Sharpshooter
Rear Admiral
So I've just won Wing Commander 4 (original DOS, 6 CDs version) on Nightmare with the mouse, and it was quite an experience. I used every dirty trick in the book in order to win (without outright cheating), and managed to win every single mission I played through. I haven't played all of the missions yet, but I'm still happy about it.
Here's a list of the missions I played through, as well as my dialogue choices (mission names are from the official guide) :
Mission A1 : Recalled to duty (Nephele)
I picked "Help him out", followed by "This pisses me off".
Mission B1 : Discover pirate base (Hellespont)
I saved the transport and found the pirate base, leading to -
Mission B2A : Attack pirate frigate (Hellespont)
I picked "I like this kid".
Mission B3 : Recon photos (Tyr)
I love how once you find the right trick for this mission, it goes from "nightmarishly difficult" to "very easy". Anyway, I won, leading to -
Mission B4A : Hostage rescue (Tyr)
Mission C1 : Retake the spacelab (Masa)
I picked "New brass - pain in the ass".
Mission C2 : Border worlds convoy (Masa)
I picked "Confed's abusing their authority".
(Winning this mission always makes me feel bad...)
Mission C3 : Do you defect? (Masa)
I picked "Kid's got a point", followed by "I need to see what's going on".
I chose to defect.
Mission D1 : Defend the Intrepid (Silenos)
For me, this was one of the hardest missions.
Mission D2 : Nebula Sweep (Silenos)
I picked "Bet this old coot knows what he's doing".
Mission D3 : Destroy the Lexington (Silenos)
I picked "Well, he is resourceful".
Mission E1 : Convoy in distress (Orestes)
I picked "Yeah... You'd think..."
It took me forever to figure out how to win this one on Nightmare...
Mission E2 : Comm station infiltration (Orestes)
I picked "This thing could be very useful..." and "Gotta admit. I did."
Mission G1 : Rescue Kilrathi (Orestes)
Mission G2 : Confederation in disguise (Pasqual)
I picked "Straighten this out" and "He's missing the point..."
Mission G3 : Escort Melek (Orestes?)
Mission J1 : Dead zone (Peleus)
Because I helped the veteran back in Nephele, I went to -
Mission J2A : Jam the jammer (Peleus)
I beat this one on my first try.
After this mission, I picked "I owe him nothing" and "Hawk's right" (Speradon route).
The first of the three optional missions I chose was "Steal fighters".
Mission LA : Steal fighters (Speradon)
I picked "This I gotta see..." and "Who needs wingmen?"
I successfully leeched the 4 Bearcats, and won the new flyable ship (the Bearcat) as a reward.
Next, I picked "Attack carrier".
Mission LC : Attack carrier (Speradon)
I picked "Time to be a captain."
I successfully disabled the carrier, and got the Mace as a reward.
Mission L3A : Tough decision (Speradon)
I chose to rescue Catscratch, and saved him.
After the mission, I picked "I could use the extra firepower" and "There's always hope...", as well as "Collect fighters"
Mission L4B : Escort defectors (Speradon)
I'll admit it, none of the Bearcats I was supposed to save made it out alive. I knew that it wasn't a victory condition and didn't feel like trying harder.
Mission M1A : Planet FT957 (Telamon)
I picked "Let me at these babies".
Mission M2 : Blair's jump (Callimachus)
Mission M3 : Jump back (Axius)
After the mission, I picked "Panther's right. We can't kill civilians.", leading to -
Mission N1A : Sneak by Ella (Ella)
Mission N2 : Vesuvius (Ella)
Because I picked the Dragon in Telamon, I flew a Dragon instead of a Banshee for this one.
Mission N3 : St. Helens (Sol)
Mission N4 : Try again (Sol)
Mission O1 : Seether (Sol)
I got the good ending.
I may make a detailed guide later on if I feel like it, but in the meantime, here are a few tips for those who feel like trying the same thing.
Here's a list of the missions I played through, as well as my dialogue choices (mission names are from the official guide) :
Mission A1 : Recalled to duty (Nephele)
I picked "Help him out", followed by "This pisses me off".
Mission B1 : Discover pirate base (Hellespont)
I saved the transport and found the pirate base, leading to -
Mission B2A : Attack pirate frigate (Hellespont)
I picked "I like this kid".
Mission B3 : Recon photos (Tyr)
I love how once you find the right trick for this mission, it goes from "nightmarishly difficult" to "very easy". Anyway, I won, leading to -
Mission B4A : Hostage rescue (Tyr)
Mission C1 : Retake the spacelab (Masa)
I picked "New brass - pain in the ass".
Mission C2 : Border worlds convoy (Masa)
I picked "Confed's abusing their authority".
(Winning this mission always makes me feel bad...)
Mission C3 : Do you defect? (Masa)
I picked "Kid's got a point", followed by "I need to see what's going on".
I chose to defect.
Mission D1 : Defend the Intrepid (Silenos)
For me, this was one of the hardest missions.
Mission D2 : Nebula Sweep (Silenos)
I picked "Bet this old coot knows what he's doing".
Mission D3 : Destroy the Lexington (Silenos)
I picked "Well, he is resourceful".
Mission E1 : Convoy in distress (Orestes)
I picked "Yeah... You'd think..."
It took me forever to figure out how to win this one on Nightmare...
Mission E2 : Comm station infiltration (Orestes)
I picked "This thing could be very useful..." and "Gotta admit. I did."
Mission G1 : Rescue Kilrathi (Orestes)
Mission G2 : Confederation in disguise (Pasqual)
I picked "Straighten this out" and "He's missing the point..."
Mission G3 : Escort Melek (Orestes?)
Mission J1 : Dead zone (Peleus)
Because I helped the veteran back in Nephele, I went to -
Mission J2A : Jam the jammer (Peleus)
I beat this one on my first try.
After this mission, I picked "I owe him nothing" and "Hawk's right" (Speradon route).
The first of the three optional missions I chose was "Steal fighters".
Mission LA : Steal fighters (Speradon)
I picked "This I gotta see..." and "Who needs wingmen?"
I successfully leeched the 4 Bearcats, and won the new flyable ship (the Bearcat) as a reward.
Next, I picked "Attack carrier".
Mission LC : Attack carrier (Speradon)
I picked "Time to be a captain."
I successfully disabled the carrier, and got the Mace as a reward.
Mission L3A : Tough decision (Speradon)
I chose to rescue Catscratch, and saved him.
After the mission, I picked "I could use the extra firepower" and "There's always hope...", as well as "Collect fighters"
Mission L4B : Escort defectors (Speradon)
I'll admit it, none of the Bearcats I was supposed to save made it out alive. I knew that it wasn't a victory condition and didn't feel like trying harder.
Mission M1A : Planet FT957 (Telamon)
I picked "Let me at these babies".
Mission M2 : Blair's jump (Callimachus)
Mission M3 : Jump back (Axius)
After the mission, I picked "Panther's right. We can't kill civilians.", leading to -
Mission N1A : Sneak by Ella (Ella)
Mission N2 : Vesuvius (Ella)
Because I picked the Dragon in Telamon, I flew a Dragon instead of a Banshee for this one.
Mission N3 : St. Helens (Sol)
Mission N4 : Try again (Sol)
Mission O1 : Seether (Sol)
I got the good ending.
I may make a detailed guide later on if I feel like it, but in the meantime, here are a few tips for those who feel like trying the same thing.
-Enemies are more skilled at dodging missiles, but missiles still have a pretty good chance of hitting if you fire them close enough to the engines of the ship you're targeting.
-If that's not an option because the ship is too fast, try firing two missiles at once when the ship is in front of you and heading towards you. Again, wait until the ship is pretty close before firing (but not *too* close, or your missiles will miss).
-Enemies who are busy attacking friendlies (especially capships) may be easier targets than enemies who are attacking you.
-Enemies will run out of afterburner eventually. If you can survive until then, they are much easier targets for both you and your allies.
-If you don't want to use too many decoys, or you are out of decoys, and you're flying a fast enough ship : you can use afterburners (or sometimes even evasive manoeuvers at regular speed) to avoid missiles. Use afterburners in short bursts and head towards the missiles that are targeting you (while being careful not to fly into them). The missiles will miss and sometimes even lose lock quickly.
-The Nav Map trick : Open the Nav Map and draw an imaginary line between your ship and your destination. If you can get your ship in a spot where the line doesn't get too close to a certain Nav/Inv point, you will skip the aforementioned Nav/Inv point. This can be used to skip the infamous Banshee encounters in Tyr, and this can be used in Sneak by Ella to skip all of the encounters between the Intrepid and the jump point.
-The autoslide trick : Hit the afterburner key (Tab) and once you reach maximum speed, activate autoslide. Then release the Tab key. Your speed-o-meter will show your regular speed, but actually your ship will still be using afterburners, without lowering the amount of fuel you have. This can be used to run away from fights and lure enemy ships to the Intrepid, where you may get help from the Intrepid and other allied ships. Enemy ships and your wingmen will still be using afterburner fuel while following you. When you use autoslide to run away, enemy ships will chase you from far away, allowing you to stay out of range of their guns and missiles.
-(Recon Photos specific advice) The Laser Camera actually works from a pretty long range... And the Vindicators will stay close to the ground buildings...
-Not all enemy ships carry missiles.
-Sometimes, when fighting an enemy ship, the enemy ship will stop using afterburners for no apparent reason. You may even catch them at 0 speed, spinning around while they try to find you. They are very vulnerable while they do this, especially to missiles and leech guns.
-Leeching an enemy ship will prevent reinforcements from showing up for the group that the enemy ship belongs to.
-Leech guns in general can be useful on Nightmare - the enemies are so hard to hit that it's hard to get past their shields with regular guns, whereas Leech guns ignore shielding and do permanent energy damage. A target that took a few hits from Leech guns may not be fully disabled, but it will fight less efficiently.
-If that's not an option because the ship is too fast, try firing two missiles at once when the ship is in front of you and heading towards you. Again, wait until the ship is pretty close before firing (but not *too* close, or your missiles will miss).
-Enemies who are busy attacking friendlies (especially capships) may be easier targets than enemies who are attacking you.
-Enemies will run out of afterburner eventually. If you can survive until then, they are much easier targets for both you and your allies.
-If you don't want to use too many decoys, or you are out of decoys, and you're flying a fast enough ship : you can use afterburners (or sometimes even evasive manoeuvers at regular speed) to avoid missiles. Use afterburners in short bursts and head towards the missiles that are targeting you (while being careful not to fly into them). The missiles will miss and sometimes even lose lock quickly.
-The Nav Map trick : Open the Nav Map and draw an imaginary line between your ship and your destination. If you can get your ship in a spot where the line doesn't get too close to a certain Nav/Inv point, you will skip the aforementioned Nav/Inv point. This can be used to skip the infamous Banshee encounters in Tyr, and this can be used in Sneak by Ella to skip all of the encounters between the Intrepid and the jump point.
-The autoslide trick : Hit the afterburner key (Tab) and once you reach maximum speed, activate autoslide. Then release the Tab key. Your speed-o-meter will show your regular speed, but actually your ship will still be using afterburners, without lowering the amount of fuel you have. This can be used to run away from fights and lure enemy ships to the Intrepid, where you may get help from the Intrepid and other allied ships. Enemy ships and your wingmen will still be using afterburner fuel while following you. When you use autoslide to run away, enemy ships will chase you from far away, allowing you to stay out of range of their guns and missiles.
-(Recon Photos specific advice) The Laser Camera actually works from a pretty long range... And the Vindicators will stay close to the ground buildings...
-Not all enemy ships carry missiles.
-Sometimes, when fighting an enemy ship, the enemy ship will stop using afterburners for no apparent reason. You may even catch them at 0 speed, spinning around while they try to find you. They are very vulnerable while they do this, especially to missiles and leech guns.
-Leeching an enemy ship will prevent reinforcements from showing up for the group that the enemy ship belongs to.
-Leech guns in general can be useful on Nightmare - the enemies are so hard to hit that it's hard to get past their shields with regular guns, whereas Leech guns ignore shielding and do permanent energy damage. A target that took a few hits from Leech guns may not be fully disabled, but it will fight less efficiently.