Anyone try following the novels when playing?

Crimsonstar

Spaceman
I would say the Heart of the Tiger novel would be much easier to follow than the novel for Price of Freedom. I'm in a mix of yes and no as I would try to fly a Thunderbolt as often as possible since the pilot roster of WC3 were supposedly all apart of Gold Squadron whom exclusively flew Thunderbolts. One downside with the GOG version was the Quasar mission in the losing Blackmane path hasn't been patched and failing leads directly to Proxima. So can't really follow the canonical narrative of Locanda being hit with bioweapons. However, some things the game did better was Angel's fate being shown after the destruction of the Behemoth was far more impactful than after Thrakhath's "Heart of the Tiger" transmission. Severin was important to Vagabond's character and was excluded from the novel. I do try to be nicer than Blair was in the book. Flash's rank was a concern in the book and having him stay on the Victory on a bet treated him as if he was nothing more than a lieutenant was rather peculiar. The game and Eisen was sweating that going after Hobbes was a bad idea and you lose not only Cobra but Vaquero too. The book however stated that going after Hobbes was a no-brainer as without the recorded briefing, the Temblor strike would be in grave jeopardy.

I did stick with Confed for a while in WC4 since I read the book first. But the narrative sure urged defecting to the Border Worlds at the first opportunity as there was more story and not feeling like the odd man out. The novel stated the Intrepid's fighter complement was that of WC2 era fighters and Blair exclusively flew a Thunderbolt. I chose to fly a Vindicator as often as possible since it was the closest match. Never did like the Banshees. Going to Speradon did seem logical as you've got to prepare for the long term and if the worst case scenario comes to pass.
 
I remember reading the WC3 novel, because that's the only one i could get, but my english level wasn't great, so it was very hard for me to finish it. I do remember the Locanda part, and i followed that. But if i remember correctly, in the novel, Vaquero and Flash die, right? I don't remember if in the novel Blair chased Hobbes or not, but i remember that in the game, if you do, vaquero dies, and if you don't he survives.
And as for the triangle, i'm sorry but i choose Flint.
 
Blair does chase Hobbes in the Novel, as does Vaquero. Vaquero gets shot down by Hobbes and Blair shoots down Hobbes.
 
Not yet but I’ll do that!
I’ve been going through the games and books in chronological order, reading freedom flight as I play SM2 etc. Ive started end run a little early, as I’ve only completed WC2 not SO yet so I may put it to one side for a bit.

It’s a great way to play, it has probably been two decades since I’d done some of this, and WC1 and 2 really come alive when reading them.
 
I really enjoy comparing adaptations to their source this way, you end up with a much better understanding of structure and process. The recent 'Wing Commander movie in real time' we did was lots of fun just for comparing how very literally the movie novel hews to the script (and then how the script was moved around quite a bit for the final cut).

The same is true for Wing Commander III and IV; for all the fan rage about this-and-that being changed they're both VERY true to the structures of their games... just with a lot of what would read as excess portions cut out. And that's purely a game vs story thing, with one benefiting from extended sequences for the player to have fun and the other wanting to cut as closely to the bone as possible to focus on one story.

I've been slowly putting together an integrated timeline to cover where the books and the games (and other things) come together.

Here's Wing Commander I and the addons: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ochtF4ayXDIku2fPz92zU6QTiW5nqA3ujMOjfx58m5k/edit?usp=sharing

And here's WIng Commander IV:

Both are works in progress, but they're fun exercises!
 
But if i remember correctly, in the novel, Vaquero and Flash die, right?

Almost! Vaquero dies when Blair chases Hobbes, which is what happens in the game. Vagabond (and Maniac) are shot down during the run on Kilrah but it intentionally leaves the possibility that both survive. (Andrew Keith told us he killed all three in his first draft and was told to go back and revise it so that Vagabond and Maniac MIGHT survive... which I suppose tells you how Origin felt about Flint in early 1995!)
 
The novel skipped over the importance of extracting Severin and they already had the depots all set up. The game only showed the specs of the Temblor Bomb. I would imagine silencing Hobbes on that alone would be enough to go after him yet Eisen treated it as a selfish revenge trip which got Vaquero killed and could jeopardize the mission to extract Severin. Blair getting his ass kicked in Nephele by Seether sure made things more personal between the two. The game barely touched upon that supposed rivalry even if you stayed with Confed for a while longer.
 
I believe the issue in game was that if you choose to go after Hobbes, It would cause The Victory to have to delay the attack on the Alcor 5 prison, and opens them up to a Kilrathi counter strike.

If I were to theorize... The Victory certainly took some losses during the events in Loki . On top of that she had to repel an attack when first jumping into Alcor after Tolwyn's departure. It could be that the Victory was scraping the bottom of the barrel as far as combat ready planes. Hobbes stealing a T-Bolt didn't help, and the only thing that was ready on the deck to go after him was a Hellcat V. Which until the Excalibur's are transferred over Hellcats are the only atmospheric capable fighters on the Victory.

That being said if you don't go after Hobbes you suffer a ship morale penalty.
 
I remembered in the novel, Tolwyn ordered the Victory's bomber squadron offloaded and wanted additional Hellcats and Arrows to cover the Behemoth. Hence the reason why you fly only those in Loki. Yet Gold Squadron still flew their Thunderbolts. I'll just pretend Tolwyn ordered the Thunderbolts grounded in the game. The Battle of Loki sure devastated even the more well-off ships. The Hermes lost their Mudshark Squadron, despite being the most undesired squadron.
 
I remembered in the novel, Tolwyn ordered the Victory's bomber squadron offloaded and wanted additional Hellcats and Arrows to cover the Behemoth. Hence the reason why you fly only those in Loki. Yet Gold Squadron still flew their Thunderbolts. I'll just pretend Tolwyn ordered the Thunderbolts grounded in the game. The Battle of Loki sure devastated even the more well-off ships. The Hermes lost their Mudshark Squadron, despite being the most undesired squadron.
has anybody created a 'tie in' novel for 'Saga'? I mean, for a war that lasted decades, the Mav and the Maniac can't be in all the stories.
 
has anybody created a 'tie in' novel for 'Saga'? I mean, for a war that lasted decades, the Mav and the Maniac can't be in all the stories.
The prologue and the first mission in Darkest Dawn sort of had a novel of things going on inbetween missions and the life of Sandman. Panzer and Champ could have been the Angel and Maniac to Sandman's Maverick. Such a shame. Kind of wish every mission had that but that might have delayed the release. Having played Saga recently, the Battle of Loki was really devastating as the Hermes lost half her battle group and flight wing. Thanks, Hobbes!

The novel hardly ever touched upon the fleet buildup to secure Freya and the Temblor test run on Hyperion. Liked the way Saga named the other Excalibur squadrons after the Knights of the Round Table. I prefer Gold Squadron being renamed the Lancelot Squadron rather than just a supposed one-time callsign.
 
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