Together Retro: Wing Commander

[Hatta]

I played it most recently with a classic Thrustmaster FCS joystick and a PS2 mouse. But I have played it on Dosbox in the past, and it works pretty well. When I did that, I mapped pitch/yaw to the left analog stick on a Logitech Dual Action, and mapped roll to the left/right axis of the right analog stick. There were enough other buttons on that thing that I almost never had to touch the keyboard.

It is worth sticking with it and finding a control scheme you like. You'll be surprised at how easy it gets after you get used to it. Tactics help a lot too. I like to afterburner in, zoom past the enemy, turn sharply, hit them with full weapons, then zoom back out to recharge. You want to hit them hard when you have the chance, or their shields will just recharge. Spray and pray doesn't work.

I think this is one of the marks of a really good game. It is difficult for a beginner, but putting in some work pays off a lot, and the game isn't really that hard once you get the hang of it. And even if you don't get the hang of it, you can play through the game anway and see the losing path. It's still a good story.

[NebachadnezzaR]

I really hate dosbox. It's partially my fault, I'm a noob at tit and can't seem to properly set it up, but after browsing the web I could see that I wasn't the only one having trouble with it. People talk about perfect emulation, but I encountered nothing but problems, from the mouse support (ever after altering the values in cfg file it's faster but jerky), to slowdown when there's more ships on-screen, to a weird sound bug where the game would make a screeching background noise.

Then I found something interesting. I downloaded this file from the well-know site wcnews.com. Supposedly it's a version of WC1 from the Kilrathi Saga edition, but in practice it looks and plays virtually like the dos version, with none of the graphical updates (and bugs) that the KS version is known for. In fact the only real difference that I noticed was that when you try to quit in the hangar it says "exit wing commander" instead of "exit to dos".

But, the great news is, this version runs natively on my Win7 x64! So, no more jerky mouse, no more slowdown, no more bugs. It kinda pisses me off that this version is what GOG should be selling, but heck it, I'm just happy that I'm finally playing this game with a proper setup.

Now, about the game itself, I just beat my third mission! By now I already knew the first one from beginning to end (or more exactly the damn asteroid field. seriously, what were they thinking putting this death trap in the very first level?), and I finally managed to dodge the floating rocks. I failed the second mission twice (the first time was illarious, actually. I spent god knows how many minutes following the slow-as-hell ship that I was supposed to escort, when I accidentally hit the afterburner and rammed right into it), but eventually managed to secure the ship. The third mission I beat on my first try.

So far I'm really liking the game. You were right, it's not as complicated as it seems at first, with all the weird controls all over the keyboard. I'm already comfortable with stuff like managing speed, using the afterburner, looking at the map or giving orders to my wingmen. I think I'll have a good time with this game for the rest of the month.

Edit: Scratch that, apparently I am playing the Kilrathi Saga version. I thought it was a remake, with redone graphics and stuff, but it's actually the same game, just optimised for Win95 and the cpu's of the time. Also, I do suffer from a bug that makes the planets and nebulas in the background disappear (space looks a lot more intimidating without the comforting vision of a planet in the distance). Still, overall I'm having a much better experience with this version. Just beat the 4th mission (destroy the huge ship) and got promoted again.

[Hatta]

to slowdown when there's more ships on-screen

This is actually an authentic experience. If you were using real hardware, you'd see the same thing. Just like when you get slowdown in a SNES shmup, too many objects on screen. This is what causes problems running WC1 on later hardware, it doesn't run smoother it just runs really fast.

One thing you're missing out on with the KS version is the original OPL3 audio. The orchestral score is good too, but I have a soft spot for FM synthesis. And the original score was really well done.

[NebachadnezzaR]

I see. I understand that purists or old fans might enjoy that, but I really prefer the smooth gameplay. In this version the framerate always stays the same, whether there's one ship on screen or a handful of them.

I realize that playing this version is a compromise, and I won't get what you may call the original or definitive experience, but being able to just pick up and play, with no hassle, really makes the difference for me. In a few years, if I have the knowledge or patience to properly set up dosbox, I might play it again, but for the first run the KS is providing a much better experience. In other words, I'm finally having fun

[Gunstar Green]

I spent god knows how many minutes following the slow-as-hell ship that I was supposed to escort, when I accidentally hit the afterburner and rammed right into it.

The ships you escort will join you when you autopilot, you know .

[NebachadnezzaR]

Yeah, I eventually figured that out when I started messing with the autopilot. It really makes a world of difference, because that thing was travelling at 100 kps

[noiseredux]

I've popped in the Sega CD version twice now, but I haven't had the time to make heads or tails of this game. The SCD manual is 60+ pages. And then it has a "quick reference" on the back of the manual for all the combinations of buttons you have to push to do stuff. I can't make much sense of it all. Like... first mission I killed one of my own teammates cuz I couldn't tell what ship was what. Wish this game wasn't one we picked for a month I was so busy! That said, the cutscenes look great on SCD. I'll give it that much for now.

[Gunstar Green]

I'm not sure how it plays on the Sega CD, I've always wanted to try it, but other than Super Wing Commander on the 3DO I think it's the only version that has voices which is really cool (and Super Wing Commander has different/worse voice acting and a is practically a different game anyway).

[NebachadnezzaR]

I gave the Sega CD version a try and the controls are something else. Since the original pad didn't have many buttons, everything's done through a combination of buttons. To summarize the most essential actions, you press A to fire the gun, A and B for missiles, B and up/down on the d-pad to increase/decrease speed, and B twice for the afterburner. I have no idea how do you look at the map or use the radio, but I bet it's a nightmare.

Edit: Thought I'd fill you guys on my progress. I just took a look at the mission tree map over at wcnews and I'm currently in the Dakota system, after going Enyo->McAuliffe->Brimstone. The first mission is being a pain, I totally suck at escort missions and can never finish up the enemies before they destroy whatever ship I'm supposed to protect. I'm really digging the story, and I'd like to beat this mission, but looking at the mission path it looks as if I win I'll go to the Kurasawa system, which I remember you guys saying it was hard as hell. Should I just lose and go to Rostov? Opinions are welcome

[Hatta]

If you're having trouble getting started, play in the simulator for a while. No ships to escort, no wingman to get blown up. Just simple dog fighting. You'll get the hang of it.

You probably have no choice but to lose Kurosawa. It takes a lot of luck to prevent destruction of the ship you're supposed to save. I never have. The impossible mission is Kurosawa II I think, so it's worth going if you want to play Kurosawa I.