err, whats up, like technology is stagnant/regressive in WC?

Originally posted by wankski
meh, good point....

didnt know about the dragons cost, tho kinda suspected it... but with the auto track, thats a good point... u cant tell me it would cost that much to have main armaments on turrents ! i mean current technology does it cheaply eg, chain gun mounted on apache... should be a piece of cake for 2500 or whatever the yr is.. bah !

:D

(it was prolly a gameplay issue, like most of the descisions methinks)

cheers

ps: what about flash pack? now that was a cool bit of tech. i missed !! :(
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The Bearcats had auto-track on their guns. I can think of one good reason to avoid using auto-track, however - the more high-tech the gadgets, the easier they are to screw up in combat by something which would otherwise be minor damage. I'd hate to have my guns jam so they'd only shoot to the right...

And the Flash-Pak depended on being able to bore through the armor, and THEN igniting the atmosphere inside the ship by using a strip-fusion bomb variation. The newer armor on Confed craft may well prevent this, or other means were found to counter this ability.

And as far as I know, we have no guarantee they'd be useful on the bugs. :D

Besides, there's political considerations; would you want to be associated with a weapon that was, along with BioConvergence, seen as 'Black Lance, those racist bastards who tried to commit genocide'?
 
yeah tho in real terms if the turrent got hit bad, the gun would most likely cease functioning... i mean its a moot point arguing survivabilty of fictious weapon systems, but the inclusion of higher tech. and then its elimination baffles me...

even if the argument of redundancy were to be made, i would rather the benefit of auto tracking turrents. mayb it could even be considered a survival improvemnt to allow off-boresight shooting to avoid head to head encounters... definately reduce pilot workload...


cheers

ps: whats with the alien rip off that eats blair? i mean... geez a lil' ingenuity would improve the game... cats... they were original !i'm almost glad there isnt gunna be a triology for WCP... TRY AGAIN EA !!
 
Originally posted by wankski
yeah tho in real terms if the turrent got hit bad, the gun would most likely cease functioning... i mean its a moot point arguing survivabilty of fictious weapon systems, but the inclusion of higher tech. and then its elimination baffles me...

even if the argument of redundancy were to be made, i would rather the benefit of auto tracking turrents. mayb it could even be considered a survival improvemnt to allow off-boresight shooting to avoid head to head encounters... definately reduce pilot workload...


cheers
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Who said the gun had to be hit bad? The problem with complicated systems is that there are more parts to break down - maintenance failures would stop that turret as surely as damage to the guns. It's one thing to make a gun taht moves - it's another to do the autotrack that the Bearcat did. I'd rather put autotrack technology on my side and rear turrets in a bomber, where I could seriously use such, myself.

Besides, higher tech doesn't always mean it's a better solution. Witness the way WCP ended; the technologically superior Nephilim were beaten not with higher technology, but better tactics and flying.

Or for a more relevant and real-life example... look at your snipers in Afghanistan. And what they're using - bolt action weapons like the M40 based on the Remington 700. These, while a bit 'lower-tech' than semi-automatic rifles like the PSG-1 from H&K, are seen to be more accurate and reliable.

(Edit: the PSG-1 is not often seen in military service, due to having a reputation for being 'delicate'. I'd expect the autotracking turrets on Bearcats to have similiar issues).
 
so wait... its like year 2630 something in WCP, when were the border worlds war and the end of the kilrathi war?


cos like look at the world now.... military tech was turned on its head in 50 yrs ! and you'ld expect in the future for the turn over rate to be much quicker... so that like the difference in technology in a decade in the yr 27th century would be like 100yrs in the 20th...

so like even if the dragon and all its systems were cutting edge and bloody expensive in the BW conflict, it should be commonplace at least for WCP... like i mean even tho computers are relatively new to us, a top of the line PC can cost 3 grand, but pretty worthless the next yr. u'ld think it would be the same... and whats with the speed? stuff should be quicker methinks... i mean whats the real advance in the light class? heavy?

and how exactly is the vampire WCPs 'supership'? the dragon and excalibur before it were awesome compared to 'normal classes'....

cheers again guys.. :)
 
Originally posted by wankski
so wait... its like year 2630 something in WCP, when were the border worlds war and the end of the kilrathi war?


cos like look at the world now.... military tech was turned on its head in 50 yrs ! and you'ld expect in the future for the turn over rate to be much quicker... so that like the difference in technology in a decade in the yr 27th century would be like 100yrs in the 20th...

so like even if the dragon and all its systems were cutting edge and bloody expensive in the BW conflict, it should be commonplace at least for WCP... like i mean even tho computers are relatively new to us, a top of the line PC can cost 3 grand, but pretty worthless the next yr. u'ld think it would be the same... and whats with the speed? stuff should be quicker methinks... i mean whats the real advance in the light class? heavy?

and how exactly is the vampire WCPs 'supership'? the dragon and excalibur before it were awesome compared to 'normal classes'....

cheers again guys.. :)
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It's been about 7-10 years since the end of the Border Worlds conflict. Why do you think prices would drop so drastically for systems as incredibly expensive as matter/antimatter reactors and the like? These are mature technologies; the main problem in WC4 was that the economy was in ruins and falling apart after the end of the war (industries were devastated by the Kilrathi bombardment of Earth and the destruction of many Inner and Outer Colonies), and the economy was geared towards wartime requirements... which made the transition back to peacetime painful.

Mature technologies, or relatively mature ones, don't suddenly devalue the way PC technology does now. You're comparing apples to oranges here - a better comparison would be to eye fighter planes and warships of the current era. Notice that we're using 30-year old fighters still (the F-14s amd F-15s), and only now are we moving to replace them with successors which have been in development the past ten years (F-22, F-35). While these new fighters offer great improvements over their predecessors in lethality and stealth, their main technologies (engines, hull, control systems) are relatively mature and not too dissimilar. And the engines on these buggers are among the most expensive parts with regards to maintenance.

Beyond that, an F-14 or F-15 is still worth millions... that's what it costs to make, due to parts and the rest. It's not $5... making Bearcats or Dragons or cloaking Excaliburs would probably be similiarly prohibitive, cost-wise.

Notice also that speeds in WCP are a bit faster, all around the board, but that the technology's relatively mature, though better performance on even the bombers is due to advances in material sciences. The 'supership' aspect of the Vampire comes from its gun array as well as its maneuverability, which at times matches that of a light fighter, along with its incredibly heavy shielding.
 
Originally posted by wankski
ps: whats with the alien rip off that eats blair? i mean... geez a lil' ingenuity would improve the game... cats... they were original !
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Not exactly.. Chris Roberts opened admitted to using Larry Niven's Kzinti race from the Man-Kzin War books for the Kilrathi. Niven System in Enigma Sector's named after Larry Niven.

Originally posted by Delance
Where did you get this info from? AFAIK, the cloak isn't even coded in the vision engine.
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It's in the ICIS manual.
 
Originally posted by Haesslich Mature technologies, or relatively mature ones, don't suddenly devalue the way PC technology does now.
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And in fact if you think about it, PC tehnology is still the same. It's merely been refined and the designs have changed (I hate to say improved since Intel CPUs are computer architecture nightmares). We still use silicon, we still use photolithography.

And this devaluation of parts is really only seen in the PC, server, graphic card ... markets. The vast majority of the industry deals with imbedded systems and the like and these don't devalue as fast. Things like fridges, mocrowaves, consoles, cars, PDAs, cameras ... the list goes on ...
 
Originally posted by WildWeasel
As I recall, the audio for this unused scene was found and extracted from Prophecy. It features Stiletto ordering Maestro to engage his cloak.
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Wedge009 used to have the audio File on his Web Site, but it's gone now
 
Originally posted by steampunk
And in fact if you think about it, PC tehnology is still the same. It's merely been refined and the designs have changed (I hate to say improved since Intel CPUs are computer architecture nightmares). We still use silicon, we still use photolithography.

And this devaluation of parts is really only seen in the PC, server, graphic card ... markets. The vast majority of the industry deals with imbedded systems and the like and these don't devalue as fast. Things like fridges, mocrowaves, consoles, cars, PDAs, cameras ... the list goes on ...
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True, but engines don't usually make huge leaps in speed and performance ratings every year and a half or so. :D That's one of the reasons that PCs (CPUs, RAM, hard drives) keep dropping so quickly in value. There's a bigger, badder successor waiting in the wings.

This is in contrast with fighter technology, which is relatively mature - they may improve performance with new engines or computers, but that doesn't suddenly make the whole fighter itself worthless. They still cost millions to build, because they're such complex beasts... and the engines are a hell of a large part of the price.
 
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