Guns, guns, and more guns

F

Fatcat

Swabbie
Banned
There have been several guns used thoughout the series that either change, or come out of nowhere. I'd like to ask the knowledgable Wing Commander community:

Reaper Cannon: I read somewhere that it was supposed to be an improved version of the Ion, but later in Prophecy the Ion is once again prevalent.
Photon Cannon: It is used on the Wc3 Thunderbolt and is supposed to be the oldest gun type. Does it really pre-date the laser and why is it on the Thud?
Meson Cannon: It's used extensively by the Kilrathi and appears in Privateer. Is this not used by Confed much for some reason?
Also:
Is there a difference between a Gatling Mass Driver and a normal one?
Is there a difference between a Blaster and a Cannon?
 
Fatcat said:
There have been several guns used thoughout the series that either change, or come out of nowhere. I'd like to ask the knowledgable Wing Commander community:

Reaper Cannon: I read somewhere that it was supposed to be an improved version of the Ion, but later in Prophecy the Ion is once again prevalent.
Photon Cannon: It is used on the Wc3 Thunderbolt and is supposed to be the oldest gun type. Does it really pre-date the laser and why is it on the Thud?
Meson Cannon: It's used extensively by the Kilrathi and appears in Privateer. Is this not used by Confed much for some reason?
Also:
Click to expand...

I'm not qualified to answer all your questions so you'll probably want clarification from Loaf or one of the other more knowledgeable ones here at the CIC. However, I believe one of the main reasons we don't see several of these guns in the later series was that there was simply becoming too many guns. WC Armada for example introduced a staggering array of guns and there wasn't necessarily a huge difference between them.

Is there a difference between a Gatling Mass Driver and a normal one?
Click to expand...

As I understand it, the normal one IS the gatling mass driver cannon. The mass drivers we see and use in WC1 and on is the gatling mass driver cannon.
 
It just seems weird that Confed would keep using the Ion when they could use the Reaper. I've noticed the opposite for missiles, only a few new missiles ever appear each game.
 
Well as far as i remeberit was said somewhere that reaper was very expensive in maintence, so after the kilrathi war was over, they were replaced with the less effective but much cheaper ions on the ships that used them (by the time, only excaliburs)
 
Fatcat said:
Reaper Cannon: I read somewhere that it was supposed to be an improved version of the Ion, but later in Prophecy the Ion is once again prevalent.
Click to expand...

The reaper has a fairly unique history. It appears first on the Wraith in WCA and is quoted has having downed more ships than all other guns combined (IIRC). However, in WC3 it is listed as being a experimental gun that is still finishing its testing cycle. It then disappears from the Excal Mk II seen in WC4 and replaced with ion cannons.

Photon Cannon: It is used on the Wc3 Thunderbolt and is supposed to be the oldest gun type. Does it really pre-date the laser and why is it on the Thud?
Click to expand...

Good questions. Not sure so I leave it to others.

Meson Cannon: It's used extensively by the Kilrathi and appears in Privateer. Is this not used by Confed much for some reason?
Click to expand...

The Meson also appears in other games. It is not used by confed probably because of different tech trees. Armada unloads on us a lot of unique kilrathi weapons. Confed may simply use lasers or mass drivers more because of preference or someother factor.

Also:
Is there a difference between a Gatling Mass Driver and a normal one?
Is there a difference between a Blaster and a Cannon?
Click to expand...

IIRC most mass drivers are gatling. The novels mentions fighter, small arms and point defense versions. The only ones that would be different are charging mass driver and possibly some extremely large version.

I think your second question has to do with rate or fire and damage potential.

Hope that helps.
 
Mancubus said:
well the cofed does use meson. On Thunderbolt
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Good point. I forgot the Tbolt's gun layout. I think that there and in Priv are the only places confed ships are shown mounting the weapon.
 
Reaper Cannon: I read somewhere that it was supposed to be an improved version of the Ion, but later in Prophecy the Ion is once again prevalent.
Click to expand...

The Reaper Cannon "evolved from the standard ion cannon"... but I don't think that means it replaced the design. I imagine that most guns evolved from some early single concept (something like the laser or the photon).

Photon Cannon: It is used on the Wc3 Thunderbolt and is supposed to be the oldest gun type. Does it really pre-date the laser and why is it on the Thud?
Click to expand...

We don't know if it predates the laser, simply that it was around for the entire war (just like the laser). Victory Streak says "When Terran forces first declared war on the Kilrathi, the photon cannon was the most popular gun next to the standard laser...". That said, I think there must be two Photon Cannons, as the one in Armada "came into service recently and falls into the category of sophisticated arms". (Voices of War)

Is there a difference between a Gatling Mass Driver and a normal one?
Click to expand...

No, this is the 'full' name of the Mass Driver. The original Joan's Fighting Ships entries in Claw Marks list "Gatling Mass Driver Cannon" as the guns for the Scimitar and Raptor. The Gratha entry simply says "Mass Driver Cannon".

Is there a difference between a Blaster and a Cannon?
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I'll say that there probably is -- the games are generally consistent as to what is a cannon, a blaster, a gun, a beam and so forth. There's also a difference, for instance, between the Plasma Cannon (WCP/SO), the Plasma Gun (Academy, Privateer, Armada, WC3, WC4).
 
Bandit LOAF said:
We don't know if it predates the laser, simply that it was around for the entire war (just like the laser). Victory Streak says "When Terran forces first declared war on the Kilrathi, the photon cannon was the most popular gun next to the standard laser...". That said, I think there must be two Photon Cannons, as the one in Armada "came into service recently and falls into the category of sophisticated arms". (Voices of War)
Click to expand...

This raises another point: is Armada part of the Wing Commander storyline or is it an unrelated story line like the Movie? Armada has several ship designs that aren't seen or mentioned anywhere else in the series and several guns that come out of nowhere too: Mass Accelerators, Electron Guns, Flux Cannons, Phase Disruptors, Phase Blasters, and Sonic Accelerators. If Armada is part of the main story line, what time period would it be placed in?
 
This raises another point: is Armada part of the Wing Commander storyline or is it an unrelated story line like the Movie?
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I have no idea what this means. Armada might be classified as an "unrelated" story because it's not about Blair... but the movie is the story of Blair and Maniac's first mission on the Tiger's Claw, so it's very much "related".

? Armada has several ship designs that aren't seen or mentioned anywhere else in the series and several guns that come out of nowhere too: Mass Accelerators, Electron Guns, Flux Cannons, Phase Disruptors, Phase Blasters, and Sonic Accelerators.
Click to expand...

These elements are true of pretty much every game. If anything, Armada has a surprising number of ships that *do* appear in other games: 50% of the designs (Arrow, Jrathek, Dralthi, Shok'lar, Gladius, Lexington and Shiraak) appear in earlier or later games. You won't find that level of crossover in several of the 'main series' games.

I believe Armada introduces exactly the same number of new guns as Privateer does.

If Armada is part of the main story line, what time period would it be placed in?
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Armada takes place in early 2669, per its manual -- it's the story of an incident which immediately follows the novel Fleet Action.
 
Bandit LOAF said:
These elements are true of pretty much every game. If anything, Armada has a surprising number of ships that *do* appear in other games: 50% of the designs (Arrow, Jrathek, Dralthi, Shok'lar, Gladius, Lexington and Shiraak) appear in earlier or later games. You won't find that level of crossover in several of the 'main series' games.
Click to expand...

When does the Lexington-class carrier show up again?
 
RogueBanshee said:
When does the Lexington-class carrier show up again?
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I don't think we know of a Lexington-class carrier, but the events of Armada were retold a couple months later in Victory Streak with WC3.
 
ChrisReid said:
I don't think we know of a Lexington-class carrier, but the events of Armada were retold a couple months later in Victory Streak with WC3.
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I know that but I always thought that the Lexington from Armada was the only ship of it's class but now it sounds like there was at least one in Super Wing Commander.
 
I said the model was used in SWC, not that it was of the same class as the ship in Armada. That the SWC Claw model looks different from the WC1 Claw model (well, models, actually... the engine nozzle count at the back was different between the pre-rendered cutscenes and what you saw in flying behind it in space) doesn't make it a different class any more than the WC3 Hobbes looking different from WC2 makes Hobbes another Kilrathi.
 
I know that but I always thought that the Lexington from Armada was the only ship of it's class but now it sounds like there was at least one in Super Wing Commander.
Click to expand...

I don't think we know one way or the other -- but you can play through Armada's Campaign Mode and theoretically encounter as many as eleven of them...

The ship in Super Wing Commander is the Bengal-class TCS Tiger's Claw (and several others, in cutscenes).

It's worth pointing out that we're refering to the 'cutscene' Lexington (the green one) and not the 'in flight' version (which is gray and has somewhat different dimensions).
 
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