Death's Head: Demerits? What are you talking about? Is this something from the guide (which I've never seen)? Because in the game, he was said to have had an _exemplary_ record at the Academy.
As for Maniac, you got me all wrong. I didn't say he was sane all throughout WC 1. But he started off sane enough. Have you seen his bio in the original WC 1 manual (it's not in the KSaga version)? He actually sounded quite intelligent. When he stated that plodding along with the regs in one hand is not going to impress the Kilrathi, I agreed with him.
The HS missile was a stupid accident, btw. He may not have thought about the freighter, but then, he was expecting to hit the Kilrathi fighter.
In SM 1, as I recall, several other pilots (unidentified redshirts) actually Tagugar'ed (Kamikaze'd, if you prefer
) into Killie cap ships. The pressure was immense - all pilots were affected by it. Oh, and you should also keep in mind that Hunter helped push Maniac over the edge - like with the slime rat in Maniac's bunk, and when he rigged Maniac's fighter to show thousands of red blips on the radar.
And Maniac's brilliant weapon? (Actually, it wasn't a weapon, it was an explosive) Like I said, people were under immense pressure. They were in the middle of enemy territory, pursuing a fleet, at the centre of which was a Dreadnought - which had just destroyed a whole colony. Of course they were nervous. And some people just don't take pressure very well.
BTW, he was back to (relative) sanity in WC 2.
Cheater: What about Tomb Raider? Lots of people playing that. Of course, a female WC character would not run around the Midway in really short shorts
. But I think a female character would be original, to say the least. The choosing approach wouldna work though, since they'd have to film two sets of cut scenes... I really don't see that happening.
Nighthawk: Nope. She doesn't count
.
Dralthi5: The very question I'd like to see answered. I think that perhaps, some people just got _too_ attached to Blair.