new member, and just wanted to share a thought on wc4

The Vindicator seems very much like it was created to be the standard "do-everything" craft--it's an atmospheric-capable fighter-bomber, not quite nimble enough to be a dedicated fighter but not heavily protected enough to be a dedicated bomber (note the use of "cheaper" Lasers as fore and aft weapons instead of Mass Drivers or Ion or Particle guns, resulting in paradoxically having much less gun power than the Thunderbolt while carrying three torpedoes to the Thud's single). It definitely lends credence to the notion that it was built that way to save money over having separate fighter and bomber models. As for the "special" guns, Pliers himself admits that the Stormfires are his own addition and not standard to the Vindicator, and the Leech guns are some kind of bleeding-edge Border Worlds development. Perhaps the "stock" Vindicator had a second pair of Lasers that were replaced with the Leech guns? A quad Laser / dual Tachyon loadout without the "special" guns added seems like a more balanced fighter-bomber setup.
 
O, thanks! I even didn't know about existence of it. Are there more of similar emails?

Pliers himself admits that the Stormfires are his own addition and not standard to the Vindicator
IMHO it's hardly so. Stormfire must be a quite powerful device, nearly as Soviet Union's Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-6-30 "Metal-Chopper"; pair of them, plus vacuum cooling system for each, plus 5000 0.8-kg bullets, approximately 5 or 6 tons of extra weight in all.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
We aren't told how massive the Stormfire bullets are--they could be anywhere from rifle-bullet sized to a kilogram each. Pliers does say in so many words that he salvaged a few working Stormfire guns, and that the main reason that they were withdrawn from active service was because the range was considered too short to stay competitive with newer energy guns.
 
bullets {...} could be anywhere from rifle-bullet sized to a kilogram each.
I got the weight of cartridge from russian wikipedia.
the main reason that they were withdrawn from active service was because the range was considered too short
It can't be! In vacuum, gun bullets cannot "dissipate" as energy bullets can; they can only scatter to bigger area, but this means that bigger targets are still vulnerable at bigger distances. And "metal-chopper" ("metallorezka" / "металлорезка" in Russian) got its name because it can literally cut a ship in two during only a few seconds of working. For example, in WC4 mission E1, Vindicator's pair of Stormfires can destroy frigate or destroyer at cost of about 800 or 1200 bullets, at range of about 5000; in mission D3, only 2500 bullets is enough to Lexington.
So, I suppose that withdraw of Stormfire is a bit non-considered decision.
 
Back
Top