WC4 Jane's spacecraft...

H

HammerHead

Rear Admiral
Doe's WC4 have a Jane's-spacecraft-style fighter and ship "catalog" like all other WC games?

(IIRC all WC games have some form of it - except maybe Priv2 - I'm not sure about WC4)
 
No, WC4 didn't have an elaborate manual like some of the others... the official WC4 website had a page with all the fighters and their specifications, at the time.
 
Is there any backround about the borderworld fighters (Banshee, Avanger, Vindicator)?
when did they entered service?
are they originaly BW fighters or are they obselete confed designes?
 
Well, that's mere speculation (it stems from the fact that we see the Avenger apparently used as a shuttle in the Academy TV show - but that doesn't necessarily mean it really was a shuttle. Even in the show, it could have simply been a heavy fighter with a tractor beam). We really don't know anything at all about where the Avenger or any other WC4 BW craft came from. They first appeared in the game, and then to make things more confusing, the WC4 novel decided not to mention any of them at all, instead focusing on Rapiers and other old planes.

(mind you, we did use the converted-shuttle story for the Avenger in UE... but that's not based on anything more than what I mentioned above)
 
Quarto said:
... They first appeared in the game, and then to make things more confusing, the WC4 novel decided not to mention any of them at all, instead focusing on Rapiers and other old planes.

(mind you, we did use the converted-shuttle story for the Avenger in UE... but that's not based on anything more than what I mentioned above)
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Yeah, I just finished reading the WC4 novel (hence my questions about WC4), and was a bit disappointed that they were left out...

The book is actually quite good, although I prefer Forstchen's none-game novels - ER and FA.

Two things that caught my attention (among others) were about the Dragon fighter:

A. the ship is described as being a continuation of the Excaliber, and is specifically mentioned as having a resemblance in the overall look of the airframe - which doesn't really sits with the game.

B. As the ship is a continuation of the Excaliber - Blair states that only he is "checked" on the Excaliber and there for is the only pilot capable of flying the Dragon - but from WC3 (both game and novel) we know that Maniac also flew the Excaliber...
 
A. the ship is described as being a continuation of the Excaliber, and is specifically mentioned as having a resemblance in the overall look of the airframe - which doesn't really sits with the game.
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We can't blame the novel for this one -- it's actually from the very first page of the Wing Commander IV script:

We'll find out these ships are designated "Dragons" and are an outgrowth of the Excalibur program. Their design brings to mind only one word: Death. We will eventually learn that this group is a wing of an elite and extremely secret force called The Black Lance...

(Novelizations are based on scripts rather than filmed sequences -- because by the time a movie or game has been finished, the novelization has to have been months into the printing process... this is also why the WCM novel is so cool, since it's based entirely on visuals from the games.)
 
Quarto said:
.....and then to make things more confusing, the WC4 novel decided not to mention any of them at all, instead focusing on Rapiers and other old planes.
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I remember there was one brief mention in the novel of the Borderworlders using old Confed designs such as Rapiers, Ferrets, etc. as well as 'their own cobbled together creations' - or something similar to that.
 
Doesn't this site have their specifications as well?
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Oh, yeah, absolutely (though ours are undergoing a long renovation right now) -- they're also available in the Origin's Official Guide to Wing Commander IV (and in a txt file on the WCIV DVD).
 
Yeah, they get a very casual mention in the novel. It's too bad as they are all interesting spacecraft.
 
HammerHead said:
Doe's WC4 have a Jane's-spacecraft-style fighter and ship "catalog" like all other WC games?

(IIRC all WC games have some form of it - except maybe Priv2 - I'm not sure about WC4)
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Bandit LOAF said:
No, WC4 didn't have an elaborate manual like some of the others... the official WC4 website had a page with all the fighters and their specifications, at the time.
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I hope the Arena Ships at least get the online treatment. What do you think are the chances?
 
Bandit LOAF said:
Oh, yeah, absolutely (though ours are undergoing a long renovation right now) -- they're also available in the Origin's Official Guide to Wing Commander IV (and in a txt file on the WCIV DVD).
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Yeah, I had a look at them. Obviously your comment confirms that they're accurate then. :p

If only we had elaborate histories for all of them, they would be excellent to include!

Cheers,

Red Coat
 
So based on what we do know, both from the WC4 novel, the animated WC Academy and the game -

The Vindicator is, for lack of any other information, probably a non-confed fighter design.

The Banshee is produced by "Verier Underground" which may suggest possible criminal origins - may be a crime syndicate design that was adopted by BW forces

And the Avenger, based on the WCA animated show, and a reffrence in the WC4 novel, is a shuttle that was converted to a torpedo bomber.
(I remember a reference in the novel that made me think that "those are what you'd call 'Uglies' is the Star wars universe).

Would that be a fair assessment, based on what little we do know?
 
I'm not entirely sure.

The Avenger isn't mentioned in the WCIV novel -- none of the ships are, directly... there's one mention of cobbling together fighters from old three-man patrol ships, and that's a close as it comes. It does appear in the role of a pirate shuttle on Academy (in Episode 2, The Last One Left) -- but, as Quarto has already mentioned, we don't know anything about its original purpose..

For the other two, the only thing that makes me cautious about saying that they're special Border Worlds designs is that the Border Worlds is an entirely new entity in the political sense.

(For the record, the manufacturers are the artists responsible for the ships... Murhy Labs - Sean Murphy, Verier Underground - Mark Vearrier, Psaab Engineering - Pauline Saab...)
 
Bandit LOAF said:
For the other two, the only thing that makes me cautious about saying that they're special Border Worlds designs is that the Border Worlds is an entirely new entity in the political sense.

(For the record, the manufacturers are the artists responsible for the ships... Murhy Labs - Sean Murphy, Verier Underground - Mark Vearrier, Psaab Engineering - Pauline Saab...)
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weren't the borderworlds around as an entity during the war?

(nice touch about the artists :D - I didn't knew that one :) )
 
weren't the borderworlds around as an entity during the war?
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They were a region of space which was part of the Confederation (literally, the worlds on the border with the Kilrathi).

A lot of the Confederation systems we visit in the first three games go on to form the Union of Border Worlds after the war: Dakota (WC1), Tartarus (SWC), Kurasawa (WC1), Loki (WC3), Torgo (WC3) Canwedon (WC2), Ayers (WC2), etc.
 
Now I actually understand -
the novel states that the so called "Border-Worlds" were a part of the confederation during the war, but never signed the confederation articles - so after the war they simply "renewed" their independence from confed.

something like - "we stood with you during, and because, of the war, but never intended to join up with confed"
 
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