Bearcat Joins the Formation (December 17, 2025)

[Bandit LOAF]

It turns out we didn't have to wait very long for CountvonSchnaps next awesome take on a classic Wing Commander ship design! They're back with the F-104 Bearcat fighter from Wing Commander IV, one of the game's most delightful secrets (you can only fly the Bearcat if you complete a particular optional mission in the Speradon series). As with the Count's previous ship reworks, it's pretty nice:





Wing Commander IV: F104 Bearcat (DeviantArt)

Another design made for Shoguneagle showcasing my take of the F104 Bearcat.

A heavy fighter design it was intended, and created, as a pure aerospace fighter and is, in contrast to many of the other Confederation designs not a multirole unit. It did not see any action during the Terran Kilrathi War but did see active combat service during the Union of Border worlds Calamity.

Armed with 4x light tachyon cannons and 4x2 hardpoints it packs a punch and in combination with its decent speed and excellent maneuverability it has potential as a dogfighter.

Think it turned out quite well Happy I got the chance to work on this one. But will see if I can get something done for Battletech.

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Original update published on December 17, 2025

 

[Aeronautico]

Nice! Such an underrated fighter. It absolutely should have had a bigger role to play in WCIV.

 

[kingmakeress]

Nice! Such an underrated fighter. It absolutely should have had a bigger role to play in WCIV.

Totally agree 🔥🔥

 

[YCDTD]

It handled beautifully, but needed to iron out two serious issues with its beam weapons. First; the location of the tachyon cannons on the wingtips resulted in a convergence point with a significantly limited field. As a result you had to maintain a rather specific distance from your target to actually hit it with beams from all 4 cannons.

In addition to this the light tachyon cannons were also very energy inefficient compared to the standard tachyon cannon found on the Excalibur. A loadout of 2 standard tachyon cannons and 2 particle guns would have been much better.

 

[TCSTigersClaw]

I missed Bearcat when I first played WC4 back in 1996 .
I was socked when I found out I could I actually pilot it !