Wing Commander 3: Silly Stuff
- Thread starter Concordia
- Start date
My theory for there being completely different fighters in WC3 is that Confed's acquisition department probably gets pushed around by a very strong industrial-military complex, who keep pushing new fighters on Confed to make more money. There is evidence that there is a strong industrial military complex in Fleet Action.
This would also help explain why Confed consistently got outproduced by the Kilrathi, since Confed kept producing a few of this fighter and a few of that fighter, and then have to take the production line down completely to retool for a new design.
It's like the Germans in World War II. They used no less than 6 different main tank designs in 6 years of war, and that's not even counting their assault guns and tank destroyers which filled many of the same roles. Standardization=higher production, and low production seems to be a lot of what brought Confed to the brink by the time WC3 rolls around.
This would also help explain why Confed consistently got outproduced by the Kilrathi, since Confed kept producing a few of this fighter and a few of that fighter, and then have to take the production line down completely to retool for a new design.
It's like the Germans in World War II. They used no less than 6 different main tank designs in 6 years of war, and that's not even counting their assault guns and tank destroyers which filled many of the same roles. Standardization=higher production, and low production seems to be a lot of what brought Confed to the brink by the time WC3 rolls around.
Haesslich
Spaceman
Nappydman said:
The problem is that in WC3, we're looking at a post Battle of Earth period where the Inner Worlds were devastated during the Kilrathi attack at the end of the False Armistice, which included the smashing of the Luna Shipyards and the destruction of almost a dozen Inner Worlds. The 'industrial military complex' you speak of in Fleet Action is because the entire Confederation's in a war-economy, much as the United States was during World War II - the main difference is that the United States lost none of its production lines during that period, so the transition to a post-war economy was eased by not needing to rebuild a lot of infrastructure, plus the war had not drained off as much in the way of resources.
Also, the Kilrathi also had a lot of slave-worlds to do the production, on top of having had a war-geared economy going into the campaign against the Terrans; the Terran Confederation was still playing catchup at the start, as noted in Action Stations, and by Admiral Bainbridge himself in Fleet Action. Between the devastation of the bordering colony worlds, and then the massive destruction inflicted by the Kilrathi during the drive towards Earth, there were a lot of problems with production.
But they did have enough resources and production capability to build the largest starship ever seen in the WC universe, even including the Dreadnoughts.
Haesslich
Spaceman
psych said:
True, but I'm pointing out that the reason production was so slowed was not because of a constant switchover of production lines from older designs to new designs, but because the production lines themselves were, in a lot of places, destroyed. There were many shipyards, smaller ones to build fighters and lighter craft, but much of the industrial strength of the Confederation was based in the Inner Worlds, which had not suffered the devastating losses that much of the frontier had during the initial phase of the war. This is in contrast to the idea that the 'industrial military complex' of people like the R-K consortium were the reason Confed was constantly fielding new designs and losing ground in the war of production; if I remember it right, many of R-K's facilities were among those destroyed.
On top of this, the Kilrathi were ready for a war and had both the troops and equipment with which to wage it; the humans weren't. They had great industrial capabilities, but they weren't prepared for a conflict nor were they able to field enough of the right craft to fight it. This meant that they were just on the edge of losing the war for about forty years, as soldiers died to hold back the Kilrathi, since suicidal skill and daring had to take the place of adequate numbers of carriers and fighters, along with marine landers and ground-fighting equipment.
Quarto
Unknown Enemy
Not entirely sure what you mean there, since the Behemoth was only half the length of a Kilrathi Dreadnought.Haesslich said:But they did have enough resources and production capability to build the largest starship ever seen in the WC universe, even including the Dreadnoughts.
Haesslich
Spaceman
Quarto said:
I thought the Behemoth had more volume than the dreadnought did with the huge bugger of a barrel, which could accomodate a dozen ships the size of the Victory in its mouth.
Of course, the Dreadnought WAS 22km long... even if Tolwyn said that was one of the biggest ships in the universe, or at least the biggest gun.
Haesslich said:
True, the Ferret would beat the Epee . . . close-in, that is. The Epee's Particle Guns, however, have nearly TWICE the range of the Ferret's Mass Drivers. If you have ever flown the mission in SO2 where you are supposed to rendevous with Bondarevsky, you will go up against a number of Ferrets flown by Gettysburg pilots, and I am usually able to shoot down at least one out of the approaching wing before they can even get close enough to shoot me. So that means that the Epee gains the advantage any time it is outside of the Ferret's gun range.
Murray said:
And it is, or nearly so. In the final losing mission of WC3, you get the chance to go up against one, and no matter which craft you choose to fly, it takes several minutes of shooting to kill it (unless you load your Longbow with Dumbfires and fire ALL of your missiles and torps at the same section of it). It has the most hit points out of any opponent in the entire WC series.