A-18 Crossbow

A-18 Crossbow
Type	Bomber
Primary User	Terran Confederation
Additional Users	Pirates
Introduction	2667
General Characteristics
Crew	2 Pilot and Gunner

The A-18 Crossbow is a heavy bomber in the service of the Terran Confederation.

Specifications

	SO1 Player	SO1 Pirates	Academy Manual
Length			24 meters
Mass	Small	Small	40 tonnes
Ship Number	15	15
Class	Bomber	Bomber	Bomber
Shieled Recharge	4	5
Damage Flag	No	No
Maximum Speed	370 kps	370 kps	370 kps
Cruise Speed			200 kps
Acceleration Rate	2	1	Average
Yaw Rate	8	3	8 dps
Pitch Rate	8	3	8 dps
Roll Rate	8	4	8 dps
Guns	Neutron Gun (2) Mass Driver Cannon (3)	Neutron Gun (2) Particle Cannon (2)	Neutron Gun (2) Mass Driver Cannon (3)
Missiles	Pilum FF (3)	Pilum FF (2)	Pilum FF (3)
Torpedoes	Torpedoes (4)	Torpedoes (2)	Torpedoes (4)
Turret	Turret Gun (2, rear)	Turret Gun (2, rear)	Turret Gun (2, rear)
Tractor Beam	Rear Turret	Rear Turret
Front Shield	500 units	200 units	25 cm
Rear Shield	500 units	200 units	25 cm
Front Armor	400 units	150 units	20 cm
Rear Armor	400 units	150 units	20 cm
Left Armor	350 units	100 units	25 cm
Right Armor	350 units	100 units	25 cm
Jump Capable	Yes

Images

External

Wing Commander Academy

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  Sprite Sheet

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  Wreckage

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  Target VDU

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  Damage VDU

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  Weapons VDU

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  Weapons of the Terran and Kilrathi Fleets illustration

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  Academy Ship Selection

Internal

Wing Commander Academy

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  Forward

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  Forward (Alarms Active)

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  Forward (Radar Damaged)

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  Forward (Defense Console Damaged)

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  Forward (In Action)

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  Right

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  Left

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  Rear

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  Rear (Inactive)

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  Rear (In Action)

Appearances

Wing Commander Academy

TCSN Academy Simulator Handbook

The Crossbow is a formidable Confederation anti-capital ship bomber. It combines impressive armor and shields with good maneuverability and traveling velocity. The fighter is equipped with torpedoes, Friend-or-Foe missiles and an array of blasters that include a rear turret. It was a contingent of Crossbows that destroyed the Grakneth’ Dak, a Kilrathi capital ship first sighted near Gorath.

Corvette

The 3D mesh that was ultimately used for the Crossbow introduced in Special Operations 1 was originally built for Wing Commander 2 where it was intended to be used for what was called the Crossbow-class corvette. The Crossbow corvette was one of several ships cut from the game to reduce the overall size but the assets were reused in 1992 for a new ship Special Operations 1 also called the Crossbow (now a bomber). As part of this process, the Special Operations 1 artists re-textured the mesh to appear to be a smaller spacecraft, replacing multiple decks with a single cockpit and dropping the green-with-yellow-numbers color scheme associated with Wing Commander II's capital ships. The original Crossbow texture scheme is still visible in one place: for Wing Commander Academy, artists rendered a 'turnaround' of each ship which rotate when selected on the mission design menu. The new sprites were rendered from the original Crossbow corvette, making the green paint scheme visible. The original corvette-textured Crossbow model created by Origin for the game is available for download here. Additionally, a set of specifications for the cut ship have been identified from a preserved printout of Wing Commander II's in-progress ship statistics.

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  Wing Commander Academy screen showing the unused 'green' Crossbow corvette

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  Render of the Crossbow mesh with corvette textures

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  Unused Crossbow corvette specifications (1/2)

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  Unused Crossbow corvette specifications (2/2)