Notes: - Angel stopped Blair from unaliving Jazz by tractoring him in before Blair could shoot him. - The familiar faces we know of from the Tigers Claw we see in WC2 were transferred off sometime before K'Tithrak Mang, but after WC1-SM2, from my knowledge. But I may need to reverify this. Blender 4.2s EEVEE Next renderer is some powerful stuff, and this will be the first video to take advantage of it. The Downside? It's a much bigger performance hog then before. Hnngg, but it looks so cool though. Patreon: patreon.com/user?u=98553222 (Give me money, or dont. We're cool either way) Twitter: twitter.com/MacsLore (Feed my Social Media Influencer Ego to the point where I start thinking I can walk on water.) Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/macslore.bsky.social (Also feed my Social Media Influencer ego)
@@DMSProduktions I blame TikTok, that's how "unalive" started. We are going back to like 50's censorship with words, it's RUclips mostly. They demonetize people now for swearing. It's really weird. Soon it won't matter, because since "unalive" is just a euphemism for killed or kill, they can just censor it the same way at one point.
The idea of the Sabre in the Nephilim War makes the aviation geek in me want to see the TCN field a Super Sabre that is a clean-sheet design bearing only a slight resemblance to the original.
You forgot one vital aspect of the F-57 Sabre. Accidentally hitting a Kilrathi fighter while using your afterburners and then having to spend the entire rest of the mission weaving around hoping you didn't take a single shot to the front because your forward armor is entirely gone.
@@michaelandreipalon359still can easily be out ran with a short burst from the afterburners, they just didn’t have the speed or afterburner technology that wing commander had
I always hated doing torpedo runs with the Saber... especially for the odd Capital ships that suddenly had precision flak cannons. On the other hand, that might be why the BGM for torpedo lock-on runs have always stuck with me, and I immediately perked up at 7:27
I preferred the Saber to the Broadsword or Crossbow. The Morningstar blaster array was nice, but didn't have the flexibility of the Saber as a fighter. The shields charged slower. The higher strength of shields and armor might seem better on paper. You can see the difference in the Academy Sim fighting Morningstars vs. fighting Sabers. The Morningstar isn't as good in superiority missions.
An absolute superb walkthrough Wing Commander II - IV in context of the Sabre class heavy fighter! Keep up the excellent job. Lovin' Mac's Lore in the Wing Commander universe :)
I LOVED Wc2 back in the day. Came included on a bundle CD with my 2x speed CD-ROM and soundblaster 16 combo from PC World lol, just had this pop up randomly in my feed and I'm instantly 12 years old again.
In Star Citizen i buy the Sabre and the Vanguard - what is in my eyes a bigger Sabre! Torps, missiles, 2 guys, turret - ok interior but thats also because its 38m and not 24. I loved the Sabre in WC2 and the Thunderbolt VII in WC3. Squadron 42 is via Chris Roberts words "this Generation Wing Commander" But i like to see EA is awakening and make a new official Wing Commander! They have the rights so USE THEM!!! Or sale it to Roberts!!!
😎👍Very Totally cool and very nicely greatly wonderfully well executed and informatively explained in every detail way shape and format provided on Wing Commander/F-57 Sabre, A job very nicely fabulously well done indeed Sir!👌.
The F-57 Sabre is definitely my favorite alongside the Excalibur, Rapier, Broadsword, Longbow, and Morningstar in terms of design and WC Saga had the Sabre play a role.
I always wonder why during the End Run that the operation was given to a CVE that was flying a wing of mostly green pilots and recruits fresh out of the academy that had to be seasoned over the operation and that had command given to a politically selected captain known for being almost cowardly at times. For an operation that was considered the key to getting a major strategic victory, the selection of the Tarawa, it's flight wing, and commander always struck me as extremely odd. I understand Confed was always critically short of pilots, but for a deep space strike designed to overwhelm large parts of Kilrathi infrastructure and inflict massive damage, it's staffing alays struck me as counterproductive in the lightest way, if not downright sabotage. Why was a captain that was considered an extremely poor match for such a critical mission given command? Why were green, almost entirely untested pilots assigned to an engagement on a small carrier with a limited air wing? The success of the End Run seemed to happen due to a large part of extreme luck on the part of the Confed task force that helped make up for these otherwise crippling shortcomings. That's not to understate the skill, ingenuity, and bravery of those who performed said operation.. But it succeeded in spite of it's task force's massive liabilities and in turn seems like something Confed Command (particularly Admiral Tolwyn, for whom this was the chief strategist behind this operation) should have remedied.
Chris Roberts and co.... seemed weird on their storytelling aspirations. In many ways, there are good hits, but in hindsightful places, things start falling apart that can make even Homeworld 3 and The Rise of Skywalker blush.
It was covered in the novel -- really the only problem was the Tarawa captain, O'Brien, who pissed off some people on high who knew this was a suicide mission. Unfortunately, he had wanted a combat command so that he could continue to climb the ranks and so was impossible for Tolwyn or others to remove... and it would have been even worse to remove him on the eve of the mission. I'm pretty sure William R. Forstchen wrote the story, and he's done a lot of good military scifi and fantasy. He's also done historical fiction, and so I would have expected he's come across similar stories during his studies.
My feelings about the Sabre are weird. Heavy Class Fighters are my favorite type in Wing Commander but the Sabre is one of my least favorite Confed Heavy Fighters from the games. Unless I need Torpedoes for the Mission I would pick a Raptor over a Sabre if given the choice.
I was torn between the Rapier and the Sabre. I liked both, but I had a slight preference for the latter because it had better vision from the cockpit. I always wondered if the Rapier could carry torpedoes, though. In one briefing Angel refers to the Epee carrying a single torpedo. If that little POS could handle one, I don't see why a Rapier couldn't handle two as well.
@@able34bravo37 The Raptors probably could carry Torps except they weren't in any games after torps were introduced. I suspect a Rapier II might be able to be refit with a torp but the drawbacks mean it was probably only in emergencies. I never figured out just how they got a torp on an Epee and I like the Epee a lot more then most people. The smallest human fighter I remember carrying a torp besides the Epee were the UBW Vindicator Medium Fighters from IV and I always suspected those carried Torps just so they wouldn't need to create a UBW Heavy Fighter Design.
Simple, deadly, and amazing... that's what I think of Sabres and more than enough back then to be a one-man army before ehem... *insert Saber's scream here* EXCALIBUUURRR!! Regardless, one less good Wing Commander's documentary video, and I'm happy :) It sure did filled the part as arguably the final perfect fighter of WCII and not to forget with Special Operations 1 which Even with the "oversized Vic Viper" which is the Crossbow becomes the staple aircraft, in the end iirc, we kept using the Sabre which is a perfect testament of Concordia's primary squadron of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!"
I was kind of meh on the Morningstar. It seems more of a match for the Rapier than the Sabre to me. It could be because they spent the whole game hyping it up, though. When I finally got to try the damn thing, I had high expectations.
Morningstar was officially an anti-capital ship heavy fighter, but hyped as a jump-capable superfighter. Even that single capacity was subject to random critical failure.
@@able34bravo37 There is definitely a reason the Morningstar isn't as popular as the earlier Rapier and Saber or later fighters like the good ol' Thud or the mighty Excalibur.
@@MacsLore Let me guess: Generic space background flying easy, non-standard background with complex maneuvering hard? But thanks. I really like Forstchen's books, and not just the Wing Commander stuff.
Holy shiii***!!!! You brought tears to an old man's eyes mac!! Today's gen will never know the excitement of games like wing commander 2!! God bless and hope to see more of this series!
"Let's ask Christopher "Maverick" Blaire what he thought of the Sabre" WTF is this piece of @#$%! What is with those gun pods?! You could park a Gilgamesh Destroyer in there and still miss!
Great video! Imagine if we'd gotten to flown the Sabre or other older fighters in Wing Commander 4? Also hope you'll one day take a look at the fighter craft of the Freespace series.
I'd love to go back to Freespace, I just...gotta stop being lazy about it. I did end up writing a parody-script involving one of the GTF Fighters as part of celebrating 10k subs, but that's still a long way from being produced.
The original intent was for Blue Hair to take on Strakha, Thrakhath, the Drakhai, the Starbase, AND the Prince's own dreadnought flagship in the same mission without refuel and reloading. The final mission in the main Wing 2 storyline has his ship loaded with a conspicuous SIX anti-ship torpedoes and only a couple of superiority missiles and chaff pods... plus the standard blasters and turret. Hha'ifra, Thrakhath's flagship dreadnought appears in the cinamtics but never was worked into the game as a potential target. It was roughly equivalent to the Concordia with a very large fighter complement and attack craft, heavy armor and conventional antimatter guns and flak weapons. It abandons its predecessor's phase-transit cannon that bypassed shielding to deliver massive damage. Coincidentally, Blue Hair destroyed that ship (Sivar, named for the Kilrathi deity) tens years prior. Concordia, meanwhile, featured an alleged refinement on that weapon that would one-shot a heavy cruiser. The problem was in putting a dreadnought/carrier in danger to get in visual range. So, they wrote that the cannon destroyed at least one firing ship and nearly destroyed the Concordia when then firing the weapon while the main powerplant was damaged.
My understanding was that the ones we do run into later like Spirit and Angel were transferred off sometime before K'Tithrak Mang, but after Secret Missions 2. I do admit though, that could be an oversight on my part.
I never got to play WC1, but I remember there being a decent number of pilots from the Claw on the Concordia. I always assumed they survived because they were flying missions elsewhere.
Not so much they were transferred off, every pilot was flying a patrol when the tigers claw was blown up. I got the big book somewhere that talks about. I think Angel was on the TCS Austin if I remember and she was the wing commander, but everybody else we knew was flying a patrol when tigers claw when up.
@@able34bravo37 it's a decent game. not as good as wc2, but still worth a play if nothing more than to get the storyline. I'm sure there's some place you can play it online.... Or if you really want to challenge you need to dig up a DOS 386 and VGA monitor 😎.
@michaelandreipalon359 Ferret was faster than any ship on the Concordia and a small target. The shields and armor were very average, but the agility combined with small frame made it a challenging opponent for even a heavy fighter. Other small ships were usually downed with ease by most Confed pilots in the tiny patrol fighter. The upgraded model added a pair of tracking missiles to the Ferret, while the YPR rates were adjusted. A pair of mass drivers relatively close together provided the primary offensive sting, but were quick-firing at medium range. An unassuming, but effective patrol fighter.
I thought I remembered that he was about to then changed his mind at the last minute, with Angel congratulating him after. But I'm looking at the cutscene again and now I'm realizing that, ok, it makes more sense if that was Angel in the Sabre tractoring him in. My bad.
She did make the grab herself while Blair was fighting his own mind about if he should pull the trigger. She said something about justice being dealt out in the courtroom instead of with particle cannons.
@@MacsLore Now that I'm thinking about it, it never occurred to me that maybe she was listening on the radio and changed his mind. I just assumed they'd gotten the hangar back up and she'd been able to launch. This just changed something I'd thought was one way for the last quarter century 😀
@@able34bravo37 It struck me as funny because Jazz was gunned down by particle cannons from Blair's ship. As his ship exploded, Jazz was caught in the explosion while trying to eject a second time during their rematch.
@@able34bravo37 Hahaha I never even thought of that. Might be worth replaying the mission just to see if Jazz’s neutron guns are firing when you’re on his six. Lousy Mandarins
@@RemySchrader now that I'm thinking about it I'm starting to question my memory, but I'm pretty sure they were. Realistically speaking it's probably down to programming limitations.
I always just assumed the armor discrepancies were due to newer tech using the same terms as the older. For an example, look at real world warship armor. I can't remember the exact numbers, and am far too lazy to look them up. But you have just steel plate at ten cm thickness, which is as good as 7cm of face hardened, which is as good as 5cm of Harvey steel. Again, don't take the numbers as fact, just pulling them out. Early fighters have weaker armor at 10cm. Later on, newer fighters are manufactured with a new armor that is better. The fighter looks the same, and has the same amount of armor, but now it's listed as 20cm. At least that's my headcannon explanation. More entertaining and interesting than "A lot of times writers and designers just don't talk to each other."
(sigh) when wing commander was good before the dark times before Live action FMV. Ruined our heroes (salutes Hobbes and Tolwyn) You will always be heroes of the confederation to me.
Great craft, far as I can see, but its name sure seems a misnomer. Aren't Sabres supposed to be high speed, fast cutting fighter craft, not glorified fighter-bomber gunships? Darn, you spoiled the Jazz twist a bit early. 6:29: I was hoping to see Ace Combat clips with the kitty's face edited on certain pilots. The otherwise sweet footage is inaccurate. Maverick's Saber didn't even jink while locking on torps with the starbase. 9:36: It doesn't look good, but is it actually really good to fly and fight on, perchance? I'd rather fly a Zaarin-design TIE Defender than an A-Wing, as an example of performance trumping looks. 10:26: It's a real good turret. It's just that it only works if YOU are in the helm and not in the cockpit, not the lazy guy supposed to be running it, all while the enemy really loves to take you down on your six, which means easy pickings for the turret... I'd rather have Emkay in the Otana. 11:30: ...EXTRA T H I C C!!! That ramscoops bit is interesting, for I wonder if this is an unmentioned thing in stuff like Star Wars and FreeSpace. However, I wonder if (sometimes microscopic) spotter drones are a thing, just like in some mecha anime? Should explain in-universe 3D and third-person views in the X-Wing and Rogue Squadron games. 14:18: At least it's not more Initial D.
@@michaelandreipalon359 Except for the Ferret, the Confed ships of WC2 were attack craft. Epee was light attack fighter. Rapier was Medium. Saber was heavy. Crossbow and Broadsword were bombers, but still attack craft. Even Morningstar was a capital ship destroyer. The prototype Wraith could possibly Leech the shields of a capital ship and destroy it with conventional weapons before the phase shields recharged. Arguably, the Wraith should be an intercepter or superiority fighter. The leech outlier applies to other fighters as well as starships. Prophecy documentation states that war era fighters were often designed under conditions that apparently made nearly all those craft fighter-bomber in practice. The Excalibur was officially one of the few craft designed as a fighter-bomber for space or atmosphere at war's end.
@@Euripides_Panz the Excalibur also was the only ship in the end of the war to actually have guns that could possibly harm a cap ship, the tachyon cannons in concentrated fire can overcome the phase shields and hit hard enough to tear the armor apart
@knight5846 Excalibur was the only ship I would take against the Dreadnought. Arrows and Hellcats could beat Kamrani, even a light Ralarrad with a little more time. The Thunderbolt was one of the ships you had at least one opportunity to kill a Fralthi-2 cruiser, while saving Flint. The Bhantkara carrier was bigger, but little firepower and it had shields that could be overcome even without transferred power to the fighter's guns. There was a specific reference to the guns of the Excalibur being effective against quick-regenerating shields. The Reaper cannon, basically an advanced ion cannon that proved to costly for the production model Excalibur. The tachyon gun, which the Excalibur has four of in all models, delivers high damage, useful in "several documented cases," the shields of capital ships. The plasma gun, basically a similar heavy weapon comparable to the tachyon gun, is mounted on several fighters that are known to attack starships. Excalibur was simply more hyped as being able to do it all, from recon in desert canyons to fleet attacks in a Nebula.
Why was Tolwyn such an asshole To Blair? A better twist to all the Wing Commander games, would have been if Tolwyn was in league with the Kilrathi, instead of him becoming space Hitler in IV.
Notes:
- Angel stopped Blair from unaliving Jazz by tractoring him in before Blair could shoot him.
- The familiar faces we know of from the Tigers Claw we see in WC2 were transferred off sometime before K'Tithrak Mang, but after WC1-SM2, from my knowledge. But I may need to reverify this.
Blender 4.2s EEVEE Next renderer is some powerful stuff, and this will be the first video to take advantage of it. The Downside? It's a much bigger performance hog then before. Hnngg, but it looks so cool though.
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Heh, that former fact sure got lampshaded by Space Cadet Rewind.
Unalive? Do you mean killed? What is this 50's censorship?
'Unalived'? REALLY?
@@DMSProduktions I blame TikTok, that's how "unalive" started. We are going back to like 50's censorship with words, it's RUclips mostly. They demonetize people now for swearing. It's really weird. Soon it won't matter, because since "unalive" is just a euphemism for killed or kill, they can just censor it the same way at one point.
It's always the music that kicks me hardest in the nostalgia.
I've played ALL of the WC games, heck I've upgraded my PC's only to be able to play WC! This brings back fond memories! Thank you! Great work!
This series is what drove my constant upgrades in the 90's
The idea of the Sabre in the Nephilim War makes the aviation geek in me want to see the TCN field a Super Sabre that is a clean-sheet design bearing only a slight resemblance to the original.
"Yeah I offered to let him surrender, but damned if I wasn't pleased when he declined."
You forgot one vital aspect of the F-57 Sabre. Accidentally hitting a Kilrathi fighter while using your afterburners and then having to spend the entire rest of the mission weaving around hoping you didn't take a single shot to the front because your forward armor is entirely gone.
It separates the green pilots from the hardened aces.
One reason why I preferred the X-Wing games more because I can at least shunt power to shield recharges if not speeding up on evasions.
@@michaelandreipalon359bah! X-wings are too damned slow in comparison to wing commander fighters
@@knight5846 Hmm, what about A-Wings and, though mostly without shields, TIE Interceptors?
@@michaelandreipalon359still can easily be out ran with a short burst from the afterburners, they just didn’t have the speed or afterburner technology that wing commander had
I always hated doing torpedo runs with the Saber... especially for the odd Capital ships that suddenly had precision flak cannons. On the other hand, that might be why the BGM for torpedo lock-on runs have always stuck with me, and I immediately perked up at 7:27
It's almost Pavlovian in a way.
@@MacsLore
Just like that few seconds of victory music when you score a kill.
I'll concur. At least I can jink around AA fire without needing to lock on in the X-Wing and FreeSpace titles.
I preferred the Saber to the Broadsword or Crossbow. The Morningstar blaster array was nice, but didn't have the flexibility of the Saber as a fighter. The shields charged slower. The higher strength of shields and armor might seem better on paper. You can see the difference in the Academy Sim fighting Morningstars vs. fighting Sabers. The Morningstar isn't as good in superiority missions.
An absolute superb walkthrough Wing Commander II - IV in context of the Sabre class heavy fighter! Keep up the excellent job. Lovin' Mac's Lore in the Wing Commander universe :)
Wake up babe new Big Mac video.
One of my favorite starfighters of all time!
Damn man, your animations are pristine!
Trying to explain "physics" in Wing Commander universe was pretty funny. Well done.
Well I thought it was interesting. You should see how Jump drives are explained in the bible.
I appreciated the technobabble around max speed. Almost believable!
I'm now remembering that I have all five Wing Commander games in my Grand Old Games library.
GREAT job on this period of WC history!
its great to see Wing commander content, and all those update 3d models are great
I LOVED Wc2 back in the day. Came included on a bundle CD with my 2x speed CD-ROM and soundblaster 16 combo from PC World lol, just had this pop up randomly in my feed and I'm instantly 12 years old again.
I think I had the exact same bundle 😀
Great video. Love WC.
Epic work as always mac
In Star Citizen i buy the Sabre and the Vanguard - what is in my eyes a bigger Sabre! Torps, missiles, 2 guys, turret - ok interior but thats also because its 38m and not 24.
I loved the Sabre in WC2 and the Thunderbolt VII in WC3.
Squadron 42 is via Chris Roberts words "this Generation Wing Commander" But i like to see EA is awakening and make a new official Wing Commander! They have the rights so USE THEM!!! Or sale it to Roberts!!!
Sell.
😎👍Very Totally cool and very nicely greatly wonderfully well executed and informatively explained in every detail way shape and format provided on Wing Commander/F-57 Sabre, A job very nicely fabulously well done indeed Sir!👌.
this is great.
really well made
5 out of 5 stolen flightrecorders
The Raptor Sabre and Morningstar, Hellcat and Excalibur, Banshee and Vampire/Panther were my preferred ships and the Thunderbolt
The F-57 Sabre is definitely my favorite alongside the Excalibur, Rapier, Broadsword, Longbow, and Morningstar in terms of design and WC Saga had the Sabre play a role.
A dream to fly and a favourite over the Excalibur. Maybe it was just the missions it was picked for. Great video as always. Cheers.
I always wonder why during the End Run that the operation was given to a CVE that was flying a wing of mostly green pilots and recruits fresh out of the academy that had to be seasoned over the operation and that had command given to a politically selected captain known for being almost cowardly at times.
For an operation that was considered the key to getting a major strategic victory, the selection of the Tarawa, it's flight wing, and commander always struck me as extremely odd. I understand Confed was always critically short of pilots, but for a deep space strike designed to overwhelm large parts of Kilrathi infrastructure and inflict massive damage, it's staffing alays struck me as counterproductive in the lightest way, if not downright sabotage.
Why was a captain that was considered an extremely poor match for such a critical mission given command? Why were green, almost entirely untested pilots assigned to an engagement on a small carrier with a limited air wing? The success of the End Run seemed to happen due to a large part of extreme luck on the part of the Confed task force that helped make up for these otherwise crippling shortcomings. That's not to understate the skill, ingenuity, and bravery of those who performed said operation.. But it succeeded in spite of it's task force's massive liabilities and in turn seems like something Confed Command (particularly Admiral Tolwyn, for whom this was the chief strategist behind this operation) should have remedied.
Chris Roberts and co.... seemed weird on their storytelling aspirations. In many ways, there are good hits, but in hindsightful places, things start falling apart that can make even Homeworld 3 and The Rise of Skywalker blush.
It was covered in the novel -- really the only problem was the Tarawa captain, O'Brien, who pissed off some people on high who knew this was a suicide mission. Unfortunately, he had wanted a combat command so that he could continue to climb the ranks and so was impossible for Tolwyn or others to remove... and it would have been even worse to remove him on the eve of the mission.
I'm pretty sure William R. Forstchen wrote the story, and he's done a lot of good military scifi and fantasy. He's also done historical fiction, and so I would have expected he's come across similar stories during his studies.
it would be good to see these ships in star citizen
Loved that ship.
Once again, hats off mate!!
Great work, keep em coming!!👍
My feelings about the Sabre are weird. Heavy Class Fighters are my favorite type in Wing Commander but the Sabre is one of my least favorite Confed Heavy Fighters from the games. Unless I need Torpedoes for the Mission I would pick a Raptor over a Sabre if given the choice.
I was torn between the Rapier and the Sabre. I liked both, but I had a slight preference for the latter because it had better vision from the cockpit.
I always wondered if the Rapier could carry torpedoes, though. In one briefing Angel refers to the Epee carrying a single torpedo. If that little POS could handle one, I don't see why a Rapier couldn't handle two as well.
@@able34bravo37 The Raptors probably could carry Torps except they weren't in any games after torps were introduced. I suspect a Rapier II might be able to be refit with a torp but the drawbacks mean it was probably only in emergencies.
I never figured out just how they got a torp on an Epee and I like the Epee a lot more then most people.
The smallest human fighter I remember carrying a torp besides the Epee were the UBW Vindicator Medium Fighters from IV and I always suspected those carried Torps just so they wouldn't need to create a UBW Heavy Fighter Design.
@@roguerifter9724 if you could tolerate the Epee, then you definitely liked it more than me 😀
I actually preferred the Ferret to the Epee.
Maverick, hero of the Kilrathi and Galactic Civil Wars.
Simple, deadly, and amazing... that's what I think of Sabres and more than enough back then to be a one-man army before ehem... *insert Saber's scream here* EXCALIBUUURRR!!
Regardless, one less good Wing Commander's documentary video, and I'm happy :) It sure did filled the part as arguably the final perfect fighter of WCII and not to forget with Special Operations 1 which Even with the "oversized Vic Viper" which is the Crossbow becomes the staple aircraft, in the end iirc, we kept using the Sabre which is a perfect testament of Concordia's primary squadron of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!"
Nice shout out to Klavs, may he rest in peace.
the Morningstar class couldve been a close runner with the sabre
I was kind of meh on the Morningstar. It seems more of a match for the Rapier than the Sabre to me. It could be because they spent the whole game hyping it up, though. When I finally got to try the damn thing, I had high expectations.
Morningstar was officially an anti-capital ship heavy fighter, but hyped as a jump-capable superfighter. Even that single capacity was subject to random critical failure.
@@able34bravo37 There is definitely a reason the Morningstar isn't as popular as the earlier Rapier and Saber or later fighters like the good ol' Thud or the mighty Excalibur.
Was that supposed to be Bear's run on Vukar Tag's palace at the start? Man, I love that book!
Mac's done a video on the End Run -- you should check it out if you haven't already!
Yeah, that one took months and drove nuts doing it.
@@MacsLore Let me guess: Generic space background flying easy, non-standard background with complex maneuvering hard?
But thanks. I really like Forstchen's books, and not just the Wing Commander stuff.
FUCK YEA
Holy shiii***!!!!
You brought tears to an old man's eyes mac!!
Today's gen will never know the excitement of games like wing commander 2!!
God bless and hope to see more of this series!
"Let's ask Christopher "Maverick" Blaire what he thought of the Sabre"
WTF is this piece of @#$%! What is with those gun pods?! You could park a Gilgamesh Destroyer in there and still miss!
Wish we had games with this depth of lore these days.
Great video! Imagine if we'd gotten to flown the Sabre or other older fighters in Wing Commander 4? Also hope you'll one day take a look at the fighter craft of the Freespace series.
I'd love to go back to Freespace, I just...gotta stop being lazy about it. I did end up writing a parody-script involving one of the GTF Fighters as part of celebrating 10k subs, but that's still a long way from being produced.
Fun fact: in the Wing Commander IV novel, WC2 ships replace the Border Worlds’ original fighters.
@@MacsLoreI assume it's gonna be a fusion between the GTF Hercules and a Disney's Hercules song.
I would've LOVED to have the WC2 aircraft in Prophecy. The Vampire and the Flying Brick were the only craft I liked in that game.
@@able34bravo37 In Prophecy? I thought we were talking about IV. Well, either way, yeah, those peacetime designs were pretty frustrating.
14:08 it's for game mechanics, not some lore-ology
Outstanding work!
The original intent was for Blue Hair to take on Strakha, Thrakhath, the Drakhai, the Starbase, AND the Prince's own dreadnought flagship in the same mission without refuel and reloading. The final mission in the main Wing 2 storyline has his ship loaded with a conspicuous SIX anti-ship torpedoes and only a couple of superiority missiles and chaff pods... plus the standard blasters and turret.
Hha'ifra, Thrakhath's flagship dreadnought appears in the cinamtics but never was worked into the game as a potential target. It was roughly equivalent to the Concordia with a very large fighter complement and attack craft, heavy armor and conventional antimatter guns and flak weapons. It abandons its predecessor's phase-transit cannon that bypassed shielding to deliver massive damage. Coincidentally, Blue Hair destroyed that ship (Sivar, named for the Kilrathi deity) tens years prior. Concordia, meanwhile, featured an alleged refinement on that weapon that would one-shot a heavy cruiser. The problem was in putting a dreadnought/carrier in danger to get in visual range. So, they wrote that the cannon destroyed at least one firing ship and nearly destroyed the Concordia when then firing the weapon while the main powerplant was damaged.
Easily one of my favorites in WC. I do wish the F-57D Strike Sabre from the Fleet Action book could have made it into WC3 or 4.
I always love hearing the Intense Combat ost, I’d intentionally damage my fighter so I could hear it during dogfights.
Daaaamn, the visual as always are beautiful 😍
Really glad to see there is still a following of the WC franchise. One of the few left untouched by the meddling of modern day media.
They did their meddling back in 98.
@@Magus1213 Of course, one can argue that said lack of "meddling" does make them harder to replay for modern audiences and systems.
One of the greatest games ever made
I do love the reason for max speed in space.
1:45 not true. there were a number of survivors. look at the pilots in Wing Commander 2 from Wong Commander 1.
My understanding was that the ones we do run into later like Spirit and Angel were transferred off sometime before K'Tithrak Mang, but after Secret Missions 2. I do admit though, that could be an oversight on my part.
@@MacsLore in that I don't know. Paladin, Doomsday is also in WC2. Jazz was in SM2.
I never got to play WC1, but I remember there being a decent number of pilots from the Claw on the Concordia. I always assumed they survived because they were flying missions elsewhere.
Not so much they were transferred off, every pilot was flying a patrol when the tigers claw was blown up. I got the big book somewhere that talks about. I think Angel was on the TCS Austin if I remember and she was the wing commander, but everybody else we knew was flying a patrol when tigers claw when up.
@@able34bravo37 it's a decent game. not as good as wc2, but still worth a play if nothing more than to get the storyline. I'm sure there's some place you can play it online.... Or if you really want to challenge you need to dig up a DOS 386 and VGA monitor 😎.
Outstanding as always. I hope my earlier suggestion, a video about Operation: Grain Snatch from X-Wing, looks similarly impressive in your deft hands.
That Ferret at 2:10 is so sexy. Great videos as always. Love the channel!
Of course it is! The Ferret was always a sexy airframe 🙂
@@ilkoderez601 But is it quite a good if not craft performance?
@michaelandreipalon359
Ferret was faster than any ship on the Concordia and a small target. The shields and armor were very average, but the agility combined with small frame made it a challenging opponent for even a heavy fighter. Other small ships were usually downed with ease by most Confed pilots in the tiny patrol fighter. The upgraded model added a pair of tracking missiles to the Ferret, while the YPR rates were adjusted. A pair of mass drivers relatively close together provided the primary offensive sting, but were quick-firing at medium range.
An unassuming, but effective patrol fighter.
Amazing work
the rapier's little brother
Rapier is smaller and lighter.
Another excellent video Mac. I'm almost tempted to reinstall WC1 and 2 thanks to you :P
Excellent!
Didn't Angel prevent Blair killing Jazz?
I thought I remembered that he was about to then changed his mind at the last minute, with Angel congratulating him after. But I'm looking at the cutscene again and now I'm realizing that, ok, it makes more sense if that was Angel in the Sabre tractoring him in. My bad.
She did make the grab herself while Blair was fighting his own mind about if he should pull the trigger.
She said something about justice being dealt out in the courtroom instead of with particle cannons.
@@MacsLore Now that I'm thinking about it, it never occurred to me that maybe she was listening on the radio and changed his mind. I just assumed they'd gotten the hangar back up and she'd been able to launch.
This just changed something I'd thought was one way for the last quarter century 😀
@@RedWingnut00 I remember that line as well 🙂
And I heavily disagreed with her.
@@able34bravo37
It struck me as funny because Jazz was gunned down by particle cannons from Blair's ship. As his ship exploded, Jazz was caught in the explosion while trying to eject a second time during their rematch.
MAC! YOU ARE AMAZING!
Yeah, another Mac's video!!! 2:20, I think it should be a ferret, not a super ferret.
I’m only familiar with the wing commander game from the 90s. Is there a more recent version?
The HF-66 Thunderbolt VII please.
My childhood!
I see wing commander and Babylon 5 I'm hooked.
How do you do This? 😊
The best fighter
Man, all this has me doing is wish for a WC1&2 remake in FSO. I wonder how hard that would be?
10:30 - The rear turrets guns have the wrong text, its not mass drivers its neutron guns
It always disappointed me that we didn't get more use of the Morningstar in WC3/4/5.
So when Blair pulled a Thanos and said “Fine, I’ll do it myself” who was the loyal AF brother-in-arms manning the rear ball turret?
I always wondered who the hell was tail gunning for Jazz 😀
@@able34bravo37 Hahaha I never even thought of that. Might be worth replaying the mission just to see if Jazz’s neutron guns are firing when you’re on his six. Lousy Mandarins
@@RemySchrader now that I'm thinking about it I'm starting to question my memory, but I'm pretty sure they were.
Realistically speaking it's probably down to programming limitations.
I always just assumed the armor discrepancies were due to newer tech using the same terms as the older. For an example, look at real world warship armor. I can't remember the exact numbers, and am far too lazy to look them up. But you have just steel plate at ten cm thickness, which is as good as 7cm of face hardened, which is as good as 5cm of Harvey steel. Again, don't take the numbers as fact, just pulling them out.
Early fighters have weaker armor at 10cm. Later on, newer fighters are manufactured with a new armor that is better. The fighter looks the same, and has the same amount of armor, but now it's listed as 20cm.
At least that's my headcannon explanation. More entertaining and interesting than "A lot of times writers and designers just don't talk to each other."
Mac, you need to start doing battletech ships and fighters
For me Yukikaze
*Spoiler* I did enjoy flying the "Strike" variant the used in the Wing Commander Saga game.
Nah! Gimme the Arrow ANY TIME!
(sigh) when wing commander was good before the dark times before Live action FMV. Ruined our heroes (salutes Hobbes and Tolwyn) You will always be heroes of the confederation to me.
I would take a Scimitar over an Epee.
Epees only look cool.
Great craft, far as I can see, but its name sure seems a misnomer. Aren't Sabres supposed to be high speed, fast cutting fighter craft, not glorified fighter-bomber gunships?
Darn, you spoiled the Jazz twist a bit early.
6:29: I was hoping to see Ace Combat clips with the kitty's face edited on certain pilots.
The otherwise sweet footage is inaccurate. Maverick's Saber didn't even jink while locking on torps with the starbase.
9:36: It doesn't look good, but is it actually really good to fly and fight on, perchance? I'd rather fly a Zaarin-design TIE Defender than an A-Wing, as an example of performance trumping looks.
10:26: It's a real good turret. It's just that it only works if YOU are in the helm and not in the cockpit, not the lazy guy supposed to be running it, all while the enemy really loves to take you down on your six, which means easy pickings for the turret... I'd rather have Emkay in the Otana.
11:30: ...EXTRA T H I C C!!!
That ramscoops bit is interesting, for I wonder if this is an unmentioned thing in stuff like Star Wars and FreeSpace. However, I wonder if (sometimes microscopic) spotter drones are a thing, just like in some mecha anime? Should explain in-universe 3D and third-person views in the X-Wing and Rogue Squadron games.
14:18: At least it's not more Initial D.
Missile! Missile!
@@michaelandreipalon359
Except for the Ferret, the Confed ships of WC2 were attack craft. Epee was light attack fighter. Rapier was Medium. Saber was heavy. Crossbow and Broadsword were bombers, but still attack craft. Even Morningstar was a capital ship destroyer. The prototype Wraith could possibly Leech the shields of a capital ship and destroy it with conventional weapons before the phase shields recharged. Arguably, the Wraith should be an intercepter or superiority fighter. The leech outlier applies to other fighters as well as starships.
Prophecy documentation states that war era fighters were often designed under conditions that apparently made nearly all those craft fighter-bomber in practice. The Excalibur was officially one of the few craft designed as a fighter-bomber for space or atmosphere at war's end.
@@Euripides_Panz the Excalibur also was the only ship in the end of the war to actually have guns that could possibly harm a cap ship, the tachyon cannons in concentrated fire can overcome the phase shields and hit hard enough to tear the armor apart
@knight5846 Excalibur was the only ship I would take against the Dreadnought. Arrows and Hellcats could beat Kamrani, even a light Ralarrad with a little more time. The Thunderbolt was one of the ships you had at least one opportunity to kill a Fralthi-2 cruiser, while saving Flint. The Bhantkara carrier was bigger, but little firepower and it had shields that could be overcome even without transferred power to the fighter's guns. There was a specific reference to the guns of the Excalibur being effective against quick-regenerating shields. The Reaper cannon, basically an advanced ion cannon that proved to costly for the production model Excalibur. The tachyon gun, which the Excalibur has four of in all models, delivers high damage, useful in "several documented cases," the shields of capital ships.
The plasma gun, basically a similar heavy weapon comparable to the tachyon gun, is mounted on several fighters that are known to attack starships. Excalibur was simply more hyped as being able to do it all, from recon in desert canyons to fleet attacks in a Nebula.
@@Euripides_Panz don’t forget jump point recon, the Excalibur had a jump drive so you no longer had to risk a bomber wing to do that task
Why was Tolwyn such an asshole To Blair? A better twist to all the Wing Commander games, would have been if Tolwyn was in league with the Kilrathi, instead of him becoming space Hitler in IV.
@@vinnyc.1265 Heh, reminds me of me thinking that Peck of the EPA in Ghostbusters was a ghost, if not Gozer worshipper, in disguise.
@@michaelandreipalon359
Nah, he was just some guy with no joystick. Well, that's what I heard.
I always thought Tolwyn was more of a Caligula myself.
I never liked the Saber. I always preferred the Rapier
I’m going to load up my versions of wing commander now
My man.
This needs posted on wcnews 🫡