Dralthi, Drakhris, and other things

F

Fireskull

Spaceman
Hey. I have a few questions about the many Dralthis models and Drakhri. These are all for WCU. I know about all the problems between WCU and these forums, but I never took part in any of those events. I know that perhaps its a bad idea to mention I am from that team in first place, but lying about my identity was never part of my behavior. Think of me just as a new forum member if you wish.

1) What is the Dralthi we see in Privateer original? I am completely confused about what model it is. Of course it inst a Dralthi I or a Dralthi II, neither its a Dralthi IV. I have seen at WCNEWS ship database that its suposedly a Dralthi VII. But, then, where did the Dralthi III, V and VI go to?

2) What makes Dralthi different from Drakhri? Besides the name of the ship and amount of dumbfire missiles. The ship seens very alike the Dralthi from privateer, actually.

3) I always thought that since Perry is confed's HQ in Gemini, it would have a respectable fleet to defend it if Kilrathi decide to attack. Would 3 paradigms, a waterloo and a sheffield be somehow canon breaking? They are a mix of ships from different games, and I really dont know what happened with waterloo class after WC2, or if there should be one at gemini at all.
 
Hey. I have a few questions about the many Dralthis models and Drakhri. These are all for WCU. I know about all the problems between WCU and these forums, but I never took part in any of those events. I know that perhaps its a bad idea to mention I am from that team in first place, but lying about my identity was never part of my behavior. Think of me just as a new forum member if you wish.
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We're happy to help any fan project that's wants this kind of information.

1) What is the Dralthi we see in Privateer original? I am completely confused about what model it is. Of course it inst a Dralthi I or a Dralthi II, neither its a Dralthi IV. I have seen at WCNEWS ship database that its suposedly a Dralthi VII. But, then, where did the Dralthi III, V and VI go to?
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Well, you have this correct - the Dralthi in Privateer is the "Dralthi VII". The name comes from the box art for Wing Commander Academy, which features a painting of a Privateer-style Dralthi being targetted in a TrainSim.

The other Dralthi (III, V and VI) have never been formally identified. One of them would certainly be the light variant which appears in Wing Commander Armada. It's visually similar but not identical to the Dralthi IV of Wing Commander III, IV and Prophecy -- it also fulfills a very different role. Another likely possibility is that the Dralthi in Privateer and the uprated Dralthi in Righteous Fire are different variants -- that Privateer is the Dralthi VI and Righteous Fire is the VII.

(There's another Dralthi -- the KF-100 Dralthi, the model which appears in the Wing Commander movie. This is the 'original' Dralthi, as it pre-dates in terms of service history all the others.)

2) What makes Dralthi different from Drakhri? Besides the name of the ship and amount of dumbfire missiles. The ship seens very alike the Dralthi from privateer, actually.
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The short answer is that they actually have rather different spaceframes - the Drakhri is much wider across. Here's top-down renderings of the two (they should be roughly the same 'height').

ex-dralthi.jpg


ex-drakhri.jpg


Now, you are onto something - the Dralthi (VII) model was done by artists working on Super Wing Commander who had the Drakhri for reference... so there are visual similarities (rounded wings and the over-canopy missile rack, in particular).

(You also touched on a pet peeve of many Wing Commander fans. Circa 1996 in the midst of FMV-madness, it was a commonly repeated trivia fact that there was a "Dralthi in every Wing Commander game!". People who'd been around when Wing Commander II was out got really tired of explaining that the Drakhriw as a different ship.).

3) I always thought that since Perry is confed's HQ in Gemini, it would have a respectable fleet to defend it if Kilrathi decide to attack. Would 3 paradigms, a waterloo and a sheffield be somehow canon breaking? They are a mix of ships from different games, and I really dont know what happened with waterloo class after WC2, or if there should be one at gemini at all.
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Two schools of thought here: One - yes, that's completely reasonable. There are likely hundreds of Paradigm-class and Sheffield-type ships in the fleet. Waterloo are more rare, but they certainly do exist... Privateer's 'Steltek' storyline suggests (in Bartender rumors) that two carriers, includint the TCS Valiant, have been destroyed in Gemini -- so, certainly the Confederation has some important assets there.

The other is that if you're just looking for what spawns at various Privateer nav points, the Privateer Playtesters' Guide has a list of every single one (by percentage and skill level).
 
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So how many sets of specifications are there for the Dralthi? I can think of fourteen offhand. Any other thoughts?

Dralthi - Wing Commander
Dralthi - Claw Marks (PC)
Dralthi - Claw Marks (SWC)

Dralthi Mk. II - Secret Missions II

Dralthi - Voices of War
Dralthi - Wing Commander Armada

Dralthi IV - Victory Streak
Dralthi IV - Wing Commander III
Dralthi IV - Wing Commander IV
Dralthi IV - Wing Commander Prophecy

Dralthi (VI? VII?) - Gemini Sector Manual
Dralthi (VI? VII?) - Privateer
Dralthi (VII?) - Righteous Fire

KF-100 Dralthi - Wing Commander Movie

Also, as the topic is also discussiong other 'Dr' medium fighters, it's worth pointing out that the Kilrathi also have something called a *Draltha*... although we've only seen it referenced once (in the WCIV novel).
 
Bandit LOAF said:
Also, as the topic is also discussiong other 'Dr' medium fighters, it's worth pointing out that the Kilrathi also have something called a *Draltha*... although we've only seen it referenced once (in the WCIV novel).
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maybe the Draltha is some spinoff of the Dralthi that failed and never made it to the front lines? or maybe theyre all in Kilrathi space opposite of Confed? can someone post a quote from the novel?
 
Question:
What is the meaning of the word Dralthi? Is there any significant meaning in the Kilrathi language other than a name of spacefighter?
 
Maybe some are simply meant to replace each other. Much like the Tiger Claw is still the Tiger's Claw we knew from the games.
 
i always thought the privateer one was a dralthi3 (more fleet tactics info, i'm afraid) but why do the kilrathi fly dralthi VIIs in 2668 and then go back to flying dralthi IVs in 2669 and basically ever after
 
maybe the Draltha is some spinoff of the Dralthi that failed and never made it to the front lines? or maybe theyre all in Kilrathi space opposite of Confed? can someone post a quote from the novel?
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Well... that's inferring a lot from nothing and answering to quesions that don't actually need to be asked. Just because we don't see a fighter in a game doesn't mean it has to be hidden somewhere -- the novels feature a number of front line Kilrathi fighters that don't show up in any games (including the Grakha in End Run and the Vatari in Fleet Action).

Also, as this thread has already indicated, just because something has a similar name doesn't mean it's at all related.

The novel quote is: "A Hellcat modified to carry a torpedo? Or perhaps a Draltha? Either would explain the speed, but the configuration would test the frame's limits." (p.83-84)

Which indicates that it's probably on par with a Hellcat -- and common enough for Blair to believe that an unidentified target could be one.

What is the meaning of the word Dralthi? Is there any significant meaning in the Kilrathi language other than a name of spacefighter?
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We don't know. There's no actual Kilrathi language, other than the occasional translated fragment.

Maybe some are simply meant to replace each other. Much like the Tiger Claw is still the Tiger's Claw we knew from the games.
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I don't think that's the case with Dralthi at all. It certainly isn't in the case of the movie Dralthi, which has a distinct history... it's a hundred year old fighter design, while Paladin refers to the Dralthi in Wing Commander I as being 'new'.

i always thought the privateer one was a dralthi3 (more fleet tactics info, i'm afraid) but why do the kilrathi fly dralthi VIIs in 2668 and then go back to flying dralthi IVs in 2669 and basically ever after
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Privateer takes place in 2669, not 2668 - actually, it's the very first word that appears in the game. "2669, Gemini Sector...".

Try thinking of them as different versions rather than a clear linear evolution, though - there's different Dralthi for different missions. The Dralthi VII is a long-range commerce raider... the Dralthi IV is a carrier plane.

--

Anyway, I started putting together a chart of Dralthi stats -- it's still missing a number of in-game sets, but here's what I've done so far: https://www.wcnews.com/loaf/dralthichart.xls
 
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Talking about hellcats, I could swear the one in WC3 has neutron guns and ion cannons, yet, wcnews database says they have lasers and ions.
 
Yeah, one of the failings of the current ships database is that it's primarily the specifications right from the manuals -- and in the case of the Hellcat, Victory Streak lists a version with different guns than appear in the game.

Adding in separate sets of specifications is one of the goals of /ships2.
 
About the ships database. I discovered ships2 on the front-page news, and decided to check it out. I like the new layout, and the updated ship specs, however incomplete.(ie. WC III and up I believe hasn't changed). So how come the ships database link doesn't go to ships2?
 
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