Wing Commander Part #70 - Mission #66: TCS Concordia, Novaya Kiev system

Part 70: Mission #66: TCS Concordia, Novaya Kiev system

Mission #66: TCS Concordia, Novaya Kiev system

Previously on Wing Commander: Our first strike on a Fralthra-class cruiser ended rather well. On the Concordia, however, tensions abound.

But right now, it's time for a game of cards.

Wait a second, why not? I thought we did rather well in that one!

After what we went through with the Tiger's Claw, 'suicide attack' is my middle name!

Wow, that's kind of important! And she was just hiding it? Also, they still use email in 27th century! Also also, what was in the message?

And luckily for her, we get interrupted by the ever present Major Edmond. Don't worry, she won't stay just a face on a computer screen forever.

Doomsday will fly your scheduled patrol by himself while you jump to the Talbot system for an emergency mission. We've lost contact with a courier at Talbot, and she may be under attack. Locate that ship and escort her back to the Concordia.

So we are alone again in what seems to be another escort mission (and we have to do it alone again!). Appearances can be deceptive, as we'll see.

Mission Video (Youtube)

And hey, it's actually a strike on a Ralatha-class destroyer because the courier gets destroyed before we even get there! As you can guess from the name, Ralatha is what they call a Ralari 10 years later:
Ralatha Class: Destroyer Length: 394.2 Meters Mass: 11000 tonnes Max Velocity: 250 kps Cruise Velocity: 150 kps Acceleration: Poor Maximum Yaw: 1 dps Maximum Pitch: 1 dps Maximum Roll: 1 dps Weapons: Flak Cannons (2x), Anti-matter guns (2x) Shields: Phase shields Armour: Front: 500 cm; Right: 500 cm; Left: 500 cm; Rear: 500 cm. Fighters: 23
But first, as far as the enemy fighters go, there's not much in this mission. The two Drakhri will be dead before you know it; the Sartha on the other side of jump point may be a bigger problem though. In fact, in a Broadsword you are way too slow in turning to be able to track them effectively so will have to resort to alternate tactics to defeat them. Among those are the following. (a) Firing off your friend-or-foe missiles blindly--these are great as they lock on AFTER having been launched to the nearest enemy ship. Can be pretty effective here, just sit and fire one after the other until Sartha dead. (b) Use your turrets. This may work better than trying to track them from the front as they will in general try to get on your tail and will likely make an easier target there. (c) Just sit and let your turrets do work automatically. This is kid of a paradox, but try not to move around too much as that will make it hard for your virtual gunners in turrets to target the enemy and will likely result in you getting killed. And now you know why in one of the first missions the Broadswords needed a proper fighter escort to fend off a bunch of Sartha. In any case, there are only 3 of them even if it may seem like more and they can very easily kill you with their fast firing neutron guns if you give them the chance.

And so we move on to the Ralatha, positioned conveniently just next to the data pod that we need to pick up. This Ralatha is very aggressive and will keep turning and trying to come towards you no matter where you are (you can see this in the video). It will also not hesitate to use its anti-matter guns which hurt a lot (but at least you can hear them getting ready to fire and try to dodge--I know, a tall order in a Broadsword; they also have a non-zero recharge time so that helps). Best thing to do before locking on the torpedo, head all the way back until your 'AUTO' indicator lights up and then wait until Ralatha comes close enough to lock on the torpedo and then speed towards it and fire it. Repeat one more time.

You do have one other (kinda) option here, if you'd rather not destroy the Ralatha: because it will keep chasing you, lure it away from the pod and then speed over there and pick it up. Due to lack of afterburners this is a little questionable, but I think doable.

So, will we find out what was in the pod?