Humbug; once again this thread seems to have mutated away from the original subject as threads are want to do, which doesn't necessarily bother me but I guess I'll post something that's back on track with what was originally in mind. I suppose I will forever proclaim the Excalibur as my most beloved fighter. There were many things that made this ship one of my favorites, such as its sleek design, speed, manuverability, firepower, and flexibility. More importantly, however, it was the dream ship of WC3, the game I rode into the WC galaxy on. It was the perverbial forbidden fruit, the sacred cow of the day which had a taboo on it that made it all the more desirable when it flew into the storyline in WC3 along with the ever-arrogant Flash. It had its parallel in every other WC game after itself, among which where the Dragon and the Vampire, which both come in towards the top of my priority list, but for me, the Excalibur was the first. Granted there may have been other "dream ships" introduced prior to the Heart of the Tiger, but it was the one I knew first and best. Maybe it was the way it auto-aimed at everything because I was a newbie and couldn't hit the broad side of a Corvette, but the way I could slice a Dralthi in half with two shots of my gun without wasting a missle made me extremely giddy.
Granted I felt the same sense of enjoyment with the Dragon when Pliers first let me have a go at it fresh off the flight decks of the Intrepid. No afterburner fuel; how cool was that? And cloaking! Always exciting I suppose... I mean he teased and taunted me with his little cloaking gadget back at Orestes IX, and now the full time fun of going *poof* in a vanishing act was quite tempting. In classical tradition, the Dragon also laid waste to everything in its path, with not only its standard loadout of guns, but also the amazing fission cannon, which was very exciting to see brought back from Privateer, heh (I just realized that's where they got it as I sat here and wrote out this post... amazing how long it takes you to have things strike you for the first time). Once again the Dragon was the glamour and glory of the flight deck, and given half the chance you always found yourself wanting to take it out for a spin. Additionally, it always baffled me why Blair logged flying time on a Banshee at the end of The Price of Freedom... I'd sooner take out a Vindicator before I'd grab one of those little tin cans with a booster pack attached... I guess its sad for me to say, but that's how I felt about the "good ole" banshee. On a little side note with the whole series of ships that could be found in that game, I never saw the practical application of the Bearcat. That thing was about as useful as the Behemoth...
Then, in Prophecy, there was the Vampire. Ever since I saw that thing on the cover of the CD case I was dieing to get behind its stick. It proved to be all the joy that I hoped it would. The manuverability and punch that the Vampire packed sent a little chill up my spine every time I was told I'd be taking out a wing of them. I absolutely loved to go to third person view and watch the elegance of the Vampire manuvering through whatever flight path you sent it on. It was really a sight. The guns it was packing weren't too bad either. The missle loadout was definitely large, but that was basically standard with any Prophecy ship. The Vampire was definitely, once again, the glamour ship of Prophecy. The Wasp was another terribly interesting ship as well, with its booster pack and impressive missle loadout. The guns were an absolute disgrace, but that was more than compensated by the projectile package. Besides, it was designed to be an interceptor, which means quick and guaranteed kills, which means you opt for your missles, and that's exactly what it was fitted with. As for what I was least anxious to fly, that would have had to be the Tigershark. Good Lord Almighty, I might have had better luck attempting to use a nail file to make a dent in the hulls of those space roaches... I would have felt more confident flying an Arrow against the Nephilem than being told I was having the extreme priveledge of taking out a wing of Tigersharks on a four point patrol that must have had about twenty Nephilem at each nav... it was definitely not a particularly endearing ship for me.
However, pushing all of these aside, I will still always be in love with the Excalibur. The biggest thing I admire about this ship was its design. I don't know what the rest of you think but I always thought the Excalibur was the best damned looking ship I'd ever seen in the Wing Commander world. Plus it was extremely enjoyable to fly. And besides, I got to rattle some kitty teeth with a bomb I slamed down the throat of their planet launched from none other than the Excalibur. What's not to love, eh? Battling the Kilrathi was always more enjoyable for me than taking out humans or the Nephilem. Therefore, I'm naturally drawn to the ship that was specifically designed to crank out the kitty litter at an alarming rate. I think maybe the specs on all three of the glamour ships I've mentioned from the last three games in the main storyline of the series were purposely tweaked to make them the most desirable, and that's just pretty obvious. But in the classic tradition of bigger is better, I love the way everything about the Excalibur screams "Here, kitty, kitty..."