NightBall06
1st Lieutenant
The Dralthi movie-version is pretty cool.
Defiance's Eyecandy Thread
- Thread starter DefianceIndustries
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DefianceIndustries
Rear Admiral
So I was playing around with the WCtoolbox and decided to try and make a WC1 mod. So I took my WCA bengal and converted it into a sprite sheet. It was a larger process than I originally thought but it is kinda fun to do this sort of messing around. Admittedly I stand on the shoulders of giants here. This would've been impossible without the work of @UnnamedCharacter on the WC toolbox and Goliath's sprite rendering script for Blender. So yeah, if anyone wants it I'm happy to share. I may end up doing a whole WCA pack at some point in the future.
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DefianceIndustries
Rear Admiral
It still the original landing sequence. It uses a separate set of sprites for the landing. I haven't figured out where that is yet.
Panther1.0
Commodore
I agree !
wiese.hano
1st Lieutenant
One reason more for me to punch up the game with the easter sale on GOG.
Ahhhh...the Advanced Hellcats as mentioned in the WC4 novel. In my Head Canon they have an upgraded powerplant which allows them to sport dual Particle and Heavy Ion Cannon, with expanded weapons bays for a total of 8 missiles. Along with increased maneuverability and speed. It also laid the groundwork for the Bearcat.
These are real beauties Defiance.
DefianceIndustries
Rear Admiral
So I continue my playing around and started working on fighters. Fighters are different beasts a bit from the WC1 capships as they have to be scaled appropriately (if you render the sprite too large, they appear giant in the game) - My experiments yielded the best results at a 120x120 px render, then cropping the images down to less than 100 px on the long side. Unfortunately this causes the loss of some fine detail, but the result is pretty good. You also have to manually reposition the thruster exhaust sprites. The toolbox does a good job exporting everything into XML, but you have to open each image and establish the position by counting pixels. (it's exciting work believe me).
Hornet prior to repositioning the engine sprites
after.
At some point I'll write up a guide on how to do this. It's a time consuming process as there isn't alot of automation currently, so there's alot of cropping, saving, and using the repal function in the toolbox that has to be done manually. I think it takes about 3-4 hours to do a single sprite currently.
However if I were to do a complete pack I had some ideas as there isn't a 1-for-1 match between Academy and the game below are my thoughts, but feel free to weigh in if you feel differently:
Just some thoughts, anyone with an opinion please feel free to weigh in (especially where gaps exist)
Hornet prior to repositioning the engine sprites
after.At some point I'll write up a guide on how to do this. It's a time consuming process as there isn't alot of automation currently, so there's alot of cropping, saving, and using the repal function in the toolbox that has to be done manually. I think it takes about 3-4 hours to do a single sprite currently.
However if I were to do a complete pack I had some ideas as there isn't a 1-for-1 match between Academy and the game below are my thoughts, but feel free to weigh in if you feel differently:
| WC1 Ship | WCA Replacement | Alternate |
| Bengal | Bengal | N/A |
| Drayman | Achilles Destroyer | Priv1 Drayman |
| Diligent | Byrd | Priv1 Drayman (not used above) |
| Exeter | Exemesh | Achilles Carrier |
| Hornet | Hornet (shown here) | WCA Epee, WCA Ferret |
| Scimitar | WCA Scimitar | N/A |
| Raptor | WCA Ferret? Hellcat? | ??? |
| Rapier | WCA Sabre | N/A |
| Salthi | Sartha | N/A |
| Dralthi | Dralthi | N/A |
| Krant | ??? | ??? |
| Gratha | WCA Jalkethi | N/A |
| Jalthi | Grikath | N/A |
| Bloodfang | ??? | |
| Hhriss | ??? | |
| Dorkir | Dorkir | |
| Lumbari | ??? (Dorkir) | |
| Ralari | Ralar (Omni ship) | WCA Ralari (Defiance custom) |
| Fralthi | Fralthi | |
| Snakeir | Ralar (Assuming use WCA Ralari above) | ??? |
| Sivar | Ras Agn Sivar |
Just some thoughts, anyone with an opinion please feel free to weigh in (especially where gaps exist)
DefianceIndustries
Rear Admiral
While @Pedro is providing quality digital entertainment to the masses, I needed something to keep my skills sharp. So I revisited my WCP-ized version of the Excalibur. I decided to make it a demonstrator, similar to the Super Tomcat or the F-20 Tigershark in the real world. Designs that, for any number of reasons, were never purchased. In this case it's sort of a missing link between the F-103D's you see in Secret Ops, and the unseen Arena Wyvern variant.
Initially I was going to add these images to the fun little fiction I put together, but I'm not really that crazy. Well, ok maybe I am. So we have the launch tube test from the TCS Mistral Sea circa 2683, an initial flight test image with an Excal D circa 2682, and images taken of F-103 EX #7 in its forever home aboard the TCS Victory museum (along with Tensabarriers of the future (tm)) in 2701. As always enjoy, and C&C welcome.
Initially I was going to add these images to the fun little fiction I put together, but I'm not really that crazy. Well, ok maybe I am. So we have the launch tube test from the TCS Mistral Sea circa 2683, an initial flight test image with an Excal D circa 2682, and images taken of F-103 EX #7 in its forever home aboard the TCS Victory museum (along with Tensabarriers of the future (tm)) in 2701. As always enjoy, and C&C welcome.
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L.I.F.
Vice Admiral
That's one gorgeous fighter, DI! The twin-seater cockpit reminds me of the RL Super Hornet's. It seems to be a bit longer than the regular Excalibur, in a way that makes me think it would be a pretty interesting frame for a bomber in-universe. The FB-22 to Excalibur's F-22. A fighter I think a lot of Wingnuts would love to fly.
DefianceIndustries
Rear Admiral
Mien Gott! You live and breathe! Glad you're back.
Yeah it's about 1 meter longer, it looks longer than the D model because it isn't as tall, the engine nacelles are swept back a bit more and the main gun pod was moved forward so the neck isn't as long. The tandem canopy gives it that illusion as well.
It's basically an F-14, a fleet defender whose job is to engage bombers at range but is good in a dogfight. it's slightly less of a multirole fighter than the Vampire. At least in the head canon anyway.
L.I.F.
Vice Admiral
Heh heh, you bet I'm alive, more lurking than anything else at the moment, but I'd definitely be glad to get back in the action if you want to see the craft alive in either of the mods. :-PMien Gott! You live and breathe! Glad you're back.
Yeah it's about 1 meter longer, it looks longer than the D model because it isn't as tall, the engine nacelles are swept back a bit more and the main gun pod was moved forward so the neck isn't as long. The tandem canopy gives it that illusion as well.
It's basically an F-14, a fleet defender whose job is to engage bombers at range but is good in a dogfight. it's slightly less of a multirole fighter than the Vampire. At least in the head canon anyway.
Though, our headcanons differ a bit, the tandem canopy makes me think about a light bomber role, à la Thunderbolt (my first idea was the Sabre bomber loadout, but then, Sabre carries quite a lot of torpedoes, moreso than Excalibur would), which, to be honest, the original Excalibur should actually be able to be as well, since they managed to replace 6 of the missiles with a Temblor Bomb without performance loss. It'd definitely wouldn't be up to par with a Shrike, in the Prophecy-era as far as firepower goes, but one might find the use for a really fast and nimble fighter with a single torpedo.
For a fleet defender role, I guess this twin-seater of yours could have enlarged missile bays for longer-range IMREC like in the second half of Prophecy, or even dedicated "Phoenix-like" missiles. The cockpit's shape, though, definitely reminds me of F/A-18F's, as it feels slightly unnatural due to the original fighter being designed around a single-seater, while F-14's cockpit was twin-seater from the beginning and looks more natural on it, if you see what I mean. Your cockpit does have the look of a single-seater redesigned as a twin, which fits very well the intended lore, IMO.
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L.I.F.
Vice Admiral
DefianceIndustries
Rear Admiral
It looks too much like Klingon Bird of Prey for my taste. But I did another version for the remake, check out wcrespace.com under the media section for the turntable.
L.I.F.
Vice Admiral
The wings seem much wider than in the previous model. Not gonna lie: I'm in love with this. Like the F-35C is much less ugly than the A and B version thanks to its wider wings, it makes one hell of a good effect on Dragon.
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