Defiance's Eyecandy Thread

I finally finished up my F-38 Talon. These things litter the Gemini sector and everybody has at least ten. From the Retros, to pirates, to in-system security - you can't throw a rock and not hit one; even the Kilrathi have a few. But I currently only did two paint schemes:

By far the most famous - and obnoxious:

Talon_FInal1.jpg


DIE BY THE VERY WEAPONS YOU ADORE!!!!!

Talon_FInal2.jpg Talon_FInal4.jpg Talon_FInal5.jpg

And to counteract the crazies - here's a Confed ISS version:

Talon_ISS2.jpg


Talon_ISS1.jpg Talon_ISS3.jpg

Best not be carrying any contraband around these guys - oh, who am I kidding, they're made entirely of tissue paper. Anyway - enjoy!
 
Maslas said:
Package received!
I've been checking its stats and I am eager to see how it will perform against Hornet, Scimitar and Sartha. I think it is no match for the Dralthi.
It is a light fighter on papers with half foot to medium.
Click to expand...
It's certainly a glass cannon - all offense no defense. the base loadout of two mass drivers and a particle gun gives it an edge over a hornet for sure, but it has weak missiles and it isn't as fast. It could probably beat a Scimitar too in the hands of a good pilot. raptors on up it would probably die badly IMO. A Dralthi should be able to take it pretty easily, a Sartha might have a edge if it can get in the first shots.
 
"I've been on something of an arena kick lately. I was finishing up my Excalibur and ran across the concept art from Arena for their version of the F-103. I found the concept intriguing (if a bit too Aerotech) so I did a rework of my other F-103 in the same vein. I always considered the Excal something of the WC equivalent of an F-15, so it would seem appropriate that it might evolve along similar lines. In the late/post Nephilim war era, I imagine the Excal filling a role similar to an F-15 E, A good space superiority platform enhanced with light strike capability, packing along 4 or so Valiant light torpedoes in addition to it's normal missile compliment. If it were to go into vision, it would have thrust-vectoring engines enhancing it's pitch (ala Vampire - no not the whole nacelle that would be silly) And I made it a tandem cockpit for a RIO."

I was thinking of it as a multirole fighter myself.

I haven't been on in quite sometime, and yes I still do have all the files and concepts on an external harddrive. This literally melted my heart, that everyone is so enthusiastic about fan projects and mods. I haven't even played the updated Secret Ops with all the bells and whistles. Something tells me I should change this behavior lol. This community never ceases to amaze me! Thank you so very much for keeping the project and myself in your thoughts! ;):cool:
 
An eclectic bit of updates. Been a while since I've posted anything over here, but I've been busy. Firstly doing work for Pedro's WC4 remaster project. I've sent over some fighters but for the first mission we also needed Bluepoint/Orlando. It still needs some details but it's coming along nicely.
BP1.jpg BP_Hangar2.jpg BP_Hangar1.jpg

The next item is something of a pet project. The Yorktown vs. The Lexington type carriers. In WC4 the Concordia-class fleet carrier is supposed to be a larger and different ship (even though the model is a redress of the Yorktown). The stats state that the Concordia is 80M longer than the Yorktown but also carries double the number of fighters. in the franchise, it's not really an issue as the only time we see the Yorktown (TCS Victory) is in the FMV movies (which - if you look at the textures, is a redress of the Concordia FMV model...there's a certain irony there) you never see them side by side. But I wanted to do both models and make them contemporaries, but give them a certain level of visual distinctness, while trying to keep them as close to the FMV and in-game shots as I can get.

So in order to achieve this here goes:

The Lexington is a blockier design the conning tower (bridge) isn't as swept and while the overall lines are the same, the Concordia has fewer nautical lines about it. Additionally, the Concordia has a lot of additional exterior trussing and fewer windows. The blockier shape is required for (in my mind anyway) the additional fighter storage and crew requirements. The Yorktown by comparison is a smoother shape, the look is slightly more "aerodynamic" and the trussing and hull framing are assumed to be internal. Additionally the Yorktown three decks visible between the upper and lower armor panels.
LexWip2.jpg yoktown1.jpg

Hangar Decks - while we see a number of different interiors, the hangar decks differ significantly in the details. The Yorktown for instance is roughly 3 decks tall but has two entrances on the flight deck (visible to me at least), the staircase leading down from the ready room, and the doorway onto the flight deck from the briefing room (where we see ol' Blair come out and slap on his helmet - incidentally I haven't added that particular detail yet) The Concordia by contrast has a simpler layout. It's roughly 3 decks tall as well by my reckoning, but only has a single entrance onto the flight deck, the interior stairs leading down from the ready room. (my own second set of fighter cubicles aft not withstanding) the Concordia layout is actually simpler.

Yorktown

yoktownhangar1.jpg yoktownhangar2.jpg

Concordia
Hangar-rescale1.jpg Hangar-rescale2.jpg

Ok this is maybe a bit nerdy even for me, but I wanted to create two models that when you see them side by side you can easily point and say "oh that's a Concordia" by looking at the ship not the paint job. :)
 
Another random hodge-podge update. I started looking over some of my older stuff and found a few issues with my original Vindicator model. There were some scaling issues and a few misses from a modeling perspective (not tapering the fuselage into the cockpit section being the most egregious) So I set about making a new one. This version is closer to the FMV model, has a more accurate texture and paint scheme, and is alot lighter on the polygons.

Vind_Mk27.jpg Vind_Mk28.jpg Vind_Mk29.jpg

Next I started on a WC1 favorite of mine - the good ol' A-14 Raptor. Of all the WC1 ships this one gets the least love I suppose. but who doesn't love a X-wing/Gunstar hybrid? Besides, the combination of neutron and mass drivers makes it especially lethal in my book. I know most of you are Rapier fans, which is cool, but I love me some Raptor, of course, I also like the Scimitar, Iceman would be so disappointed in me. :confused:

Raptor_WIP3.jpg Raptor_WIP4.jpg Raptor_WIP5.jpgRaptor_WIP7.jpg
 
Ah, the Vindicator! Now, if we're talking about ships that get the least love, that's got to be one of the all-time-least-loved ships of the series. It always felt like you only flew this ship when you had to, for a planetside mission - and there weren't that many of them. Otherwise, most people chose either the Avenger or the Banshee. It's such a pity, because it's really a very pretty ship, and stat-wise, it's at least weird enough to be interesting, even if it ultimately doesn't excel at any single job it has.
 
Quarto said:
Ah, the Vindicator! Now, if we're talking about ships that get the least love, that's got to be one of the all-time-least-loved ships of the series. It always felt like you only flew this ship when you had to, for a planetside mission - and there weren't that many of them. Otherwise, most people chose either the Avenger or the Banshee. It's such a pity, because it's really a very pretty ship, and stat-wise, it's at least weird enough to be interesting, even if it ultimately doesn't excel at any single job it has.
Click to expand...
It's the Y-wing of the WC universe. I actually fly it in lieu of the Avenger in many cases because I prefer its maneuverability.

I love the Banshee's speed and maneuverability but its woefully undergunned given your opposition. It takes forever to shoot down a hellcat with it. Once you're out of missiles, you have to fly very carefully as your wingmen are generally useless and you're always facing 3-to-1 against odds in most cases.

The Avenger has great forward guns, but it turns like a bus so lining up a shot is frustrating. Also the aforementioned odds tend to make it even more difficult as you burn through all your decoys at Nav 1 :)
 
Last edited:
Quarto said:
Ah, the Vindicator! Now, if we're talking about ships that get the least love, that's got to be one of the all-time-least-loved ships of the series. It always felt like you only flew this ship when you had to, for a planetside mission - and there weren't that many of them. Otherwise, most people chose either the Avenger or the Banshee. It's such a pity, because it's really a very pretty ship, and stat-wise, it's at least weird enough to be interesting, even if it ultimately doesn't excel at any single job it has.
Click to expand...
What Defiance said: the Banshee’s gunnery is frustrating as hell unless you stick to the scatter gun and only go at point-blank ranges. The Vindicator’s hold their own, and it has a missile load barely lower than Banshee’s or Avenger’s. Plus, three torpedoes, so if I ever encounter anything orange, I’ll have fun too.

I’m actually surprised to hear people dislike it, I kinda prefer it to the Avenger.
 
Quarto said:
Ah, the Vindicator! Now, if we're talking about ships that get the least love, that's got to be one of the all-time-least-loved ships of the series. It always felt like you only flew this ship when you had to, for a planetside mission - and there weren't that many of them. Otherwise, most people chose either the Avenger or the Banshee. It's such a pity, because it's really a very pretty ship, and stat-wise, it's at least weird enough to be interesting, even if it ultimately doesn't excel at any single job it has.
Click to expand...

Unless I needed the raw fire power of the Avenger, or the Speed of the Banshee, I generally preferred the Versatility of the Vindicator. I mean... it's like what you got if a HellCat and a Thunderbolt had a drunken one night stand, then had a kid, that the Thunderbolt dropped off at the HellCat screaming that "This was his fault" so the HellCat raised the little vindicator in shame until they found out that the little Vindicator could mount a bunch of Torpedoes while being in the same league as the HellCat in terms of manueverability and all the other HellCats were like "THAT'S AWSOME!" and they all started looking for sluty thunderbolts to hit up.

... I may be going through some stuff.
 
Last edited:
Adm_maverick said:
Unless I needed the raw fire power of the Avenger, or the Speed of the Banshee, I generally preferred the Versatility of the Vindicator. I mean... it's like what you got if a HellCat and a Thunderbolt had a drunken one night stand, then had a kid, that the Thunderbolt dropped off at the HellCat screaming that "This was his fault" so the HellCat raised the little vindicator in shame until they found out that the little Vindicator could mount a bunch of Torpedoes while being in the same league as the HellCat in terms of manueverability and all the other HellCats were like "THAT'S AWSOME!" and they all started looking for sluty thunderbolts to hit up.

... I may be going through some stuff.
Click to expand...

LOL thanks! I needed that laugh today.

But you're not wrong - Thunderbolts do get around...
 
Oh, yeah, sure, now everyone loves the Vindicator. Back in the day, you couldn't swing a cat without hitting someone whining about the Vindicator :p. As for me, I don't even remember whether I liked flying it for its stats or not, but I did love it for its looks. I'm superficial that way.
 
Quarto said:
Oh, yeah, sure, now everyone loves the Vindicator. Back in the day, you couldn't swing a cat without hitting someone whining about the Vindicator :p. As for me, I don't even remember whether I liked flying it for its stats or not, but I did love it for its looks. I'm superficial that way.
Click to expand...

Well if you're swining cats at people, and then ask them if they liked something... chances are they're already pissed off at you for swining a cat at them that so they would probably say they hated whatever you were asking about out of reaction.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top