Making the Games: Missile Artwork (November 1, 2008)

[Bandit LOAF]

Over the next two weeks we will be featuring production artwork from Wing Commander Prophecy - never-before-seen sketches and renderings of many of the game's ships and weapons. This first set is a beauty - very high resolution renderings of all of the game's Confederation missiles. Look at the stunning amount of detail - down to legible numbers - on some of these... none of which could ever be seen in the game. From right to left: anti-radiation missile, dumbfire, rocket, friend or foe, heat seeker, heavy torpedo, image recognition, light torpedo, mine, tracker and empty tracker.

Thanks to Captain Johnny for both archiving and providing this material!

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Original update published on November 1, 2008

[Shades2585]

Very Cool stuff! I like it better with no background. It’s easier to see all the details.

With all the stuff that has been released for Prophecy and SO this year I’m in the process of updating (and rebuilding from scratch since I lost all my source files.) my SO Guide. I'm really looking forward to the seeing the new stuff Capt. Johnny is releasing to see if/how I can use it for the updated SO Guide.

[Dundradal]

These are amazing! Captain Johnny you deserve a promotion one of these days

[Mekt-Hakkikt]

I always found the missile designs as seen in the manual to be rather odd, cylinders with no clear front or end. Seeing them now in this detail only reinforces that sentiment. Especially the heavy torpedo (though not really a cylinder) is weird.

[Dundradal]

They certainly are strange in some aspects. I agree about the torpedoes. I always found them odd looking. WCP fighters utilize launching tubes instead of missile bays like we've seen on previous fighters. The artists definitely made the missiles look like the type that would come out of something like that instead of how we see the Excalibur launch a missile in the KS trailer.

I do like the porcupine mine a lot though. It looks gorgeous here and in WCP. In MP there is nothing quite like laying a good sized field and then tempting your opponent into engaging you around it.

[McGruff]

I would guess that the lack of fins on these means that they are all only meant for use outside of atmospheric conditions?

[Lorien]

Originally Posted by McGruff

I would guess that the lack of fins on these means that they are all only meant for use outside of atmospheric conditions?

You've got to use thrust-vectoring to steer the missiles, anyway. Why bother attaching fins which only work in an atmosphere when you've already got something that works in both air and space?

[Wedge009]

Yippee! ICIS Manual update time again! Many thanks again, Captain Johnny.

Regarding the "odd" missile design, I personally never found them to be that 'weird', but I think they rather fit in the WC universe rather well. It is true that the Prophecy-era fighters seem to launch missiles from tubes rather than mounting them on the frame, so to me that explains the progression from the fin designs we see in earlier games like Privateer and WC4.

[Jason_Ryock]

Originally Posted by Lorien

You've got to use thrust-vectoring to steer the missiles, anyway. Why bother attaching fins which only work in an atmosphere when you've already got something that works in both air and space?

Because some of the WC Fighters are atmo-friendly, and probably pull double duty on both the planets as part of militia or defense forces and fleet operations.

It's like missiles - most modern missiles used jointly by the Navy and the Air Force have to versions of the missile, one of which is sealed against the elements to prevent outside corrosion from longtime exposure to sea-spray. If the Navy and the Air Force both used the same kind of missile, and they only developed the one that wasn't sealed, the navy would be SOL when it came to using the missile.

[Death]

We don't know that there aren't specific models of missiles designed for atmospheric work, to use on dedicated atmospheric-capable fighters (vice space fighters that have some atmospheric capability), though. Remember, lack of evidence isn't necessarily evidence of lack.

(Don't make me cite space toilets... )

Anyway, I thought it was neat that they bothered to model the "frame" version of the Tracker, considering that it disappears (IIRC) once the FFs break away from the cluster. That is "attention to detail".

[Farbourne]

Even atmospheric capable fighters aren't exactly aerodynamic. I mean, have you looked at a Vindicator?

Obviously, WC-era ships have some kind of technology that allows dumpy, non-aeordynically-shaped fighters to operate (and hover) in a close-planet environement with no deleterious effects of air pressure, skin friction, or gravity, and hence do not need to be aerodynamically designed. Why should we expect the missiles that operate in atmospheres to be any different?

[Mekt-Hakkikt]

Heh, maybe just to clarify: I have no problems with the missiles having no fins but rather that I can't tell where the front is. And the torpedoes do look weird.

[Lorien]

Originally Posted by Jason_Ryock

Because some of the WC Fighters are atmo-friendly, and probably pull double duty on both the planets as part of militia or defense forces and fleet operations.

It's like missiles - most modern missiles used jointly by the Navy and the Air Force have to versions of the missile, one of which is sealed against the elements to prevent outside corrosion from longtime exposure to sea-spray. If the Navy and the Air Force both used the same kind of missile, and they only developed the one that wasn't sealed, the navy would be SOL when it came to using the missile.

My point is that fins aren't needed in an atmosphere as you've already got a mechanism for steering: the thrust vectoring used to guide the missile through space. A decent fly-by-wire system will keep the missile stable in an atmosphere without needing fins.

There probably are some atmospheric-only missiles that have fins, as it means they can steer without using up fuel, but I wouldn't say that they're required.

[Wedge009]

Originally Posted by Mekt-Hakkikt

And the torpedoes do look weird.

Doesn't matter much to me so long as they go boom and make enemy capital ships die.

[ELTEE]

Originally Posted by Wedge009

Doesn't matter much to me so long as they go boom and make enemy capital ships die.

"Man she went up like a tinderbox!"

[McGruff]

Originally Posted by ELTEE

"Man she went up like a tinderbox!"

Like TCS Tinderbox in WC2!

Originally Posted by Farbourne

Obviously, WC-era ships have some kind of technology that allows dumpy, non-aeordynically-shaped fighters to operate (and hover) in a close-planet environement

I remember it being mentioned in one of the animated episodes that when said technology gives out during an atmospheric mission, Scimitars don't glide all that well (or at all).

[Mekt-Hakkikt]

Originally Posted by Wedge009

Doesn't matter much to me so long as they go boom and make enemy capital ships die.

No, I think aesthetics are important for warheads - I'm sure the Nephilim have a lot of demeaning names for the Terran torpedoes because of their shapes .

[Death]

Too bad they don't live long enough to tell us them.