Why no cloaking in WCP ???

B

bw_dave

Spaceman
Well at the risk of asking yet ANOTHER over-discussed question from the past ... why don't we have any cloaking technology in WCP? (well not that I can remember - haven't played it for a while, and I still haven't got round to installing SOPs).

I mean in WCIII we get to use it a little, then in WCIV we get the Dragon/Lance with its work-perfectly, not-just-a-one-use cloaking.

However in the future (WCP) we don't have any new ships with cloaking built in ! I'd be off to my local second hand ship dealer to pick up a dragon if I was Casey, I think. Cloaking doesn't seem to be an optional extra anymore. Although I hear that we get to fly the excalibur in SOPs - however as I said I've been too lazy to install it and play it :)
 
Maybe They (i.e., Origin) felt that cloaking screwed up the game balence, which would admittedly be kinda like id leaving out the automap in Quake because it "ruined the element of surprise". Then again, don't forget Roberts left after IV, so it's possible that the new team wanted to take WC is a different direction (which is why nobody calls Prophecy WCV). And remember how tractor beams dissapeared in WCIII (hey, what happened to them in Prophecy? I don't seem to remember them...)

As for the Dragon...I've been wondering about that too. My best explanation is that Black Lance is a top-secret hush-hush government milatary orginazation, so everything about them is kept under wraps (a galatic Men in Black).

Of course, then we have the matter of the Vesuvius...but I don't have SecretOps either (You know how long it takes to download on a 33.6 modem?)
 
In WC P time effective (more efective that WC IV outlined cloaked fighters, you could always see a cloaked fighter in a dragon since it have a anticloak system) anti-cloak system is avaible to use, also the Bugs could detect cloak ships very well (the recon missions to Kilrah, all the fighters that were send there were [I presume] the recon Excaliburs, that cloak but only one of those missions returned [that had never seen a fighter or a ship, only a piece of "something" in the remains of a Kilrathi smuggler base that was destroyed] to base).
Now ships can cloak in WC P time but since cloaking no longer gives a tatical edge over the enemy, why sould it be used ?
LOAF can give a lot more details in this that I.
(the real reason is that the game engine cannot "cloak" a object and it was decided by the developers to not put cloaking in the game [like those planetary missions in WC III and IV] and its a bit sad but perhaps next time we can get cloaking to work again :))

As for the Excalibur, no.
We see Excaliburs and T-Bolts but they are not avaible for us to fly, I have install that ship changer program and they are no longer efective fighters.

[Edited by Dragon on 03-24-2001 at 00:43]
 
There was a bit in Prophecy that was cut from the game where they attempted to cloak but the bugs saw through it. Evidence that the bugs can see through cloak is also in the WCP Manual where scout ships that were sent into Kilrathi space are mentioned. Obviously recon ships would be equipped with cloak, yet they are destroyed.

TC
 
Originally posted by Bob McDob
And remember how tractor beams dissapeared in WCIII (hey, what happened to them in Prophecy? I don't seem to remember them...)
Click to expand...
If you eject in WCP, you're bound to see a tractor beam one way or the other :). Tractor beams never really disappeared - even in WC3, they were mentioned once (if you don't rescue Flint in Locanda, Cobra will reel her in). It's just that they didn't bother implementing player-controllable tractor beams.
The same goes for cloaks, of course - just because we don't get to use them, doesn't mean that they're not there. The WCP manual tells you that cloaks (and tractor beams!) are used by the recon variant of the Excal, but that they're not very effective against the Nephilem.

As for the Dragon...I've been wondering about that too. My best explanation is that Black Lance is a top-secret hush-hush government milatary orginazation, so everything about them is kept under wraps (a galatic Men in Black).
Click to expand...
Yes, the Black Lance is a top secret hush-hush government military organisation... if you really screw up in WC4, that is. Otherwise, it's dead and buried, and so is the Dragon.
 
Originally posted by Dragon

We see Excaliburs and T-Bolts but they are not avaible for us to fly, I have install that ship changer program and they are no longer efective fighters.
Click to expand...

Eh? I might agree with you regarding the Thunderbolt, but not the Excal. I used the ship changer to fly it all the up to the nightmare level. I agree its not as good as the top of the line Prophecy fighters, but it's still a fun if challenging fighter to fly. I'd rate it better than either the Pirhana or the Tigershark, and about halfway between the Tigershark and the Panther.

Best, Raptor
 
The Excalibur is a heavy fighter, it sould always be compared to the Vampire or the Panther not the "jack of all trades" Tiger Shark or the "2 missions with it" Piranha.
 
The point I'm making is that the Excalibur is still an *effective* fighter in fighting the bugs when flown to its strengths (using its speed and agility, which are medium fighter grade or better in Prophecy times) combined with its killer firepower. The fact that there are more effective fighters doesn't make it obolete, any more the F-4 was obsolete after the introduction of the F-15. It soldier on for a good many more years before its eventual retirement, just like the Excal is doing.

In short, is it as good as more modern fighters of its class? No. Is it obsolete? No. It's an effective second line fighter, which was how it was being used in Prophecy in the hands of the milita and homeguard units.

Best, Raptor

[Edited by Raptor on 03-24-2001 at 02:20]
 
Originally posted by Bob McDob

Of course, then we have the matter of the Vesuvius...but I don't have SecretOps either (You know how long it takes to download on a 33.6 modem?)
Click to expand...

About 24 hours for me, as New Zealand has a *very* slow internet backbone to the rest of the world. All hail the wonders of Go-zilla, free local calls, and the flat rate internet connection. :D

Best, Raptor
 
Originally posted by Bob McDob
Of course, then we have the matter of the Vesuvius...but I don't have SecretOps either (You know how long it takes to download on a 33.6 modem?)
Click to expand...

Yeah I know what its like. Blood, Sweat and Tears. Also very painful. I left it on at nights when I downloaded it a few years ago (how long has it been now??)

Now I'm on glorious 56k :p pfft

[Edited by redwolf on 03-24-2001 at 02:21]
 
Its a real shame about all this missing bits from Prophecy. If any company except Origin had produced the game we could well look forward to a special edition, there is no reason why they couldn't have combined Prophecy's FMV with the methods employeed by SO (fiction and in-flight speech) to fill in all the gaps.
Hell if it were a Resident Evil game they would make a real point of doing just that.
 
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