A question of Confed capships...

[wcs]

I'm looking around to add another object to my Wing Commander Shockwave tech demo and decided to add a Confed capship to the scene, preferably one that's capable of carrying fighters.

Taking a peek in the ship database revealed that both Southampton class and Tallahassee class are capable of carrying fighters ( both say: "Fighter complement: Light" ). Maybe I'm nitpicking here, or stepping in plotholes , but I don't really remember ever seeing either launching fighters in WC3 or WC4 ( have to admit it's been a while since I played both ).

But what I'm really interested in is where the fighter launch/recovery bays are located. So I looked in the "3D Models in 3D Studio format" file, and imported the Concordia, Southampton and Tallahassee classes into 1 scene. Scaled both the Southampton and the Tallahassee classes relative to the Concordia class, using information provided in the ships database. Looking over the models it seems that the Southampton class doesn't have any ( visible ) fighter bays, and the Tallahassee class has what appears like a small bay at the back which barely is the width of an Arrow.

Where did the "Fighter complement: Light" originate from anyway? Is it from the various novels that are around? And if so, do they also specify where the launch/recovery bays are located?

 

[Prometheus]

Reminds me of the trouble with the Exeters in WC1 and Addons.... (If I recall correctly, the Formidable and the Gwenhyvar are both said to have a fighter complement while usually thos things don't have hangars)


Sorry, don't have anything intelligent to say about it, as I don't know enough about WC3/4.

 

[Bandit LOAF]

The fact that (some) Southampton-class destroyers carry fighters comes from the Wing Commander III novelization; the TCS Coventry carries a "half squadron" of Hellcats (the older TCS Sheffield doesn't have any). I don't think there's any particular location on the model.

I can't say offhand where the claim comes from regarding the Tallahassee-class--possibly various Wing Commander IV missions where they seem to launch fighters to defend themselves. They certainly do *not* carry fighters in the introduction to False Colors...

 

[Bob McDob]

I can't say offhand where the claim comes from regarding the Tallahassee-class--possibly various Wing Commander IV missions where they seem to launch fighters to defend themselves. They certainly do *not* carry fighters in the introduction to False Colors...

Maybe the Wing Commander IV novel? "Do you know Jesse Dunlevy? ... Well, she had a 'good' war. She ended up in cruisers―commanding a half-squadron on the Bainbridge as a major." (p. 64) And later: "A leg patrol from the cruiser Dominion blundered into a rebel squadron" (154) ... It appeared at first that the Dominion's half squadron was heavily engaged against a slightly larger force of Border Worlds fighters. (157) We don't know what class either of those ships were, but maybe the idea they were Tallahassees grew out of all of this.

 

[wcs]

The fact that (some) Southampton-class destroyers carry fighters comes from the Wing Commander III novelization; the TCS Coventry carries a "half squadron" of Hellcats (the older TCS Sheffield doesn't have any). I don't think there's any particular location on the model.

I can't say offhand where the claim comes from regarding the Tallahassee-class--possibly various Wing Commander IV missions where they seem to launch fighters to defend themselves. They certainly do *not* carry fighters in the introduction to False Colors...

Is there a reference in the Wing Commander III novel as to how the fighters were launched? Because I'm starting to think they may have been launched using some sort of protected/concealed elevator system ( kind of like how ST : DS9 runabouts are launched ), where fighters are stored somewhere internally and launched one-at-a-time using said system.

 

[Mace]

The "Bonnie Heather"could carry and maintain at least two fighter/bombers, as could the "Gamal Kahn"? (been a while since I played the SO's)

 

[Bob McDob]

The "Bonnie Heather"could carry and maintain at least two fighter/bombers, as could the "Gamal Kahn"? (been a while since I played the SO's)

Actually, now that I think about it, if you want a fighter-carrying human capship of the era and don't care much for sublety, you could use maybe a Clarkson or Belleau Wood (WCIII/IV and Armada transports, respectively):

Another cluster of fighters, this time Ferrets and what looked like a single Arrow, filtered through the jump point and aimed for the two fast transports.

"What the hell are those?" he asked.

"What the hell are what?" Maniac replied.

"The transports," Blair said. "It looks like they're taking on fighters."

"They are," Maniac answered. "We're staging smaller ships, Ferrets mostly, and a few Rapiers, off them."

"Those're too small to have launch tubes!"

"They don't," Maniac confirmed, "they just kind of push their birds out the backand let them fend for themselves. They lose one occasionally."

For the record, I have no idea what constitutes a "fast" transport to the Border Worlds, but those at least have freely-available models.

 

[wcs]

Actually, now that I think about it, if you want a fighter-carrying human capship of the era and don't care much for sublety, you could use maybe a Clarkson or Belleau Wood (WCIII/IV and Armada transports, respectively):



For the record, I have no idea what constitutes a "fast" transport to the Border Worlds, but those at least have freely-available models.

Not a bad idea. I could use a Clarkson as a base, and add some modules to it. A small fighter bay just large enough to house a couple of fighters and a couple of fuel modules.

 

[Prometheus]

Does anyone know what the 10 stars are for?

 

[wcs]

Here's a screenshot of a line-up of several capships I was looking at:

(Click on image to enlarge)


The size of the BWS Intrepid was deduced from the in-game cinematic at the end of the game. In this setup, the actual size of the Intrepid is 325-ish meters.

 

[Madman]

For the record, I have no idea what constitutes a "fast" transport to the Border Worlds, but those at least have freely-available models.

It's worth noting that this scene is from blairs perspective - as he defects - he has no idea what a "fast transport" is to the border worlds either - the important thing is it's a "fast transport" to HIM.

 

[Bob McDob]

It's worth noting that this scene is from blairs perspective - as he defects - he has no idea what a "fast transport" is to the border worlds either - the important thing is it's a "fast transport" to HIM.

Heh, yeah, you're right - though looking back a few pages, we get a bit more information:

A pair of fast transports with flared ore-shuttle decks hovered protectively over a single carrier.

That's a lot more complementary than the description of the rest of the fleet including the Intrepid, which include "old", "obsolete" and "ancient" as adjectives.

The term pops up later in the book, too - but this time in reference to the BWS Tango, during the Speradon smash-and-grab, which was portrayed in the game by an Intrepid-style carrier conversion.

"Maniac, you'll also be escorting the BWS Tango. She's a fast transport wth four tractor beams rigged behind her main cargo bay . . ."