Suggestions on Order of Play of WC Games?

Hello out there,
I have lurked here for a while as I was assembling my collection of WC games as I have wanted to be able to play through the series in somewhat of a proper order before I played any of them at all, and other duties earthside so to speak, or planet side, have delayed my work on this over the past year.

Finally I gave in and learned DOSBOX and DeFend and VDMSound, but mostly the first two, so can play the older games on my XP SP 2 system, and recieved some very much appreciated help from Chris and Ad and others here over this time.

I have now assembled the following:

WCI DOS
WCI Kilranthi Saga version
WCII Kilrathi Saga Version
WCIII K Version
WC III original 1994 4 CD release mint
WC Academy DOS
WC Armada DOS
WC Privateer DOS Version
WC Privateer w/ Righteous Fire
WC Privateer Speech Pack (added on already)
WC Privateer Gemini Gold remake
WC Secret Ops plus all the seven missions plus Rebellion Fan Add ons
WC Privateer 2 Deluxe 3 CD set

WC Armada Fiction (what appears to be a electronic "book" with Armada on it.

Still missing WC IV

My questions are: should I play the original DOS WCI or the enhanced Kilranthi Saga version? I have heard the sound is better.

I am not sure if the WC II Kilranthi version contains the Special Ops or Secret missions add ons or not, cant tell easily from examining the files. I had hoped so but have no idea really.

Should I play Academy before WC III or after, or is it out of the series really, I have heard you design your own missons which I am totally unprepared to do as of yet. Ditto on timing for Armada, which sounds like a strategic overview of things?

I was not sure if I should play the original Privateer DOS, the Righteous Fire version or the Gemni Gold version remake? I got the higher resolution patch for P also and added it in already. I havent checked carefully yet for patching as I have been concentrating on getting the games and installing them and figuring out the configureations as best I can. I havent gotten Armada to run right yet, with Doxbox and DeFend, but will keep at it, and finaly just got everything else loaded last night.

Advice is very gratefully acccepted and please forgive me if I am missing past threads that answer my questions, my time constraints from daily work and other duties cramps my desires to research past posts.

And I do very much appreciate the past help and support from here, this is a great forum and I am finally hoping to start things off well with WC. :)
 
I'd probably go with the DOS versions of the earlier games. I'd even check on EBay and buy WC II: Deluxe Edition, which runs on DOS. You can purchase it for fairly cheap. Someone who posted on here a few months back even got his copy for less than $1.00.

My understanding is that getting the earlier games to run via DOSBox is less of a hassle than trying to get the KS versions to run under Windows XP. Also, if I'm correct, the Secret Missions and Special Operations expansion packs for Wing I and II didn't come with the Kilrathi Saga, and must be downloaded separately. Even then, the music is missing from some expansion pack missions, and some of the missions where you fly a captured Dralthi in SM2 don't work properly.

I'd also be more likely to go with the DOS versions for all the Wing Commander games, including Privateer, simply because they're what came first, and they're what I remember playing... So, maybe I'm just being too much of a sentimental old fool.
 
Thanks a lot, that is just the sort of advice I need, as I want to play them in the way they were meant to be played. I will try to get a WCII DOS Deluxe,

I got my WC I DOS original to run fine and it is very nice to see the first one starting up, what advances happened in the time period these games were created. Thanks again. Much appreciated.:)

Questions:

If I insert the missing news breifs into WCIII will they play or are they available just for historical purposes? I would love to hear and see them?

Is the Patch for Privateer II effective in Privateer II Deluxe or just the first edition?

If I put the com chatter file into Academy, will it play or do I need to enable it or change the config somehow?

thanks again
 
Christopherger said:
If I insert the missing news breifs into WCIII will they play or are they available just for historical purposes? I would love to hear and see them?

Just for historical purposes. There is no way to get them back into WCIII for the PC (at this time at least).
 
Christopherger said:
Thanks cff, much appreciated, I was just curious. I will keep them in my files for future possiblities.
Thanks again.


You have to get the 3DO or PSX version to see them in the game.
 
Christopherger said:
I have now assembled the following:

WCI DOS
WCI Kilranthi Saga version
WCII Kilrathi Saga Version
WCIII K Version
WC III original 1994 4 CD release mint
WC Academy DOS
WC Armada DOS
WC Privateer DOS Version
WC Privateer w/ Righteous Fire
WC Privateer Speech Pack (added on already)
WC Privateer Gemini Gold remake
WC Secret Ops plus all the seven missions plus Rebellion Fan Add ons
WC Privateer 2 Deluxe 3 CD set

WC Armada Fiction (what appears to be a electronic "book" with Armada on it.




You...are...a... GOD! :eek:
 
Just got a copy of WC Prophecy, the original, not the Gold Version. Will see how the files are tomorrow.

I gave WC I and II a test run from the Kilrathi set and they both work great on XP great colour, sound and video motion seems fine. The Intro video for the Kilrathi Saga is quite nice, and quite a contrast to the original I and II, but there was a lot of evolution, which is why I have wanted to collect as much of the series as I could and play them in the right order. I will keep an eye out for IV now, I have found another copy of Privataeer, evidently there were several editions of it, I have the first one, and then a later one with some add ons, plus Righteous Fire. Also got the Add ons for WC I and II, the Secret Missions I and II, and the missions for II as well. It will take a while to get it all sorted out, thanks for the help here. Much appreciated. So far my flying skills are not very good, when I took my fighter out at the beginning of WCIII with the feline buddy, I shot his ship by mistake, he was NOT pleased, but was nice about it. :) I had better start at the start!
 
Yea my friend has a thing for the Saga versions, but I myself prefer the DOS originals. Call me old school. Plus I tend to have problems running WC2 KS with XP, whereas my DOS copy runs flawlessly. I play WC3 with the Kilrathi Saga though because it takes too much power to run that one via DosBox...
 
thanks for all the suggestions much appreciated. I have not had any problem running my Kilrathi Saga versions of WC I and II on XP at all, they run flawlessly.
The other DOS ones seem fine too, so far. Thanks again for all the info and replies.

Much appreciated.:)
 
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