Newb Question - highest rank in WC1?

[1ukelele1]

I have started my "path of most medals," looking to earn the most Gold, Silver and Bronze Stars possible for WC1. Here's how it goes:

Enyo - lose but get Bronze on mission 2

Gateway - save the Claw for Silver on M2, lose the Drayman but get all 8 kills on M3(including Bhurak) for another Silver . You lose the sequence and get a chance at more medals by going to Chengdu before Brimstone

Chengdu - M1 Gold (not sure if you need to be perfect), you must get all 10 including Dakhath on M2 for Bronze (challenging), M3 Silver. You are winning this series to go to Brimstone.

Brimstone - A perfect 9 kill M3 gets you Bronze. Win Brimstone to advance to Dakota.

Dakota - 8 kills M1 Silver, 8 kills M2 Silver, 12 kills + Knight lives (send his butt home) M3 Gold (yeah, baby!). You are winning Dakota to advance to Kurasawa.

Kurasawa - Lose M1 (of the 3 Dorkirs, take out only the 2nd OR 3rd plus fighters if you are looking for kills), we all loooove M2 and you must get 6 kills plus save the good ol' Ralari to get your Silver Star, M3 save your old commander on the Exeter if you want - it doesn't matter you are still losing and heading to Rostov for some more medal action!

Rostov - according to http://www.adrr.com/wing/01.htm you must return home damage free to get the M1 Bronze (not sure but will confirm), 9 kills net a Silver Star on M2, another 9 kills (including Khajja and Fralthi) net a Gold Star on M3. From there you are Venice bound.

Venice - a perfect 9 kill score may get you NO MEDAL for M1. However, I will try to do this damage free to see if this will trigger the Silver Star mentioned here http://www.cheatchaser.com/pc/w/wing-commander-guide.html, a perfect 13 kill score gets you NO MEDAL on M2 , another perfect 9 kill run on M3 earns you a Bronze.

As far as I could figure, following the mission tree this way leads to entering Secret Missions with: 5 Bronze, 8 Silver (if I'm right about M1 Venice), and 3 Gold. These would be added to your Golden Sun, Medal of Honor, and rank of Major for the most hardware possible at the end of WC1. Yay!

Update - in Rostov M1 I received a the Bronze medal with 9 kills. My ship sustained moderate damage ("Looks like it got a little hot out there, sir."). I had read that a damage-free mission was required for the medal. Looks like that was incorrect.

So far I have 4 Bronze, 6 Silver, and 2 Gold. Almost done...

 

[Edfilho]

The only thing that matters in getting medals in WC1 is kills.
David "Center" Raley did a guide that lists all the kills you need in each mission in which there is a medal. It's also included in the official WC1 and 2 guide. I'll see if I can still find the .txt file.

Damage incurred by the player fighter (or the wingman) is not a factor at all.

 

[Bandit LOAF]

The only thing that matters in getting medals in WC1 is kills.
David "Center" Raley did a guide that lists all the kills you need in each mission in which there is a medal. It's also included in the official WC1 and 2 guide. I'll see if I can still find the .txt file.

I don't think it's in the WC1/2 Guide... it doesn't cover medals in much detail. The Mark Minasi book has the medal points information. I don't have a copy at hand right now, but I think there's a few other things that can add or detract points... (successful escort missions, losing a ship, etc.)

 

[1ukelele1]

I need to get that Manasi book. There are used copies out there on the 'net for sale. I don't know why damage would be a factor - it doesn't make much sense, anyway. But I read it on the internet http://www.adrr.com/wing/01.htm, so I thought it must be true...

BTW, I just made it to Venice with: 4 Bronze, 7 Silver and 3 Gold. Blair is looking like he is a bit stooped over with all that metal pinned to his shirt

 

[1ukelele1]

Shoot! I need Khajja to be alive in Venice to get the Silver Star in Mission 1 :>{ Looks like I need to remember that next time I want 8 Silvers at the end of WC1.

BTW - if anyone is still reading this post, I will repost (eventually) with a summary of my discoveries. They should be pretty reliable, as I am recording details as I go along. Laters.

 

[ChrisReid]

If you are any good (unlike me) you can probably StR in just a few tries by trying t.c.cgi's "protect the back end" method mentioned above.

I think also, you have to know how the game is going to react (processing-wise) and remember to adapt with that in mind until you succeed. A good starting place is to attack far Gratha after you release Bossman.

I think a lot of people might be forgetting to send Bossman out. You have him to keep one Gratha busy, and there's one Rapier defender next to the Ralari when you get there, so you only need to worry about two Gratha immediately. I've done pretty well just by shooting at whichever was targeting the destroyer, and eventually you'll take one of them out. Then it's an even fight.

 

[privfan]

The trick to the Ralari mission, I've found, is to ignore the two closest fighters and get the two attacking it from the rear - where the Ralari has paper for armor.

I'll have to try that, that mission is annoying the crap out of me. I flew in full after burners after autopilot to the nav and still wasn't able to do much before they blew it up

 

[Ragger]

That's quite a medal collection you've got there! I wonder if anyone's mapped out the maximum medals possible in WC1. I read here http://www.adrr.com/wing/01.htm that it's possible to save the Ralari (getting the silver) but lose the Kurasawa series in order to get the gold, silver, and bronze possible in each successive Rostov mission. I think I'm going to figure out the "path of most medals" and then see if I can do it! I'll post it later, when I have time.

P.S. - Don't know if anyone has the patience (or lack of skill) I have, but I must have tried to save the Ralari *literally* at least 50 times! I was successful 3 of those times, but only on the 3rd success was I able to get 7 kills (6 necessary I hear) to get that silver. I was so lucky on that trip one of the Gratha rammed the back of my Rapier while I was trying a quick spin move. I had knocked down it's shields and done some front armor damage, so the collision toasted it (while doing plenty of damage to my ship). Just thought I'd share.

I have mapped the path here

 

[Ragger]

I have started my "path of most medals," looking to earn the most Gold, Silver and Bronze Stars possible for WC1. Here's how it goes:

Enyo - lose but get Bronze on mission 2

Gateway - save the Claw for Silver on M2, lose the Drayman but get all 8 kills on M3(including Bhurak) for another Silver . You lose the sequence and get a chance at more medals by going to Chengdu before Brimstone

Chengdu - M1 Gold (not sure if you need to be perfect), you must get all 10 including Dakhath on M2 for Bronze (challenging), M3 Silver. You are winning this series to go to Brimstone.

Brimstone - A perfect 9 kill M3 gets you Bronze. Win Brimstone to advance to Dakota.

Dakota - 8 kills M1 Silver, 8 kills M2 Silver, 12 kills + Knight lives (send his butt home) M3 Gold (yeah, baby!). You are winning Dakota to advance to Kurasawa.

Kurasawa - Lose M1 (of the 3 Dorkirs, take out only the 2nd OR 3rd plus fighters if you are looking for kills), we all loooove M2 and you must get 6 kills plus save the good ol' Ralari to get your Silver Star, M3 save your old commander on the Exeter if you want - it doesn't matter you are still losing and heading to Rostov for some more medal action!

Rostov - according to http://www.adrr.com/wing/01.htm you must return home damage free to get the M1 Bronze (not sure but will confirm), 9 kills net a Silver Star on M2, another 9 kills (including Khajja and Fralthi) net a Gold Star on M3. From there you are Venice bound.

Venice - a perfect 9 kill score may get you NO MEDAL for M1. However, I will try to do this damage free to see if this will trigger the Silver Star mentioned here http://www.cheatchaser.com/pc/w/wing-commander-guide.html, a perfect 13 kill score gets you NO MEDAL on M2 , another perfect 9 kill run on M3 earns you a Bronze.

As far as I could figure, following the mission tree this way leads to entering Secret Missions with: 5 Bronze, 8 Silver (if I'm right about M1 Venice), and 3 Gold. These would be added to your Golden Sun, Medal of Honor, and rank of Major for the most hardware possible at the end of WC1. Yay!

The path of most medals leads though Port Hedland and Hubble's Star, and you can see the results here. Your posts were very interesting as I began searching for answers on how to achieve this same goal