Black Lance Carrier

OriginalPhoenix

OriginalPhoenix

Professor Emeritus
Interesting pic of the proposed BL carrier on home page of the CIC. Looks like a cross between the Axius starbase and the BL transport, both of which we see clearly in WCIV. Definitely some family resemblance.

On another note, while I've never been a proponent of calling the BL fighter in WCIV the "Lance", it is interesting to note that the targa files in the downloadable ZIP file (again, off the CIC home page) are noted as "lancex.tga". Question is, were they named such in the game files, or were they renamed when creating the ZIP file?
 
They were probably named after being extracted since I think Ripper is the only way of extracting files from WCIV, and that doesn't preserve filenames.
 
How many Dragons (I never called it the "Lance", either) did the Transport carry? Any information as to how much the carrier would carry?

Why wasn't the BL Carrier ever built? Why didn't it show up in the Admiral Tolwyn ending?
 
Hmm, I'm actually kinda surprised that only now this ship's existence has been noticed. It's been available on KW's page for the last half-year or so, and indeed when it first appeared there, the CIC reported about it (without noticing that it's something unusual, oddly enough :)).
 
I never called those fighters Lance either. Mostly cause in the game, on the ship/weapons config window, it clearly labels that ship as *Dragon*, even Pliars calls it a Dragon! :)

RFB
 
I figured it was something he'd designed himself, and didn't think much of it at the time.

Remember that the ship lables (and Pliers) are both Border Worlds sources -- they call the ship the Dragon. The 'official' name is the Lance, much like the A-10 Warthog is 'officially' the Thunderbolt II.
 
Come on, we've been over this before :). Remember, these are not actually BW fighters. Different example - do you think the bugs really call their ships Mantas and Morays? Probably something more like Blbhgrb and Blgrorbl ;).
 
Yeah, but that still doesn't tell me how much the transport could carry...besides, the Black Lance couldn't afford more than, what? A squadron of those fighters?

Wonder what the capship stats for the Lance carrier were?
 
Regarding the transport, my guess would be one squadron, if all the relevant supplies are onboard too and the fighters are in fly-able shape. But if you 1) take the fighters apart and 2) transport just the fighters, no spare parts or anything like that, you'd naturally be able to squeeze in quite a few more fighters. But of course, this is just speculation.

As for the carrier, it looks like a light carrier (heck, why would the BL need something bigger, what with the Vesuvii being produced?). Probably no more fighters than the Ranger or the Hades class. Its armour would probably be quite formidable though.
 
Oh, boy.

I had no intention of starting another Dragon vs. Lance debate, so let's please not get that going again. I think we all know where we each stand on that issue, and I also think that either side can effectively argue their case. Let's just let it rest.

On the subject of the BL carrier, woudl there be any way to do a rough size comparison with other vessels in the package? We might be able to get a reasonable idea of its size, and thereby estimate the fighter wing.

Just a thought....
 
I imagine that the BL Carrier and the Transport have similar shield and armor strength. If you replay the mission where you disable the BL Transport you will see that the shield and armor target status display is made to look like the Carrier and not the Transport.
 
Originally posted by Zor Prime
I think somebody should take that model and make a new mission with it. Or even........a campaign.
Click to expand...

Thats a great idea! It would be neat to see that unseen ship brought to life!

RFB
 
Hmm...we could do a size comparison with the hangar sizes of the Concordia class, then measure their lengths, once the hangar size had been established.

Or someone could just replace a WC4 ship with the BL carrier, so we could get a rough estimate...
 
i never called the textures lancex.. dunno where you got that idea, I renamed them from their numbered files, they should be carrier1, carrier2 etc. One way to get its size might be to actually try to run the ship in wc4.. although i've heard the scale isn't very reliable in wc3/4
 
Look at the "turret pads" halfway up the top section of the ship.

One "turret pad" is approximately 1/6 of the Concordia class carrier's width... The concordias maintain about a 3/1 length to breadth ratio, ro if the Concordia class is appx 750 m long, one can deduce they are about 250m wide... Which makes the turret pad 26 meters squared. Now I figure 22 turret pads for the length of the carrier (because of the top drawing length can be accurately measured) which when multiplied gives an answer of 572 meters. A light carrier.

Any questions? ;)

Edit: On the other hand, if one changes the variables to 1/6 of the breadth and a 3/1 ratio, each pad is then 41 m squared and the carrier baloons up to 917m... Does someone have an accurate three plane diagram of the Lexington?

[Edited by gryphon on 05-16-2001 at 16:42]
 
hmm.. i've been thinking about these sizes.. and if you look at the sizes of the windows.. the black lance carrier is actually bigger, quite a lot bigger than the concordia.. look...

sizes.jpg
 
Your best bet would be to measure the opening of the hangar on both the Lance carrier and the Lexington, then multiply the carrier's dimensions to fit those of the Lex's opening, then measure the length of the carrier and compare it to the Lexington.
 
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