Bandit LOAF
Long Live the Confederation!
Let's compare the Wing Commander 3 ship selection screen across ports! Here's the PC/Mac, 3DO (two screens instead of one) and PlayStation versions of the Arrow...
Three Hellcats V, primed, prepped, etc.
Thunderbolt!
The Longbow is largely cut from the 3DO version; it only appears as an option very rarely! (I found it in Delius 3, will have to chart it all out someday soon.)
And the mighty Excalibur:
There's an Easter egg in the PC version: if you hit ALT-S at this screen then it'll display specifications over the ships. None of the lore mentioned here matches anything else!
One discovery from the 3DO version is that the Hellcat, Thunderbolt and the Excalibur get six mines per hardpoint! But the mostly absent Longbow doesn't. The Thunderbolt mine loadout is the default for the Torgo 2 minelaying mission even though you don't actually use them.
The PC version assigns you a custom Longbow loadout for Torgo 2 and you DO need the mines. (It oddly also gives you the option of using a Thunderbolt that can't carry enough mines to win the mission.)
And custom Excalibur loadouts for the T-bomb runs at Hyperion and Kilrah, respectively! I need to play through the PSX version with an emulator to grab those versions, but they're very similar to the PC.
All the weapons options, minus the cloak and t-bomb on the PSX (they're not visible in the 3DO). Interesting that the 3DO changes the Leech into the Dumb Fire and the Dumb Fire into the Vampire.
And we can't forget the card game! Weapons from the CTCG as adapted by artist and swordfighter Nicole Harsch! The Friend or Foe missile here is the Heat Seeker in the games (insert the 'hope someone got fired for that one' screenshot here).
More systems from the card game.
It's interesting that each version uses the weapons selection to sneak in little bits of lore (and a Star Trek joke in one of the cards).
--
Original update published on April 27, 2024
Three Hellcats V, primed, prepped, etc.
Thunderbolt!
The Longbow is largely cut from the 3DO version; it only appears as an option very rarely! (I found it in Delius 3, will have to chart it all out someday soon.)
And the mighty Excalibur:
There's an Easter egg in the PC version: if you hit ALT-S at this screen then it'll display specifications over the ships. None of the lore mentioned here matches anything else!
One discovery from the 3DO version is that the Hellcat, Thunderbolt and the Excalibur get six mines per hardpoint! But the mostly absent Longbow doesn't. The Thunderbolt mine loadout is the default for the Torgo 2 minelaying mission even though you don't actually use them.
The PC version assigns you a custom Longbow loadout for Torgo 2 and you DO need the mines. (It oddly also gives you the option of using a Thunderbolt that can't carry enough mines to win the mission.)
And custom Excalibur loadouts for the T-bomb runs at Hyperion and Kilrah, respectively! I need to play through the PSX version with an emulator to grab those versions, but they're very similar to the PC.
All the weapons options, minus the cloak and t-bomb on the PSX (they're not visible in the 3DO). Interesting that the 3DO changes the Leech into the Dumb Fire and the Dumb Fire into the Vampire.
And we can't forget the card game! Weapons from the CTCG as adapted by artist and swordfighter Nicole Harsch! The Friend or Foe missile here is the Heat Seeker in the games (insert the 'hope someone got fired for that one' screenshot here).
More systems from the card game.
It's interesting that each version uses the weapons selection to sneak in little bits of lore (and a Star Trek joke in one of the cards).
--
Original update published on April 27, 2024
