The Straith Story (or: Heron Earth) (July 19, 2025)

Bandit LOAF · Jul 19, 2025

I made a terrible discovery while looking through our archive: we have not updated on the incredible Privateer 2 artwork of Jayden Morris (ArtStation) in years and they have recreated at least two truly incredible ships in that time. We reported on their stunning remake of the Anhur landing cutscene and recreation of the Jincilla Veldor[/url] using Star Citizen assets... but not their modern-game-quality models of the Straith and the Heron. We'll collect all of it in this update for posterity!

Morris has created a wonderful set of renders and animations of both ships, presenting them similar to a Star Citizen concept sale with different liveries, animations showing how they work and even some associated lore!

Privateer 2 - Straith (ArtStation)

Remake of the Straith light fighter ship from Privateer 2 (1996).

Original: https://www.wcnews.com/wcpedia/Straith_Light_Fighter_PL01

Using weapon models from Star Citizen.

Privateer 2 - Heron (ArtStation)

Remake of the Heron pirate ship from Privateer 2 (1996).

Original: https://www.wcnews.com/wcpedia/Heron_Medium_Fighter_ML04

Using weapon models from Star Citizen.

Chirichan Pirate Clan

Heron Enforcer

In Action

Draknor Pirate Station Hangar

Lore

Animations

Privateer 2 - Anhur Entry Cinematic Remake (ArtStation)

Re-interpretation of the planet Anhur's landing cinematic from the 1996 PC game Privateer 2: The Darkening.

Fly through Audio is from the original cinematic.

Uses ship models from Star Citizen as replacements for some of the original Privateer 2 ships. As these two games are related in a few ways, it became a blending of each, remixing Privateer 2's creativeness with Star Citizen's universe.

You can watch a version of the original cinematic here:

This was an experimental learning exercise in animation, landscaping and Unreal Engine features.

Terrain sections were created using Quadspinner Gaea and enhanced with Megascans textures in UE4.

Rocks were modelled in 3DS Max with box modelling and displaced using a Megascans rock surface.

Full scene composition and animation tracks were built in 3DS Max over the original animation footage, then exported to UE4 using Datasmith before further animation and scene arrangement in UE4.

Rendered at 24FPS. Animated HUD elements and post-processing in Photoshop & After Effects.