Lost Ship of the Day: Dralthi IV (August 26, 2006)

[Bandit LOAF]

Thanks to HCl (of course), we've unearthed some exciting starships, hidden for over a decades in the bowels of Wing Commander III and IV. We'll be showing them off in a series of five updates -- so get ready to see some lost ships! The first of the five is a special Dralthi IV - one flown by Dakhath "Deathstroke" nar Caxki. Check out that stunning red paint scheme. While Deathstroke appears in the manual, he does not appear in the PC version of the game. He's in the 3DO port... but that version does not have special ace fighters.

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Original update published on August 26, 2006

 

[Shades2585]

Cool! Do they have special stats?

 

[Lt.Death100]

Yes, the aces in WC3 had customized loadouts.

 

[Delance]

Amazing, thanks HCl!

 

[magitek]

Thanks for the pics, HCl.

Strange, though, that Deathstroke is still around in WC3. Didn't Blair take him out back in WC1?

IIRC, the only ace in WC1 that was any good at running away was Starkiller, and that's because he was in a light fighter.

 

[AD]

Thanks for the pics, HCl...

These pictures certainly wouldn't have been possible without HCls work so of course some thanks are in order, but the actual process of getting all the screenshots and such was done by LOAF.

 

[Dundradal]

All the aces' ships look really great. I used to barely notice ace pilots were in missions till I heard a unique taunt or saw a reddish fighter.

 

[Quarto]

I hardly ever noticed the aces in WC2, WC3 or WC4 (with the exception of the big storyline aces, namely Jazz, Thrakhath, Hobbes and Seether).

I think WC1 did a far better job in that regard - although its AI was no better than in any of those other games, and its aces didn't have special paintjobs or any voiceovers at all, they were the only ones in the entire series that actually made any impact. It was great how the manual gave you long profiles for each of them, and then the game just kept on driving the point across with all that "the ace is in town" bar conversations.

 

[Dyret]

Was there any "minor" WC2 aces other than Kur? I can't remember any.

 

[Quarto]

Yeah, there was Rakti Blood-Drinker, too, and Khasra Redclaw. Most people at least vaguely remember Khasra, because he was in the storyline, but I guess nobody remembers Rakti... not only was he fairly insignificant, but he had the additional misfortune of appearing in Spirit's last mission (...and not even at the final navpoint), and her death overshadowed everything else in that mission.

 

[Bandit LOAF]

Kur gets mentioned in the debriefing, IIRC, and Rakti doesn't.

 

[Lt.Death100]

Is Kur the one in the Grikath? Cause that mission was one of the 1st ones that was really really hard to finish for me.

 

[Bandit LOAF]

Yes, he was the Grikath ace.