23 plot missions
Wing Commander Privateer Walkthrough
Level 5 shields and engines are not a story gate. Each costs 150,000 credits, and your hull has to accept the part. The stock Orion can mount both. The official guide sends you to level 3 plus tungsten armour first, then into the Clarke quadrant with Perry as home base, and only then to level 5.
Where the plot starts
New Detroit, Ernesto Sandoval. The first job is an iron run to Liverpool in the Newcastle system and back. The promised pay is 15,000 credits and it is not handed over; you receive an alien artifact as collateral instead. After Sandoval the fixers run in chains: Tayla A–D, Roman Lynch A–D, E. Masterson A–D, Lynn Murphy A–C, Monkhouse A, Taryn Cross A–D, Sandra Goodin A, and Admiral Terrell A. That is the 23-mission plot. Random trade hauls sit beside it and are not numbered here.
Righteous Fire, the 1994 add-on, has no fail state. Lose a mission and the game offers a retry. Whether that add-on is in the 2026 reissue is still unstated, so this walkthrough describes the 1994 campaign as its own product.
Credits in the save file
wcnews: ship and credits are on the first line. Edit with a hex editor that keeps the existing line endings. A carriage return inserted by a text editor can break the file.
GOG forum, Mac with Boxer only: save as NEW01, open NEW01.SAV, find the string CCRGI followed by a separator and the letter d, and change the D0 byte. FF is the maximum and the poster says the game can crash there. A smaller byte such as 77 is the workaround they suggest. Do not use that byte recipe on a DOS save just because both talks are about "more money".
| Fixer | Missions | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Ernesto Sandoval | A | New Detroit. Iron to Liverpool and back. 15,000 promised, artifact instead. |
| Tayla | A–D | Plot chain |
| Roman Lynch | A–D | Plot chain |
| E. Masterson | A–D | Plot chain |
| Lynn Murphy | A–C | Plot chain |
| Monkhouse | A | Plot chain |
| Taryn Cross | A–D | Plot chain |
| Sandra Goodin | A | Plot chain |
| Admiral Terrell | A | Plot chain |
Questions people ask
When do level 5 shields and engines open?
When you can pay 150,000 credits and the hull supports the part. The guide's recommended moment is after level 3, tungsten armour, and a move to Perry in the Clarke quadrant.
How do I change credits?
DOS-style saves: first line, hex editor, preserve line endings. Mac/Boxer: the NEW01.SAV byte edit. They are different files.
How many plot missions are there?
23, delivered by the fixers in the table.
Sources
- Internet Archive: Privateer Playtesters' Guide — checked 2026-11-08
- WCPedia: Engine Upgrade 5 — checked 2026-11-08
- WCPedia: Shield Generator 5 — checked 2026-11-08
- wcnews save thread — checked 2026-11-08
- GOG forum NEW01.SAV — checked 2026-11-08