What is everyone's favourite fighter

I hereby propose the BLD be referred to as the Black Dragon, 'cause it sounds cool...like something out of Secret Ops... :cool:
 
Disagree -- Confed premiered anti-cloaking technology on fighters at the tail end of the war, the 'visible' enemy craft you see in the 'Lance are simply the end result of that. Nothing to do with 'knowing the frequency'...
 
Which would rather negate the advantages of cloaked fighters post WC:4. If Confed can see them, and the Nephilim can see them, then operational possibilties reduce rather drastically. I guess they would still be usefull for beating up on pirates and so on, but sending a Dragon after pirates is kind of overkill.

As for the Black Lance, yes, I'm sure they're still hidden away somewhere, waiting for the right moment to emerge in all their Aryan glory to save their inferiors from certain doom and prove that Tolwyn was right all along. :rolleyes:

Best, Raptor
 
Originally posted by Bandit LOAF
Disagree -- Confed premiered anti-cloaking technology on fighters at the tail end of the war...
"Hate to say I told you so" ;) But it was a good argument.
 
Humbug; once again this thread seems to have mutated away from the original subject as threads are want to do, which doesn't necessarily bother me but I guess I'll post something that's back on track with what was originally in mind. I suppose I will forever proclaim the Excalibur as my most beloved fighter. There were many things that made this ship one of my favorites, such as its sleek design, speed, manuverability, firepower, and flexibility. More importantly, however, it was the dream ship of WC3, the game I rode into the WC galaxy on. It was the perverbial forbidden fruit, the sacred cow of the day which had a taboo on it that made it all the more desirable when it flew into the storyline in WC3 along with the ever-arrogant Flash. It had its parallel in every other WC game after itself, among which where the Dragon and the Vampire, which both come in towards the top of my priority list, but for me, the Excalibur was the first. Granted there may have been other "dream ships" introduced prior to the Heart of the Tiger, but it was the one I knew first and best. Maybe it was the way it auto-aimed at everything because I was a newbie and couldn't hit the broad side of a Corvette, but the way I could slice a Dralthi in half with two shots of my gun without wasting a missle made me extremely giddy.

Granted I felt the same sense of enjoyment with the Dragon when Pliers first let me have a go at it fresh off the flight decks of the Intrepid. No afterburner fuel; how cool was that? And cloaking! Always exciting I suppose... I mean he teased and taunted me with his little cloaking gadget back at Orestes IX, and now the full time fun of going *poof* in a vanishing act was quite tempting. In classical tradition, the Dragon also laid waste to everything in its path, with not only its standard loadout of guns, but also the amazing fission cannon, which was very exciting to see brought back from Privateer, heh (I just realized that's where they got it as I sat here and wrote out this post... amazing how long it takes you to have things strike you for the first time). Once again the Dragon was the glamour and glory of the flight deck, and given half the chance you always found yourself wanting to take it out for a spin. Additionally, it always baffled me why Blair logged flying time on a Banshee at the end of The Price of Freedom... I'd sooner take out a Vindicator before I'd grab one of those little tin cans with a booster pack attached... I guess its sad for me to say, but that's how I felt about the "good ole" banshee. On a little side note with the whole series of ships that could be found in that game, I never saw the practical application of the Bearcat. That thing was about as useful as the Behemoth...

Then, in Prophecy, there was the Vampire. Ever since I saw that thing on the cover of the CD case I was dieing to get behind its stick. It proved to be all the joy that I hoped it would. The manuverability and punch that the Vampire packed sent a little chill up my spine every time I was told I'd be taking out a wing of them. I absolutely loved to go to third person view and watch the elegance of the Vampire manuvering through whatever flight path you sent it on. It was really a sight. The guns it was packing weren't too bad either. The missle loadout was definitely large, but that was basically standard with any Prophecy ship. The Vampire was definitely, once again, the glamour ship of Prophecy. The Wasp was another terribly interesting ship as well, with its booster pack and impressive missle loadout. The guns were an absolute disgrace, but that was more than compensated by the projectile package. Besides, it was designed to be an interceptor, which means quick and guaranteed kills, which means you opt for your missles, and that's exactly what it was fitted with. As for what I was least anxious to fly, that would have had to be the Tigershark. Good Lord Almighty, I might have had better luck attempting to use a nail file to make a dent in the hulls of those space roaches... I would have felt more confident flying an Arrow against the Nephilem than being told I was having the extreme priveledge of taking out a wing of Tigersharks on a four point patrol that must have had about twenty Nephilem at each nav... it was definitely not a particularly endearing ship for me.

However, pushing all of these aside, I will still always be in love with the Excalibur. The biggest thing I admire about this ship was its design. I don't know what the rest of you think but I always thought the Excalibur was the best damned looking ship I'd ever seen in the Wing Commander world. Plus it was extremely enjoyable to fly. And besides, I got to rattle some kitty teeth with a bomb I slamed down the throat of their planet launched from none other than the Excalibur. What's not to love, eh? Battling the Kilrathi was always more enjoyable for me than taking out humans or the Nephilem. Therefore, I'm naturally drawn to the ship that was specifically designed to crank out the kitty litter at an alarming rate. I think maybe the specs on all three of the glamour ships I've mentioned from the last three games in the main storyline of the series were purposely tweaked to make them the most desirable, and that's just pretty obvious. But in the classic tradition of bigger is better, I love the way everything about the Excalibur screams "Here, kitty, kitty..."
 
True. Given their past performance, I don't see the Black Lance exactly covering themselves with glory of any kind. :D

Best, Raptor
 
Originally posted by Antix
Then, in Prophecy, there was the Vampire. Ever since I saw that thing on the cover of the CD case I was dieing to get behind its stick. It proved to be all the joy that I hoped it would. The manuverability and punch that the Vampire packed sent a little chill up my spine every time I was told I'd be taking out a wing of them.

Yeah I have to agree I adored the Vampire, however I preferred the Wasp! The combination of the booster pack, tachyon cannons and swarmer missiles made me love it.

Going to SO however I liked to Black Op's strike loadout Vampire, not only does it have the firepower to completly decemate (sp?) entire wings of bugs, but the inclusion of torps made it a (nearly) unstoppable force! :)
 
I didn't like the Wasp that much. The booster does allow you to get to the enemy before those pesky wingmen join the battle, the Tachyons are welcome after flying wussy Piranhas and Tigersharks, and the Swarmers are impressive (though sometimes overkill)... but I just prefer the Vampire.

The CIS strike Vampires were necessary due to the tiny complement of pilots the Cerberus carries, but it does remove the 'specialisation' style of design behind the Prophecy-era ships. Still, you're not assigned to the primary objective in those missions where you fly the strike Vampires, so I guess it doesn't matter too much.
 
Oh, I'm a Vampire fan alright, I just think that putting torpedoes on it detracts from its space superiority objective/role.
 
I see your point... but why wouldn't a Vampire which can destroy *anything* in it's sites be considered a "space-superiority" fighter? ;)
 
I'm no military buff, but I think the superiority objective is to clear the skies/space of opposition fighters - I don't think this includes strikes against capships. In a realistic situation, most sane and self-preserving pilots would report to their base about the new threat and not go diving in a (possibly futile) attempt to kill it.
 
I also think the whole idea of drawing out those missions in Krieger is to give you something different and to enforce the different roles of the Vampire and the Devastator. IIRC, you only fly the strike Vampire to kill the light support craft and transports.
 
Originally posted by FrostyCOS1
Antix.....

My sentiments exactly.

Glad we could find some common ground, heh. I wish I was a bit more well versed on the ins and outs of previous fighters that came before the almighty Excalibur...

Originally posted by Jezzerr


Yeah I have to agree I adored the Vampire, however I preferred the Wasp! The combination of the booster pack, tachyon cannons and swarmer missiles made me love it.

Going to SO however I liked to Black Op's strike loadout Vampire, not only does it have the firepower to completly decemate (sp?) entire wings of bugs, but the inclusion of torps made it a (nearly) unstoppable force! :)

It's like I said Jezzerr, the Wasp was one of the ships I held a level of admiration for in the WC:p series. It was something unlike what we had mostly seen before in the game. The role of the Wasp was singular as opposed to the usual dual and multipurpose roles you saw fighters like the Thunderbolt most clearly, and its arguable descendant, the Dragon (I evolve that reasoning from noticing that both were equipped with a singular torpedo slot). The Wasp was intended solely as an interceptor, which was quite clear. It did its job well. The Arrow was the interceptor of WC3, but it was obvious that the ship was also equipped to carry out patrols, fly wing support (which it was obviously less able to accomplish than the Hellcat, and that's why you'll find THEM on the wing of your Longbows in WC4... but they could still do it), and so on and so forth. The Arrow could have been taken to many arenas and been potentially useful there. On the other hand, no one in their right mind would ever want to take out a Wasp on a patrol. That would be insane for a couple of reasons. The real punch that the Wasp packed was in its missle loadout, not its guns. Obviously, the cannons on the Wasp did a load of damage when they made contact, but they were slow to recharge, and obviously not the most practical for dogfighting purposes. The missle loadout is therefore the most reliable option for your attack, but unlike your cannons, the ammo for your missles is obviously finite. You'll run out sooner or later. That's what makes the Wasp unique, in that it's locked into its singular role of intercepting. You get in there, fire off your missles, and head back home once everything is cleaned up.


Originally posted by Wedge009
I'm no military buff, but I think the superiority objective is to clear the skies/space of opposition fighters - I don't think this includes strikes against capships. In a realistic situation, most sane and self-preserving pilots would report to their base about the new threat and not go diving in a (possibly futile) attempt to kill it.

Wedge, you took the words right out of my mouth. Turning the Vampire into a bomber was the most idiotic thing I'd ever seen. Talk about mixing burdens. Remind me what we equipped Confed with Devestators for again, please... The Vampire was a designated "air" (yeah I know, out of context) superiority fighter. What does that mean? It means you clear the way for your bombers so they can rain hell on the enemy. That is the role of today's air superiority fighters, such as the development of the F-22 Raptor. The idea behind the air superiority fighter is this: make sure your bombers survive so that they can do the damage to the big targets you've painted big red bullseyes on and declared it open season. That could be seen in World War II with Mustang and Hurrican escorts of bomber wings... unforutnately, they didn't have much range and didn't come into full force as an air superiority fighter until Allied forces gained air bases that were closer to German targets. They waxed the Luftwaffe, and the bombers ripped the targets on the ground below. Those ground targets are comparible to the cap ships in Wing Commander. The Vampire's role was to take out the fighters so the bombers could go after the cap ships. Hell, you were even instructed to do that in some mission that escapes my memory at present. Your Vampires peel off the random assortment of fighters and make sure the bombers get to their targets. That was the clear role of the Vampire from the start. Attaching a few torps to its carriage was a real button pusher for me. Things in the Wing Commander universe were frequently skewed and screwed when it came to Prophecy but that was another wingdinger... Now I know there's a chance that someone might say, "But hey! Don't we like attach laser guided bombs to our fighters nowadays?" Yeah sure we do but in my opinion that just undercuts the defined role of a fighter. As nice as it is to expand somethings capabilities, I'm one for consistency. A place for everything, and everything in its place, ya know? That's why I figure if you were going to make an air superiority fighter, you let it stick to its role...
 
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