New Metal

Bandit LOAF

Long Live the Confederation!
Actually, it's a very old one -- I was picking through the Wing Commander I & II Ultimate Strategy Guide, as I am oft to do, and I came across a reference to a Dorkir being blown into "shards of metal and tyrilium"

So, there you go. I leave it to you, the fan projecteers and fan fictioners to let it join the august ranks of plasteel, platolum, durasteel, isometal, kilrantium and the rest.
 
My spin on the alloys
Durasteel =1
Kilrantium =1
Tyrilium x 2 (the protection capability of durasteel)
Plasteel x 10
Tungsten x 20
Platolum x 40
Isometal x 60

- I think all we really know is that durasteel was the standard of armor material from pre-war to at least 2656. That plasteel was equipped on the brand new carrier Lexington in 2668 (90 centimeters of forward armor= 900 cm. equivalent of durasteel) as confirmed in Wing Commander Armada.

Chances are that Confed equipped their fleet ships with Plasteel armor primarily from about the late 50's to at least 2668. In 2669, some forward deployed units, like the TCS Ajax and the TCS Victory may have been upgraded with Isometal armor. Unfortunately, because their is no way to tell if Isometal, Plasteel or Durasteel has similar mass, we have to assume that ships like the Victory (Armor= 1000/1000/1000/1000 cm. equivalent of durasteel) either had alot of plasteel (100 cm. per quadrant) or very little isometal (16.666 cm. per quadrant).

Looking at specs from WC4 capships (similar specs to WC2 capships), I think it would also be safe to assume that not all vessels got the same refits that ships like the Ajax or Victory got.

Fighters from the WC2 era appear to still be armored with durasteel (or something of similar strength). WC3 fighter armor strength jumps at least 10-fold. This would lead me to believe that at this point Confed and the Kilrathi began armoring their fighters with plasteel.
 
Bandit LOAF said:
Actually, it's a very old one -- I was picking through the Wing Commander I & II Ultimate Strategy Guide, as I am oft to do, and I came across a reference to a Dorkir being blown into "shards of metal and tyrilium"
Interesting, but it sounds to me like it's not a metal at all, because apparently, tyrilium shards do not qualify as "shards of metal".
 
Quarto said:
Interesting, but it sounds to me like it's not a metal at all, because apparently, tyrilium shards do not qualify as "shards of metal".

But then, what can it be?:confused:
 
Dragon1 said:
Perhaps a gas or mineral that was mined. Maybe even a refined fuel that was being transported by the Dorkir.

Could be, but the sentence lead me to believe that it was something the ship was made of... Could be my poor english though.:)
I dont think a Dorkirs cargo would survive the blast either, unless it was in some sort of heavily armored container...
 
Got to lean towards agreeing with Quarto on this...the fact that it names "metal and tyrilium" would seem to indicate that there is something about tyrilium that is separate and distinct from metal. It's certainly possible that we're wrong on this but the way the statement is worded certainly leaves enough ambiguity to the tyrilium that doesn't necessarily define it as a metal. It would be like if you blew apart a pop (soda) can. Would you say, "there's nothing left of it but pieces of aluminum and metal."? Certainly possible...at any rate I'm pretty sure no one else has noted the existence of this Tyrilium before...good find, Loaf!
 
well, an armor does not have to be made of metal, nor does tyrillium have to
be an armor component, like perhaps being used for building the skeleton of
the ship, because it was more flexible and could handle higher pressures then
metal, and being some sort of super-plastic?
 
Maybe, just maybe, it could be some sort of solid fuel. Or some kind of insulation. Hum. Insulation could be it.
 
If the Dorkir was carrying cargo that was made primarily of Tyrilium, and the Dorkir was destroyed, then there would be lots of metal and trace elements of Tyrilium in the wreckage.
 
Mace said:
well, an armor does not have to be made of metal, nor does tyrillium have to
be an armor component, like perhaps being used for building the skeleton of
the ship, because it was more flexible and could handle higher pressures then
metal, and being some sort of super-plastic?

I think Mace nailed it exactly here. Whatever it is, it and trace bits of metal were all that remained from the exploding ship. Whether it's an armor, insulation, or random componentry, it and the metal superstrucure were all that remained. So that creates all sorts of potential uses and situations where it might be referenced. Further, shards of tyrilium were what was left, which raises various interesting questions. At the bare minimum, it can be a valuable mineral for haul in Privateer themed mods and such.
 
Hehe, wow, yeah. The title is a play on the musical genre, not an attempt to claim that something which I quoted specifically as being not a metal is actually a metal. If I had to bet, I'd bet on shards of some kind of ceramic or plastic.
 
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