torpedo carrying salthi?

S

starlord

Swabbie
Banned
Hello, Just a question that sprung to my mind when reading my old armada voices of war manual: Can a type of salthi carry torpedoes?

Voices of war, page 26, action report, line 7: "six salthis torpedoed the confederation carrier in time to prevent the attack".

If salthis could carry torpedoes, why not use them in earlier theatres of war in hit and run tactics against cap ships? Unless that variant saw combat only in the armada timeline (even if they don't appear in the game).
 
Maybe "torpedoed" didn't mean torpedoed but just means that they fired their missiles. (They have dumbfires, don't they?)
Or it describes the way they did the attack: They did an attack focused on one point of the carrier. Like a torpedo that comes in and hits, it makes a big hole on one part of a ship.

Maybe they just used the word "torpedoed" because it sounds good. You know, it sounds like WWII, and Wing Commander is WWII in space. At least it sounds better than "attacked" or "damaged", those words sound too ...simple.
 
If the Epee can carry a torpedo, so can the Salthi. :)

Though we do not know when the torpedo carrying capacity was added. Maybe it was there from the beginning and we just never encountered the torpedo variant or it was only recently added.
We don't know anything (AFAIK) apart from the enty in VoW, so it's all speculation. Though I would specualte that the Salthi was not a very efficient torpedo bomber.
 
aginor: I don't think that dumbfires would have been able to penetrate the improved phase shields the cap ships had during that time.

Otherwise, I personnally think that the salthi bomber variant might have been effective in swarm maneuvers: Using hit and run tactics in groups while using their speed at the best advantage to close in and get the hell out of the fight (no gothri or goran could do that in comparison).
 
Unless the swarm gets intercepted on the way in. A Salthi carrying the enormous mass of a torpedo would respond much more sluggishly than one with a DF - add a few Ferrets or Rapiers and unless they're in range of a torp attack they will be going down in droves, unless they are escorted. In which case, you might as well escort something heavier.

Interceptions occur far out with relative frequency in WC, so short of an ambush from some sort of astronomical phenomenon, say a nebula or asteroid field, I'd stick with a few escorted Gothri or Grikaths.
 
Yeah, as much as I prefer faster fighter-bomber types to actual bombers, a Salthi or an Epee would still not be my first picks.

Though we do not really know that carrying torpedoes reduces performance that much, do we? Maybe it's described in one of the novels but in the games it never seems to make a difference whether your Sabre carried torpedoes or not.
 
Yes, the torpedo-Salthi has long been a part of fan lore. :) Seriously, for whatever reason there was a conscious effort across several different stories to suggest that the Kilrathi had a big stockpile of Salthi that they were retrofitting for new roles. We see the torpedo Salthi in Voices of War, the Steltek-Salthi in Righteous Fire and the recon variant in False Colors.

Space Point
 
Perhaps Salthis had a particularly "loose" design that lent itself easily to being modified... or perhaps the Salthi was so gosh-darn cheap to make that the Kilrathi always had extra ones around for the engineers to tinker with?
 
I think it was rather the last option. It appears the kilrathi had a large surplus of salthi. It seems a scout variant with a different name (unarmed yet with powerful sensors and a cloaking device) were still aboard the WC3 blantkaras. Pity we never engage them though. Didn't they have a kamikaze variant too? Unless that was one of the krants designs instead.

I think that contrarily to the crappy appearance of the salthi, they might have been very effective at bombing in swarms if using hit and run tactics (pity this is never seen in the game). As their unheard of speed would have allowed them to close in quickly to the target, unload, and then get the hell out of the arena. (something that would have left the new gothris speechless, even despite their numerous qualities). Actually, the only theoretical design I feel even capable of a quick and successful torpedo run is the stakra itself, for reasons we all know.
 
I think it was rather the last option. It appears the kilrathi had a large surplus of salthi. It seems a scout variant with a different name (unarmed yet with powerful sensors and a cloaking device) were still aboard the WC3 blantkaras. Pity we never engage them though. Didn't they have a kamikaze variant too? Unless that was one of the krants designs instead.
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I don't know if it's that much of a pity - an enemy fighter that can't shoot at you isn't especially interesting. :) Just switch invulnerability on and fight a Strakha... it would be exactly like a Hrakthi.

I believe it was the Krant that was used for suicide missions.
 
Hmm! Even though it's cloaked?

Besides, it might have added a tactical plus in the games, but no use in crying over what is unchangable.

However, I would have gladly fought the bomber variant. I'm sure this one would have been quite challenging in groups especially with their high speed: Interception would have been hard, I suppose.
 
Yes, but that's just the point: To destroy one to prevent it from going home with critical info would have been very difficult for those reasons and a challenge (although in another way) since it is so discreet!
 
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