Lillard always looks like he's on the verge of crying his eyes out. He did okay as a young Maniac. I do like Tom Wilson, though I kep waiting for him to yell "Hello. McFLy!" I like a Wingman who follows orders (mainly so they'll stay on my wing so I can rack up kills) Manaic doesn't do that, he gets dinged up, leaves and then when I do need a hand, I'm all alone. That's why I usually don't choose him.
The Hobbes Connection
- Thread starter WildWeasel
- Start date
Quarto
Unknown Enemy
There seems to be some confusion here. On one hand, you want your wingman to stay on your wing and just sit there, and on the other you complain that Maniac runs home. I would think that he's just trying to please you
.
I also find it amusing how people complain about poor wingman AI and then they say Maniac's bad because he actually kills enemy ships. Personally, I like having wingmen who do more than just hover around shooting me in the back.
I also find it amusing how people complain about poor wingman AI and then they say Maniac's bad because he actually kills enemy ships. Personally, I like having wingmen who do more than just hover around shooting me in the back.
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I do have to admit I also like wingmen who don't shoot at me. Basically I want a wingman that doesn't do anything but follow me and shoot at nothing until I tell him to. Primate, Turbo and a couple others were very good at that. The problem with Maniac is he won't follow orders and then he gets himself in trouble, which in turn leaves me in a tougher spot than need be. Sorta the same problem outlined in Taggart's Tactics all those years ago. Tooner needed to follow orders, he didn't and it got him and his WC killed.
Mad Hatter
Spaceman
Haven`t you guys ever considered that being part of a wing, even if you`re the WC, is being part of a team?
I don`t like wingmen who have no personallity and just do whatever you tell them and not much more. It adds to the game experience quite a bit when you don`t have to babysit your wingman the whole time, even if he doesn`t always obey orders.
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Sometimes you`re the windshield
Sometimes you`re the BUG...
I don`t like wingmen who have no personallity and just do whatever you tell them and not much more. It adds to the game experience quite a bit when you don`t have to babysit your wingman the whole time, even if he doesn`t always obey orders.
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Sometimes you`re the windshield
Sometimes you`re the BUG...
But a wingman should obey orders. It's understandable with a rookie pilot, like Catscratch, but Maniac should've been kicked out years ago. I wouldn't even mind if the pilot broke without orders or occasionally didn't form up at my first request. Maniac is insubordinate (which is the point) but how he ever got as far as he did is a mystery to me.
I do recall in SO2 they mentioned he helped defeat a couple Kilrathi heavies, but I also recall someone saying it was more luck than anything else. In the end it is a game and at times I'm going for a new personal best on kills, so I'm not exactly doing it for the purest of reasons
[This message has been edited by Shane (edited July 11, 2000).]
I do recall in SO2 they mentioned he helped defeat a couple Kilrathi heavies, but I also recall someone saying it was more luck than anything else. In the end it is a game and at times I'm going for a new personal best on kills, so I'm not exactly doing it for the purest of reasons
[This message has been edited by Shane (edited July 11, 2000).]
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Mad Hatter said:
Exactly, your part of a team. Those "keep wingmen/frindly wing alive" missions in WCP were fun that way. I replayed SO the other day and found myself shootnig bugs off my wingmens tails all the time. They do the same for me; why not repay the favor?
WCP's Wingmen AI is good.
[This message has been edited by Jumper (edited July 11, 2000).]
Mad Hatter
Spaceman
Well, if you played Prophecy, you`ve probably noticed that Maniac didn`t get to command his own squadron until very late in his career, and for a guy who`s been in service for so many years, he hasn`t advaced much in ranks either. Blair makes Colonel by the end of WC2, and even that is just because he`s been out of the game for 10 years (so to speek
). Maniac, on the other hand, only achieved the rank of major by that time, and even that by sheer luck.
On the other hand, Maniac is a great pilot, and Confed would be stupid to throw him out, especially at a time of war, when they needed all the help they can get.
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Sometimes you`re the windshield
Sometimes you`re the BUG...
[This message has been edited by Mad Hatter (edited July 12, 2000).]
On the other hand, Maniac is a great pilot, and Confed would be stupid to throw him out, especially at a time of war, when they needed all the help they can get.
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Sometimes you`re the windshield
Sometimes you`re the BUG...
[This message has been edited by Mad Hatter (edited July 12, 2000).]
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I started writng this yesterday and then the server the board was on must have crashed or its connection to the outside dropped. Anyhow, here was my response a tad late...
Well they did give him the Wild Eagles to command in SO2, which I thought made sense. He may have been attached to R&D for a while as a test pilot which doesn't have as many restrictions as combat. A natural flyer, like Maniac, is not much good to the military if he doesn't follow orders, though. He may not get killed but he gets other people killed. Or leads them in to trouble, like Catscratch. I think he happened to be in the right place at the right time a couple times in his career and that's what has kept him in Confed. The story about his destruction of a couple Kilarthi Cap ships is what kept him around until SO2. Being a part of the Run on Kilrah is the only reason, imho, that he survived the RIF cuts after the war. It could be, too, that it was always his problem with Blair, and since we were Blair we always got the worst of it. He may have followed other peoples orders, he just resented Blair and so to prove something he rarely paid attention. I do recall the WC3 novilization mentioned that with Hobbes moving off the wing Maniac was going to be WC for the Victory until Blair came along. That would also account for his attitude in that game.
In Prophecy he seems to have learned something of a lesson from WCIV (I'd like to think the Catscratch thing finally got through to him) and as the Squadron Commander he doesn't seem to bad, just a bit of an asshole, though somewhat respected by his squad-mates. They at least seem to think he is sometimes funny and they listen to his stories.
Still, when he flew with me, he was often a liabilty instead of an asset.
Well they did give him the Wild Eagles to command in SO2, which I thought made sense. He may have been attached to R&D for a while as a test pilot which doesn't have as many restrictions as combat. A natural flyer, like Maniac, is not much good to the military if he doesn't follow orders, though. He may not get killed but he gets other people killed. Or leads them in to trouble, like Catscratch. I think he happened to be in the right place at the right time a couple times in his career and that's what has kept him in Confed. The story about his destruction of a couple Kilarthi Cap ships is what kept him around until SO2. Being a part of the Run on Kilrah is the only reason, imho, that he survived the RIF cuts after the war. It could be, too, that it was always his problem with Blair, and since we were Blair we always got the worst of it. He may have followed other peoples orders, he just resented Blair and so to prove something he rarely paid attention. I do recall the WC3 novilization mentioned that with Hobbes moving off the wing Maniac was going to be WC for the Victory until Blair came along. That would also account for his attitude in that game.
In Prophecy he seems to have learned something of a lesson from WCIV (I'd like to think the Catscratch thing finally got through to him) and as the Squadron Commander he doesn't seem to bad, just a bit of an asshole, though somewhat respected by his squad-mates. They at least seem to think he is sometimes funny and they listen to his stories.
Still, when he flew with me, he was often a liabilty instead of an asset.
Death
gh0d (Administrator)
Shane said:
He was, actually. According to the WCP strategy guide (on P. 19) Maniac, after WC3, alternated between roles as a combat pilot and test pilot, though preferring the latter due to the peacetime mentality of Confed (quite understandable, though, after 35 years of warfare with the Kats).
You recall corectly, for the most part. Blair's predecessor handed the WC mantle directly to Blair, but Maniac was in line for being the wing's XO, before Hobbes was put in that position by Blair.
For a while, as of the end of the WC4 novelization Marshall was a full Colonel, given command of the escort carrier Kiev (or maybe just its air wing... I forget) to patrol Confed space (further supported, if indirectly, by the WCP guide: "He did manage over the course of several years to add several dozen Kilrathi to his lifetime kill total, thanks to increasingly fracticious pirates, smugglers and rebels within the shards of the old empire." [also on P. 19]).
Being "the Maniac," though, it's not too hard to imagine that he did something stupid, and got busted back down to major, leading to his situation at the beginning of WCP
As were most AI wingmen, if you'll recall...
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SubCrid Death
Official Net.Nazi, LOAF's Merry Guild
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Tom Wilson is pretty funny, I liked him in the Back to the future movies and he's done some good voice work, including the role of Matt Bluestone in the Gargoyles series. He was able to team up with John-Rhys Davies (sp) again. His out takes from WCIII are a riot.
I've never served in the military, but from what my father and uncles who served in WWII have told me, his kinda schtick wouldn't last too long. Yeah, there is always a clown, but Maniac seems to go too far. I think too that there is some creative license that I should allow for. He is quite funny at times. This isn't real after all. Like I said earlier, he seems to be only really bad with Blair, so perhaps with the other brass he keeps his nose fairly clean.
I've never served in the military, but from what my father and uncles who served in WWII have told me, his kinda schtick wouldn't last too long. Yeah, there is always a clown, but Maniac seems to go too far. I think too that there is some creative license that I should allow for. He is quite funny at times. This isn't real after all. Like I said earlier, he seems to be only really bad with Blair, so perhaps with the other brass he keeps his nose fairly clean.