Confed ships - generally better than Kilrathi equivalents? *Screenshots*

Thanks for all your comments - especially good to hear from Eder or any of the Standoff team. All of this reminds me that I really must join in with the WC readthrough, the insight these books give always seems to answer a lot of questions left by the game.

Herbarius] You just say you flew Kilrathi fighters in the Standoff FlightSim said:
Stop it. Just stop right there.
Click to expand...

:) There are already lots of threads on the subject of movie canon, including one of my very first posts here at the CIC:

http://www.crius.net/zone/showthread.php?t=24656

Feel free to bump it, always good for the movie debate to continue in the right place :D
 
GamesFuhrer said:
Well-said. I've always noticed this too. Of course, a one-hit kill in a game would make for a very frustrating game (except in cases where it's supposed to be frustrating like bullet-hell games). I believe that the reason why one-hit kills aren't featured as prevalently in the in the Star Wars books as compared to the movies because both Timothy Zahn and Michael Stackpole were fans of the X-Wing and TIE Fighter games.
Click to expand...

I think a more likely reason is the different dramatic license necessary in the two mediums. In a book, it's pretty lame to read "and then all the fighters blasted each other apart." But in a movie, it's really cool to see a bunch of ships quickly blow each other up, and the longer intense battles will be saved for the main characters. In a book, you need to describe battles in detail or else they're boring.
 
Quick derail

Sorry for the derail but I think it fits here well enough, so...

how do you switch to the alternative ships in the mission simulator? "alswantsmoreships" worked on my PC a year ago; now I've re-installed the whole Episode 5 deal and played 'till the mission were you have to take out that Ralatha/Snakeir combo. The simulator "cheat" does not work. Some pointers?
 
Steve Unreg said:
Sorry for the derail but I think it fits here well enough, so...

how do you switch to the alternative ships in the mission simulator? "alswantsmoreships" worked on my PC a year ago; now I've re-installed the whole Episode 5 deal and played 'till the mission were you have to take out that Ralatha/Snakeir combo. The simulator "cheat" does not work. Some pointers?
Click to expand...

You don't need to use it anymore. All the ships are already accessible from the sim.
 
Speaking of Kilrathi fighters... What about ejection systems?

I always had the impression the Kilrathi fighters generally don't have one. As they prefer to die in combat und seem to try to make their fighters (most of them) as "cheap" as possible I'd think they'd see it as a useless device.

Thrakkath obviously has one in his Bloodfang.

The canon doesn't seem to say lots about it. (What about the Dralthi missions in SM2, don't they even say something about having the captured ship refitted with an ejection seat?) Maybe in WC3/4? What about novels?

In my opinion, maybe the more "sophisticated" fighters, used by nobility etc., like the Gratha, Hriss, ... have ejection systems, but Dralthis and such almost certainly don't have one.
 
Prometheus said:
Speaking of Kilrathi fighters... What about ejection systems?

I always had the impression the Kilrathi fighters generally don't have one. As they prefer to die in combat und seem to try to make their fighters (most of them) as "cheap" as possible I'd think they'd see it as a useless device.

Thrakkath obviously has one in his Bloodfang.

The canon doesn't seem to say lots about it. (What about the Dralthi missions in SM2, don't they even say something about having the captured ship refitted with an ejection seat?) Maybe in WC3/4? What about novels?

In my opinion, maybe the more "sophisticated" fighters, used by nobility etc., like the Gratha, Hriss, ... have ejection systems, but Dralthis and such almost certainly don't have one.
Click to expand...
Maybe this is worth something, but I recall in Prophecy's data a "Ejected Kilrathi Pilot" ship id string.
 
In SM2 Colonel Halcyon comments that the techs on the Tiger's Claw have been unsuccessful in attempts to retrofit an ejector seat to the Dralthi. So not only does it not have one, one cannot be easily installed either.

I seem to recall reading some Prophecy documentation that said Kilrathi ships lack ejector seats somewhere. They certainly do in Standoff, at any rate - even the Vatari of ultimate doom.
 
Well it is a Vatari, no pilot especially not nobility aces should have to eject from such an awesome fighter.

At least, that is probably the Kilrathi logic.
 
Most Kilrathi pilots in Standoff do not eject - the only ones who can do so are Prince Thrakhath and possibly Sahtra (but I'm pretty sure he doesn't). This doesn't mean other Kilrathi pilots don't have the option (of course, we know some of them really don't have the option :) ), it just means that it doesn't happen in Standoff :).

One thing worth noting about the Dralthi, by the way - when push came to shove, Hunter was able to abandon ship in Freedom Flight. Bailing out from a Dralthi is therefore possible - it's just not possible to retrofit a Confed ejection seat into the ship (...at least, in field conditions), which makes it difficult to do so in combat conditions. Even so, we do see Dralthi pilots ejecting in the Academy cartoon.
 
Quarto said:
Most Kilrathi pilots in Standoff do not eject - the only ones who can do so are Prince Thrakhath and possibly Sahtra (but I'm pretty sure he doesn't). This doesn't mean other Kilrathi pilots don't have the option (of course, we know some of them really don't have the option :) ), it just means that it doesn't happen in Standoff :).

One thing worth noting about the Dralthi, by the way - when push came to shove, Hunter was able to abandon ship in Freedom Flight. Bailing out from a Dralthi is therefore possible - it's just not possible to retrofit a Confed ejection seat into the ship (...at least, in field conditions), which makes it difficult to do so in combat conditions. Even so, we do see Dralthi pilots ejecting in the Academy cartoon.
Click to expand...

Not unlike The Fralthi having no real rear armor
 
Prometheus said:
Maybe in WC3/4? What about novels?
Click to expand...

I certainly remember ejected Kilrathi pilots in WC3, you could toast them if you weren't feeling merciful, I normally used to let them float.

WC4 technology had moved up to ejection pods, on the Confed and Border-World sides at least.

I might be wrong, but during the brief encounter with the Kilrathi in WC4, I believe they're only travelling in transports without fighter cover (although I might recall seeing a Dralthi there somewhere too...)
 
-danr- said:
So I'm guessing the thinking behind ship ability in Standoff was that the Confederation on the whole had 'better' fighters, but the Kilrathi almost always have numerical advantage - which is what makes the game dificult in campaign mode.
Click to expand...

I've noticed something similar in WC Armada. If you use an Arrow against a Dralthi, you can do frontal attacks and survive but if you do it vise versa, you're doomed.
 
FekLeyrTarg said:
I've noticed something similar in WC Armada. If you use an Arrow against a Dralthi, you can do frontal attacks and survive but if you do it vise versa, you're doomed.
Click to expand...

Some of that is also due a bit to normal ship to ship variation. A Shok'lar to Phantom match-up is probably tilted towards the Kilrathi. A Goran/Banshee battle also probably tilts Kilrathi, but a Wraith/Jrathek duel probably gives the edge to the Confed ship.

Kilrathi ships are generally inferior to their Confed counterparts, but there are some very powerful Kilrathi ships, and Armada generally tries to make them more balanced since players are playing from both sides.
 
To dig up a quote from way back around the beginning of this thread:

But their capships were mostly a match for the Confed ships if not even superior.
Click to expand...
I think capship weaponry (turrets etc.) is something in which the Kilrathi often seem to have a slight edge before the Confederation (talking about ships of comparable size/function, of course). But maybe that's the only aspect. Because, in terms of armor (and, if applicable, shields) Kilrathi capships are clearly inferior. Remember Kurasawa 2 anyone? :D


Of course, in general what this all comes down to is the principle of Plot Armor, isn't it? ;)
 
Prometheus said:
Of course, in general what this all comes down to is the principle of Plot Armor, isn't it? ;)
Click to expand...
Clearly, it really doesn't. "Plot armour" refers to the rare occasions where a ship is made invulnerable with no explanation. Confed ships having better armour has nothing to do with it. You yourself point out a situation where the game subverts this by forcing us to defend a Kilrathi capship.
 
Quarto said:
Clearly, it really doesn't. "Plot armour" refers to the rare occasions where a ship is made invulnerable with no explanation. Confed ships having better armour has nothing to do with it. You yourself point out a situation where the game subverts this by forcing us to defend a Kilrathi capship.
Click to expand...

Yes there are exceptions, like with the Ralari, but in general I would say it has something to do with Plot Armour. It's what enables you (besides the AI shortcomings) to plow right through dozens of enemies each mission...
But maybe you are right, it isn't really a clear case of Plot Armour.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top