Old Reliable... aka Thunderbolt

:mad: thats kinda dumb! Two fighters you don't even get to fly in the game!
Not constrained by the requirement of having new craft for a player character to fly the author decided to show how technologically inferior the Border Worlds are, especially compared to the almighty Confed.
 
Well, it was good to see Scimitars again. Especially since you don't personally have to fly them against excaliburs and lances in a book.
 
Well, it was good to see Scimitars again. Especially since you don't personally have to fly them against excaliburs and lances in a book.

I would have LOVED to have flown one against the Excals. Honestly, I think WC4 would have been an improvement had they included one of the WC1 fighters in a Cameo style appearance!
 
The thunderbold is like the Sabre, you can dish out, but you can't dance(i'd rather take the raptor as an example but i found her to be superior to the rapier in the gameplay). It depends on your flying style, like the scimitar, you can use afterburners for the speed compensation towards other fighters, but when your afterburners run out, oh boy, ever played netwars? I honestly think the hellcat V or arrow IV would prevail, unless you are facing a really bad opponent.
 
No, that's great. Stuff like that in the novels shows that there's a lot more going on than what we see for gameplay mechanics reasons in the games.
In general, I agree, but in this particular instance, I don't think you're completely right. The trouble with the WC4 novel is that the change of fighters goes in both directions. It's not just that Scimitars and other old fighters have shown up in the novel without being in the game - that could certainly be explained by game mechanics and the need to keep the amount of content down. The problem, however, is that the Border Worlds fighters that appear in the game are completely absent from the novel. And that's the real pity. After all, there was nothing to stop the authors from explaining that the Banshees, Vindicators and Avengers were also really old - or, that they were new, but the Border Worlds had very few of them. Any explanation would have been fine - but instead we ended up with completely silence, and two completely different sets of fighters.
 
In general, I agree, but in this particular instance, I don't think you're completely right. The trouble with the WC4 novel is that the change of fighters goes in both directions. It's not just that Scimitars and other old fighters have shown up in the novel without being in the game - that could certainly be explained by game mechanics and the need to keep the amount of content down. The problem, however, is that the Border Worlds fighters that appear in the game are completely absent from the novel. And that's the real pity. After all, there was nothing to stop the authors from explaining that the Banshees, Vindicators and Avengers were also really old - or, that they were new, but the Border Worlds had very few of them. Any explanation would have been fine - but instead we ended up with completely silence, and two completely different sets of fighters.

I agree here,personally a few scimitars in WC4 would have been awesome, but to not show either...
 
No, that's great. Stuff like that in the novels shows that there's a lot more going on than what we see for gameplay mechanics reasons in the games.

The same happens with a particular WCIV cutscene: when you land on the Intrepid during the battle with the Vesuvius, you see a Vindicator landing/taking off. Well, that's not reflected in the gameplay, but it indicates that a much larger engagement was going on. It would be irrational for the Intrepid to keep a fleet of fighters laying around on the deck when it was in a deadly battle with a vastly more powerful ship.

After all, there was nothing to stop the authors from explaining that the Banshees, Vindicators and Avengers were also really old - or, that they were new, but the Border Worlds had very few of them. Any explanation would have been fine - but instead we ended up with completely silence, and two completely different sets of fighters.

Agreed. For some reason, I always had the impression (based on nothing, really, since those ships have little background) that the Banshee was just really cheap and the Avenger was some kind of hastily adapted shuttle. The Vindicator, however, is inexplicable: an atmospheric fighter with light tachyons and torpedoes sounds something the militia shouldn’t be throwing around, and yet you see a squad strafing mercenary tanks on Circe on that awesome scene.
 
The same happens with a particular WCIV cutscene: when you land on the Intrepid during the battle with the Vesuvius, you see a Vindicator landing/taking off. Well, that's not reflected in the gameplay, but it indicates that a much larger engagement was going on. It would be irrational for the Intrepid to keep a fleet of fighters laying around on the deck when it was in a deadly battle with a vastly more powerful ship.

The cutscenes that comprise the Vesuvius vs Intrepid/St Helens fight are some of the greatest in WC. Every time I see them I can't help but be impressed by their beauty. How can you not love seeing two heavy carriers slugging it out as they jump into Sol or before that when the basically play chicken with the Intrepid in the middle?
 
The cutscenes that comprise the Vesuvius vs Intrepid/St Helens fight are some of the greatest in WC. Every time I see them I can't help but be impressed by their beauty. How can you not love seeing two heavy carriers slugging it out as they jump into Sol or before that when the basically play chicken with the Intrepid in the middle?

My favorite one was always the fight between the Intrepid and Vesuvius. It always reminded me of the fight at the beginning of Star Wars.
 
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