Claws Bloodied and Victorious (October 2, 2011)

[ChrisReid]

The new CIC poll asks which Kilrathi fighter is the scariest to face in combat. There's a lot to choose from, so we narrowed the list down to some of the most fearsome. Which options on the poll were more hype than hazard? Do you have a nemesis that didn't make the list? Hit the discuss link and let everyone know.

​

Bonus question: who knows where this news post's headline comes from?


The last poll asked how long visitors have been coming to the CIC, and the results demonstrate some serious Wingnut dedication! A quarter of people have been around since the beginning and either clicked 1998 for the founding of the CIC or 1996 to denote older WC news sites that the CIC staff previously ran. Most visitors have been following WCNews for a decade or more. On the other end of the range, almost one in ten readers just found the site in the last year, which is pretty exciting - the more, the merrier!



How long have you been visiting the CIC?


1 Year or less (2010)
8.88%

2 Years (2009)
2.06%

3 Years (2008)
3.57%

4 Years (2007)
3.41%

5 Years (2006)
5.23%

6 Years (2005)
5.08%

7 Years (2004)
5.15%

8 Years (2003)
5.23%

9 Years (2002)
3.97%

10 Years (2001)
11.34%

11 Years (2000)
7.14%

12 Years (1999)
15.38%

Since CIC Grand Opening (1998)
10.71%

Since WCHS (1996)
12.85%

Ended on October 2, 2011 | 1261 votes

--
Original update published on October 2, 2011

 

[Aeronautico]

I was gonna write Ekapshi, but then I saw the Gothri, and a flood of blood-curdling memories from the cockpit came flooding back to me. Never ever fly head-first into a whole squadron of these things, from the front OR the back.

 

[B Alex]

I can't lie, of all the fighters I flew against none were as maddening evil as the Jalthi. No matter what I was flying those 6 laser cannons firing at once would annihilate your shields. Factor in that they ALWAYS threw at least 3-4 of them at once at you when they showed up and you were in for one hell of a 286 furball.

Oh blissful memories...

 

[jjcoolay]

1. I have to agree with the gothri. Decently fast and nimble for a heavy fighter with a good beam array it was the scariest pack o' fighters that I could rub plastisteel and trade missiles with. The rear guns didn't make it any more cuddly. Torpedo capacity, the ability to jump makes this one fighter that left me in more pieces than any other. Its successor, the vaktoth pale in comparisons. All the requisite things are there big guns,tail gun and heavy armour. It just does not hold the same level of intimidation factor for me

 

[Wojo]

I can't lie, of all the fighters I flew against none were as maddening evil as the Jalthi. No matter what I was flying those 6 laser cannons firing at once would annihilate your shields. Factor in that they ALWAYS threw at least 3-4 of them at once at you when they showed up and you were in for one hell of a 286 furball.

Oh blissful memories...

Totally agree. I can't remember another craft that was more fearsome to approach. With every other engagement I could usually get a few salvoes off before I had to break, but with a squad (or even a single) Jalthi I was lucky to get even one.

One thing to think of - it makes a difference what craft you are flying of course. Going up against Jalthi in a Hornet = Sweaty Palms!

 

[Quarto]

The Gothri is definitely the one that was most challenging to me in general... but my one most vivid experience of a Wing Commander duel is actually against a Dralthi. In Privateer, I made the mistake of taking on a Dralthi mission long before my Tarsus was ready for it. It was the only situation that I recall where a fight against a single enemy lasted more than a minute (may well have been close to ten minutes by the time we were done), where I actually broke down and tried to run away, and where success felt like such a triumph. I came pretty close to dying that day... and somehow, in Privateer, death always seemed more frustrating than in any of the other games.

 

[Rylex]

I'm missing the Shok'lar and the Jrathek from Wing Commander Armada somehow. The Shok'lar was great in a 1 vs 1...
But the Jrathek was more annoying. Even using much heavier ships like a Gladius or Banshee you still had the problem that the Jrathek was very fast and maneuverable. Those Photon Cannons killed my shields more than one time because I used my afterburner a bit too long

Anyway... I'm no fan of big, fat, slow ships like the Banshee or Goran. I need a fast ship. And so far my most favorite ship is and will remain the Arrow! (WC Armada Arrow)
If you know a faster ship (the Wasp booster doesn't count) then please let me know.

So my vote would be the Jrathek with the Shok'lar coming close behind.

 

[DaveO]

When I first played WC2, the Jalkehi and Grikath both had those rear guns that tended to work well against me. In my replay, I'd say that Grathas got the most respect from me since they had good weapons and tended to take a lot of damage before getting destroyed.

 

[ChrisReid]

Anyway... I'm no fan of big, fat, slow ships like the Banshee or Goran. I need a fast ship. And so far my most favorite ship is and will remain the Arrow! (WC Armada Arrow)
If you know a faster ship (the Wasp booster doesn't count) then please let me know.

So my vote would be the Jrathek with the Shok'lar coming close behind.

We talked about that. In my mind, a Goran was such a tougher nut to crack and had a tremendous gun loadout, plus it could torpedo your carrier. And it felt like every ship in Armada was fast!

Did anybody figure out the origin of the headline?

 

[Bandit LOAF]

Did anybody figure out the origin of the headline?​

It's the motto for one of the Vaktoth squadrons from the CCG.

 

[ChrisReid]

It's the motto for one of the Vaktoth squadrons from the CCG.

Winner!

 

[Bandit LOAF]

Interesting game: the only winning move is not to not know the WC CCG squadron mottos.

 

[Pejota]

Scariest fighter to go against... Shoklar!

 

[Oggy]

Pretty much anything with a rear turret gives me the heebie jeebies, I voted for the Sorthak because it didn't just have a dual mount rear turret, it had a quad mount!!!! so I could take twice as much damage, yay! plus it could take a real beating before exploding :/

Gothri comes a close second for me.

 

[Rylex]

We talked about that. In my mind, a Goran was such a tougher nut to crack and had a tremendous gun loadout, plus it could torpedo your carrier. And it felt like every ship in Armada was fast!

Hi Chris

you are absolutely right concerning the armor and the torpedo capabilities of the Goran. Concerning the speed I have to disagree... this ship was slow and "fat" but well it just had to. A max. speed with afterburner of 995 kps sure is good if you compare it against a Broadsword or Crossbow...

A Goran can be easily killed with an Arrow because of the Arrow's long range laser cannons. Sure the Goran has long range Laser cannons, too... but it not that maneuverable and the Arrow can outrun it anytime. Once you succeed in killing the Goran shields with your long range lasers the two Dart DF missiles will easily handle the rest - this absolutely works on a 1 vs 1 ... well as long as the Arrow has its afterburner speed. One Arrow against 2 or 3 Gorans will be much more difficult. But it works...

But hey this may be just my opinion... and we are all here to discuss our opinions. Doesn't mean I'm right and doesn't mean I'm wrong. It is just my experience ... I have played Armada for a loooooong time... with my friends

Best wishes

Rylex

 

[Aginor]

Well, my worst enemy actually isn't on the list, so I voted Gothri. I hate that one in every game or mod I've seen it in.
In WC1 it was the Gratha. It sucked because it could endure so much.

But from all the Kilrathi ships I've fought I hate the Paktahn most. Let's face it: two shots of that rear cannon can ruin your day if you are flying an arrow.
I think I can blame the demise of at least one of my joysticks solely to Paktahns.

Most ships in the games aren't really scary once you get behind them.
A Jalthi for example is easy to hit and quite slow (actually being slow it what makes it hard to fight because you can quickly overtake them and get blown into dust). It is a wise move to respect them, but I seldom had any problems to kill them.

Strakhas... Well, If the AI was better those would be really dangerous. The way it is it just takes a few quick turns whenever you hear their cannons and once you see them you can rip them apart easily. I think an Excalibur or a Thunderbolt can actually one-hit them with full guns.

And of course the whole thing depends strongly on what you are flying:
- Darkets are rather easy to kill in a Hellcat or Arrow. But if you are flying a Longbow they can make you feel really bad.
- Arrow vs. Paktahn. No, thanks. Same goes for Arrow vs. Sorthak.
- Thunderbolt vs. Darkets is funny if you can hit them. But quite often you won't, especially in higher difficulty levels.
- Ekapshis make you dizzy. At least you can kill them more easily in the Excalibur...

Overall that's the great fun in WC3 for me: You can choose the ship that fits your flying style most. That's the reason why I didn't fly the Hellcat that often. I always preferred Arrow or Thunderbolt against almost every type of enemy ship.

 

[ELTEE]

.
I think I can blame the demise of at least one of my joysticks solely to Paktahns.

I've had that happen - not with Paktahns per se, but I've certainly lost a few joysticks in the heat of battle...

 

[Aginor]

Oh yeah, Joysticks dying in battle is quite common.
I killed at least 2 of them in Wing Commander (one of them the one mentioned above in action against Paktahns and onother one in the final battle of WC1)
One died in Commander Keen 4 and one in IL-2 during a dogfight. So Wing Commander is not the only game where I killed Joysticks in the past.

But back to the feared enemy: Do you know what bothered me when fighting Darkets in a Thunderbolt or Salthi in a Raptor?
....sometimes I flew right through them and my crew chief was angry about the color on my fighter missing.

 

[Bandit LOAF]

Hahaha!

That said, playing Commander Keen with a joystick sounds weird.

 

[Aginor]

It didn't feel that weird back then, it was my first joystick at the PC I think, and it looked similar to the classic C64 joystick, so it even had its buttons next to the joystick instead of on the joystick itself. It was quite suitable for action games back then.
But then I destroyed it by playing Keen4 too hard and my parents bought a gravis gamepad, which was very good for sports games and jump&runs.
My next joystick was a modern one with two buttons which were actually on the stick. I felt like a pro.
...until I broke it in Wing Commander 1.