From: dmsilev@athena.mit.edu (Daniel M Silevitch)
Subject: Re: WC2/SO1 final mission help needed.
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1992 00:13:54 GMT

In article <glock.100@chip.cba.ufl.edu>, glock@chip.cba.ufl.edu (Joe Granto) writes:
|> In article <1992Nov20.174258.817@skitzo.dseg.ti.com> dittman@skitzo.dseg.ti.com (Eric Dittman) writes:
|> 
|> 
|> >I'm on the final mission of WC2/SO1, and am having a terrible time!
|> >Sometimes I seem to blow up for no reason, and the rest of the time
|> >I blow up because I'm completely surrounded by the enemy.  And when
|> >I say I seem to blow up for no reason, I mean I have all my shields,
|> >all my armor, there aren't any missiles chasing me, and the replay
|> >you get after you die doesn't show any friend or enemy around me.
|> 
|> >What am I doing wrong?  Any hints?
|> 
|> You are being hit by the capital ships.  They shoot these REALLY nasty 
|> double blue shots that have AWESOME range (I have been hit from 10,000).  
|> These shots will knock down ALL of your shields, all of your amror, and 
|> damage multiple systems in ONE shot.  If you have been previously damaged, 
|> you are dead in ONE shot. This mission is VERY difficult.  I won it by doing 
|> something very weird:
|> 
|> 
|> Possible Spoilers!
|> 
|> 
|> The fighters that guard the two capital ships are very tough: good weapons, 
|> very fast, etc.  If you engage them right away you will usually die (there 
|> are just so many of them that they get behind you and waste you).  They also 
|> like to bring you within firing range of the capital ships, which is almost 
|> assured death.  I won multiple times by:
|> 
|> 	1.  Immediately order your wingman/wingmen to attack (alt-a when you 
|> 		have lock).
|> 	2.  Turn your butt around and hit the afterburners for a few 
|> 		seconds.  You are running AWAY from them!
|> 	3.  Go to your rear turret view and waste any fighters that sneak 
|> 		up on you.
|> 	4.  After you have killed 2 or more, turn around and engage normally.
|> 	5.  Hopefully your wingmen can take out the capital ships, but you 
|> 		may need to help out.  This can be a real pain in the butt.
|> 
|> Why this works:  the enemy fighters ALWAYS want to get behind you, and they 
|> are more manuerverable than you are.  LET them get behind you and waste 
|> them.  It works really well.  Honest.  I let my wingmen kill the capital 
|> ships; they are just too much of a pain to want to deal with personally.
|> 
|> 
Interesting strategy. I used something different. My dogfighting strategy for
such battles involves constant turning. NEVER move in a straight line. Attack
several targets, shifting from one to the next. In a Sabre, you can move quickly
enough so that the Kilrathi will be hitting each other as often as hitting you.
You can successfully fight three or four of these fighters (what were they called
again?), let your wingmen take the other two. Once the fighters are dead, it's
time to kill the two Fralthras. They are moving, so you can't sit until getting
lock. My strategy is to move to a range of ~20,000 m (until the auto light
activates) and repair my shields. After this, move towards one of the cruisers at
~50 kps. As soon as the target lock is acquired, lock the torp. Continue moving
forward. Slowly increase your speed, until you're moving at ~300 at 11000 m. By
10,000, be at full speed; you should get torp lock at ~6000. Once you have lock,
hit burners, and burn in until you're at ~1500 m. Shoot, rotate 90 deg, and burn
until the auto light is on. repeat as necessary.

On the subject of those oversized neutron cannons. The game makes a distinctive
noise when they are fired. When this happens, change course. If necessary, break
off the attack and run. These can only be fired once in a while (takes a while to
recharge), so if you avoid one during a run, you're safe until the next run. Once
you hit burners, the enemy can't track you, so you are safe from the big weapons,
and only have to worry about the flack guns (not a problem).

After the second Fralthra blows, return to the Concordia, and bask in the
adulation of the admiring crew.

Daniel Silevitch                                   dmsilev@athena.mit.edu
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
"Disk Space--The Final Frontier"