Part 84: Mission #80: TCS Concordia, K'Tithrak Mang system

Mission #80: TCS Concordia, K'Tithrak Mang system

Previously on Wing Commander: The existence of stealth fighters has finally been confirmed; our flight recorder for once did not get damaged/malfunction for mysterious reasons. There were also witnesses anyway, so it wouldn't have mattered even if it did, though.



So it's straight into a mission this time. Ok then.












Gotcha. Let's get flying!

Actually, hold on a second...












Ooopsie!




One of you in the thread actually somehow stumbled on the possibility that there is something between Sparks and Stingray. Well, guess what, you were right--it's just that they're not spying, but... Yet another of those relationships that wouldn't be allowed on a real navy vessel!




This would be the flight disk from the original patrol ten years ago when the Tiger's Claw was destroyed--remember how Maverick had to land on the Austin afterwards, where Jazz was then stationed. Hence also all the talk about lack of any evidence for Maverick's behaviour in the opening cutscene.











Man, talk about a grudge! But I'm sure you haven't forgotten this little scene:







In any case, we'll hear more about his motives later on--this is not all of it.






[Subtitle colour is incorrect here, of course this is Maverick speaking.]








Wrong move, punk!









New objective added: *** Make "Jazz" Colson eat vacuum! ***

Oh, hell yes!

I don't think this mission needs any kind of introduction, so let's go!

• Mission Video (Youtube)
  

You know, I appreciate the occasional little bits of realism in this game, such as... Jazz still being just as bad a pilot as he always is; and also him not having a gunner because obviously he's trying to make it to his Kilrathi buddies all alone; Angel always following procedure even at the worst of times; and so on.

But seriously, if this mission gives you trouble, you are doing something wrong. In fact, you should manage to take little to no damage in this. Don't even bother with the missiles, just keep him in your sights and fire--he is much worse pilot than we are and he won't even land a shot on you (except maybe a lucky missile hit or two, but you can survive that--remember that he cannot use his friend or foe missiles so he is only left with 4 IR missiles which require lock-on time that he's not going to get)!

We'll learn more about his motives and exactly what happened soon enough, but now, in keeping with recent tradition, we'll have a standard after-mission chat with non-traitourous Sparks.











Finally!










Interestingly, even though you don't get to kill him, the game still adds 1 to your total kill score.

Current kill total: 80 missions/679 kills



Through the looking glass...

So I've been talking a lot about the "bad" branch (where you retreat and defend Caernarvon instead of mounting an assault against K'Tithrak Mang base) and what the differences are between that and the "good" one which we are playing here. This mission of course exists on the "bad" side too and is also the next to last mission. And the actual fight is exactly the same, but strangely enough, the dialogue you get after Jazz is defeated is totally different and, in my opinion, a lot more interesting--not to mention there is also a lot more of it for some reason.

I have absolutely no idea why they did this as there is nothing about it that wouldn't have fit on both branches equally well. Unless it's another one of those bugs where they accidentally swapped the script for bad/good dialogue.

So here is the alternate version of what happens after you shoot him down:
























Some of these were later retconned, most notably Hunter.















And at this point Angel swoops in to pick him up and it continues the same as on "good" branch. The conversation with Sparks after the mission is basically the same then.


Next time on Wing Commander
Let's try this one more time, folks!