A New Spin on the Murphy (March 7, 2006)

[Bandit LOAF]

Sean Murphy was kind enough to send us something everyone should enjoy. It's a movie-style rendering of the Murphy-class destroyer, done after Wing Commander Prophecy. It's just in time for our 'best destroyer' poll, too! Take a look at this earlier update with FMV-quality Murphy renderings. Notice anything different? The engines! Sean explains:

The openings for the engine "intakes" had shield doors that opened and closed; most of the other renders were done with the doors closed. It would have been a cool effect in any cinematics we would do - that, and the fact that the engines were to have rotated around the axis of the ship, allowing it to corkscrew...

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Original update published on March 7, 2006

 

[Dundradal]

sounds like a nice feature that was dropped...interesting how they thought to protect the intakes from damage with sliding covers

 

[Ijuin]

I think it's another of those things that Confed learned from analysis of the wrecked Hakaga supercarriers. The Hakaga had similar covers over its engine intake and exhaust ports--remember in the novels how kamikaze strikes at the enemy's engines were a popular last-resort option.

That said, having the engines rotate in place makes the Murphy slightly resemble a scaled-up Vampire--it was probably the same philosophy that led to this approach to improving turning speed by rotating main engines.

 

[Aplha 1-1]

Nice new render and interesting new facts to keep in mind for future reference.
It's the little details like this that set Wing Commander appart from the other more generic space-sims.