Part 84: Blackmane System, Vega Sector, Mission 1 (Gameplay)

Yeah, this really shouldn't have taken this long. Sorry, guys. For some reason once an update gets behind my work rate on it gets slower and slower, I don't really know why, and for some reason my voice was deciding to be even more uneven than it normally is and I think I get more and more awkward about what is acceptable audio the longer an update takes. This one very nearly appeared Wednesday night, but it was hit by a skipper missile covered by cloaked fighters as my final run-over had only got to 6 minutes at 0130 and I had stuff to do this morning, I decided it being another 12 or so hours late would not be the end of the world given how late it already was. And then of course I was a muppet and saved that file as a .wav rather than an audacity project, so I lost the ability to edit commentary and game sound independently and had to start over, with realigning voice and auto-ducking and removing a few stray clicks and AAAARGH. Yeah. Predictably, I got to a similar point Thursday night (actually it was a very slight improvement - 6:30 at 0110) until I thought "if I get any tireder I'm going to save it as a .wav again aren't I?", saved as an Audacity project and went to bed. So this was a perfect storm of upfuckery. Future updates should not, hopefully, be anywhere near this bad.


The other problem with it is that prevented Locanda IV from getting bio'ed is really easy. The only time I can ever remember failing the first part of that mission was when I accidentally collided with one of the biomissiles. It'd be fine for Blair to fail some of the missions, but maybe if they coincided with what's actually difficult, that'd be a plan. Oh, also I note:


So the Fralthi II (a cruiser-class combatant) that Flint splashed was a figment of our imagination, then? Not to mention that Thrakhath is clearly aboard the KIS Hvar'kann in the opening cutscene in Locanda, which isn't a carrier. But let us not talk about the Hvar'kann until necessary, as it is a bit silly.

25th August 2669, Blackmane System, Vega Sector
TCS Victory

The Victory scrambles fighters to intercept a Kilrathi strike on Blackmane base.

Conversation videos (Youtube) (Polsy/Gamerstube)


Briefing Video (Youtube) Briefing Video (Gamerstube/Polsy)

Before we launch, though, just time to catch a bit of the news...

Cut content - TNC Infobursts

(Infoburst video - Youtube)
: This is Barbara Miles with another TNC infoburst. Reports have surfaced that captured Confederation transports and freighters have been used by the enemy as decoys, luring in unsuspecting fighter pilots who are then ambushed by the enemy.

Huh, good to know, I guess. Still, probably not much chance to ambush us that way this time, this is a straightforward base defence mission.


Mission Video (Youtube) Mission Video (Gamerstube/Polsy)

Kills this mission: 12 (yes, I know, I say 13 in the video, because I can't do sums apparently. This explains why I appeared to get credit for a ship I didn't hit), including the ace Bhuk "Bloodmist" nar Hhallas (who, unlike Fireclaw, didn't escape being killed in two different games, which is what happens when you fly a bomber I guess), which is decent enough given there were only 16 fighters total around to kill. Still, Vaquero did a decent enough job holding them off me (this time) - some of the time you spend ages doing what's practically a 4 vs 1 which is seriously annoying and lethal if you're not cautious (Darkets) or usually either lethal or crippling (inasmuch as you're always going to take some damage against Darkets, so losing your front and rear armour makes them a deadly threat) unless you're lucky with shaking missile locks (Dralthi).

Ship of the day:
Dralthi Mark IV

Class: Medium Fighter
Length: 31 m (seriously, Origin? The Dralthi is a metre longer than the Hellcat and a metre shorter than the Excalibur? I'd buy 31 m wide, I guess)
Mass: 15 tonnes
Max Velocity: 430 kps
Afterburner Velocity: 1100 kps
Maximum Yaw/Pitch/Roll: 55/65/55 degrees\second
Weapons: 2x Meson gun, 1x Particle cannon, 4x missile hardpoints (default loadout is IRs)
Decoys: 6
Shields: 12 cm durasteel equivalent all sides
Armour: Fore: 8 cm durasteel Left: 6 cm Right: 6 cm Rear: 8 cm

Official Strategy Guide: Earlier versions of the Dralthi were able to take on an Arrow one-on-one at even odds. No more. Today's Dralthi has fallen
significantly behind the Arrow in terms of speed, maneuverability, offense and defense. Despite these relative weak points, however, the Dralthi remains an effective baseline fighter on its own terms, particularly in teams or packs. Although not as specifically oriented toward the rear attack as the Darket, the Dralthi still loves to sneak up on an otherwise-occupied enemy from behind, and in that position it can be deadly. There are no special tricks to taking out a Dralthi. Keep it in your sights, don't let it get behind you, be ready to drop a decoy against its missiles. At higher skill levels the Dralthi like to launch most or all of its missiles at you right away, as you close to attack. Watch out for this and be ready to drop a decoy or three and afterburn away from the enemy at an oblique angle before turning to close if you see missiles approaching.

Dralthi tend to dodge up at the end of a strafing run. If you keep that in mind it becomes easier to keep them in your sights. Dralthi almost always pull up if you go head-on with them. If you fly straight at them, aim up to increase your chance of a hit.

I say: On the default difficulty level (Ace) the Dralthi IV is the same cannon fodder enemy the old Dralthi I "flying pancake" was back in WC1. While it does have OK firepower - certainly more than an Arrow and pretty close to a match for a Hellcat, despite what the strategy guide says, it's not particularly fast or particularly agile, and the wide bat wings give it a huge target profile which makes it easy to hit. It retains those properties on Nightmare, meaning that you can usually kill a Dralthi even on the hardest level without too much difficulty. The problem though, is that it adds the ability to launch its four Image Recognition missiles without needing a target lock, and boy does it do so, at any and all occasions. This makes the Dralthi a fairly serious threat, especially in the numbers you start encountering it in - fours and sixes and sometimes even more - since you'll frequently have 4+ IR missiles heading for you for quite some time at the start of any such engagement. This makes the Arrow, the fighter best able to dodge missiles, the preferred Dralthi-killer on Nightmare. It also makes the Dralthi both my favourite (it's a tough, fair challenge - it can hurt you, you can hurt it) and least favourite (aaaa missiles) opponent, at least on Nightmare.

Total kills (Wing Commander III): 10 missions / 81 kills
Total kills (this thread): 36 missions / 447 kills
Total kills (including previous thread): 146 missions / 1362 kills

Next time on Let's Play Wing Commander:
What's worse than one escort mission?