WC 2 mission help

tolppi

Spaceman
Hey,

I've been trying to pass the mission where you are flying as Hobbes as your wingman for the first time. I just can't seem to beat the enemies at NAV 2. There are four of them, one being an ace I think. I've tried to save all my missiles for the ace but I think he is just too fast and evades them? It's hard to hit him and he can shoot at me even when I'm right behind him. Usually Hobbes dies trying to fight the other three ships. I've died many many times and just can't survive x.x I'd welcome any tips, please.
 
It's 4 Grikaths (1 being an ace), so yes they're very difficult. If you feel outmatched, you can disengage or skip the waypoint entirely. I don't believe killing the Grikaths is critical.

EDIT: Grikaths have 3 chaff pods and like to use them, so that's probably why your missiles are missing.
 
Oh, okay, thanks. Maybe I'll have to try that. I don't usually like skipping but in this case I might just have to. I'm playing the GOG version which runs through dosbox and the gameplay suffers from either being too slow or fast at times. That probably doesn't help. :)
 
As far as actually fighting Grikaths go, it's best if you can get close lure them into a furball and turn with them so the side is facing you. Rotate so they're flying horizontally from your perspective, so your particle cannons can hit properly. Those neutron guns hit hard, so your main objective should be to stay out of their effective firing cone.

I don't recall ever having to really kill Grikaths in WC2, though, outside of when they're actually threatening your capships. In those cases you can intercept their torpedoes and just let the capships knock them down.
 
You can change the speed DOSBox runs at by hitting Ctrl-F11 (slow down) or Ctrl-F12 (speed up) if that's a problem. Other than that, yeah, that's one of the harder fights in the game.

Two general tips then, one for fighting heavy ships in a light ship and one for fighting while badly outnumbered.

It's easy to get and stay on the tail of big lumbering Jalkehi and Grikaths in a Rapier, but that doesn't mean you should do it. The Rapier's guns discharge the energy banks fairly quickly, after which they don't fire all that rapidly. So if you hang around on a bomber's tail after you've already shot it up, then a) you're flying a fairly straight course which is asking to get shot up by his wingmen, and b) you're taking damage from the turret. So break off, fly some evasive loops, recharge your guns and then barrel back in at the bomber again. This involves a lot less damage to you for only slightly less damage to them.

Secondly, when there are a large number of enemies you can't usually afford to focus on a single fighter. Keep scrolling through the targets, looking for the one whose range to you is decreasing. That's the one who's currently attacking you. Lock your target, point the fighter towards him, dodge around a bit and hit him as he turns away at the end of his firing pass (don't go head to head with Grikaths in a Rapier). Unlock the target, repeat.

Failing that, your best course of action is to port the mission over to the Vision engine. Four Grikaths against a Rapier in Standoff would take about a minute, if that, and you'd probably take no damage. And yes forum, I know I should be doing the Standoff guide instead of providing random WC2 advice. Sorry about that.
 
There is no "calm" approach to that mission, you just have to prevail the oldfashioned way, by outflying them. The rapier is faster and more manouverable. Avoid a frontal assault and tailing them, but fly around them and hit them from the sides. Also try to seperate them by flying through them on full burners. If you manage to get in the situation you can take them on one at the time, full burst, and then steer away to avoid his firing arc. Save you missiles for the rest of the mission.
 
There is no "calm" approach to that mission, you just have to prevail the oldfashioned way, by outflying them. The rapier is faster and more manouverable. Avoid a frontal assault and tailing them, but fly around them and hit them from the sides.
Also, don't forget that you are armed with Lasers and Particle Cannons, which both have a longer range than the Grikaths' Neutron Cannons. Thus, when you are between 3000 and 4000 m away from them, you will be able to shoot them and they will be unable to shoot you regardless of how they maneuver. As such, the Rapier's combination of longer-ranged guns and greater speed and agility lends itself to attacking Grikaths at long range when possible.
 
The Rapier's bunker like cockpit view usually leads the pilot to only yaw when flying, but also consider a pitching fight. Attacking Grikaths from underneath at maximum range is a handy skill to have.
 
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