Iconic fighter?

V

Vinman

Vice Admiral
Reading that best fighter ever thread I got to thinking about what the most iconic Wing Commander fighter is. That thread is already two pages so I figured this could use its own thread.

Anyway, my vote would be for the Dralthi/Drakhri series, as they were the standard kilrathi fighter in all of the Kilrathi War-era games, and even appeared in Wing Commander IV and Prophecy.

It would be odd to post this thread and not mention any Confed fighters, so here I go. As much as I love the Rapier, my vote is a toss-up between the Hellcat and the Excalibur. The Hellcat forms the backbone of the Confed fighter fleet at the end of the Kilrathi War, and is shown to serve on at least into the 2670s. The Excalibur gets a nod because it was the fighter used to end the war, and, with Blair itching to get his hands on it, it was surrounded by the feeling that it was the ultimate Confed hot rod, and it didn't disappoint.

What do you think? Out of all eras, all factions and all races, what do you think was the most iconic Wing Commander fighter?
 
Anyway, my vote would be for the Dralthi/Drakhri series, as they were the standard kilrathi fighter in all of the Kilrathi War-era games, and even appeared in Wing Commander IV and Prophecy.
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There's no connection between the Drakhri and the Dralthi. Lots of Kilrathi fighters have circular wings, it doesn't make them the same thing.
 
the Dralthi, of course. I don't know if any one player ship (err, if any OTHER player ship, for we've had a chance to fly a Dralthi :) - or if any Confed fighter at all can be considered the one iconic WC fighter. but the Dralthi can. it was the first enemy we had a chance to cross laser beams with, and for all I know, SO ended, and the Dralthi still serves. compared to this favourite enemy, Confed fighters grew obsolete too soon for me to leave a deep impression.

(of course it has to be mentioned that any pilot who flew this pancake into a dogfight and left it alive should be given a Pewter Planet. it's a flying disaster. it's a big fat ponderous target. it's like a flat, round Scimitar, only worse. we all love it :)

for the capital ships, it has to be the Bengal class.

now, if we take Privateer in consideration, there's also the Tarsus. this all-purpose tin can could take a beating and deliver a solid wallop, and many a player was flying it for the better part of the game, saving cash for a Centurion. Privateer, with its freeform, open-ended gameplay, commanded more of my time than any three other Wing Commander games combined, and so I'm quite attached to the Tarsus :) now, thanks to Standoff and (I hope) Pioneer, we'll see more Tarsus outside its game of origin. if there's any ship a player could consider his home, grow roots in and long to return to - it's the old Tarsus. let it be the Privateer icon.
 
Confed: Im going with the rapier. shes pretty, and is a dream to fly.

Kilrathi: Dralthi . It has been around and around , makes a great target for target practice too =X
 
Shere Khan said:
(of course it has to be mentioned that any pilot who flew this pancake into a dogfight and left it alive should be given a Pewter Planet. it's a flying disaster. it's a big fat ponderous target. it's like a flat, round Scimitar, only worse. we all love it :)
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I'd pick a Dralthi over the Scimitar any day. Ever flew between the shots of a Jalthi? Now that is an artist's maneuver.

As far as the topic goes -
Kilrathi side: Dralthi, no doubt
Human side: IMHO there really isn't ONE specific ship here that is iconic.
WC1 had the Hornet and as it was the first one I'd probably nominate that one.
 
Confed: Rapier
it was the priemier super fighter and a showed its worth over time. It also looked good in all of its iterations

Kilrathi: Dralthi
They filled the night sky with lasers, Blew up nice, and reguarly scratched the paint throughout the wars.

But I missed the old Kilrathi cap ships like the Ralari. So pretty, So deadly.
 
My thought here is that for Confed, the more iconic ships are the capital ships the player flies from, like the Claw and the Concordia. For the Kilrathi, the most memorable ships are the ones seen and destroyed the most in combat. For this, I agree that the Dralthi probably takes the cake.

I dunno; something about the Claw and Concordia make them appear more iconic than the Victory, but I'm sure plenty will disagree with me on that.
 
ELTEE said:
My thought here is that for Confed, the more iconic ships are the capital ships the player flies from, like the Claw and the Concordia. For the Kilrathi, the most memorable ships are the ones seen and destroyed the most in combat. For this, I agree that the Dralthi probably takes the cake.

I dunno; something about the Claw and Concordia make them appear more iconic than the Victory, but I'm sure plenty will disagree with me on that.
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Just to me, seems like a very Iconic fighter of the Confed/Kilrathi war would certainly be the Excalibur. Nothing like holding aloft a model of the very fighter that ended the war in one fell swoop...literally.
 
Like everyone else said the Dralthi is the iconic fighter for the Kilrathi, and perhaps Wing Commander as a whole.

As for an iconic ship for Confed I would say the TCS Tiger's Claw. However for fighters I would say either the Rapier (The first "supership" of Wing Commander, and for its sleek look; just reminds me of Kat killing). Or the Saber (a Starbase Whacking, Traitor Thwacking, Honor Redeeming supership; not to mention it flies like a hornet but hurts like bit...er...heavy fighter).
 
MY most iconic WC fighter is, strangely enough, the Hellcat. It's the craft that comes to my mind first whenever I think of WC.

But overall, I agree that the WC1 Dralthi is the real WC symbol-fighter.
 
Edfilho said:
MY most iconic WC fighter is, strangely enough, the Hellcat. It's the craft that comes to my mind first whenever I think of WC.
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Yeah, for some reason, the Hellcat stands out. Then again, I really liked the Hellcat. It's a simple design and you see lots of them.
 
The Dralthi is the most iconic fighter in the WC series... if you think about the Kilrathi Empire, your first thought is the Dralthi and the TCS Tigers Claw... they're even on the movie... As for the confed fighters, I would say the rapier (again, on the movie)
 
Houkiboshi said:
The Dralthi is the most iconic fighter in the WC series... if you think about the Kilrathi Empire, your first thought is the Dralthi and the TCS Tigers Claw... they're even on the movie... As for the confed fighters, I would say the rapier (again, on the movie)
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That's a different older Rapier however.

Shere Khan said:
the Dralthi, of course. I don't know if any one player ship (err, if any OTHER player ship, for we've had a chance to fly a Dralthi :) - or if any Confed fighter at all can be considered the one iconic WC fighter. but the Dralthi can. it was the first enemy we had a chance to cross laser beams with, and for all I know, SO ended, and the Dralthi still serves. compared to this favourite enemy, Confed fighters grew obsolete too soon for me to leave a deep impression.
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Keep in mind that fighters aren't necessarily "growing obsolete" as you describe them. Rapiers first seen in WC1 continues to fly after the Kilrathi War ends, and Arrows, Longbows and other fighters we see in WC3 were similarly around prior to WC1.
 
ChrisReid said:
That's a different older Rapier however.



Keep in mind that fighters aren't necessarily "growing obsolete" as you describe them. Rapiers first seen in WC1 continues to fly after the Kilrathi War ends, and Arrows, Longbows and other fighters we see in WC3 were similarly around prior to WC1.
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Hmm, that seems strange to me. The longbow is for one purpose, and that is to place torpedos on target. WC1 takes place before the era of phase shielding and thus the need for specialized bombers like the Broadsword or the Longbow did not yet exist. I think attacking a pre phase shield capital ship in a Raptor would make more sense than in the sluggish Longbow.

I would think the Longbow would replace WC1 era craft, not co exist with them.
 
Torpedoes date back to the beginning of the war, in 2634, as per Action Stations. Originally developed by Kilrathi slaves, a sabotaged copy was acquired by Confed (by way of hauling it off in the ship the torp failed to destroy, when retreating from McAullife), who developed torps of their own shortly thereafter.

(Knowing how something's done tends to make work a lot easier. Look at how fast the Soviets developed fusion weapons, after data acquired by their spies in the US weapons program.)

That torpedoes weren't required to down a WC1 era capship, after fighter weapons advanced to deal with capship shielding earlier in the war, doesn't mean they can't be used for that purpose.
 
Pretty sure they were just assembled by the slaves:)

All this talk about torpedoes makes me wonder why good old fashioned nukes aren't seen at all other than the rarely used Mace. You would think there would be a heck of a lot more lobbing of tactical warheads instead of all that messing around with lasers. Incoming bomber strike? Launch the interceptors? Nah, just send a nuke in their general direction. (though I admit it wouldn't make for a very fun game)
 
Pretty sure they were just assembled by the slaves
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Nope, they were primarily designed by slaves, too. Action Stations talks about this in the chapter where the torpedo is first demonstrated.

All this talk about torpedoes makes me wonder why good old fashioned nukes aren't seen at all other than the rarely used Mace. You would think there would be a heck of a lot more lobbing of tactical warheads instead of all that messing around with lasers. Incoming bomber strike? Launch the interceptors? Nah, just send a nuke in their general direction. (though I admit it wouldn't make for a very fun game)
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You have the same problem as a real nuke -- it's hard to make it a tactical weapon. Your own quickie scenario shows this: launch a nuke instead of a fighter screen and then you're completely screwed if any bombers make it past.
 
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