Dire Wolf Clue Book

First, unless it is stated otherwise, always pick the top choice on all dialogues. (In WC Kilrathi Saga the locations of dialog are randomly moved around!)

Second, most mission sets have only one mission that matters for win/lose purposes (though they all affect moral, etc.).

ORSINI

#1 3 nav points

in a Hellcat with Hobbes

Hobbes can fly this one by himself and clear it out, but it is good practice. Use your missiles in order to get kills (otherwise Hobbes will steal some). Alt B Hobbes to let him break and attack, remember F for full guns. Practice changing the power settings (^[ to set Power at 25%, up shields to about 40% then ^[, the rest to guns Shift ], one notch for damage (just in case).) The clear Nav points are a good place to practice.

The Nav display "improvements" are a nice cosmetic touch, but Privateer's method was 1000% more functional.

#2 3 nav points

Cobra (or any) in an Arrow

Good practice on a small capital ship.

Your wingmen are always more effective against capital ships than you are.

#3 Escort Transport, patrol some afterwards.

Vaquero (or any) in an Arrow (or practice on a Thunderbolt)

You need to get close to the transport to link with it, otherwise the game just leaves it behind (about 1000 or so). Kill everything you meet (why not). The transport jumps out intelligently. You have to win this mission, but is is hard to lose. (I don't know anyone who has).

#4 Escort Transport. The real mission is to beat the "skip" missile.

Hobbes in a Thunderbolt is the easy way to win this.

Maniac in an Arrow is recommended by Origins.

Link with Transport.

After Nav 1, leave the transport behind and do an advance recon at full set speed. About 36m or so out, you'll encounter a Kilrathi intercept group. Tell Hobbes to kill the corvette (it has the skipper missile) and go after the escort (2 Dralthi). Maniac will do what he pleases.

The Origin way is to take Maniac (he can kill Kilrathi quickly) and an Arrow (keep HS missiles though -- Origin is wrong). Get close to the Corvette and watch for yellow dots (the skip missile?). Chase it back towards the transport until you get a missile lock and fire a HS (oops, that is a hidden secret, Origin suggests using guns, but a HS will follow it in and out of cloak).

It is hard to chase the right yellow dot at 600kph.

TAMAYO

Flash, use response 2 (knock his morale down, ship up), but agree with Flint/Maniac (use response 2).

#1 Point Defense.

This is a launch and defend the Victory. Because of the changes in the gameflow it isn't as measured as the WC1 and WC2 examples of the genre. You launch in an Arrow, listen to Maniac announce kills.

This is a success/failure mission, but it is hard to see how you can lose unless you shoot down Maniac before he saves the Victory singlehandedly.

#2 Talk to Rachel (so you can fly the Excalibur).

Er, intercept and kill 4 transports.

Excalibur, with IR missiles.

Remember ^A is the autofire which hits anything you are locked on as long as you can see it (a quantum level better than ITTS). Lock on an enemy, then start dodging, while keeping him in sight. You can blow them away 1.2.3... that way. Without ^A this mission is difficult. (Origin should have noted reminders of commands like this throughout the book).

Hobbes and Flint will automatically kill all four transports that you are assigned after. If you want any of that action at all, afterburn to the head of the line and work your way back. Hobbes is really, really fast as a transport killer.

This is a success/failure mission, but it is hard to see how you can lose.

#3 Fight with Flash.

Choose the 2nd response (to improve ship morale, knock Flash down a peg).

You start at a good distance. Set speed to 500+. Set engines to 25%, shields to 40%, guns to 30% and repair to 5%. Lock on Flash, leave missiles on HS, and put your finger on E (for Electronic Countermeasures). Dodge and watch for missiles (so you can drop decoys). 8 missiles, 24 decoys, use them liberally.

Flash uses afterburners like a fish uses water. Turn to face him after each pass, move guns to full (hit F). The heat seekers will tell you when you are on his tail. Use them to track him. He'll afterburn even more. When he comes around, wait until the ITTS ends up in his target square and then fire, dodging as soon as he hits you. (Or, you can just dodge, but this keeps you from getting bored). You'll need to use decoys alot, especially if you see that green square pop up.

When Flash runs out of juice, he won't afterburn away when you are tailing him. Start easing up on him. Hit B (for broadside of missiles). Somewhere around 600 is as close as you can get to him (Just under 700 it what it seems like). Fire off all the missiles at this point. If you are too far, he'll decoy all your missiles. Close enough and he doesn't have time (that is why you need to ease up on him). Generally he blows and you still have 2-3 missiles floating around in space.

LOCANDA

#1 Destroy 18 fighters to win.

Destroy 24 fighters to get "mission accomplished."

This is a great mission for Maniac (who has learned how to fly. For search and destroy missions, Maniac can't be beat). Thunderbolt, with FF (to hunt Strakha) and IR (to hunt Darket Ace). Full guns (or switch off Photon cannon and wait until your enemy is within 3000m).

Because of some limited maneuverability, shields will be important. lock Engines at 25% ^], move damage down to 0/5%, then start the mission.

The Kilrathi Ace Fireclaw is mixed in with the last mission, but you have 24 decoys and he has just a few missiles.