New Concept Art Drafted For Fan Projects (January 18, 2006)

[ChrisReid]

One of our newest Crius.net posters, Plasteel Skull, is already a big fan of WC Pioneer. He's got a talent for drawing, so he created a couple of concept art sketches for possible cockpit layouts. It's always neat when Wing Commander fans use their abilities to create physical works of art to celebrate the series. The differences between his Terran and Kilrathi designs should be obvious, and both are quite detailed. The Jalthi-inspired design has also been number coded to describe the different areas.

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I tried to imagine how a predatory race could design the cockpit of its fighterz and this is the outcome. Numbers:
1. This could be something like autopilot or ready to eject indicator.
2. MFD (everything with a hatching means its a place for something to be displayed)
3,4. That's pretty clear - shields and radar. In case of radar I wonder whether it would be too difficult to make it from red-hued, transparent glass.
5,6. Those jewel-like set of lamps (one red and the other green) are fuel and power level indicators.
7. Rudder. I imagined it could take the shape of Sivar's blessed hand and hold a warrior's palm.
8. Kilrathi warrior code on engraved platinium plate - so they never forget to kill.

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Original update published on January 18, 2006

 

[Sonic TH]

Interesting note, I believe that cats can only see in the infared so might keep that in mind with their layouts. Anyway looks good.

 

[Plasteel Skull]

Interesting note, I believe that cats can only see in the infared so might keep that in mind with their layouts. Anyway looks good.

Oh, that's quite interesting, and I didn't know this. Next time I will take it unders consideration. Dim interior, only deep red lights and so on... thx.

 

[Quarto]

We've seen enough Kilrathi ship interiors to be able to disregard such ideas. The Kilrathi do tend to favour warm colours, but they certainly don't limit themselves to just deep red.

 

[BrynS]

Excellent concept designs, Plasteel Skull! The attention to detail and effort is clear to see.

In the Kilrathi design you indicated the rudder placement, but I can't seem to locate the flightstick or Kilrathi equivalent. I also can't locate the flightstick in the Terran design either -- is this something you will add in later designs?

Cheers,


BrynS

 

[Bandit LOAF]

Interesting note, I believe that cats can only see in the infared so might keep that in mind with their layouts. Anyway looks good.

Not quite, but excellent reference. The quote you're thinking of is that Kilrathi are *capable* of seeing the infrared spectrum, not that they're limited to it.

Another useful quote about ordinary Kilrathi vision comes from the Terran Confederation Handbook: "... Kilrathi eyes are optimized for a lower level of light than humans." I don't know how spectrums and light levels and such go into designing a cockpit... so someone else will have to figure all of that out.

 

[Ijuin]

I think he is referring to the flightstick when he says "rudder"--unless Kilrathi generally fly mainly with their left hands, it would be awkward to have one axis (yaw) controlled by the right hand and the other two axes controlled by the left hand. I am thinking that the "Hand of Sivar" is supposed to be a three-axis flightstick which twists for yaw.

 

[Plasteel Skull]

Guys, you amaze me - that's an example of the life of this forum - we all are willing to discuss for a thousand and one post such a nick-nack stuff as a shintar Melek's whisker broken on a 21st second of WC3 movie cutscene! That's not criticism, that's sheer amusement . This Kilrathi cockpit is the first cockpit I've drawn - I was not having some deep thoughts about a rudder placement or infra red indicators. I just wanted to draw some alien-looking cockpit - and as I can say now (after approaching an issue more throughly - seeing Howard Day's salthi cockpit and cat cockpits in WC Armada and Academy) my work wasn't so "kilratish" at all. I guess today I could draw one which would fit kilrathi style much more.

I don't know how spectrums and light levels and such go into designing a cockpit... so someone else will have to figure all of that out.

As for this I could suggest something - IF kilrathi would see better in IR than they are seeing in 'normal' human spectrum (or be blind to it altogether) there shouldn't be any violet/blue/green control lights present in the cockpit as those would be invisible for them. The lights should only be red, and even better infrared - which means, that people wouldn't even see, that such a diode is switched on yet kilrathi would see its heat as some shade of red probably. Other modification in design? Maybe a cooled cockpit interior - who wants a cockpit, which after several direct plasma hits into hull shines like a disco inferno on a saturday night?

 

[Bandit LOAF]

They're not blind to the regular spectrum, they're just able to see infrared -- there's not even any claim that they see *better* in infrared, just that they can.

 

[t.c.cgi]

Perhaps it's another ocular cell in the eye for them. Such as we have ones for colors and ones for black and white.

 

[Bandit LOAF]

Sounds reasonable. I think the idea is just supposed to be that they're extraordinarily good hunters because they can see body heat -- not that they need special cockpits in order to see at all.

 

[AD]

Sounds reasonable. I think the idea is just supposed to be that they're extraordinarily good hunters because they can see body heat -- not that they need special cockpits in order to see at all.

That's an interesting thought actually. Theoretically it could give them an advantage in space by possibly being able to see the particle trails left behind an enemy fighter in which case a darkened cockpit might be usefull so as to not drown out the heat image

 

[Plasteel Skull]

They're not blind to the regular spectrum, they're just able to see infrared -- there's not even any claim that they see *better* in infrared, just that they can.

That's the reason for IF being written in capitals.

 

[Bandit LOAF]

There's no if, though -- we've already quoted something proving that Kilrathi can see in an ordinary spectrum in this very thread.