SM2 Firekka ground mission...

[-danr-]

Have just been reading through an epic thread discussing the atmospheric capabilities of Terran fighters, and how Halcyon's quote in SM2 threw a question mark over whether or not Confed ships could engage in combat within planetary atmosphere.

Now I don't want to bring all that back up again, but Halcyon's statement has made me curious if anybody knows, was there ever a plan for a ground mission on the WC1 platform?

When I first saw that briefing scene, I was certain we were going to be treated to a ground mission, obviously we didn't get one until WC3, but I wonder if they wrote Halcyon's mention of planetary combat into the script intending to create a ground mission.

Here's what the Amiga cockpit view of Firekka might have looked like (You can tell it's been a dull lunch time here)

 

[Wedge009]

Nice picture.

I doubt there would have been a ground mission though, personally. It seems to me the stuff about planetary combat was added in as part of the many ways in which Origin made the universe look and feel much bigger than it was.

 

[ChrisReid]

We see virtually anything and everything takeoff/land planetside, so that should be obvious, and a quick review of the WC Academy tv series shows a ton of atmospheric combat in 2654 as well.

Obviously somebody at Origin had the idea by dropping the Halcyon comment in the script, but realistically, it wasn't anywhere near technologically feasible. Even by WC3's time, after huge leaps in the technology, ground missions basically meant there were a couple of very large plain polygons in space that you could run into.

 

[-danr-]

Well, then looks like a concensus. Although I reckon if Origin weren't worried about all the extra data, they probably could have worked out a primative ground mission in 1990 - we did have some pretty good cockpit view flight sims back then - Chuck Yaeger's Air Combat comes to mind, but like I said, would've been a bulk load more data for the sake of just one or two missions.

Didn't know about the WC3 'large polygon in space' setup though, although come think about it the clipping wasn't the best (pretty sure if you crashed into the ground sometimes you'd see black on the other side).

Nice picture.

Thanks! Just wanted to give the Amiga Hornet cockpit a cameo really, with the altimeter and attitude guage being modelled on the unit shoved into the Dralthi by Terran techs during SM2.

I love tinkering, rather childishly

 

[frostytheplebe]

Well, then looks like a concensus. Although I reckon if Origin weren't worried about all the extra data, they probably could have worked out a primative ground mission in 1990 - we did have some pretty good cockpit view flight sims back then - Chuck Yaeger's Air Combat comes to mind, but like I said, would've been a bulk load more data for the sake of just one or two missions.

Thats CY Air Combat? I swear I thought it was the original Top Gun game I used to love on NES. That, TMNT, and "T and C Surfing Designs"... oh those bring back memories!

"Turn the ship around,
Leia knows where Luke is...
Turn it upside down,
Take it back to Bespin."

Sorry... dunno why I thought of that.