Confusion about Technology

[frostytheplebe]

Two things about WC3 have me somewhat confused...

1. The tech tree... I was led to believe that Victory, her escorts, and her fighter squadrons are older and somewhat out-of-date fighters. Yet in a lot of the fandom, including saga, and to a lesser degree in Standoff, they say that fighters like the Rapier, Broadsword, Epee, etc. are being replaced with the fighters seen in WC3. So which is it? Are the WC3 fighters the newer batch, or are they the fighters being brought out of mothball and surplus because of shortages?


2. If you take a look at the progression between WC 1 & 2 between fleet colors and ship designs, you can clearly see that they are from the same fleet, and the same affiliation. But in WC3... maybe its just me, but if I were just starting in on WC3 and someone told me that I'd be flying with a different affiliation, based on the capital ship designs... I might not be hard pressed to believe it. The only connections I can see in cap ship designs is the forward sections of the Confed, Concordia, and Yorktown classes.

 

[NinjaLA]

1. I think you might've asked this in the past, but here it goes *again*.

The fighters from wing commander 3 all have introduction dates well in advance of 2269, so clearly they are not new. Fandom is pretty stubborn about this in that if it is new to the viewer, it must be new to the Confederation. This is simply not the case.

2. Style changes are pretty common in wing commander, but the blocky look of cap ships in WCIII seems to have a lot to do with their actual ages, its probably no accident that confed capships look sleeker in wing commander 2 than in III, since you are supposed to be a part of a totally forgettable fleet, that way Tolwyn's Behemoth project and Paladin's Bomb project go unnoticed by the Kilrathi until it is too late.

 

[Mekt-Hakkikt]

As far as I remember, the Thundervolt VII is said to be rather new, introduced in 2668 or so. The Arrow and Longbow certainly predate it and maybe even the Rapier II, since we see them in WCATV.

 

[JasonRocZ]

It's very well possible that some fighters aren't really totally replaced ya know. I mean it is a big Wing Commander Universe. There's bound to be old fighters, new fighters, experimental fighters all wrapped into one lil universe . So to see an old Broadsword squadron or an old Arrow squadron flying off an older cap ship or even a newer capship does seem possible

 

[ChrisReid]

It's very well possible that some fighters aren't really totally replaced ya know. I mean it is a big Wing Commander Universe. There's bound to be old fighters, new fighters, experimental fighters all wrapped into one lil universe . So to see an old Broadsword squadron or an old Arrow squadron flying off an older cap ship or even a newer capship does seem possible

This is it. The WC3 ships are neither all new replacements for WC1/2 ships nor ancient ships that all predate the WC1/2 designs. All games use a mix of fighters that all coexist throughout the main series (with just a few exceptions where we explicitly see old fighters retired or new ones introduced).

2. Style changes are pretty common in wing commander, but the blocky look of cap ships in WCIII seems to have a lot to do with their actual ages, its probably no accident that confed capships look sleeker in wing commander 2 than in III, since you are supposed to be a part of a totally forgettable fleet, that way Tolwyn's Behemoth project and Paladin's Bomb project go unnoticed by the Kilrathi until it is too late.

The "blocky" ships were more a byproduct of the new 3D engine rather than an intentional effort to make the ships old.

 

[RogueBanshee]

In Sci-Fi it really isn't that rare for very, very old ships to still be in service. The Scimitar model from WC1 and Rapier-I model from WCM were over 100 years old before they were retired, and the Broadsword model is around 68 years old by Arena. And I believe that the Hellcat, Longbow, and Arrow were all seen in service in 2654, and that the Hellcat has been dated as being ordered for mass production in 2652.

 

[Death]

In Sci-Fi it really isn't that rare for very, very old ships to still be in service.

Well, considering the real life B-52, a design first introduced in 1952 (the currently used H model came into service in 1961), is scheduled to remain in service until 2040, it's not like there isn't precedent.