Wing Commander чит-файл №3

SECTION 1. -- Flying the various confederation fighters

a). HORNET
The HORNET is very maneuverable and very fast. However the
armaments, shields, and armor are inferior. When flying the
HORNET you must be constantly be vigilant that no enemy fighters
have you in their sights, as a very few hits penetrates the
shields and causes damage. Consequently you must use your
superior maneuverability to sneak up on the sides or back of
enemy fighters. Under NO circumstances can you engage in a
face to face slugging match with an enemy ship, even an enemy
SALTHI. You may occasionally win a face to face contest in that
you blow up the enemy ship, but the damage that you usually
suffer makes you a sitting duck for future encounters.

b). SCIMITAR
The SCIMITAR is excellent at nothing, and average at everything.
It has more firepower and protection than the HORNET, but it
maneuvers like a garbage truck. Some of your most difficult
(if not the most difficult) missions will be flown in this
fighter. This is because you will encounter all types of enemy
fighters in a craft that is inferior to what the furries are
flying. The key to flying SCIMITARs is the careful use of your
afterburners. The afterburners will help compensate for the
slow speed and maneuverability of this fighter. Use the
afterburners to speed by your target and then turn and fire
on your enemy. The mass driver is a reasonable weapon and
eight to ten quick hits on an enemy is usually enough to
destroy him. The SCIMITAR strategy is to hit the enemy
eight to ten times in the rear or side, then hit the after-
burner briefly, turn and attack again. When flying this ship
you need to remember that you are as slow as a pig and flying
a straight course (without using the afterburners) for any
length of time pretty much guarantees that the bad kitties have
locked on to you. This slow speed is also a detriment near
enemy capital ships in that you cannot get too close to them
and expect to make a hairpin turn without running into their
shields.

c). RAPTOR
The RAPTOR has the best armor and armaments of any confederation
fighter. In this ship you will at first feel invulnerable,
especially after flying the SCIMITAR. Don't believe it.
The ship is slightly less maneuverable than the SCIMITAR but
is superior weapons, armor, and forward speed more than make
up for it. Just a few hits from the combined mass driver and
neutron guns will disable or kill most enemy ships. This is
the one ship that you may get away with a face to face shootout
with your opponent. This tactic works well with enemy ships
that have damaged shields, weak shields to start with (e.g.
SALTHI or DRALTHI), or ships that only have a laser cannon as
their main weapon. Never, even in a RAPTOR, take on an enemy
ship face to face that has a neutron gun! You have to be
a little careful with you aim in this fighter because using
the neutron gun and the mass driver gun together, which is
usually the most effective combination, will quickly drain
the power from the gun. You get about four shots in quick
succession before you need to recharge. Therefore take careful
aim before you fire. You have the shielding and armor to take
one or two extra hits in order to ensure a hit. Also be aware
of the limited range of the neutron gun. If you are in a long
range battle, or are shooting at something weak but very
fast and maneuverable (e.g. SALTHI) you may want to switch to
mass driver only. This will give you more shots before you
have to recharge. If you do this be sure to reset you guns
to "full guns" afterwards. I have been blown up several times
because I went into the next battle with only mass drivers
because I forgot to reset my guns! As with the SCIMITAR, using
the afterburners carefully will help make up for the relatively
slow speed of the ship.

d). RAPIER
The RAPIER is by far the best confederation fighter. Indeed, a
good pilot can become nearly invincible when flying this machine.
The RAPIER has almost as much armor and armaments as the RAPTOR,
and is as maneuverable as a HORNET. You need to be careful when
first flying this ship because you have just come off the very
slow RAPTOR. This causes you to occasionally run into enemy
ships when you hit the afterburners while chasing one (yes,
this ship is so fast that the kitties can't get out of the
way fast enough)! As with the RAPTOR you should usually use
both the laser cannon and the neutron guns together, and it
should not take many hits to down your enemy. You should almost
never need to fire a missile at an enemy fighter because your
strong guns, coupled with the maneuverability to get on the
rear of the bad guys very swiftly, should allow you to get
lots of gun hits on your targets without taking them on face
to face.



SECTION 2. -- Meow Fighters

a). SALTHI
The SALTHI is the fastest fighter on either side. Its tactics
are very similar to the tactics you would use when flying a
HORNET. Generally the SALTHI will come at you head on, fire
off several shots, pivot, retreat, and turn for another pass
at you. SALTHIs can be very deadly when you are inexperienced
and flying the HORNET. On the positive side the SALTHI can
withstand only a few hits, and has only one dumb fire missile.
Five or six quick hits from a mass driver cannon can do in
a SALTHI. It takes more laser fire to do the job. When flying
the HORNET or SCIMITAR you should try to get behind or to the
side of the SALTHI to fire on it. This can be quite difficult
in the slow SCIMITAR, and I have gotten very frustrated trying
to hit these gnats from that ship. When flying the RAPTOR or
RAPIER you may be able to play chicken with them, as you will
generally receive only shield damage in a face to face
confrontation before you blow them away.

b). DRALTHI
The DRALTHI are the easiest ship to recognize because they
look like the saucer section of the Enterprise. They are
also the easiest Kilrathi ship to kill. When the DRALTHI
attacks you it will always turn up or down after making a
pass at your. This gives you an excellent opportunity to
plant a few hits on it as it goes by. Three or four swift
hits from a RAPTOR with full guns will destroy a DRALTHI.
Even the HORNET can kill a DRALTHI without too much difficulty.
The only thing to really watch out for with the DRALTHI is
that it is equipped with mines. If you follow one too close or
for too long he will "lay one on you". If you are following one
and all of a sudden you are watching the funeral sequence, that
is probably what happened to you.

c). KRANT
The KRANT seems to be the workhorse fighter of the cats. You
will fight more KRANTs than any other ship. Although not very
maneuverable KRANTs are pretty tough and can take a lot of
punishment for a medium fighter. After making a pass at you
KRANTs tend to do a loop-de-loop about 3000 meters in front of
you to turn for another pass. This is a good time to get a few
free shots off at them. Getting behind one and planting a few
up the tailpipe is also excellent strategy. Being relatively
slow it usually takes them a few seconds to react to you being
behind them, and unlike DRALTHIs they have no mines. KRANTs in
packs tend to fire large numbers of missiles in the early stages
of a battle, so beware.

d). GRATHA
GRATHAs are big, slow, and deadly. Never take on a GRATHA
face to face. GRATHAs also carry mines so be careful when
following one. The biggest weakness of the GRATHA is the big
long snout. The best way to attack a GRATHA is to come at it
from the side and plant a lot of hits in the side of the long
snout. The GRATHA is slow enough that you should be able to
swoop in, take a few shots, and get away before he gets his
guns to bear. You can also attack from the rear, but be
careful of mines. I have never been hit by a GRATHA mine,
or have survived if I have, as I have never seen the mine
come floating out of this ship. This luck may also be due
to the fact that you come upon GRATHAs usually when you are
flying a RAPTOR or RAPIER which may have enough armor and
shields to survive a mine blast.

e). JALTHI
JALTHIs are big, slow, and very deadly. JALTHIs have neutron
guns, so even in the most heavily shielded and armored ship
you can be blown to bits by these guys. I normally attack
these ships from above or below. They present a good target
when coming upon them from those directions. Also, as usual,
attacking from the rear is good. However the JALTHI is very
thin so you may need to adjust your pitch to get a good target.
It takes a large number of hits, even from a neutron gun, to
bring down a JALTHI, so you have to be patient and make several
passes at your target. Remember, stay out of the way of his
guns!



SECTION 3 - General Ship to Ship Combat Tactics

This section will be the one that will give you the most help in the
game, as most of the game involves fighter to fighter combat. My
tactics can be divided into two main areas. They are picking your
target, and the dogfight itself.

Picking your target is extremely important. In the early stages of
the game you may be tempted to go after the first ship that you
come upon. WRONG!!! You will die in a hurry that way. Going after
the first ship in a formation usually guarantees you a head to head
confrontation which means that even if you win your shields and
armor are depleted with the battle just getting under way. During
the initial contact sequence use your target computer (the "T" key)
to locate and identify as many of the incoming enemies as possible.
Repeatedly hit the key until you have seen them all or they get close
enough to start shooting at you (usually at 5000 - 6000 meters). Use
these criteria when picking a target:

a). If you are just entering a battle pick the second or third
ship in distance from you, or pick the last one if they are
all bunched together. Last means the last ship in the initial
formation. There may be other formations further away from
you. Don't worry about them yet unless your mission orders
have something to say about them. Also do not target a capital
ship in the early stages of a battle unless, from prior
experience with this particular battle, you know that the
capital ship is likely to warp out if you don't get it right
away. Going after capital ships when there are lots of fighters
around is a recipe for suicide.

b). If the dogfight is already underway and you have just destroyed
an enemy ship and are looking for another one you have two
initial things to check out. First if there is another enemy
close by you may want to attack it right away, especially if
it is firing on you. Second, if you are not in immediate
danger find and check out your wingman. If he is battling
a ship, target his enemy ship and attack it. This serves two
purposes. First, most of the wingman are not that good of
pilots, and after fighting a few enemies solo they get destroyed
or heavily damaged. So by attacking your wingman's enemy you
give your wingman a chance to recharge his shields and guns.
Second, if your wingman is even moderately skilled he (or she)
may have damaged the enemy fighter you are about to attack and
will make your job easier; also you may be able to sneak up
upon this enemy, who is concentrating on your wingman, and
plant several shots on him before he knows what hit him!
If your wingman is OK, or already dead, then look to target
stragglers. It is always better to go after a ship that is
out somewhere alone than ones in a group. Think like a lion
stalking prey on the African savannah; the weak, sick, or
lonely are the best tickets to a meal!

c). The usual procedure is to target capital ships when the enemy
fighters have been destroyed. There are a few exceptions to
this rule. First, from prior experience with this particular
mission, you may know that if you spend the time to attack the
fighters the capital ship will get away. If you have tried
going straight after the capital ship and have gotten fried
for your trouble, try this. Target the capital ship, then
call up your wingman and tell him to "attack my target", which
will cause your wingman to go after the capital ship. Your
job is to now keep the fighters that blew you away when you
went after big ship, away from your wingman while he deals
with the big ship. This worked for me sometimes, and sometimes
not. You also have to be somewhat unselfish to let your wingman
have the big kill. Second, you may notice after a while that
enemy capital ships are escorted by several squadrons of
fighters; and that the later squadrons do not appear until you
have done in all of the fighters in the previous squadron. This
provides you with a window of opportunity with regards to the
capital ship, especially if you find it difficult to finish off
several squadrons and the capital ship without getting dusted.
What you need to do is eliminate all of the first squadron,
EXCEPT for one ship. The remaining ship you may want to cripple
somewhat, but don't destroy it. Now you can attack the capital
ship with relative impunity because the fresh squadron won't
arrive yet (sneaky huh?). This tactic doesn't always work, in
that the new squadron may arrive sooner or later anyway, but
it usually gives you several passes at the capital ship. When
I did this I never found out why the second squadron arrived
anyway. Maybe my wingman downed the last ship.


I'm sure that there are many ways to approach the dogfight. I have
two golden rules I follow while in the dogfight. First, lock on
to a target (with the "L" key), and pursue it relentlessly until
you destroy it. Second, I almost never attack an enemy fighter
face to face (i.e. like in Dodge City). Rule number one should
be followed religiously. Your first few shots are spent draining
your opponents shields. If you give that opponent time to recharge
his shields, by shooting at another target, you have accomplished
nothing except to drain your guns. You will be often tempted to
shoot at other closer targets. Don't give in. Follow your mark,
wherever he goes, and keep planting the shots on him. The only
time that you should break off the attack is if your own shields
are down. If your shields are down move away from the battle,
using your afterburners, for a few seconds until they recharge;
even though this means that your opponent gets an opportunity to
recharge his shields too. When your shields are back up reacquire
the target you left and resume the battle. You may have to do
this several times to destroy some opponents; but remember, if
you land enough shots on him, before you have to withdraw to recharge
your shields, to penetrate his shields and cause real damage then
eventually you are going to destroy him (as long as his damage to
you is only to your shields). Patience is a virtue here. The
other thing that may happen to you is that your guns discharge
during a battle. When this happens you may not have to withdraw
too far. You can either dance around with your opponent until
your guns recharge, or you can fire a missile at him. Be aware
that you can destroy your own missile by firing it and then
shooting your guns at it, so don't get trigger happy.

Not facing an opponent face to face is the secret to killing many
enemies without taking significant damage yourself. If you faced
one enemy each mission a face to face battle might be acceptable
in that you could accept severe damage as long as you destroyed
that one opponent. However you are under the constraint that you
must not only survive each encounter, but also must not take damage
the will cumulatively cripple you in subsequent encounters. The
safest way to do this is to not to ever take a hit that you can
avoid. Think about all those old animal documentaries. Remember
how jackals and wolves always tried to attack the generic herd
animal with antlers from the side or rear? That is how you want
to play the game. I do it thusly:

After choosing my target (again usually the second or third
in the line) I tell my wingman, if necessary (you almost always
have to tell Palidin or Bossman to attack), to break and attack.
Then I get up to full speed (this is an absolute must!), hit the
afterburners and aim ten to twenty degrees to the right of my
intended target (I go to the right so I can turn left and attack
(maybe because I'm left handed) but doing it the other way should
work as well). Hitting the afterburners here helps ensure that
you will go by your target so fast that he can't hit you as you
go by. Just as I am going by the target I make a hard left turn,
maybe touching the afterburners a bit again if I overshot by too
much, come up on my target from the back and start pounding away.
The reason why I have targeted a ship toward the back of the
initial formation is that if I had done this to the lead ship I
would have exposed my hind end to the fighters coming up behind
him. I don't always choose the trailing ship in the initial
formation either because that usually results in all of the lead
ships that I passed attacking my wingman, who doesn't last long
against all those ships. If you have a strong armament fighter
against a weaker, but more agile opponent this tactic will still
put you on your opponents rear where you may be able to destroy
him with a few quick shots before the surprise wears off. Even
after the initial encounter I use this tactic or a variation on
it against every enemy I come up against. My goal is to never
allow my enemies guns to be pointed at me. If they are pointed
at me I get out of the way rather than duke it out. The only
exceptions to this are when there is a significant shield mismatch
and that I know that I can kill my opponent before he can shoot
his way through my shields (e.g. RAPTOR against DRALTHI). Using
this approach requires a lot of afterburner use. When you use
the afterburner use it sparingly. You don't have to lay on the
afterburner and keep you thumb on it. Just a couple quick touches
is enough to do the job. The fuel gage in your ship is your
afterburner fuel, not your normal fuel. Your ship has an
unlimited range at normal speed. If your fuel is low it means
that you have been a leadfoot on your afterburner. Running out
of fuel means no more afterburner, which can be a real problem
in a slow ship where you need your afterburner to compensate
for slow speed.

You may have noticed that up to now I haven't mentioned much about
using missiles. I normally use missiles against fighters in only
two situations. First, if I am right behind my opponent whose
shields are down, and my guns are discharged I will sometimes fire
a missile at him. The decision is based upon what kind of missile
I have (i.e. what kind of lock I need etc.) and if I think that
I will need them later. I also give consideration to how hard
I had to work to drain his shields and how long it would take me
to get his shields drained again if I wait for my guns to recharge.
The second situation in which I use a missile against a fighter is
if the fighter is attacking one of my capital ships. In this
situation it is imperative to do whatever it takes to get the
enemy ship to quit firing on the capital ship. When a Kilrathi is
hit by a missile it spins around a couple of times, so even if the
missile does not do a lot of damage it may buy your capital ship time
to recharge its shields. I usually don't fire a missile at a fully
shielded fighter. The missile can't penetrate the shields of most
enemy fighters, and seems to only pack as much punch as four or
five gun hits. The missile is better at finishing the job on an
unshielded ship. One further note about firing missiles at enemy
fighters attacking your capital ships. You must be extremely careful
not to hit your own ship. The best approach is to fire the missile
at the enemy fighter when you are between the fighter and your
capital ship. That way if you miss the missile heads out into
space rather than plowing into your capital ship. If you can't
do that then make sure that you are right on the tail of the enemy
fighter so that he can't get out of the way. Additionally the
dumb fire missiles are the most dangerous to use in this situation
because they have no automatic targeting ability.



SECTION 4 - Attacking Enemy Capital Ships and Bases

Compared to dogfighting attacking enemy capital ships and bases is
relatively easy work. The general procedure for this activity is to
clear out the enemy fighters and then go to work on the capital ship
or base. Capital ships generally have one or more squadrons of
fighter protection so it may take a while before you have a shot at
the main target. Additionally you may be under a time constraint in
that some capital ships will warp out if you don't get to them in
time. Indeed, some of the secret missions have capital ships that
you simply cannot get to in time even if you go straight for it and
ignore the fighters. If you have the time kill all of the fighters
first. Or, if necessary, you may use the tactic discussed earlier of
killing all but one of a squadron so that you can get the capital
ship or base before the other squadrons arrive.

There is one bit of misinformation that is dispersed by you flying
buddies in the bar and by Colonel Halycon concerning capital ships
and bases. That is that you need missiles to destroy them. That
is absolutely untrue. I destroyed the Sivar (the final ship in
the secret missions) with strictly LASER fire. Missiles can definitely
help, but are not required. In fact the best weapon for the job is
the laser. This is because of the laser's range and because shooting
only lasers generally does not discharge your guns so you can shoot
continuously. Assuming that you have destroyed all enemy fighters
you can close in on the base or capital ship and simply destroy it.
Most of these ships and bases have some form of anti-fighter weapons
so the closer to the target you are the more danger you are in of
being hit. The reason I like the laser in this situation is that
you can get within 4000 - 5000 meters of your target, drop your speed
to zero (or just fast enough to maintain the distance to the target)
and simply pound away. The enemy fire usually can't reach you out
there so all you have to do is keep firing until its all over.
If you are flying a ship without a laser you will have to get closer.
When you get closer you will have to shoot for a while, then turn away,
touch the afterburner, turn back and start firing again. If you are
in close and moving slowly watch your shields to make sure that you
aren't being hit. If you see your shields dropping, even the rear ones
(I never figured out how a base could hit my rear shield when my nose
was pointed at it but it happens), get out of there and come back for
another pass. You can also use missiles in this situation, especially
if you are under a time constraint and the ship or base is going
to warp out on you. Remember that if you fire a missile at something
don't shoot your guns at it until the missile impacts or else you will
simply destroy your missile. When firing at ships and bases it is best
to aim at the center of the object, or at the engines of ships. This
is especially true if you are very close to the target (i.e. 2000 meters
or less). Even though the target appears very large out the cockpit
window it seems that it is still relatively small and that you have
to hit it dead center. Watch your target monitor to ensure that the
ship or base's shields are draining or that it is taking damage as
you fire. Also watch for explosions out the cockpit window.



SECTION 5 - Escorting Capital Ships and Protecting Tigers Claw

Escorting ships and protecting the Tigers Claw are two of the most
difficult tasks that you will be assigned. This is because you can't
simply pick an enemy target and start firing. Your strategy and
choice of target is dictated by what is threatening your ship.
Additionally you will have the difficult task of maneuvering close
to a large friendly ship. I have crashed and burned many many times
by running into Tigers Claw while attempting to protect it. The basic
strategy here is to attack anything that is attacking your capital
ship. In this situation you may have to deviate from the golden rule
about sticking with a target once you have picked it out. Many times
you may land a few shots onto an enemy ship that was attacking your
capital ship only to have your target speed off into space. If you
follow that target to kill it you may find no capital ship or no
Tiger's Claw upon your return because the furball's litter mates
finished up the job while you were chasing the rabbit. Of course
if you can finish up an enemy quickly then do so. If you have a
sound board you will be able to hear a constant stream of shots
being fired if an enemy is after your capital ship. If you are
currently engaged with an enemy and you hear this sound you must
immediately break of the attack, unless one or two more shots will
finish him, and rush to the rescue. Upon approaching your capital
ship search for the ship which appears to be doing the most damage and
attack it. Be careful to check for enemy ships which are on the
other side of your capital ship and are obscured by it. Also be
very careful about running into your own ship. One deceiving aspect
to the game is that the red target box will appear to delineate an
enemy ship which is directly across your ship and is obscured by it.
If you see the red target box but only a portion of Tigers Claw or
your capital ship is visible in it, that means the enemy ship is on
the other side. Do not point at the box and hit the afterburners!
If you do its funeral time. Go around your ship to get to it. Try
never to get closer than 1000 meters to your capital ship or the Claw.
It seems that the capital ship's shields extend some distance from
the actual surface of the ship and I have taken significant collision
damage from contacting the shields.

As I said before missiles are a good weapon to cause an enemy ship to
break off an attack on a capital ship even if they do no permanent
damage to the enemy ship. Again be very careful as to the direction
that you are firing the missile, as to not hit your own ship. There
is nothing more discouraging than to be after the last enemy after
your ship only to do the ship in yourself with a missile!
                               


SECTION 6 - Asteroids and Mine Fields

I hate asteroids and mines! In fact, I hate them so much that I will
go to great lengths to avoid them. If there is an asteroid or mine
field in my flight plan I will veer around it. This works very well
when you are avoiding a field just after leaving Tiger's Claw that
in midway along your journey. Simply keep the destination crosshair
to the left or right of center and periodically use the navigation
map to see if you have gone around the field yet. Once you are by
it you can activate the automatic pilot and head for your destination.
Remember that your fuel gage is afterburner fuel, not ion engine fuel.
You can't run out of gas by doing this. Avoiding a field after
a battle is tougher. This is because the navigation map is in two
dimensions and when you leave Tiger's Claw you are flying in the
exact two dimensional plane depicted by the map, so by veering left
or right you correspond correctly in the third dimension to the
map. After a battle when you have pitched and rolled you are no
longer flying in the same plane as before, so when you veer what
is now left or right you are adding some component of what was before
up or down. What you will notice is that if you fly to the left or
right of the navigation crosshair and then look at the map after a
little while you may be seemingly deviating little, or even the opposite
way from your intended direction. I don't know how to line up the
fighter into the original plane, although sometimes I got lucky
and could figure some of it out by trial and error. If this happens
you may have to bite the bullet and simply plow through the field.

If you must unavoidably fly through the field set your speed to 250
or less (as specified in the manual) and then use the F5 key. This
key presents you with a three dimensional view from a mythical camera
positioned a hundred meters or so behind your ship. From this view
you can maneuver around most of the obstacles, although it takes
a while to get the feel of the depth perception in that an asteroid
or mine can go by your ship and seemingly impact with the camera, which
is no problem. You will have to veer and turn a lot to escape the
mines and asteroids. Always try to adjust your course back to the
crosshairs of your destination as soon as you can. If you loose the
crosshair completely you run the risk of turning yourself completely
around and wandering aimlessly in the field until you eventually
get hit. If you do loose the crosshairs hit the F1 key to return you
to the cockpit so that you can realign yourself; then go back to the
rear view until you clear the field.

Should you encounter enemy fighters in a mine or asteroid field don't
worry. It seems that either the scale of the scene changes or the
mines and asteroids "get out of the way" for the battle. The only
time I have been hit by a mine or asteroid during a battle was if
I chased a ship away from the battle scene by holding down the
afterburners. As long as I stayed in the "arena" area I could go
up to full battle speed without getting hit. After the battle return
to the slower speed to clear the field.

One additional note. I have never had any success in shooting mines
or asteroids. Initially I thought that I might plow through a field
by blowing up everything in my path. Next thing I heard was TAPS.



SECTION 7 - Miscellaneous Stuff

This section contains extra hints and suggestions that I wasn't able
to fit somewhere else.

1). Practice in the trainer. Early in your career it pays to try
practice runs in the trainer. The trainer ship is a lot like
a HORNET, weak but fast. You may also want to try some of the
suggestions I made there.

2). Dodging Enemy Missile Fire. When you are in a dogfight with a
lot of enemy fighters they tend to launch lots of missiles early
in the battle. So many in fact that you have a hard time knowing
what's going on. One thing that I have found to help in this
situation when an enemy capital ship is also present is to head
straight for the capital ship, using afterburners if necessary
(be careful not to run into the ship), and then circle around the
capital ship. I seem to lose most of the missiles, and some of them
actually hit the capital ship. After doing this go back and help
your wingman who wasn't smart enough and stayed out there in the
heat.

3). Wingman communications.
If my wingman gets really beat up I usually try to send him back
to base. If he or she gets killed you fly alone for the rest
of the missions that you were paired with that individual.
When defending your capital ships the wingman tends to attack
the wrong targets. You may want to target an enemy then punch
up your wingman and tell him to "attack my target". Lastly,
you may find yourself pretty beat up, but suddenly another
squadron of bad guys appears between you and home. Your wingman
will usually spring to the attack even though you may have already
accomplished your mission and this attack will probably get him
killed. The way out here is to tell your wingman to "form on
my wing" and then hit the afterburners pointed at home and leave
them on until you escape trouble, arrive home, or run out of fuel.

4). Enemy communications.
I rarely taunt the enemy. I am usually too busy to take the time
to do it. However if I am far away from my wingman, who is taking
a beating, I will try it hoping to get one of the ships after my
wingman to turn and come after me. I also try it occasionally
when an enemy who I almost finished off is running away and
I don't want to waste all my afterburner fuel going after him.

5). What do I use the Porcupine mine for on the RAPTOR?
I have never had a confirmed kill by using the mine. By the
time the bad guys are that close behind me for me to use it
I am generally dead. I have tried to use it. It is pretty
neat to use the F4 key to look behind you and release the
mine. One thing you might try is passing close by the front
of an enemy capital ship and releasing the mine in its path.
Let me know how that turns out.

6). I can't tell what is right behind me from the radar screen.
Yes, you are right that it is most difficult to tell how close
the enemy is behind you. I can't tell from the radar screen
exactly where they are either. Obvious clues are your rear
shields taking a beating. I address this by not ever flying
in a battle for too long in one direction without using my
afterburners or turning around.