Bengal Class Given the Late Kilrathi War Treatment (December 29, 2024)

[ChrisReid]

Alan Baker has been working with the Tiger's Claw, and the results have been interesting! He's attempting to make the Claw fit in with the visual style of WC3/4. I love the colorful tones and textures of WC1/2, but this kind of works. I especially like those WC3/4 era turrets. He's also paired the carrier with Klavs' Scimitar and Hornet to make a nifty vertical phone wallpaper.

Playing around with a concept for the Tiger's Claw from the first Wing Commander game, aligning it closer to the aesthetic of WCIII/IV.

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Original update published on December 29, 2024

 

[Mr_Blastman]

This is damn impressive.

 

[Deathsnake]

Very nice. With a rear entry is new.

Also if we speak about the Bengal... See the Citcon Sq42 Prologue Video?
The Argus CVE in SQ looks like a 90% copy of the Classic Bengal. Also in size. The SC Bengal is 990m - in WC the TCS Concordia. The Argus should be around 700m - thats the old Bengal size too!
Also i see the news about the Gettysburg, in 2003 Prechtls of the WC Saga Team build one - also news here - in SC we see now the CA - Cruiser Corvus - look like the WC Saga Gettysburg! Also should be around 700-750m

https://imgur.com/qR62KJn

 

[Bandit LOAF]

Oh yeah - Saga did like an elongated Exeter for the Gettysburg, right? It looked good!

 

[Knight26-77]

That looks great. It gives the design some more bulk to meet the more WC3 aesthetic. I would love to see some more views of it.

 

[Bob McDob]

I'm a bit torn on the design used in Saga. From a distance it doesn't have a particularly distinctive shape, it looks a bit too much like someone else's sci-fi spaceship; no wonder it resembles something from another series. It looks more like a Confed ship on closer inspection but then I think it scans too much as a Bengal, rather than something distinct. Well, I guess that was the whole point so I can't fault the artist for that.

The Bengal artwork is quite nice although I think the original design already fits well with the later game aesthetic.

 

[Deathsnake]

I'm a bit torn on the design used in Saga. From a distance it doesn't have a particularly distinctive shape, it looks a bit too much like someone else's sci-fi spaceship; no wonder it resembles something from another series. It looks more like a Confed ship on closer inspection but then I think it scans too much as a Bengal, rather than something distinct. Well, I guess that was the whole point so I can't fault the artist for that.

The Bengal artwork is quite nice although I think the original design already fits well with the later game aesthetic.

That is not a Bengal - its the Gettysburg Class - a Battlecruiser own design. But never used in Wing Commander Saga.
And CIG make with the RSI Corvus CA a good copy of it


Scooby Doo from WCSaga do a Gettysburg Class for me with WC Saga Assets:

and the Bengal:

 

[Bob McDob]

Yeah, I know what the Gettysburg is, I was there when it was first posted. I mean that I think it looks too derivative of other ships. I don't know if I can even call that a criticism because it's exactly what the artist was going for, I just feel personally that big ships should be more distinctive and easily discernable at a glance. You can clearly see the lineage though, which would be interesting if it the Exeter and Bengal were ever used side by side.

Here's another spaceship with a similar design, from Gundam. The basic shape is pretty common in sci-fi, which is my other issue with it. Though that's probably caused as much by the low detail of the model.

 

[Bandit LOAF]

I see what you mean; probably not a fair criticism of Saga since they were trying to match the visual of the distant Exeter... but "unseen Wing Commander 1 Confed cruiser" would be a really fun assignment under other circumstances.

 

[Bob McDob]

Yeah, like I said I don't think it even counts as a criticism: the design brief was "take the Exeter and stretch it out", and it did that. I'd like to see someone try and take on that concept with modern detail, fitting it in between the Exeter and Bengal. Kind of crazy to think that when that model was made it was considered "high poly" when a few years later it would be the same as a character in an FPS game, and a few years after that the gun or object the character was using.

Actually come to think of it, Howard Day did this a few years back:

Speaking of the Saga Gettysburg looking like a Bengal: the design of the Gundam ship I posted is also derived from a carrier. Maybe the hypothetical WC1 cruiser could be a Bengal conversion?