Let's Play Wing Commander - Gimle Mission #2 - Deathstroke

 We were supposed to be getting out of Gimle pretty soon, but there was one small problem: Ops had detected a number of inbound Kilrathi fighters. They weren’t going to let us leave without a fight.



The Rapiers were with another team today, and we were back in our Raptors. All we had to do was run out to Nav Point 1 and see what was there.

Dralthi. Two full flights of them. Dakhath Deathstroke was leading the second flight, but we'd have to get through the first group to
even worry about that.

Angel broke right, I pulled left and we both went to 'burners. Outnumbered four to one, our only chance was to be aggressive from the start.

Under full guns, the lead Dralthi practically vaporized and then we were fully committed to the merge. I picked a target, engaged, and as soon as that one blew up, I went after another one. I don't recall which one was Dakhath, but I sure wasn't going to let that furry bastard shoot any more ejected pilots.

I had to check my watch when it was over. We'd blasted all eight of them in less than five minutes.

Let's Play Valkyria Chronicles 4: Chapter 5: Food Fight

Squad E enters a captured Federation town in search of food and supplies. Interactions with the townspeople are awkward, and there's no food to be found. It's almost like someone got there first. Hey, what's Squad F doing over there?

Let's Play Wing Commander - Gimle Mission #2 - Rapier Test Flight

I have no idea how I lucked into this one. When the pair of shiny F-44A pre-production birds touched down on the Claw, I assumed that if anyone would be taking them out on combat flights, it would be a couple of senior pilots on a milk run. Not so! Instead, Colonel Halcyon picked Angel and me to take the new fighters out on a regular three point CAP.



I can't wait for these things to hit regular squadron use. The Rapier is faster than a Hornet, with shields like a Raptor. It could use a couple of heat-seekers in place of the Iffies, but other than that I have no complaints.

Angel and I took off on patrol. We slipped through a small asteroid field at Nav 1, then ran into a Dralthi patrol at Nav 2. Not much to worry about there. Then we jumped a pair of Gratha a Nav 3. Still no worries. The Rapier really outclasses the cat heavies. I'm going to enjoy flying this bird.

Let's Play Valkyria Chronicles 4! Squad Story - Gambler's Ruin

Another side story. This time featuring a hard-luck gambler, a dissection obsessed scout, and author who talks far more than he actually writes. Can Jester find a way to change his luck, or has he been dealt his last hand?



This was an interesting little story. Nothing really of consequence, but Jester, Teresa, and Connor are interesting to play. Definitely better than last week's Treading New Ground story.

Let's Play Wing Commander - Gimle Mission #1 - Exeter Stage Right

If I thought the first couple of systems we had fought in were tough, Gimle was a whole different kind of battle. Our first mission was supposed to be a basic escort, walking an Exeter-class destroyer home from the jump point.



Instead, Angel and I launched straight into the teeth of a surprise ambush by two groups of Salthi. I don't know if the cats had blundered into the Claw's battlegroup by accident, or if they meant to be a quick strike force, but they sure hadn't brought enough firepower along to attack a carrier and her escorts.

Angel and I quickly joined the fight and made short work of the Kilrathi light fighters. Then it was off to Nav 1 and the destroyer.

Maybe the Salthi were just supposed to be a diversion to buy time. Because when we got to Nav 1, the destroyer was already under attack by a trio of Jalthi heavy fighters. Maybe the cats had figured that a few light fighters were a worthwhile trade for a destroyer. I don't know. What I do know is that Angel and I had one hell of a fight on our hands. Not that the Jalthi is much of a dogfighter, but that six-pack of lasers, plus the twin neutron guns for good measure, makes those things positively lethal as cap-ship killers if they're left unchecked for just a few seconds too long.

Angel and I split the bandits between us. We rolled in punching off missiles as quickly as we could, trying for a quick kill. I bagged one of the fighters first, and turned my attention to the unengaged fighter. Sure glad I was in a Raptor now, because those full gun bursts were able to make short work of the Jalthi once I got on the cat's six.

Angel finished off her target, and we joined up with the destroyer. They were pretty beat up, but still spaceworthy. Once they got back to the Claw they'd have a fair bit of damage control to finish up, but it would be nice to have that additional firepower in the strike group. 

Let's Play Valkyria Chronicles 4! Squad Story - Tanks for the Memories

Squad stories are little side vignettes which unlock after playing with a particular set of characters for a while. It's a chance to get a little more insight on three of the "regular" members of Squad E. Successfully completing a Squad Story usually either unlocks a new potential, or changes a negative potential to something better.



I feel like Treading New Ground is one of the weaker Squad Stories, but it's the first one that I did. This one centers around Aulard, one of Squad E's engineers, and Dan and Miles, Squad E's APC and tank drivers, respectively. It's a fun enough little story, it just doesn't really mean much overall, except that Aulard gets a better potential out of it.

Let's Play Wing Commander 1: McAuliffe Mission 3

I was going to miss flying with Paladin. He sure wasn't flashy, but you knew exactly where he was, and that he had your back. I hadn't realized how valuable that was back in the academy.


For what would be our last mission as a flight pair, the Colonel had us back on escort duty. Confed had a lot of heavy cargo coming in, both to fortify the system, and to resupply before our next jump. Not that the Cats were going to make it easy. They'd turned one of their best loose somewhere in system, and were putting up a massive fight.

Given that, I shouldn't have been surprised that we bumped into a four-ship of Krants halfway to the jump point. Paladin broke right to take the lead, and I burned in underneath to try and catch at least one of the big medium fighters from behind before its pilot could react. After that it just dissolved into a massive furball, fighters going every which way. Paladin drew a lot more than his fair share of fire, which allowed me to knock down most of the enemies.

That issue solved, we pressed on to the jump point. The Drayman transport jumped in right on schedule, and we started for home. That's when Bhurak and his two wingmen (wingcats?) jumped us. I knew Bhurak had me maneuvered, but he was still flying a Salthi. While Paladin rolled in on the wingmen, I went straight for Starkiller. Intel had said that the Kilrathi ace liked to launch his missiles at max range and then close for gun kills. I figured if I closed fast enough, I could negate his maneuvering advantage and bring my Scim's mass drivers to bear faster.

Against a heavier fighter, I would have been toast. As it was, I swear I saw one of Bhurak's rockets just pass my right wing, then I opened up with the mass drivers. Maybe the cat was used to people running from him. Maybe he just didn't expect a human to play chicken. I don't know. What I do know, is that I flew through an expanding glass cloud that used to be a Salthi, and the cat hadn't managed to knock my shields down.

After that it was an easy 2v2 cleanup of the remaining hostiles with Paladin. Then home to the Claw for a bit of R&R before the next jump.

Note: Success in this mission will send players to the Gimle System to fly Raptors. Failure will send players to the Brimstone System, still in Scimitars.

Let's Play Wing Commander 1: McAuliffe Mission #2 - Destroyer Strike

Finally a chance to do something other than patrols or escorting fat, slow transports. McAuliffe was heating up, at least that's what the Colonel said, and he was sending strike pairs out to engage and neutralize possible threats that had popped up on radar.



It seemed like the guys in the bar earlier must have been part psychic, since we'd just been discussing the best way to take out an enemy capital ship. Maniac, of course, favored an agressive strategy of burning in, popping the cap ship, then dealing with the fighter escort. Iceman, and everyone with a brain, preferred to engage the escorts first, then deal with the big hostile once there wasn't anything left that could shoot us in the back.

 The flight of Dralthi we blundered into halfway to the nav point was just bad luck. Certainly for them, since Paladin and I made short work of them. At Nav 1, we rolled in against a bigger threat: two Krants escorting the Ralari destroyer we'd come to destroy.

I gave Paladin the lead and burned hard to come in under the trailer. On paper, the Scim and Krant woere pretty close matches. The Krant had slight edge in armor, I had a little more firepower. When the trailing fighter couldn't turn in fast enough to hang with me, firepower won. I went underneath him at full burner, then cut my drives and pitched around to put myself on his tail. One full burst from my Mass Drivers was all it took. That gave me time to help Paladin, who was struggling with the other fighter. The cat must have gotten target fixated as Paladin tried to extend and clear, allowing me to call Fox Two and put a heater up the Krant's tailpipe.

After that, the Ralari was just a matter of weathering the flak and unloading guns into the engines. Problem solved, and we were RTB with not too much worse than some paint scratches and half-empty missile racks.

Let's Play Valkyria Chronicles 4! Chapter 3 - Rangers In The Storm

More backstory! Well, sort of. What we have here is some light-hearted squad hijinks that turn silly, plus some mandatory anime silliness between Claude and Riley. Then combat. Lots of combat.



The whole thing ends on a really tough note though, as we finally get some backstory on what happened between Riley and Claude when they were kids. It's the first time the story gets dark for a little bit, but it's not the last.

Remember, this is a war story. Not everyone gets a happy ending. Not everyone started with a happy beginning either.

Let's Play Wing Commander - McAuliffe System, Mission 1 - Don't Mine Me...

New system, new ship, new wingman. It was great to fly with Paladin on my wing, but to be honest, I could have done with the transfer into the Blue Devils. Nothing against the squadron itself, but like Iceman warned me, the Scimitar is a gun heavy slug. Oh well, the Colonel sets the squadrons, not me.



My first mission with Paladin was a simple four point patrol. We ran into some Dralthi at Nav 1 and made quick work of them. The Scim may not be artful, but against the flying bullseyes, burning in and dumping a full capacitator of mass driver shots is all the art you need.

The minefield at Nav 3 was another matter. I don't know Paladin managed to slice through that field the way he did, but I was dodging those damn magnetic mines the whole time, and praying my shields would hold up. At least I got to take my frustrations out on a wing of Salthi that were hanging around near Nav 4.

Paladin's a good wingman. You can always count on him to be right where he should be. He likes to let pilots learn by experience, and only intervene when he needs to. Part of me is surprised that he's not an academy IP, but having his experience embedded in the squadron is definitely a huge win for every one of us younger pilots who are willing to listen.

Let's Play Wing Commander 1 - Enyo Mission 2 - Babysitting Duty

(Note: since mission recaps are kind of boring, and I've had this head-canon for something like twenty-five years, I'm going to start writing these as fiction from the POV of Bill "Maverick" Loridan.)

The Drayman transport was just painfully slow. I wanted him to go faster, or at least give me a reason to do barrel rolls around the ship, but Spirit probably wouldn't have approved of that. Still, the little Hornet felt like she was practically begging to be wrung out proper-like. It was almost a relief when we finally ran into a pair of Salthi light fighters lurking near the first nav point.



"Spirit, fight's on. You take the trailer, I'll get the leader." A double-click on the comm was all I needed in return. Unlike some of the other folks on the Claw, Spirit wasn't especially talkative during missions. Still, she was a good pilot, and burned ahead, aiming at the trailing enemy fighter. I throttled up to engage the lead fighter, who made a serious mistake in turning to engage Spirit as she burned past him.

It was the last mistake that Kilrathi would ever make.  The moment he turned his back to me, my lasers cut through his shields and armor. I turned my attention to the second fighter just in time to see Spirit snap a perfect Dumbfire shot that caught the other Salthi amidship.

The second encounter was almost anti-climatic by comparison.  The pair of flying bullseyes waiting for us at the jump point never stood a chance. The Dralthi is a piece of junk that looks like it combines poor visibility, lousy armor, and light armament into a package fit only for target practice. I'm glad they're on the enemy's side, not ours.

 The post-mission debrief was pretty normal. Colonel Halcyon congratulated us on getting the transport safely away, and on getting ourselves back safely. Probably the biggest news was that I was being transferred out of the Killer Bees to go fly the Scimitar. Not sure how I feel about that just yet.

Let's Play Valkyria Chronicles 4 - Chapter 2: Tanks? You're Welcome!

We've got all our units introduced, so now we can get down to the meat of the game. This chapter starts off by introducing the Headquarters Camp, where players will spend most of their time in between missions managing and training personel, upgrading weapons, and shifting around equipment.

But all that menu stuff is boring. It's necessary from a gameplay standpoint, but to watch? SKIP! So I do.



The battle is interesting for being split into two parts. Sneaking around in the fog is interesting, especially when you're not sure whether you're going to find a wooden dummy, or a heavy tank that's going to eat your lunch. Moving fast is the key to an A rank, and I managed to do that on the first go.

Let's Play Wing Commander! Enyo Mission 1, Welcome to the Vega Sector

Welcome to Wing Commander and the Vega Sector! I may have mentioned just a few times before that this is one of my favorite games of all time. These first few missions I could almost do blindfolded. Almost.



Remember, this is a game that came out in 1990. The first two missions in Enyo are the closest thing to a tutorial that the game has. We start off with a basic three point patrol. There are a few flying bullseyes (Dralthi) at Nav 1, some asteroids Nav 2, and a few Salthi light fighters at Nav 3. Pretty basic stuff.

One of the things that made Wing Commander unique was wingmen with personality. Shotglass will tell you that Spirit is a good wingman. She may be a little more chatty than a wingman should be, but unlike some of the folks you'll fly with, she's really good about not shooting through you to hit an enemy target.

Back when Wing Commander originally came out, the game box came with these lovely blueprints for each of the four fighters that you flew. Very official looking, and very cool. I wish I knew where mine had gotten to over the years.

The Hornet too, is a fun little fighter. Definitely something I prefer over the Scimitar, but that's a commentary for some later missions. The Hornet is quick, maneuverable, and decently armed. I'm not fond of going up against anything tougher than a Krant in one, but both Gratha and Jalthi are doable if you're smart and aggressive.

Let's Play Valkyria Chronicles - Chapter 1 - Get Cinderella To The Ball!

As expected, Chapter 1 still has a lot of tutorial stuff going on. However, it does introduce Valkyria Chronicles 4's new unit type, the Grenadier.


I don't know why they didn't call this unit a Mortar carrier, or something similar, because "Grenadier" has traditionally been a term associated with team members or whole units focused on throwing grenades/carrying a grenade launcher/being heavy assaulters. None of these things are true of the VC4 Grenadiers. I refer to them as mortar units in-game most of the time. Scouts, Machine-gunners, and mechanics all carry grenades.

Regardless of the terminology issues, the Grenadier/Mortar unit is a really fun addition to the game. They unlock some great indirect fire strategies, and can help slow down enemy units with reactive fire during the enemy's turn.

Let's Play Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance - B7M4 - Killing Another Death Star!

This is it! The big moment! Everything that's been building up, leading to this final run through the interior caverns of the Death Star II to blow this battlestation up and rain flaming chunks down on Endor, thus triggering the great Endor Holocaust.

Ehrm, this is supposed to be happy event, isn't it?



Anyway, the mission itself is pretty straight forward, unlike the tunnels that you'll be flying through. These tight, debris choked corridors are going to kill you. Again, and again, and again. Then, just when you think this will be the final run, they'll kill you a few more times for good measure.

Fortunately, you can at least blast most of the obstacles out of the way. That knowledge would have made my life a lot easier, if I'd realized it on the first series of attempts. Oh well. Good luck, and May the Force Be With You!

Also, happy Black Friday to all American shoppers out there! We'll be back next week with a brand new Flight Friday Let's Play series!

Let's Play Valkyria Chronicles 4 - Prologue

Last week ended my LP series for Ash of Gods: Redemption. While that was fun, now it's on to a game that I have excited about ever since it was announced for a Western release: Valkyria Chronicles 4!


Part squad level turn-based strategy, part anime cartoon, Valkyria Chronicles draws heavily on World War 2 history for its inspiration. The original game pitted a Gallia (standing in for Great Britain)
 analog against the military might of a continent spanning power (think Germany). "Darksens" stood in for Jews, and the story revolved around plucky Gallia's war retain their freedom.

Valkyria Chronicles 4 abstracts the war a lot more as it's based more in the battles on the Eastern Front. This time players step into the boots of Claude Wallace, commander of Ranger Squad F in the Federation army. They are part of a massive land strike force attempting to push through the heart of Imperial territory to take the capital before winter slows things to a crawl.

Anyone who remembers their WWII history can take a guess at how well that initial plan is going to go.

In this scenario, the good guys should win out in the end, but it's going to be a challenge getting there!

Let's Play Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance - B7M3 - Clearing the Way!

Now that the Executor has been destroyed and the shield is finally down, it's time to commence the attack on the Death Star properly. First, there's another fighter screen and a Star Destroyer to clear out of the way.



This is basically Mission 1 redux, only with a Star Destroyer to beat, and the need to get to the initial entry position within a time limit.

It's not terribly difficult. Focus on the fighters, then go after the shields on the Star Destroyer. With the Falcon's turrets, dealing with the fighters isn't too difficult, and you should be able to make it to the nav point with a minute or two to spare.

Let's Play Ash of Gods: Redemption - Epic Finale!

It's the final countdown! Both Thorn Brennin and Lo Pheng race to stop the Reapers' nefarious plan, but will they be in time? Even if they are in time, will it matter? Who can contain the birthing of a god into the mortal realm?

Let's Play Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance - B7M2 - Destroy the Executor!

Phase Two. Destroy the Executor and throw the Imperial fleet into some chaos.



The biggest issue here is that the Executor has more than the standard number of deflector shield generators. Start picking them off, and be prepared for if the ship clips through you when it dies (as happens at the end of the video).

Let's Play Ash of Gods: Redemption - All Together Now - Chapter 9a

All the threads are finally wrapping up. Something big is going to happen, but what? First off, Hopper still has some work to do.