Wing Commander tracks the player's 'kill points' for each mission and uses this value to assign medals. Every enemy ship ship destroyed by the player is assigned a value based on its class and when the number of kill points reaches a scripted threshold at the end of a mission a medal is awarded.
Medal Graphics
| Medal
|
Art
|
| Bronze Star
|
|
| Bronze Star Bar
|
|
| Silver Star
|
|
| Silver Star Bar
|
|
| Gold Star
|
|
| Gold Star Bar
|
|
| Golden Sun
|
|
| Medal of Valor
|
|
Design
The design for Wing Commander's medal system was first presented in Wingleader Medals and Ribbons.
Wingman Death Bug
There are three instances in the Vega Campaign where an award is possible only when your wingman is killed. This is because the game deducts fifteen points from the overall 'mission point' score and then assigns that value back to the 'kill points' used for determining awards. The system for scoring mission points is very similar to kill points but it also awards 25 points for each enemy ace killed. As a result, killing an ace and also losing your wingman in Brimstone 2, Venice 1 or Hell's Kitchen 4 can result in a net gain of ten or more points and reaching the otherwise impossible scripted medal thresholds for those missions.
Scoring
| Ship
|
Score
|
| Salthi
|
7 points
|
| Dralthi
|
10 points
|
| Krant
|
10 points
|
| Rapier
|
10 points
|
| Gratha
|
15 points
|
| Jalthi
|
15 points
|
| Dorkir
|
15 points
|
| Lumbari
|
15 points
|
| Drayman
|
15 points
|
| Ralari
|
25 points
|
| Exeter
|
25 points
|
| Fralthi
|
50 points
|
| Snakeir
|
50 points
|
| Sivar
|
75 points
|
| Star Post
|
75 points
|
Tally
| Campaign
|
Bronze
|
Silver
|
Gold
|
Valor
|
Total
|
| Vega
|
9
|
13
|
6
|
2
|
30
|
| The Secret Missions
|
2
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
4
|
| Crusade
|
2
|
2
|
4
|
1
|
9
|
| Super Wing Commander
|
2
|
2
|
1
|
0
|
5
|
| Total
|
15
|
18
|
12
|
3
|
48
|
Notes
- While there are 30 possible medals in the Vega Campaign, the most that can be awarded in a single play through is 20 (7 Bronze, 9 Silver, 3 Gold and 1 Medal of Valor). The path is Enyo to Gateway to Chengdu to Brimstone to Port Hedland to Hubble's Star to Rostov to Venice.
- Following Carl LaFong's 'canon' path from Wing Commander I & II: The Ultimate Strategy Guide awards a total of 15 medals: 5 Bronze, 7 Silver, 2 Gold and 1 Medal of Valor (Enyo, McAuliffe, Brimstone, Dakota, Kurasawa, Rostov and Venice). Of these, he would not have earned the Silver Stars at Brimstone 2 or Venice 1 as his wingmen were not killed. The only medal explicitly mentioned as being awarded in the guide is the Bronze Star for Enyo 2.
Possible Medals
Vega Campaign
| Mission
|
Medal
|
Score
|
Notes
|
| Enyo 2
|
Bronze Star
|
50 points
|
|
| McAuliffe 2
|
Bronze Star
|
65 points
|
|
| McAuliffe 3
|
Silver Star
|
80 points
|
|
| Gateway 2
|
Silver Star
|
70 points
|
| Gateway 3
|
Silver Star
|
55 points
|
|
| Gimle 1
|
Gold Star
|
80 points
|
|
| Gimle 3
|
Bronze Star
|
80 points
|
|
| Brimstone 2
|
Silver Star
|
100 points
|
Requires wingman's death and ace kill
|
| Brimstone 3
|
Bronze Star
|
91 points
|
|
| Chengdu 1
|
Gold Star
|
90 points
|
|
| Chengdu 2
|
Bronze Star
|
90 points
|
|
| Chengdu 3
|
Silver Star
|
95 points
|
|
| Dakota 1
|
Silver Star
|
121 points
|
|
| Dakota 2
|
Silver Star
|
91 points
|
|
| Dakota 3
|
Gold Star
|
141 points
|
|
| Port Hedland 1
|
Bronze Star
|
91 points
|
|
| Port Hedland 2
|
Silver Star
|
91 points
|
|
| Port Hedland 3
|
Gold Star
|
205 points
|
|
| Kurasawa 2
|
Silver Star
|
90 points
|
|
| Rostov 1
|
Bronze Star
|
120 points
|
|
| Rostov 2
|
Silver Star
|
105 points
|
|
| Rostov 3
|
Gold Star
|
110 points
|
|
| Hubble's Star 1
|
Silver Star
|
125 points
|
|
| Hubble's Star 2
|
Bronze Star
|
130 points
|
|
| Hubble's Star 3
|
Silver Star
|
130 points
|
|
| Venice 1
|
Silver Star
|
165 points
|
Requires wingman's death and ace kill
|
| Venice 3
|
Bronze Star
|
125 points
|
|
| Venice 4
|
Medal of Valor
|
245 points
|
|
| Hell's Kitchen 2
|
Gold Star
|
145 points
|
|
| Hell's Kitchen 4
|
Medal of Valor
|
220 points
|
Requires wingman's death and ace kill
|
The Secret Missions
| Mission
|
Medal
|
Score
|
| Goddard 2
|
Silver Star
|
100 points
|
| Jotunheim 3
|
Bronze Star
|
0 points
|
| Valgard 3
|
Bronze Star
|
0 points
|
| Vigrid 2
|
Gold Star
|
200 points
|
Crusade
| Mission
|
Medal
|
Score
|
| Firekka (Series 1) 1
|
Bronze Star
|
120 points
|
| Firekka (Series 2) 1
|
Silver Star
|
200 points
|
| Firekka (Series 2) 2
|
Bronze Star
|
183 points
|
| Firekka (Series 3) 1
|
Gold Star
|
200 points
|
| Corsair (Series 4) 1
|
Silver Star
|
250 points
|
| Corsair (Series 6) 1
|
Gold Star
|
275 points
|
| Corsair (Series 7) 2
|
Gold Star
|
277 points
|
| Charon (Series 8) 1
|
Gold Star
|
250 points
|
| Charon (Series 9) 1
|
Medal of Valor
|
100 points
|
Super Wing Commander
| Mission
|
Medal
|
Score
|
| Cairo 3
|
Silver Star
|
80 points
|
| Anchorage 2
|
Bronze Star
|
70 points
|
| Anchorage 3
|
Silver Star
|
55 points
|
| Jakarta 2
|
Bronze Star
|
80 points
|
| Jakarta 3
|
Gold Star
|
80 points
|
Impossible Medals
By design, Wing Commander assigns a medal for every mission but in many cases the required score can not be achieved. In many cases this is clearly an intentional decision to prevent the game from awarding a medal in practice by giving a required score of thousands of points. In some cases missions have scores which are much lower and may have been intended to award medals at some point.
Vega Campaign
| Mission
|
Medal
|
Score
|
| Enyo 1
|
Bronze Star
|
2000 points
|
| McAuliffe 1
|
Bronze Star
|
2000 points
|
| Gateway 1
|
Bronze Star
|
2000 points
|
| Gimle 2
|
Bronze Star
|
2000 points
|
| Brimstone 1
|
Bronze Star
|
2000 points
|
| Kurasawa 1
|
Silver Star
|
185 points
|
| Kurasawa 3
|
Gold Star
|
161 points
|
| Venice 2
|
Gold Star
|
190 points
|
| Hell's Kitchen 1
|
Bronze Star
|
160 points
|
| Hell's Kitchen 3
|
Silver Star
|
161 points
|
The Secret Missions
| Mission
|
Medal
|
Score
|
| Goddard 1
|
Bronze Star
|
9000 points
|
| Border Zone 1
|
Bronze Star
|
9000 points
|
| Border Zone 2
|
Bronze Star
|
9065 points
|
| Midgard 1
|
Bronze Star
|
9000 points
|
| Midgard 2
|
Silver Star
|
9070 points
|
| Jotunheim 1
|
Bronze Star
|
9000 points
|
| Jotunheim 2
|
Bronze Star
|
9065 points
|
| Bifrost 1
|
Bronze Star
|
9000 points
|
| Bifrost 2
|
Silver Star
|
9000 points
|
| Valgard 1
|
Bronze Star
|
9000 points
|
| Valgard 2
|
Silver Star
|
9000 points
|
| Vigrid 1
|
Silver Star
|
9650 points
|
| Retreat 1
|
Bronze Star
|
9600 points
|
| Retreat 2
|
Gold Star
|
9405 points
|
Crusade
| Mission
|
Medal
|
Score
|
| Firekka (Series 1) 2
|
Bronze Star
|
9999 points
|
| Firekka (Series 3) 2
|
Bronze Star
|
9999 points
|
| Corsair (Series 4) 2
|
Bronze Star
|
9999 points
|
| Firekka (Series 5) 1
|
Bronze Star
|
9999 points
|
| Firekka (Series 5) 2
|
Bronze Star
|
9999 points
|
| Corsair (Series 6) 2
|
Bronze Star
|
9999 points
|
| Corsair (Series 7) 1
|
Bronze Star
|
9999 points
|
| Charon (Series 8) 2
|
Bronze Star
|
9999 points
|
| Charon (Series 9) 2
|
Bronze Star
|
9999 points
|
Super Wing Commander
The final mission of Super Wing Commander, Jakarta 4, is scripted to award the player a Bronze Star for scoring 0 points. The game ends on an in-flight cutscene instead of a debriefing so no medal ceremony can occur.
| Mission
|
Medal
|
Score
|
| Tartarus 1
|
Bronze Star
|
2000 points
|
| Tartarus 2
|
Bronze Star
|
2000 points
|
| Cairo 1
|
Bronze Star
|
2000 points
|
| Cairo 2
|
Bronze Star
|
2000 points
|
| Anchorage 1
|
Bronze Star
|
2000 points
|
| Jakarta 1
|
Gold Star
|
2000 points
|
| Jakarta 4
|
Bronze Star
|
0 points
|
