The Hardest Missions!

[RATM]

No joke, and please, no laughing!
Wing Commander 1 the second McAuliff mission where you fight the Ralari. I could never blow that hunk of junk up. Given I was around 7 at the time, but I could never beat it. Until one day I managed. I had to ignore the fighters completely or Paladin would die!

Now that I`m playing the original on PC, I found out that wingmen are actually useful. I was shocked.

 

[Mincemeat]

Well I must have spent the first fifty times on that mission learning how to handle Krants (and their missiles), and then watching Paladin hit the center of the Ralari everytime - realising that my passes at it did nothing but wear down my shields and armour

 

[MadMat]

Any mission flown in a Scimitar in WC1 (I hate that ship! ), and I had to try many (many, ...) times the "skipper" missions (especially Locanda) in WC3 before being able to succeed.
The drunk mission in WC3 is also a nightmare, but at least, you can let your wingmen win the day and just try avoiding to be kill ...

 

[Bandit LOAF]

The Sol System mission is literally unbeatable--the waves NEVER end, so fight to your heart's content and then watch the losing ending when you finally do blow up.

Don't blow up, eject -- the losing endgame with Blair captured by Thrakhath is one of the game's coolest sequences.

 

[Lt.Death100]

Well I must have spent the first fifty times on that mission learning how to handle Krants (and their missiles), and then watching Paladin hit the center of the Ralari everytime - realising that my passes at it did nothing but wear down my shields and armour

It might have been the weird original WC hit detection that it shows the model being elsewhere what you need to do to hit it is get behind it and fire dead-center.

 

[floundericiousMI]

The hardest I've come across recently are probably the save the Ralari one, I tried and tried and tried and still lost it.

The other is probably the third mission in WC2, no matter how hard i try, the broadswords are still killed.

That broadsword mission is one I recall passing...but just damned barely!!!

You've got to have TREMENDOUS "S.A." and not fixate on a target. The Kilrathi fighters do one heck of a job of baiting you.. you just keep your afterburners on the whole time and swing round and round the broadswords smacking the next Kill-Wrathy to show his ugly snout! I recall that you still need luck to pass it without losing a broadsword!

Each time I go through it, ESPECIALLY the times i get it right...i'm usually sweating by the time I'm done!

 

[floundericiousMI]

Having never played through SO, I'm currently having a hell of a problem taking down the Mantas in Ella 3.

Oh man...the WCP/SO engine always made me see red...

I can handle it if the bombers/heavy fighters have to line up for 20-30 seconds and then launch a hard-to-hit torpedo...but when you equip them with a gun that allows them to hit my ship's engines, bridge, and landing bay (which means I die??! darn you origin!!!) a few times quickly and knock it out...that's the last straw.

I threw that damn joystick on the desk in disgust more times than I care to admit after beating back a wave of red mantas and stingray-t's only to be told I'd died because their first target was the landing bay of the Midway/Cerberus!

 

[CataclysmX]

The mission in Privateer where you first discover the Gamma system and you are attacked by 3 Dralthi, then 3 Gothri then 3 more Dralthi, in an asteroid belt.

Hard, but rewarding. The asteroids usually do most of the work for you. Cat + asteroid = kitty litter.

 

[Falcon988]

You know I've never once had a problem shooting down the skipper missiles in Locanda. If anything I thought they were too easy. Though I think there's something wrong with my version because the briefing say the missiles cloak, but I've never seen them do that. So I just chase them down, shoot them, and they blow up. I have a harder time shooting down torpedoes in StarLancer or Freespace than I do the skippers in WC3.

Let's see, hardest mission... well there are many that -would be- if you stayed to fight the enemies. For instance my friend always says that the SM2 "Hornet vs Kilrathi Fleet" missions are the hardest, but I've always just flown right by the enemies in those missions and accomplished my reconaissance objectives without engaging. One of the toughest missions though was definately when you fought the Rapiers. That took me many tries and eventually I managed it by juking around like crazy and getting lucky - some of the Rapiers crashed into each other and evened the odds for me.

For me the toughest has always been the final mission of SO1 where you launch against the two Fralthra. That's also my favorite mission of the series by the way, just because I love the atmosphere of it all. Regardless, those anti-matter guns wasted me every time when I was younger until I gave up. Didn't ever beat it until a few months ago when I replayed WC2.

Temblor Run is also very difficult if you have no cloak or afterburners... I got wasted last time I tried it.

 

[Falcon988]

The mission in Privateer where you first discover the Gamma system and you are attacked by 3 Dralthi, then 3 Gothri then 3 more Dralthi, in an asteroid belt.

Hard, but rewarding. The asteroids usually do most of the work for you. Cat + asteroid = kitty litter.

Oh I love watching Kilrathi crash into asteroids. That's rewarding every time. If there's one thing I missed in WC3, it was the dense asteroid and mine fields to dogfight in.

 

[ChrisReid]

You know I've never once had a problem shooting down the skipper missiles in Locanda. If anything I thought they were too easy. Though I think there's something wrong with my version because the briefing say the missiles cloak, but I've never seen them do that. So I just chase them down, shoot them, and they blow up. I have a harder time shooting down torpedoes in StarLancer or Freespace than I do the skippers in WC3.

All capship missiles aren't skippers. I don't think the biowarheads cloak.

 

[Mjr. Whoopass]

The WC4 mission where you and Maniac rescue the scientist after failing the photo recon is definitely one of if not THE toughest missions IMO for the games I've beaten: WC1-SM1-WC3-WC4. The hardest part is that Maniac can't be shot down by the time you rescue the scientist. I prefer to play the games on nightmare level, and you really have to look after Maniac. Sometimes he just crashes into the ground and sometimes he loses 1v1 vs. a single fighter. 2 banshee aces at the 1st Nav, 1 ground turret, one Vindicator ace, and a 2nd Vindicator at the second, third, and 4th navs, then when you exit the planet, you'd face 4 Banshees (aces IIRC). I had to avoid the Banshee navs to complete the mission and had to play it several times until Maniac didn't get shot down or crash before the extraction.

The other mission after not following the pirate frigate in WC4 is also REALLY tough, but I haven't played it in awhile. It was very intimidating to beat WC3 with very few probs on nightmare level and have trouble beating even the beginning missions of WC4- I started to think it would be impossible to beat the game.. but I think these beginning missions are some of the toughest.

Sure the waves of enemies are tougher for missions like outrun Ella, but the problem is that for these beginning missions you have to choose either a Longbow or a Hellcat, which are both outclassed by much faster Banshees/Razors/Arrows. The added challenge of babysitting Maniac is no easy task.

 

[Falcon988]

All capship missiles aren't skippers. I don't think the biowarheads cloak.

Hm, never thought about that. Guess I'm confused from the WC3 novel where the missiles launched at Locanda were cloak capable. At least I think they were. Hence I assumed they would be in the WC3 game also.

 

[Falcon988]

The WC4 mission where you and Maniac rescue the scientist after failing the photo recon is definitely one of if not THE toughest missions IMO

When I was first playing WC4 nine years ago at my friend's house, that was the mission we were both stuck on and never got past. This was long before we ever looked at the options screen and saw you could change the game to rookie, or set yourself invulnerable. I've never actually beaten that mission either because I've never had a chance to play it again; I played and beat WC4 on the Playstation, but I've never owned the DOS version. I intend to change that soon though, and then I shall have my revenge on the scientist rescue mission .

 

[Bandit LOAF]

The Locanda mission doesn't say anything about cloaked missiles -- that's the Orsini 4 briefing. (You may be confusing it with the novel, in which the missiles used against Locanda *are* cloaking skippers.)

 

[Mjr. Whoopass]

I think the Ella mission is definitely up there. In a Dragon it's pie, but with let's say a Banshee or Bearcat on Hard, you will definitely lose your wingman (Maniac usually lasts longest) and you will also probably die, haha. I really don't enjoy plinking away at Hellcat tail for 2 minutes each..

I like the Bearcat, I thought the mission was VERY easy in that fighter...

Well, the Bearcat was considered pretty average. The auto-tracking guns don't help much without convergence.

The Bearcat's the best fighter on the short term since it's so fast and nimble, but it lacks the staying power of the Dragon due to its missile loadout. I chose the Dragon for the Ella mission since the capships threaten your carrier and need to be taken out quickly. With the Dragon you can cloak while lining up your torp shot, and uncloak and fire when you're closer to the capship. I think it would be MUCH tougher with the Bearcat since you don't have torps and have a limited time to take out the capships while enemy fighters swarm you.

 

[Mjr. Whoopass]

You know I've never once had a problem shooting down the skipper missiles in Locanda. If anything I thought they were too easy. Though I think there's something wrong with my version because the briefing say the missiles cloak, but I've never seen them do that. So I just chase them down, shoot them, and they blow up. I have a harder time shooting down torpedoes in StarLancer or Freespace than I do the skippers in WC3.

They're definitely in the game (NOT on the Locanda mission) and I definitely think they're harder than the Starlancer Torps... but maybe not on the easier difficulty settings. On the nightmare setting, you're having fighters swarming you, shooting lasers and multiple missiles while you try to fly around the general area you think it might be.. you're flying in circles while changing planes while trying to head in the general direction, launching decoys, and cycling through targets all at the same time. Sometimes it pops up and by the time you afterburn to it, it disappears only to reappear just in time to blow up the ship you're protecting.. I can handle Starlancer's torps, but to paraphrase Rollins ".. those Skippers are a b**ch aren't they Colonel?"

The Locanda mission doesn't say anything about cloaked missiles -- that's the Orsini 4 briefing. (You may be confusing it with the novel, in which the missiles used against Locanda *are* cloaking skippers.)

Skippers on the Locanda mission would be a real nightmare, no wonder it gets blasted in the novel.

 

[Dougly]

The last mission in Novaya Kiev in WC2, where you have to jump into a system by yourself and fend off 3 Sartha and a Ralatha while you try to tractor in a data pod.

I remember being so frustrated by that mission when I first played WC 2. I'm not a huge fan of Broadswords in the first place - I think they're nothing but death traps for their pilots - and that Ralatha is deadly.

I actually never successfully completed that mission until just a few days ago, when I was replaying WC2 on DosBox. In the past, I'd try and try, and eventually just give up and eject. But, I was fairly young, and it never occurred to me to try tractoring in the data pod and jumping out without taking down the Ralatha.

 

[Falcon988]

Really? I love flying the Broadsword. The Sartha in those mission had no chance against my mass driver cannons! Now the Epee... yikes. I get wiped out on the Epee missions and I always have.

 

[Death]

Skippers on the Locanda mission would be a real nightmare, no wonder it gets blasted in the novel.

It's even worse in the novel, there's a squadron of Strakhas also involved in distracting the terran fighters from intercepting the missiles, as well.