation turrets aren't any better at covering that region than Kilrathi ones, it seems. In theory you could just use missiles on him, but then you wouldn't have them to deal with the Paktahns at the Victory, and since intercepting bombers trying to take down your carrier is time-limited and dogfighting Hobbes isn't, the missiles are best saved for the second fight. The Strakhas that come first are trivial as always - there's actually an ace, Marjakh "Stalker" nar Kur'u'tak, amongst them, but, um, yeah, Strakhas. The ace's ship is a bit tougher than the others - I think it's probably made of dry cardboard - but still nothing to worry about.

Hobbes has a decently-enough delivered speech that you don't have enough time to listen to when playing because he starts shooting at you halfway through:

: Ah, my old friend. As I predicted, we are meeting again...but this time as what we were destined to be - enemies. Enemies who now must fight to the death. You are a noble warrior. And because of that, I wish you well: that our last meeting be purely a duel of will and courage, subject not to arbitrary twists of fate.

Upon returning, Captain Eisen is not at all happy (and angry Eisen is pretty impressive, partly due to rarity value I guess):

: I suppose you expect to be congratulated for terminating Hobbes. What you deserve is a court-martial, mister, for disobeying my orders. Your impulses left us one gun short when we needed 'em all, Colonel. The Victory was ambushed while you were on your little joy-ride. You're cleared to land. Report to me in the barracks A.S.A.P!

and when we get there:

Barracks


That-didn't-happen scene (Youtube) (Polsy/Gamerstube)
Wait, what's the Captain doing with Vaquero's stuff? Almost looks like he's cleaning it ou....oh.

: Do you have any idea how much I hate this little ritual? Now I have to compose a letter to Vaquero's parents, it's supposed to make them feel proud of their son. I have written too many death-comms. I suppose they'll want this [his guitar]. Blast it, man! You put your own needs above that of the ship's! You can't ever do that!
: I'll write the death-comm. What happened with Hobbes, Captain?
: When you have an answer to that, Colonel, you let me know. In any event, we have to move quickly now, because there's no telling how much the Kilrathi already know.

Yes, if you go after Hobbes, Vaquero dies. Since you didn't choose that, he's still alive, but at-risk, so he can potentially die any time he's picked as a wingman from now on (so I'll hold off on his funeral for a while since there's already one of those in this post). I actually think this is the whole reason Vaquero is even in the game, so they've got a disposable pilot to kill off to give chasing after Hobbes an obvious negative consequence. Everybody else has some kind of plot line, some form of character development; Vaquero just talks about what he's going to do after the war (on the rare occasions where he gets a scene) and dies in one of the plot branches. If they'd removed Vaquero from the game entirely and given his few scenes to Cobra, we could have had a much better character arc and her death would have been far more meaningful - and if they wanted to kill off a character here, making it one who actually had some development would make the loss meaningful. In some ways this actually annoys me more than the Hobbes stuff does; that's a questionable storytelling decision but it has an intended goal and mostly achieves it. You can disagree with the goal, and practically all of us do, but at least you can see what the writers were trying to do. Vaquero...I really can't see anything that WC3's storyline is trying to do which is enhanced by his presence. It's like somebody at Origin said "we really need another wingman" and bolted him on after everything else had been done, or something (WC4 had a much more elegant solution to this problem), and given the limited space available for video, his presence just cuts into the time available to characterise other pilots.

End of that-didn't-happen-update

Right, back to stuff that actually happened now then. At least temporarily, anyway, then we'll be moving on to stuff that only happens in the 3DO and Playstation versions.

Barracks



If you didn't go after Hobbes, on arriving in the barracks Eisen is clearing out Cobra's locker rather than Vaquero's (although in the video, it's the same one...seriously, Origin? Your budget didn't extend as far as two lockers which actually opened? It's possible - I mean we already know it didn't stretch to more than one light. That problem strikes again here, actually. There's two great shots in this sequence - one where Eisen hurls Cobra's knife into the trunk he's packing stuff in, and Hamill's "what the hell has gone wrong in the last two weeks?" expression as he looks up at the Captain. Unfortunately it's way too dark to actually see the majority of Jason Bernard's face in all of the frames (as you can see above), and most of the time his hands are moving sufficiently fast that they're blurred in all the stills. Hamill, fortunately, is sat on a bed during the conversation, so he's looking up at Bernard and therefore you can actually see his expression:



: Usually have to write to family when something like this happens. In Cobra's case, we were the only family she had.
: I didn't treat her very well, for family. What happened with Hobbes, Captain?
: When you have an answer to that, you let me know, Colonel. In any event, we have to move quickly now, there's no telling how much the Kilrathi already know.

(Actually, as I'll argue when this becomes apparent, the Kilrathi know - from their perspective, anyway - exactly enough information to really hurt them.)

Flight Deck

Then immediately on leaving the barracks we're transported to Cobra's funeral (Vaquero's funeral, if we went after Hobbes - Cobra apparently gets forgotten about in that case). I think this is one of Blair's better one sentence eulogies. Also, it occurs to me that amongst the things that the budget didn't stretch do were Confed dress uniforms, which really ought to be being worn in this sort of situation:



: We are here to bid farewell to Lieutenant Laurel Buckley. I didn't know Cobra well - I doubt any of us did. But I do know that she was haunted by aspects of this war that were darker than anything most of us can imagine. She is finally free of that pain.

Mission Briefing
Briefing Room



(Pictured: one of the very few times in the game Eisen's pointing stick actually catches the light and can be seen in a still frame)

: Well, this is it, Colonel. Time to extract us a scientist.
: Your responsibility will be to provide air cover for the Marines who will descend to the planet and get Dr Severin out.
: I know you hear this all the time, because I used to hear it all the time too - but this may be the most important mission you'll ever fly. I wish I had the reflexes I had 10 years ago, laddie - I'd be flying on your wing. It's going to take all the self-control I have not to strap myself back into the cockpit, because if we fail here...God help Humanity.

That last line from Paladin is a subtle way of telling you that if you fail this mission, it's off to Proxima with you. Anyway, since we can't have Paladin as a wingman we're flying solo, and we're taking the Excalibur since, supposedly, it's our only atmosphere-capable fighter so we have to use it to support the ground strike. Remember that one when you see the mid-mission FMV.

Cut Content - Hobbes's Explanation


Deleted Scene Video (Youtube)

: Colonel, I am returning to my Homeworld, but my admiration for you compels me to provide an explanation for my actions. You must understand that the Hobbes you knew was a construct, the result of an identity overlay experiment, initiated long ago by Prince Thrakhath. Lord Ralgha nar Hhallas, you have never truly met. I myself never met him until I heard the Prince utter your Kilrathi title, "The Heart of the Tiger". This was the trigger that awakened my true personality, hidden for so many years. Once awakened by the words of my Prince, I had no choice but to perform his bidding. Kilrathi do not surrender, nor do we betray. And yet, in being true to my kind, I have betrayed you - for I have watched you, Colonel - I know you are an honourable warrior. If we meet again, we will have no choice but to perform our duties... with honour.

So as the thread has alluded to, this explanation was cut from the PC version (but left in the 3DO and Playstation ones), meaning that in the game that most of us played there is no explanation at all for Hobbes's behaviour. What wasn't cut, though, are the couple of clues the script includes to Hobbes being the traitor (and having this personality overlay implanted)....which makes those scenes a bit strange.

The first one is where Thrakhath sends "The Message" which awakens Ralgha's true personality - it's in this video (Youtube) at about 2:39. As soon as Thrakhath says the words "Heart of the Tiger", Hobbes is clearly completely out of it, no longer paying any attention to what's going on - he's even startled when Eisen asks him what the Prince is up to - which is approximately what you'd expect if he's suddenly experiencing Ralgha's personality waking up.

The second one is this conversation (Youtube again); specifically the line:
: It has been a long war that has turned all of us....inside-out.

Having been Hobbes overlaid on Ralgha, he is now Ralgha with some of Hobbes's misgivings about the Kilrathi buried inside, which sounds like "inside-out" to me - a line that doesn't really have a sensible interpretation if Hobbes is just Hobbes.

That aside, the personality overlay doesn't really fit the plot of the game. In theory Hobbes is supposed to represent the other side of the coin to Cobra - she's a human who (in her words) has "a little bit of Kilrathi prowling around in there"; he's a Kilrathi with part of a human conscience, and both of those personality traits have, in some way, been imprinted by the Kilrathi. There's two problems with this. One is that there's nowhere near enough time to explore the dichotomy, and Cobra's written as so hostile to Hobbes that the two can't really interact meaningully. The second one is that Heart of the Tiger is supposed to be a story about how war changes the belligerents and, as a result, gets progressively nasiter. This plotline doesn't really fit in that well; as much of the thread has observed, Hobbes recoiling from Terran plans to blow up Kilrah (not his homeworld; that would be Hhallas) would make an awful lot more sense in this conflict, and something that would more clearly paint both him and Cobra as simultaneous victims of the war, since Hobbes would have to leave the Victory knowing he would find no acceptance on either side.

It's worth reflecting at this point that Hobbes's expressed motivations for defecting come in at least two and a half flavours. In Freedom Flight, Hobbes (and to some extent the other Kharan rebels, though this is not quite made explicit) reject the idea that a war which offers no chance of a victorious end - as the Terran-Kilrathi conflict appears to have become - can possibly be a war at all in the eyes of Sivar. Since no glory can be won in such a contest, the honourable action is to withdraw from it and seek new enemies. Conversely in WC2, Hobbes opposes the Empire's taking of human slaves, and feels that honour requires he oppose this by any means available. A third option comes from the Wing Commander Academy animated series. Hobbes isn't actually in this per se, but Gharal, a Kilrathi who is basically a Hobbes-analogue (and who was called Ralgha nar Hhallas in early design documents), opposes the war because he believes Thrakhath is using it to centralise power behind the Imperial throne and marginalise the clans. It hardly needs to be said that none of these professed motives stand up to "the Terran Confederation is planning to blow up Kilrah". The fact that despite this Admiral Tolwyn thought it was a good idea to include him in his handpicked elite carrier crew to escort the Behemoth would actually dovetail quite well with what we learn in WC4 about Tolwyn's (opaque WC4 spoiler; hints at events partway through that game)ability to predict psychological stress responses in senior officers under his command, so I don't think that actually counts as a plothole.

Choose your own Blair!
No choices here; you did that last update. I'll get to flying the mission now. Well, actually I'll go to bed now, and get to flying the mission tomorrow.