Dreadnought A Problem – Let’s Play Wing Commander: The Secret Missions – Vigrid Mission 2

Okay, it took me a bit longer to get this one published than I had previously anticipated. But finally, here we are, at the end of another campaign, with a massive Kilrathi superweapon squarely in our gunsight. After battling through waves of medium- and heavy-fighters, it seems almost anticlimactic to just sit on the Sivar‘s six-o’clock and fire lasers into it until it explodes. But that’s what we’re going to do anyway!

There’s a few different ways to approach this mission – the Krants and Fralthi-class at Nav 1 aren’t necessary to the mission, and can be bypassed if so desired. Same goes for the three waves of fighters guarding the Sivar at Nav 2 – if you want to send Knight home, kill all but one of the Krants, bore in and kill the Sivar, then bug out for home, there’s nothing stopping you from doing just that. Provided that the Sivar is dead, the mission is a success. As Nicholas Moran (The Chieftan) put it, the difference between a gamer and a real tanker (or pilot) is that the gamer says “I got seven kills before they finally got me! This is a good tank!” A real tanker says “I don’t care how many kills I got as long as we got the objective and came home safely!”

Ah, but we’re gamers, so killcount matters here. The Krants and Fralthi-class at Nav 1 are easy pickings for our two Rapiers, but the main action is at Nav 2 around the Sivar. A wave of Krants, then a wave of Jalthi, and finally a half-dozen Gratha to finish things off. Taking them all out requires a fair bit of skill and a bit of luck, but it’s manageable. Just don’t let your guard down completely after trashing the Sivar and all its escorts. Unlike the end of Wing Commander, this time there’s one last little surprise waiting for you before the victory party. You wanted one last dogfight with a quartet of Krants anyway, right?

And that wraps it up for Wing Commander: The Secret Missions! Next week I’ll do a full highlights post, and then on Friday we’ll jump into the second expansion pack for the game, creatively named Wing Commander: The Secret Missions 2- Crusade!