This Durango Packs a Punch (June 27, 2011)

[ChrisReid]

Astro Commander is experimenting with the BWS Intrepid and has mocked up a possible precursor. Although there is no firm evidence that the original ship was externally different, it's been an occasional fan theory that the Border Worlds structurally expanded the vessel when they took ownership. This is based off a comment in the WC4 novel that the Intrepid is the former Confed heavy destroyer TCS Delphi. Astro has slimmed away the flight deck and installed a large cannon as a concept design. It's not just for looks - this new "battlecruiser" may find its way into an upcoming tabletop game!

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I too had been contemplating that. If you separate it into two pieces you get two hulls that loko like similar design generations to the Southamptons. However, the halves (hangar removed) are quite asymmetric.

Then I considered they might have just expanded the central hull section to accommodate a short hangar. So I made a model that likewise removed the hangar and shortened the width of the ship. But it seemed to be lacking. So I added a massive railgun with the story that this was a second retrofit design of the Durango base design. The railgun takes a long time to charge but can deliver significant damage. Unfortunately, the base hull design of the Durango isn't all that tough so these aren't front-line ships unless heavily escorted.

I have had one printed already but haven't painted it.

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Original update published on June 27, 2011

 

[Wojo]

I always wondered what the Intrepid (or any other ship in that class) looked like with the bridge intact... was there some kind of superstructure on top? Just recall the conversation in wc4 with maniac talking about the berths & bridge above being destroyed. I could never quite understand where they might have been located, there didn't seem to be any effort to explain where they might have been on the external model.

I kind of expected a raised superstructure much like other terran capital ships of the era. Anyone know for sure?

 

[Bandit LOAF]

There's no missing superstructure--the damage to the Intrepid is the charred/dark part. Compare it to the BWS Tango from the collect fighters mission:

 

[Aginor]

While we're at it:
Is that grey with orange paint job a special Border Worlds one?
If yes: Has anyone done that thing (whatever model, there are some) in a nice green or blue confed paint job?

...btw: canonically speaking when did Confed change the green to blue? Seen in the games it is rather clear: between WC2 and WC3. But since we know that for example the Victory is quite old (older than the Concordia, which was green it seems) I wondered whether it was repainted or whether there is more behind the color. And weren't the ships in the animated series blue?

 

[Wojo]

Well I never! (never noticed) -100 points for me being unobservant!

I also wondered about the green/blue change... I think that topic has been covered in another thread somewhere tho.

Cheers for putting that to rest for me - and for providing pretty images. (I totally would have taken YOUR word for it mr. loaf!)

 

[ChrisReid]

Yeah, the colors have been discussed quite a bit. A big consideration is going on the assumption that Confed changed colors at all between WC3 and WC4. The fact that we see mostly green ships in WC1/2 and mostly blue ships in WC3 may be coincidental/circumstantial. Colors could represent specific fleets, home bases, build times/places, etc.

 

[Wojo]

Did we see a return to green in wc4? I seem to recall green markings on arrows etc. etc. Can't remember if that was on confed or BW fighters...

I did find wc4 lost some vibrancy of the previous games... very dark & messy textures when compared to wc3 & previous. Made me want to brush my teeth.

 

[Captain Obvious]

I like some of Chris's theories rather than the colors being representative of the entire Confed fleet.

For instance:

It's hard to tell but she still looks green to me meaning the Concordia wasn't repainted blue and gray during the timeframe of WC3.

And yeah WC4 is definitely really gritty. I didn't like it at first but it grew on me because it fits the scenario and helps give the game the feeling it should have. I always thought the Victory should've looked more beaten up like it's described in the novel but I guess detailed textures like that would've been a lot to ask for back then.

 

[AD]

Did we see a return to green in wc4? I seem to recall green markings on arrows etc. etc. Can't remember if that was on confed or BW fighters...

I did find wc4 lost some vibrancy of the previous games... very dark & messy textures when compared to wc3 & previous. Made me want to brush my teeth.

The WC4 textures seem more "gritty" because they tried to cram more detail into them compared to the WC3 textures. If you look at the texture files themselves they look pretty good until you blow them up...

As for green, I don't think it's so much a return as just one of the color options. Probably individual squadrons have their own markings and coloring variations.

In WC4 we actually have 3 different Arrow colors. There's the green confed arrows, red and blue pirate arrows, and Mostly grey with purple markings Black Lance cloaking Arrows.

 

[Bandit LOAF]

Te WC4 textures seem more "gritty" because they tried to cram more detail into them compared to the WC3 textures. If you look at the texture files themselves they look pretty good until you blow them up...

Yup--I've heard from more than one Wing Commander IV artist the sad tale of how they did an incredible set of higher resolution textures (based on their trip to the USS Lexington!) for an engine update that never materialized... and so wound up with a muddy looking down-conversion instead.

I'm pretty sure Chris is right--it's a case of different units and ships with different roles having different paint schemes. Roles is a key one. I think about Hunter's describing Landreich ships as being painted "stealth black" at one point in Fleet Action.

The Excalibur in Wing Commander III is probably an example of "stealth black". My guess is that the green ships in the earlier games harken back to the first days of the war, where the role for carrier-based fighters was supposed to be largely space-to-ground operations (actually, one of the novels mentions "ground camo" on a Kilrathi fighter).

I think it's not a coincidence that the paint schemes follow World War II--with specifically camoflaged spacecraft giving way to unpainted ships with only unit markings as time goes on.

In terms of cap ships, I think it's largely unit based. Remember that the 'red' Border Worlds ships in Wing Commander IV are fighting for a fleet that came into being a few hours earlier (and we actually see them before that)--so they probably come from a particular Confederation fleet which had red trim rather than the blue seen in Wing Commander III.

 

[Deathsnake]

Did we see a return to green in wc4?

Like this? ^^

And the Border Worlds ships

I also use now the same green texture for my Wing 1+2 ships for the remake (Pic 3)

Update:
I've got Pic 4 as my wallpaper

 

[Bandit LOAF]

Excellent!