Torpedo Question

One explanation might be that they locked the torpedoes while cloaked. But then, wasn't cloaking supposed to be such a drain on the fighter that all other systems (besides life support, of course) would be disabled?

I suppose that particular scene was presented the way it was purely for dramatic effect.
 
I think in FA it is said that cloaking would take out most systems but in the game (Academy) the Strakhas do lock while cloaked. Maybe the Strakhas from the intro were a more advanced version since they were built before the missile volley in the Ghorah Khar shipyards.

(And of course, all later stealth fighters could do it).
 
In fact, I've never quite understood why they couldn't fire while cloaked. I mean after all, all they have to do is use some explosive bolts to toss it freee.. then the missile's engine fires and it's on it's way. Especially if you can lock while cloaked...

It may have made the game impossible to play... but it doesn't sound outside the bounds of basic physics
 
Miracynonyx100 said:
The shield generators probably do change patterns... but how come they've never changed frequency while locking up-- that would screw up your lock?

Even if you could bust through only one quarter of the shield (like from 9 o clock to six o' clock), why couldn't you transmit that to your friends... they could then breach the shield...

If a capship had enough point defenses it would still be hard anyway...
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And how would that make anything better? The net result of what you describe is that the player now lobs a greater number of torpedoes at a random anti-torpedo screen - reducing the importance of skill and making it more tedious at the same time.

The topic itself doesn't make sense. You've invented an imaginary problem (inability to "transmit frequencies" - whatever that means), and are now trying to concoct various in-universe justifications to explain it. By the very nature of you having pulled this scenario out of nowhere, there is no way any of us could use real Wing Commander information to pose a solution. It's the exact same thing with the cloak. Science fiction franchises almost universally restrict their use in the way Wing Commander has for very obvious reasons. Trying to force in some explanation doesn't really get you anywhere. Cloaking isn't real, so any technobabble way you come up with to "prove" how cloaks function incorrectly can be immediately negated by some other technobabble thing that the creators of a science fiction work come up with. If you want to talk about stuff like this, it has to involve the actual information and context of the specific science fiction universe.
 
ChrisReid said:
The topic itself doesn't make sense. You've invented an imaginary problem (inability to "transmit frequencies" - whatever that means), and are now trying to concoct various in-universe justifications to explain it.
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I think I understand the question posed; but I have to agree with Chris, here -- there isn't enough information on how phase shields work, and how torpedoes interact with them, that one CAN make an in-universe explanation of why one has to sit and make a tedious lock, and why you have to re-do it with each launch.

It's "because that's the way it is," more or less. Anything else is purely at the technobabble level.
 
Miracynonyx100 said:
In fact, I've never quite understood why they couldn't fire while cloaked. I mean after all, all they have to do is use some explosive bolts to toss it freee.. then the missile's engine fires and it's on it's way. Especially if you can lock while cloaked...

It may have made the game impossible to play... but it doesn't sound outside the bounds of basic physics
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Because it's not much of a cloak when the enemy can spot the missile leaving the cloaking field and blanket the area with fire. Better to stop the drain of the cloaking device and have full power available for offense & defense.
 
Cloaking also uses a large amount of power, perhaps the targeting system can not operate at full potential because of the power drain.

There are a multitude of reasons why firing while cloaked wouldn't make sense.
 
Maybe the Strakhas fired their torpedoes without bothering to get a lock. Capital ship shields were a lot weaker in wc1 than wc2 so it might not have been necessary to skip through the shields.
 
Blaster said:
Maybe the Strakhas fired their torpedoes without bothering to get a lock. Capital ship shields were a lot weaker in wc1 than wc2 so it might not have been necessary to skip through the shields.
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I'm not sure if that is the case, we see torpedoes have to defeat shields in AS using the same type of technology as WC2 torpedoes.
 
Dundradal said:
I'm not sure if that is the case, we see torpedoes have to defeat shields in AS using the same type of technology as WC2 torpedoes.
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Yeah, but wc1 missiles could take down shields, unlike the fighter’s missiles in AS unless I’m mistaken, so I thought that wc1 era torpedoes might be able to as well.
 
We'll see. But "inflicted-damage-point"-wise I currently am 1st place. :p

Edit: I won't submit my move until tomorrow so you have some more time to think of a plan. :p
 
ChrisReid said:
Cloaking isn't real, so any technobabble way you come up with to "prove" how cloaks function incorrectly can be immediately negated by some other technobabble thing that the creators of a science fiction work come up with...
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That's not entirely accurate...

It may only be microwaves now, but I could see other ranges in the EM band becoming technically feasible by the end of the decade. In fact, I heard that we're pretty close to "single color" cloaks already. That doesn't really solve the whole problem, but is certainly a step in the right direction.

Here's one example:

http://dukenews.duke.edu/2006/10/cloakdemo.html
 
You will never defeat the 2nd law of thermodynamics...it holds for EM energy as well as heat energy...

IF you have a "cloak" that allows visible light and/or scanner pulses to pass around an object without reflecting off its surface, the light will STILL know it has been redirected. The question (just like with radar and "stealth") is whether or not the detection gear KNOWS that it "didn't see something over THERE." If its passive abilities aren't good enough, it'll never know it... over time, someone will improve its passive abilities and study the technology enough to figure out some trace signature that gives away the "cloak" and develop passives that CAN detect the trace...and around we go again
 
You don't need to be invisible in ALL bands of the electromagnetic spectrum. You only need to be invisible in the bands that the enemy fighter planes and pilots can see--primarily visible, infrared, and microwave (radar). You could conceivably rig things so that your emissions are all in a different band (for example, having your heat dumped at super high temperatures as ultraviolet radiation).

Of course, the enemy can always add sensors for a new band to their fighters eventually, but that is how all arms races work.

Also, at engagement range, being invisible to the enemy's computers (and missiles) is more important than being invisible to the pilots' eyes. Anybody remember how much harder it was to fight through the jamming in Peleus in WC4?
 
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