Part 86: Blackmane System, Vega Sector, Mission 2 (Gameplay)

Ahem. As I was saying.

27th August 2669, Blackmane System, Vega Sector
TCS Victory

The Victory starts running supply convoys to Blackmane, through Kilrathi interdiction.

Conversation videos (Youtube) (Polsy/Gamerstube)


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

Other things I've discovered from poking around in the deleted scenes folder: the Infoburst that Rollins was listening to when we interrupted his most recent defeatist rant (and the one that comes before it in order for that to make sense:

Cut content - TNC Infobursts

Infoburst video (Youtube)
: And now, one from our people file. Megastar Eddie Rickenharp, who singlehandedly brought back mini-mono as a popular music genre, has agreed to entertain Confederation forces amidst the ancient and exquisitely beautiful antiquities of Bistango X. This is Barbara Miles with a TNC Infoburst.

(and then, slightly later...)

: Elsewhere on the war front, a blitzkrieg Kilrathi assault has taken the lives of thousands of Confederation servicepeople as they were enjoying a concert put on by the megastar Rickenharp - against the backdrop of Bistango X's priceless, millennia-old art treasures. The surprise attack has reduced the beautiful ancient structures to rubble and Rickenharp himself is said to be in critical condition. This is Barbara Miles with another TNC InfoBurst. Thanks for watching.

Oops. Maybe we should hold morale-boosting concerts away from the front lines? Just an idea.


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

These videos should be rather smaller than previously (at least the Gtube/Polsy one), since I've finally twitted the DOSBox raws with a ChangeFPS(30). Let me know if they look horrendous or anything.

Kills this mission: 8, composed of all the Dralthi (which I know how to deal with in an Arrow) and half the Strakha (where I don't really have a good strategy, plus Maniac is in his element here - in the Arrow and fighting something without much firepower - so it's not suprising he puts on a good performance).

Ship of the day:
Clarkson-class

Class: Transport
Length: 160 m
Mass: 2300 tonnes
Max Velocity: 100 kps
Maximum Yaw/Pitch/Roll: 5/5/5 degrees\second
Weapons: 2x laser turret
Shields: 200 cm durasteel equivalent all sides
Armour: 200 cm durasteel equivalent all sides
(Image taken directly from CIC this time; usually I don't do this but the Clarkson image is actually pretty good, and I don't have a line drawing from the OSG to add on for a capital ship).

Official Strategy Guide: The strategy guides don't comment on capital ships.

I say: It's a fairly typical transport, really. The guns are essentially cosmetic - less firepower than an Arrow on something almost ten times as long - but the shielding and armour are actually fairly good. The shields are the same as on the Kilrathi flying box girder bridge transport, but the armour is twice as thick. All of these adds up to escort duty being relatively painless in WC3 - certainly compared to WC1, or Secret Ops/Standoff (though the latter is because of the sheer number of enemy fighters rather than transport vulnerability). Of course the other reason that escort duty is relatively painless in WC3 is that there's not much of it - after the next mission, I don't think we're going to see another Clarkson-class all game.

Total kills (Wing Commander III): 11 missions / 89 kills
Total kills (this thread): 37 missions / 455 kills
Total kills (including previous thread): 147 missions / 1370 kills

Next time on Let's Play Wing Commander:
Not at all! My thak feels perfectly fine.