Stuff everyone else knows but I don't.

keep in mind when reading this that my WC experience is limited to beating WC1 and WCSO, and reading the novels once through-each.

WCIV focuses on defeating the Black Lance group, and their fighters are called "black lance" and "dragon"

Now, Fast forward to Secret Ops, where you fly ships such as the "Black Panther," "Black Wasp" "Black Shrike" and such. Are these ships products of the technology employed by the "Black" group?

This may seem like a stupid question to some, but it's one that just keeps nagging at me. :confused:
 
AFAIK, the Black Lance and the Black (Insert SO ship name here) have no relation to each other but I could be wrong. I'd wait to see if LOAF or somebody can help you with that but Id say they arent related other than being Black Ops ships.
 
The Black Lance was a secret military group within Confed, which eventually came under Tolwyn's control just after WC3 and the events of the novel False Colors.

The Black Shrike, Black Vampire, and other fighters are just Secret Ops variations of standard fighter craft, modified for experimental weapons or more combat capability. No relation, outside of the fact that Seether once started out in a Black project (GE) and that the weapons also came from it (bio-convergence, the Flash-Pak, the Dragon).
 
good points haesslich.

To put it quite simply, I'm wondering if the same people that designed the black lance fighters had a hand in designing the black (other ships) perhaps tech from the Black Lance fighters found it's way into standard ships, which were then called the "Black" ships to differentiate from their previous specifications? *sigh*
 
The Black Lance only flew Dragons. Their ships were never designated with black anything.
 
The Black Lance pilots flew black colored Hellcats (from the novel) and Lances/Dragons, there's no 'Black' in the fighter designations. The Black variants of the ships in SO were, as Haesslich said, just Secret Operations variants (secretly testing improvements) of the Prophecy ships. 'Black'=covert, secret. As in a 'black bag job' . . . secret, unlawful entry.

Edit: actually, it would have made more sense if the black colored Hellcats from the novel were actually called 'Black' variants.

C-ya
 
Filler said:
The Black Lance only flew Dragons. Their ships were never designated with black anything.

Paging a Mr. LOAF to a Lance/Dragon thread, Mr. LOAF to a Lance/Dragon thread. Thank you.
 
Filler, you know I got nothing but respect for you but i'm gonna have to disagree. I'm fairly certain that the specifications data that Blair's old-timer mechanic came across referred to those ships as "black lance" but were commonly called Dragons (that comes from the book) I'll try and find it so I can give you a page number, if it's right.

Edit: Found it! page 280 of the paperback.
Pliers pointed him towards the black fighter mounted on the launch cradle. "Black Lance Five-Four, at your service. Son. (dunno why there's a sentance fragment there, editors shoulda caught that. Moving right along-) He grinned smugly at Blair's stunned look.
"Black Lance?"
"We cracked open a box of technical tapes," Pliers said. "That's what they call'em. Black Lances. Callsign's usually "Dragon."

In case you couldn't tell, I used to be a proofreader at our local newspaper. :D
 
As a side note, I somewhat suspect the Panther and Vampire in Wing Commander Prophecy use some of the tech from the Dragon. They don't have the full anti-matter power plant (probably due to price constraints), but they do have moving sections on the hull and their intakes do look like those from a Dragon...
 
"Black" is military terminology for a secret project, usually (IIRC) something that has a hidden budget. Like spending a billion dollars on hammers that actually go to building spyplanes or somesuch.

In WC, the 'black' versions of the fighters are those used by the various covert ops groups. Black Vampire, Black Wasp and... Black Lance. (Whether or not an ordinary non-secret Lance was ever used isn't known, though.)

(Sanders hit the nail on the head, re: Lance v. Dragon. For a modern day equivalent, think about how the A-10 Thunderbolt II is usually called the 'Warthog'...)
 
Colonel Sanders said:
Pliers pointed him towards the black fighter mounted on the launch cradle. "Black Lance Five-Four, at your service. Son. (dunno why there's a sentance fragment there, editors shoulda caught that. Moving right along-) He grinned smugly at Blair's stunned look.
"Black Lance?"
"We cracked open a box of technical tapes," Pliers said. "That's what they call'em. Black Lances. Callsign's usually "Dragon."

I stand corrected. It would make more sense (seeing as there seems to have to be a normal variant of a fighter before there is a 'black' designation, otherwise, why not just give it a name) if the Dragon was just called a Lance and the Hellcats were called 'Black Hellcats' though :D.

C-ya
 
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