Handgun Differences WC-1/WC-2 and WC-4 (Please Read)

M

Miracynonyx100

Swabbie
Banned
How come during the Firekka campaign it seemed as if every gunshot from a military handgun completely vaporized the enemy. Then in WC-4 they just hit the person and dropped them like a sack of bricks?

V Kent
 
Probably special effects differences; it's easier to have computer art of people getting vaporised.

(No, it's not a useful in-game description, but it's been a LONG while since I've played SM2 and can remember the cut-scenes there.)
 
Different weapons do different things, as in real life. We certainly do see handguns that leave a body in the earlier games - Jazz uses one to shoot Specialist McGuffin in WC2.
 
(Please Read)?

Sorry, I just didn't see this as *that* huge of an issue.

It may be the case that the defenders in Wing Commander 4 were using lower grade weaponry, like today how different weapons deal differing amounts of damage. In the 27th century there may very well be higher capacity weaponry for infantry who are opposing an invading hostile force and a lower capacity standard issue handgun.
 
Also, it was explained in the WC4 novelization that there are substantial differences between smallarms meant for general combat operations and those designed to be used in the close confines of a ship. Blair observed that Tolwyn's Black Lance troopers were carrying low velocity projectile weapons that would tear up a human target, but would pose no danger of penetrating the ship. I imagine energy weapons would be made for different types of applications as well.
 
I guess weapon's are chosen for their specific missions. If you're mounting an assault like in SM 2 you may want to have very hard hitting weapons. On ships maybe not.

Also, the weapons in WCATV leave bodies as do the Kilrathi weapons against the McAuliffe scientists (losing track).
 
This probably doesn't really relate to Wing Commander too much, but I do remember reading something (I think it was a science news, IIRC) that said that it takes a massive amount of energy to actually disintegrate and entire person. I should try and find that article again...
 
Just as a back-of-the-envelope calculation, to raise a living body's temperature to the combustion point (let's say, 300 Celsius), would require first boiling away most of the water in its flesh, and then heating the remains by another 200 C.

Loosely speaking, there is about a 60 C difference between human body temperature and boiling water. Additionally, it takes 540 calories per gram to boil water. Thus, just boiling a human dry (required to heat his flesh above 100 C and ignite him uniformly) would require 600 calories per gram.

For an 80 kg man, this is about TWO HUNDRED MEGAJOULES, or about fifty-six kilowatt hours. For comparison, a .38 Special handgun bullet masses about 10 grams and travels at 250 m/s, striking a target with about 3.2 kilojoues. In other words, incinerating a man requires energy comparable to tens of thousands of handgun bullets.

In sum, it takes a LOT of power to rapidly combust somebody--more than a thousand times greater than it does to kill him if he is unarmored.
 
Bandit LOAF said:
Different weapons do different things, as in real life. We certainly do see handguns that leave a body in the earlier games - Jazz uses one to shoot Specialist McGuffin in WC2.
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You'd think a traitor would use the type of gun that vaporized people rather than leave a body: "Hey Hobbes, have you seen Cobra? It's like she dissapeared!"
"I couldn't tell you old friend."
 
Mjr. Whoopass said:
You'd think a traitor would use the type of gun that vaporized people rather than leave a body: "Hey Hobbes, have you seen Cobra? It's like she dissapeared!"
"I couldn't tell you old friend."
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If one wasn't available, using it would be kind of difficult, no? :D

Mind you, using a gun in general could be a problem, given the noise of the firing might be overheard. Really, the ideal solution, for Hobbes, would've been to claw out her throat, so even if someone could find her before she died of the wound she couldn't really tell them who did it, unless someone on the scene was a lip reader.

(Well, okay, that the throat was clawed out would kinda cut down on the suspect list just a tad... :p )
 
Ijuin said:
Just as a back-of-the-envelope calculation...............
Click to expand...

You're assuming that the weapons work by incinerating a target and burning it up in the traditional sense, and not by some futuristic disintegrating chain reaction at the molecular level or some such thing.

Mjr. Whoopass said:
You'd think a traitor would use the type of gun that vaporized people rather than leave a body
Click to expand...

Well, I can get ahold of a .45 pretty darn easily, but a rocket launcher would pose a MUCH bigger challenge. Could be a similar situation with the different types.
 
How come during the Firekka campaign it seemed as if every gunshot from a military handgun completely vaporized the enemy. Then in WC-4 they just hit the person and dropped them like a sack of bricks?
Click to expand...

Also, going back to the original topic, what the hell is the original topic referring to? The only handguns fired in Wing Commander I are used by the Kilrathi... and only one of the two disintegrates its target.
 
Bandit LOAF said:
Also, going back to the original topic, what the hell is the original topic referring to? The only handguns fired in Wing Commander I are used by the Kilrathi... and only one of the two disintegrates its target.
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Thats true... the only other guns I saw was the one Jazz used in WC2 that didn't vaporize Specialist McGuffin, and the rifles used by the burial detail. Oh yeah, does anyone know what side arm Iceman carries around in WC1? Looked like a single action army?
 
Bandit LOAF said:
Also, going back to the original topic, what the hell is the original topic referring to? The only handguns fired in Wing Commander I are used by the Kilrathi... and only one of the two disintegrates its target.
Click to expand...

The only 'vaporization' I recall from Firekka was K'Kai's mother getting vaped by a SHIP turret when Thrakath was escaping with K'Kai and the other hostages in Freedom Flight. Otherwise, there were bodies all over the place (such as the SNES 'cutscenes' showed with the scientists in the Gimle system). I don't recall them showing much from Firekka otherwise, except the Kilrathi priestesses, and the Firekkans brandishing their rifles in triumph as the Kilrathi retreated from their planet.
 
Why not a simple intensity setting on the weapon?

Like a phaser in star trek, these little handguns can stun, kill or even completely vaporize a target, depending on the level of intensity set.
 
I think that overcomplicates things, though.

Star Trek is the only sci-fi I can think of that involves the same weapon being able to either incapacitate or kill depending on what it is set to. It's kind of a Star Trek trademark.

I love Star Trek, but I think Star Trekky things in Wing Commander would be pretty silly.
 
Haesslich said:
The only 'vaporization' I recall from Firekka was K'Kai's mother getting vaped by a SHIP turret when Thrakath was escaping with K'Kai and the other hostages in Freedom Flight. Otherwise, there were bodies all over the place (such as the SNES 'cutscenes' showed with the scientists in the Brimstone system). I don't recall them showing much from Firekka otherwise, except the Kilrathi priestesses, and the Firekkans brandishing their rifles in triumph as the Kilrathi retreated from their planet.
Click to expand...

There are several cases of vaporization in the original Wing Commander (and its addons):

* In the 'losing' version of the Gimle Midgame the Confederation saboteurs are vaporized by Kilrathi defenders.
* In The Secret Missions, Admiral Gilkarg is vaporized by the Emperor's guards.
* In Secret Missions 2 the Marines carry SMGs which vaporize the Kilrathi priestess.

There's other cases where victims *don't* disappear - the scientists on McAuliffe (losing version) all die of visible bullet wounds... and in the losing version of the Firekka scene the Marines are killed by Kilrathi guns which don't vaporize them
 
There was also a scene where the human commandos failed to blow up the Kilrathi installation in Brimstone. I don't remember whether the Kilrathi vapourised them or not, though... actually I don't even remember when this cutscene showed up (if you failed Enyo, maybe?).
 
That's the 'saboteur' one - I called it the Gimle Midgame, but it actually takes place in Brimstone... and you can only get the 'losing' version by losing at Brimstone or Chengdu.
 
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