Pliers' Ship Selection Quotes

Bandit LOAF said:
Also, Pliers' apparently used his amazing skills to update the tractor beam... somehow. WCIV is so odd.
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Tractor Beam: I've pushed the limits of those old Confed tractor beams you probably learned on at the Academy. I doubled the axial frequency, added inertial retractors and pretty much tweaked the hell out of 'em. You'll be impressed your next salvage op.
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I like the idea that these are some how some obsolete version of the tractor beam, even a weaker version that is only used for training. Pliers upgrade takes something nearly useless and makes them on par with the regular ones. When it boils down to it, they really don't work any better or different in practice than the WC2 ones.
 
And one other thing:

Wing Commander games are FULL or arbitrary comments that are simply intended to inform the player of new game features (new fighters/weaponry etc.)

For example, WC2 has characters explaining the function and advantages of fighters when in reality Blair would have known most of this information...

Another infamous example is Maniac "introducing" himself to us in WC1 when we know that they were in the Academy together etc.

We don't choose to take those statements literally, so why handpick this one?
 
DangerousCook said:
And one other thing:

Wing Commander games are FULL or arbitrary comments that are simply intended to inform the player of new game features (new fighters/weaponry etc.)

For example, WC2 has characters explaining the function and advantages of fighters when in reality Blair would have known most of this information...

Another infamous example is Maniac "introducing" himself to us in WC1 when we know that they were in the Academy together etc.

We don't choose to take those statements literally, so why handpick this one?
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Here's the original quote:
I was able to pull a Stormfire off a junk pirate fighter we just hauled in. Boy, old technology but damn effective. Fires a shitload of small, low density projectiles at extremely high velocity. Just paint your target and let her rip. If the range wasn't so damn short they'd still be around today. Try it out and see how you like it.
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Pliers isn't Confed. He say's they aren't around, not that they aren't on the intrepid. He's the kind of person that would know. Sure the odd person might have one, as there are pirates and probably other freelancers with them, But no, the Border worlds in general *is not* using stormfires. PLiers got his, not from some old army surplus but from stripping just such a pirate fighter.
 
Wing Commander games are FULL or arbitrary comments that are simply intended to inform the player of new game features (new fighters/weaponry etc.)

For example, WC2 has characters explaining the function and advantages of fighters when in reality Blair would have known most of this information...

Another infamous example is Maniac "introducing" himself to us in WC1 when we know that they were in the Academy together etc.

We don't choose to take those statements literally, so why handpick this one?
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You must realize that's ridiculous - if one thing is ignored as continuity error, *everything* should be? There wouldn't be a continuity. The statement isn't to explain (in or out of continuity) to the player how Stormfires work, it's an aside to give you a little bit of history about them.

(Furthermore, I personally don't 'ignore' the quotes you mentioned... so I'm not sure who does.)

How exactly does Pliers speak for the entire UBW?
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By explaining that the Stormfire guns found on his spacecraft are older weapons he salvaged from a junked pirate fighter rather than standard issue weapons found on all Vindicators and Avengers... and by directly saying that they're a type of weapon which isn't around anymore.

He also speaks for the 'entire UBW' by representing a major part of it - the Intrepid was a sizable portion of the Outerworlds' Navy. (Moreover, the my comment - from a year ago - was aimed at the 'Aces Club' writers from the bad old days, who mounted sixty-thousand Stormfires on every new ship they invented from 1996 on. Clearly, from the history Pliers' gave, it's not a new super-weapon that's just being adopted on new fighter designs.)
 
Bandit LOAF said:
(Furthermore, I personally don't 'ignore' the quotes you mentioned... so I'm not sure who does.)
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Are you serious? This is what you said about the WC1 quote I have referenced:

"It isn't really something added later - the idea that Maniac and Blair went to the Academy together has been canonical since the Wing Commander I & II Ultimate Strategy Guide... and there are some strong indications that it was the intention all along. All of the introductions are there to greet players who didn't bother to read the manual - there's not really much more to it than that..."
 
Bandit LOAF said:
You must realize that's ridiculous - if one thing is ignored as continuity error, *everything* should be? There wouldn't be a continuity.
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If you really think that's what I'm saying... then good for you, I guess.

Before WC4 I (and probably others) did not even know how to access the 'special' guns like stormfire and leech, it's not brain surgery or "ridiculous" to gather that Pliers' statement about stormfires is (at least in part, for godsake) a tip that your ship actually even has them (since you can't see them without pressing H)
 
I love how people get so stuck on thier stuff that they get hostile about it... I guess I'm just as guilty at time, but there just comes a point where you have to say "Let it go, its JUST NOT WORTH IT!"

Anyway, Loaf, we spent so much time (too much for me) talking about an old school projectile gun. What about the Leech cannon? It seems extremely useful if you want to capture something without damaging it or injuring anyone. Is this a pliers invent? It just seems so useful, its hard to believe that the BW are the only ones who use it.
 
I love how people get so stuck on thier stuff that they get hostile about it... I guess I'm just as guilty at time, but there just comes a point where you have to say "Let it go, its JUST NOT WORTH IT!"
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I'm all for being passionate about something and arguing over it to death... but the minute you switch from trying to make a point to simply trying to be a jerk, you're not worth keeping around.

Anyway, Loaf, we spent so much time (too much for me) talking about an old school projectile gun. What about the Leech cannon? It seems extremely useful if you want to capture something without damaging it or injuring anyone. Is this a pliers invent? It just seems so useful, its hard to believe that the BW are the only ones who use it.
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He doesn't mention it, if he did. He says he invented the Scatter Gun, the updated Tractor Beam and the Coneburst (in the quotes above).
 
The scatter cannon kicks so much ass it's preposterous. It's a close second to the dust cannon.
 
frostytheplebe said:
I'm still a large fan of the leech gun.
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As far as how effective they are I wouldn't say they're the best, but I'm really glad WC4 gave you the option. When I first played the game, I enjoyed hunting cats but killing human pilots left a sour taste in my mouth. So having the option of leaving pilots adrift to be possibly rescued or even being able to tractor in enemy pilots (don't ask me.. maybe we stored them in the brig) was welcome.
 
Why do I have a feeling I missed something in this thread?
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I don't know, there aren't any deleted posts.

The biggest problem with the Leech Cannon was that it was too effective - it should have been *harder* to do the moral thing and disable fighters instead of destroying them.

Also, there were a few missions that scripted against using it - necessary further waves wouldn't spawn if ships were disabled instead of destroyed.
 
Hehe, they're from a year ago - but they are interesting... there's a lot of continuity crammed into a few lean quotes.
 
If you're flying a Banshee against Dragons, then your best bet is to use Leech guns instead of the regular guns, because the Dragons will cloak and regenerate their shields, whereas Leech damage bypasses the shields.
 
Ijuin said:
If you're flying a Banshee against Dragons, then your best bet is to use Leech guns instead of the regular guns, because the Dragons will cloak and regenerate their shields, whereas Leech damage bypasses the shields.
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I wish I'd known that. Thanks for the bit of trivia - if I ever get around to revisiting WC4, I'll probably use that bit of info.

I did hit Seether with a Leech missile. Then I killed him with mines.
 
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