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Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 12
This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the eighth Joan's page:
CONCEPT: These were the ships I really got to build, since they were actually 'maps' in the game without most specifications. I just had to stick to the right number of turrets on the cruisers and the established history on the Midway. Note that the screenshots seen here were taken by the game's Producer in-game, since the team didn't have time to render new ones before we went to print.
REFERENCES-
- "Midway" - A Midway-class ship makes up the single player gauntlet map in Arena. I was so jazzed when I saw this for the first time. "The front, that looks like a Midway..." "It is!" One of those great happy moments, in my mind.
- "differ only visually" - The Producer was very concerned with explaining why this Midway looked 'different' from the one in Wing Commander Prophecy. I honestly believe the whole thing is my fault and that they put out that cool 'wallpaper' image of the ship early on because of how genuinely excited they saw I was to find it in the game. I felt, I still feel, terrible that some fans were so obnoxious about it. It's a cool treat for you guys, not the end of the world (I know the artist felt awful too). Anyway, I did go through great lenghts (as requested) to explain the appearance - this reference was only the start, and was more geared towards explaining why the specifications could be the same.
- "Confederation flagship" - I thought our previous home deserved some glory!
- "Length," "Mass," "YPR," "Velocity," "Acceleration," "Shields," "Fighter Complement" - These numbers all come straight from Wing Commander Prophecy.
- "Armor" - 2,000 cms was the most common 'component' armor strength in Prophecy.
- "Weapons" - The laser turrets and the IR missile launchers are from the official specifications (and they're what you find in the game). The heavy ion cannons are mentioned in Rachael's article in Waypoint! and the CapShip Missiles are seen in-game when the Midway is fighting the first Tiamat.
- "TSY Arcology" - TSY Arcology was the site which repaired the Midway in Secret Ops, location of some sort of intrigue involving a bombing that... didn't go anywhere?
- "Indomitable" - I'm so lucky in that I got to name and write the backstory for the coolest part of the game! I wanted a strong age-of-sail style name for the human ship. It was actually "Indefatigable" for quite a while until it was decided no one would know how to pronounce that.
- "battlecruiser" - Sean Penney was very concerned that the large ships be given a unique backstory in the Wing Commander universe, to separate them (and their lack of shields) from the sleaker capital ships we had seen before. I came up with the 'battlecruiser' background, most of which is actually presented later in the manual (which is why these descriptions might seem sparse - although they appear early, they were written later with knowledge of what a battlecruiser was already in my head).
- "The only ship capable of... with coordinated fighter support." -A direct explanation of how the CapShip mode is played.
- Specifications - These numbers were all mine. As you can see, they're designed to be similar but 'varied' between the two ships (just like their appearances). I will admit here and never again that I included, very late in the game, the large fighter complements for anyone who wanted to imagine them fighting a Star Wars Star Destroyer and winning...
- "Shields: None" - This was a requirement from the development team, who didn't want to confuse anyone given that the point of the ships was to blow up their components with your guns. It's a little weird, I'll admit...
- "Mk. V Plasma Cannon" - You see massive batteries firing from cruiser to cruiser in the game, I made them the apparent successor to the plasma cannon found on the Cerberus in Secret Ops.
- "Trojan IV Naval Yard" - The yard where, according to Claw Marks, the famed TCS Tiger's Claw was built.
- "Kiranka" - I wanted something similarly regal for the Kilrathi name... and what's more regal than the former Imperial clan?
- "Hari Fleet" - The appearance of similarly giant "battleships" in Fleet Action has always bothered me. Hunter identifies them when he's scanning the hidden Kilrathi fleet... and then they never appear again. Were they not finished in time for the invasion? What happened to them? Now you know!
- "basically a pound for pound..." - A nice way of saying that they're exactly the same.
- "Nokhtak Clan" - The clan of Murragh from False Colors. I liked the suggestion that they were tying themselves to the Imperial legacy in this manner (and that they still existed at all).
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Update published on August 24, 2008. View all news from that day.
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Official news, fan projects and topics of particular interest to Wing Commander fans.
- Some Ship Viewer Sample Shots Shown
- 2012-05-24 -- BoH_Havoc is continuing to move forward with his online ship viewer based on feedback he's received so far. Here are some new prototype images with the TCS Concordia rendered in the program. Pretty neat!
- Destroyer Destined for Guard Duty
- 2012-05-23 -- Kevin Caccamo's Ralari has taken a huge leap since the last time we saw it. The model has been plated with nice metallic textures that don't overdo the look. Running lights, windows, powered engines and intake glow all add significantly to the presentation here too.
- GOG Talks Space Sims
- 2012-05-22 -- centaurianmudpig spotted a new PlaySF interview with the folks at GOG.com. They discuss the state of the space combat genre and the possibility of releasing expansion packs for Wing Commander games.
- Enigma Mod Measures Out Confed Fleet
- 2012-05-21 -- Here's a new Confed showcase of capships for the Enigma 2666 mod. Each ship's length and scale is still subject to some potential tweaking to sync better with fighters, but the current lineup is displayed below. The TCS Concordia is very far along the design path, as is the Gilgamesh.
- "Sir, if we spot this Fralthi, should we engage?"
- 2012-05-20 -- Now we go from Fralthra to Fralthi WIP images. CMDBob's latest design is a classic Kilrathi light carrier/cruiser. His model has real clean lines and an animated WC1-style set of textures.
- Fearsome Fralthra Filling In Fast
- 2012-05-19 -- Red Baron has started to texture Cybot's Fralthra, and it's quickly turning into quite a work of art. The color scheme already does a great job of evoking Wing Commander 2. He's also scaled a Jalkehi as a point of reference and imagined what the entire fighter complement of the ship might look like.
- Wing Commander Saga Download Reminder
- 2012-05-18 -- If you haven't yet downloaded the long-awaited fan game, now is as good a time as any to get your hands on a copy! The Windows installer weighs in at a hefty 3.4 gigabytes, so we recommend some kind of download manager that can resume paused or failed transfers.
- New RPG Kicks Off
- 2012-05-17 -- The TCS Phoenix has launched and the game has begun in the Wing Commander: From the Ashes forum-based RPG. Some of the first characters have already been defined, and action in the Pentonville System is now in motion. There is also an out-of-character area where new players can ask questions and get situated before they begin role playing.
- Vega Sector Reinforcements Inbound
- 2012-05-16 -- Here's a preview of new designs that Klavs is working to bring to the Shapeways model factory. If all goes according to plan, this foursome may be available in a future bundle pack together. It's an interesting assortment of ships - Rapier, Super Wing Commander Rapier, Scimitar and Dralthi - and they all look fantastic!
- Academy Just Two Weeks Away!
- 2012-05-15 -- Wingnuts now have less than 14 days to prepare for the release of Wing Commander Academy on DVD! All thirteen episodes of the television series will be available in this set starting on May 29, 2012. Barnes & Noble and Deep Discount have some of the lowest prices, and there's still time to order from Amazon.
- Scimitar Prepares to Slice Up a Dralthi
- 2012-05-15 -- And to further get you in the Academy mood, here's another beautiful NinjaLA sketch. The CF-105 Scimitar was the workhorse of the cadets flying off the Tiger's Claw, and soon you'll get to watch them again in the new high quality release!
- Exotic Designs Hit the Spacelanes
- 2012-05-14 -- ScoobyDoo has put together several more concept renders inspired by a variety of sources. The first is a medium size capship with fighter-carrying ability, and it's followed by a beefier looking take on the Bearcat. The last design is a more unique idea that mixes Wing Commander elements with a Freespace ship.
- Fleets Increase Presence in Enigma
- 2012-05-13 -- Here's a big update for the Enigma 2666 mod. A handful of new pictures show off where the game is at today. Four different capship classes are pictured near a large Confed base, and all the fighters sport updated textures.
- Echo Sector Reopens
- 2012-05-13 -- The world's biggest website dedicated to the Crusader series, Echo Sector, has gotten a big revamp. New features include a streamlined menu interface and increased security. Not all of the links work yet, but more features will come online soon.
- Va ka Garga ka naru ha Garga
- 2012-05-12 -- NinjaLA has sketched a new fearsome Kilrathi. With his latest warrior, Ninja has done a good job of introducing menacing facial features, and this sinister look goes beyond just drawing a humanoid tiger. The armor is inspired by the classic WC2 style with a WC Movie headpiece.
- Kilrathi Destroyer Continues to Take Shape
- 2012-05-11 -- Kevin Caccamo is once again working on a Ralari model. Since we last saw the ship, additional detail has been added to the window areas and secondary structure. It appears to conform to the Claw Marks schematic quite well.
- Wing Commander Stories From The Fatman
- 2012-05-10 -- In recent weeks, Armchair Arcade has been conducting a series of interviews with famous videogame composer George Sanger. The newest issue talks about his and Dave Govett's work on the soundtrack for the original Wing Commander. Well worth a listen!
- Super Rapier Models Ready To Go
- 2012-05-09 -- Klavs has completed design and prototyping of another physical model. His Super Wing Commander Rapier is now available for fellow Wingnuts in 1/600 scale from Shapeways. The image below reveals that, although tiny, the ship packs some incredible detail - very distinctive hull markings and guns!
- WC Saga Soundtrack Released
- 2012-05-08 -- The WC Saga team has released the soundtrack to their Freespace mod. They are also working on a spinoff album based on George Oldziey's tunes from Wing Commander 3. You can grab the Darkest Dawn OST here (187 meg zip).
- Garriott DVD Drops May 15
- 2012-05-08 -- Richard Garriott's Man on a Mission documentary will be released on DVD next Tuesday! This charming film captures Lord British's successful dream to become the world's first second-generation astronaut. Most reviews have been quite positive and the documentary has come highly recommended.
- Paradigm Deployed to Enigma Sector
- 2012-05-07
- New WC Ship Viewer In Development
- 2012-05-06 -- BOC_Havoc has put together a very sharp 3D ship viewer. The program is still in the prototype stages, but you can try out the current build here. The unity web player plugin is needed to see the model.
- Still Worthy of an Honorable Mention
- 2012-05-05 -- There aren't as many gaming sites name dropping Wing Commander as there were a decade ago, but they still pop up all over if you look. Here's a couple from just this week: HotHardware ran a feature on gaming clichés. The story decries the linear nature of modern games that screech to a halt if any losing conditions are met.
- Warren Spector Revisits Origin Memories
- 2012-05-05 -- Yet another Wing Commander mention this week came from an interview with Warren Spector. Metro.co.
- A Trip to the WC Universe is Right
- 2012-05-04 -- PlaySF magazine has put together a wacky article on Wing Commander and Christopher Blair. From the perspective of an inter-dimensional time traveler, the author jumps back in time to the year AD 2700 within the Wing Commander universe. Once there, he encounters James Taggart and the TCS Midway.
- Everything's Ship Shape!
- 2012-05-03 -- In recent days WCPedia contributor Iceblade has worked on finalizing a layout for the ship articles on the project. After experimenting with the Broadsword article, and creating a great layout in the process, he's started to implement that layout across the Confederation fighters category. Currently, the F-36 Hornet article is the most complete.
- HUDdle Up and Check Out New Cockpit Displays
- 2012-05-02 -- Aginor is working on a new Wing Commander mod, and this game will be played from the Kilrathi perspective. Although there won't be full dashboard cockpit graphics, each ship will have a unique heads up display. Most games use the same targeting crosshairs and reticle for all ships, but here are some examples of how Wing Commander 4 differentiated its craft.
- Don't Miss an Infoburst!
- 2012-05-02 -- Are you linked up to get the latest Wing Commander news right as it happens? In addition to the main website and CIC Forums, dedicated Wingnuts can follow the CIC on various social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and with RSS to stay in the loop as news breaks. In addition to hot stories, followers also see occasional special features and behind-the-scenes updates.
- Glance at Mod's Gwynedd Mission
- 2012-05-01 -- Here's some new shots from the Enigma 2666 mod that show off a fighter launch, autopilot fly-by and ship size comparison. Sharp players will quickly recognize the familiar Broadsword/Ferret pairing from the Fralthra Strike at the beginning of WC2 - a very fun mission, if you can keep the Broadswords alive! Here I used the Confederation Class from Klavs and the converted Broadsword from Standoff.
- Rapier Prepped for Production
- 2012-04-30 -- Klavs has finished his Super Wing Commander Rapier, and the result is gorgeous. These ships are now off to a trial at Shapeways 'rapid prototyping' lab. If the design pans out, small physical resin copies may be available to order soon.
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