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Chad

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I was just wondering, because this ties up my mind sometimes, how some of you guys think through the differences of Confed and Kilrathi ships between those two games.

I know the game engine and the way the game was designed is pretty much the real reason but I was wondering what some of you guys have come up with to "explain away" (Trek fans are real good at this!) =).

Looking through the screen shots - I love Standoff's look. Any chance to see a Conventry or Ajax type ship?
 
Originally posted by Chad
I know the game engine and the way the game was designed is pretty much the real reason but I was wondering what some of you guys have come up with to "explain away" (Trek fans are real good at this!) =).
Click to expand...

Wing Commander fans are good at that, too.
 
I don't think there's much to explain... Like TC said, they're all just different ships.
IMHO, some of the WC1/2/Priv ships - like the Exeter and the Drayman - even fit in with the WC3/4/P designs, and vice-versa (IMO, the Shrike and the Ajax would fit in with WC2's ships, for example).

So, it's not like it wouldn't look right to have an Exeter in WC3 or an Ajax in WC1 - that's why I think that in-universe, the fact that WC3 ships look more blocky and less colorful and etc can be explained simply as a coincidence, since that doesn't apply to all ships.

Originally posted by Chad
Any chance to see a Conventry or Ajax type ship?
Click to expand...
Nope, I'm very much biased towards WC1/2/Priv designs, so there won't be any WC3 ships in Standoff... except for maybe an adapted version of something... but if we decide to do that, it's going to be a surprise, so I can't tell ;)

--Eder
 
I think the biggest inconsistency are Kilrathi capital ships however... I mean Priv is set in 2669, Armada too. And they both have capships (In fact, the same capship, the Priv Kamekh is the Shiraak + wings) that are like ice big pressurised bubbles with a bridge and wings and outboard engines. Then SLAM. BLocky, boring ships aka heavy Destroyer.

Next to the issue of armor strengths and ship sizes its the bggest paradox in the WC universe. COmpare the Ralatha and Fralthra to the boring designs of WC3. How does one explain that in-universe?
 
I believe many of WC3's ships, at least Confed ships, are supposed to be older than the ones we see in WC1/2.
 
Originally posted by gryphon
I think the biggest inconsistency are Kilrathi capital ships however...
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I agree, but even so, I think that the Ralari and Fralthi would look good in WC3... I mean, those things are so blocky I could probably make a convincing 3D model of them using less polygons than the WC3 capships use.

They did use some ugly ass Kilrathi capships in WC3, IMHO, but they're not ugly because of their blockyness... they don't even look that different in design philosophy from the WC1 ships, apart from the symmetry issue (WC2, Priv and Armada ships are another story though).

--Eder
 
Originally posted by Wedge009
I believe many of WC3's ships, at least Confed ships, are supposed to be older than the ones we see in WC1/2.
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WC3 Kilrathi ships are state-of-the-art ships. The Bhantkara carriers were put into service just a few months before the end of the war, as stated in False Colors, and the Fralthi II cruisers are also quite new.
 
In-universe? Confed is losing the war so ship designs are becoming less fancy and more cookie-cutter. Kilrathi ship designs become more intimidating to wage psychological warfare on Confed pilots in the midst of conventional warfare (although this doesn't really explain why Capships got super ugly).

Realistically? The programmers just wanted to show off their pretty new 3d engine, while hardware limitations of computers at the time kept meshes and textures pretty simple.
 
The kilrathi capships aren't that ugly, but their textures are. I once retextured a model of a heavy destroyer with more detailed, less tiled textures and added some fancy Kilrah logos and red stripes and the like, and it looked quite decent.
 
I believed both sides had heavy losses to their shipyards.
The Kilrathi lost theirs to a sneak attack by the Tarawa around 2668, while Confed lost theirs during the Battle of Earth in 2668.

This probably caused the reactivation of many older ships (like the Ranger-class carriers and Durango-class destroyers) as well the introduction of new design specs.
 
Wasn't the conversion of a Durango destroyer into a carrier a Border Worlds innovation? As in trying to make the most of what little they had? I don't think Confed used Durangos as carriers.
 
I always thought the Confederation WC3 capital ships tend to look utilitiarian and blocky because their designs had to be refined for faster mass production. A large number of Confed's shipyards got wiped out in the Battle of Terra and BuShips was tasked to find new fleet replacements, as fast as possible. This means getting as many ships out with as little resources and time as possible.

That means designing vessels simply and economically, to ensure faster production time. All the "bells and whistles" were taken out so they can be deployed in a smaller period of time.

Confed was lucky they even had time to rebuild a fleet, the only reason the Kilrathi didn't follow up with a secondary invasion was because the Emperor had to keep his remaining forces near Kilrah. Thrakhath's failure at Terra almost put the other clans in another civil war, and some tried to assassinate the Emperor.
 
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