Hellcat cockpit in the WC2 style

Woah. Great work there, HCl! Seeing an Arrow in WC2 is neat. But thinking of the possibility of seeing them in Privateer is far, far more exciting for me personally. That would be sweet! Especially if additional ships could somehow be worked into the game. Not sure if it would be possible. Ideally, of course, it would be awesome to pilot new ships like the arrow...But if that's not possible, I wonder if 'seeding' them throughout the systems would be - So that, when you come across the pirates at a nav point, you've got a chance of coming upon, say two Arrows and a Talon, for example.
 
Hmm, well the Armada Arrow had twin Lasers and twin Dumbfires, but that does seem kind of weak. Changing the guns to shorter-range Mass Drivers or Neutron guns makes it too much like the Ferret, and changing them to Particle guns makes it too much like the Epee, while giving it quad Lasers seems a bit overpowered. Perhaps stick with being faster than the Epee (520/1400 kps and 10/10/10 turn rate) to counter the weaker guns, and give it 2 DF/2 IR or 2 HS/2 IR missiles? Shields/armor wise about the same as the Ferret perhaps? I'm thinking "a little faster and more nimble than Epee, a little more durable than Epee, with weaker guns but slightly better missiles than Epee". It would need its slightly greater durability to compensate for having to stay on target a bit longer with its weaker guns.
 
I actually kind of like the idea of the weaker weaponry. Gives off a vibe, when combined with the higher speeds, of this being a scout/recon bird, with just enough firepower to discourage pursuit. The main defense would be getting the hell out of town.

Fan-fiction time: The Arrow we see in Armada was the original, designed as a scout, with most of her power being designated for the engines. Somewhere along the way, someone noticed you could hang armor and more weapons on the basic design, and got one hell of a fighter for WC3. Sort of an F-16 style progression from lightweight single role to heavier multirole.
 
Yeah, having it be "lighter and more nimble than the Epee/Ferret" can work as long as we aren't taking it to extremes. 800/2000kps like in Armada for example is probably a bit excessive considering that nothing else tops 500/1400 (IIRC), but a speed between 520/1400 and 600/1600 might work.
 
SabreAce said:
Fan-fiction time: The Arrow we see in Armada was the original, designed as a scout, with most of her power being designated for the engines. Somewhere along the way, someone noticed you could hang armor and more weapons on the basic design, and got one hell of a fighter for WC3. Sort of an F-16 style progression from lightweight single role to heavier multirole.
Click to expand...
We do not actually have any information regarding whether the original Arrow was a recon/scout like we see in Armada, or a proper light fighter like we see in WC3, but keep in mind that the Arrow seems to be a very old design. It uses the designation F-27. There is a general consensus that designations are more or less chronological, so this would make the Arrow older than the F-36 Hornet.

When we introduced the Arrow into the WC2 era in Standoff, we went with the assumption that we're seeing a prototype of the Armada Arrow, although still using WC2-style durasteel armour. So, our Arrow had the top speed of the Armada Arrow, but its armour was in line with WC2, comparable to the Epee (the most lightly armoured fighter we know of in Confed's arsenal). It was basically a lighter, faster Ferret, although with slightly improved shields. It worked out really great... but probably would be a terrible ship to fly in the WC2 engine, because the speed would feel very excessive for sprite-based collisions.

For this reason, I would definitely recommend going with an earlier variant of the WC3 Arrow, which must have existed concurrently with the Armada Arrow. Never being one to miss out on the opportunity to propose ship stats, let me give it a try as well...

F-27H Arrow
Speed: 520 (like WC3)
AB Speed: 1400 (again, like W3)
Shield Recharge Rate: 3 (halfway between Epee and Ferret)
Acceleration Rate: 4 (equivalent of Epee )
Y/P/R: 8/9/9 (straight from WC3. Arguably, this could be slightly better to take into account the additional armour and shields the ship will put on in WC3, but then it would be near-identical to the Epee)
Shields (Fore/Aft): 10/10 (better than an Epee or Ferret, but not as good as a Rapier; also, better than the Standoff Arrow)
Armour (Fore/Aft/Flanks): 5/5/4 (better than the Epee, worse than Ferret, and better than the Standoff Arrow)
Missiles: 4 FF / 4 DF / 2 Chaff pods (no innovation here, just WC3 stats copied straight over; except that the decoys get converted into 2 chaff pods)
Guns: 2 Lasers / 2 Mass Drivers (like previously with the WC2 Hellcat adaptation, the ion gets replaced with mass drivers; I like the fact that this combination is identical to the Phantom, which is Armada's equivalent of a combat Arrow)

The end result is a light fighter that's overcome some of the Epee's problems and further refined the concept of a light combat fighter by giving it more firepower and speed, but ultimately is still weak enough that you really don't want to take too many hits. I'm sure Iceman would have called it the ultimate artist's ship :).
 
Quarto said:
We do not actually have any information regarding whether the original Arrow was a recon/scout like we see in Armada, or a proper light fighter like we see in WC3, but keep in mind that the Arrow seems to be a very old design. It uses the designation F-27. There is a general consensus that designations are more or less chronological, so this would make the Arrow older than the F-36 Hornet.
Click to expand...

The 2701 copy of Star*Soldier also refers to its age and original intent: "The Scout is the standard Arrow V spaceframe, relatively unchanged over the last half century. Its light armament makes it unsuitable for pounding matches, but its recordsetting speed and maneuverability are ideal for hit-and-run strikes. Arrow Scouts are also a common sight at orbital racing competitions." (Scout in this case refers to the variant nicknamed the Scout and doesn't necessarily have to literally mean a scouting ship)

And we see the ship in the Academy cartoon:
wcatv-arrow.jpg
 
That's right! At the very least, the Arrow goes back to the early 2950s, though it could well be older than that.
 
I like Quarto's proposed stats for the Arrow's speed and protection, but eight missiles, while being in line with the WC3 version, seems a bit many for the WC2 environment if it is going to be facing against WC2 Kilrathi fighters. Perhaps reduce it to 2FF/2DF, or the WC4 version's 2IR/2HS?
 
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