Registered: Oct 2001
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Addtional Starfury weapons

I noticed in the battle screenshots section that the Badger had the additional 60 mm pulse gun pods attached to the top of the lower wings. I was wondering (and very much hoping) that the Aurora Starfury would also have the option to have these extra pods within the next or any future release.

Frankly, I don't really like the appearance of the rear facing canopy on the Badger and have no idea how it's function will be simulated ingame. In the Atlas of the EA Wars from AoG I have a picture of the Badger with full strike ordenance (except missiles) with the 2 gun pods and an additional 3 gun turret (I don't know what caliber or what it fires but it's clearly a different weapon than the pulse bolts fired from the normal weapons) located beneath the standard 2 40 mm Pulse cannons.

It is also stated that the normal Aurora has the capacity to mount these extra weapons additionally for extra anti-fighter firepower, since the Badger is technically more of a bomber and used in a anti-capship capacity. More than anything I'd love to see the Aurora with the extra pods since it is my fave fighter and it does support the weapons, so I was wondering if it would be at all possible to at least have them as optional additions to the Fury to be selected before a mission as desired since I belive it would difinately improve the performance of the Fury within battle.

Also since the Badger is being introduced, will we see anti-capship weapons such as anti-capship torpedos though I have no desire of making a habit of engaging caps, it'd be nice to see a cap or two being destroyed by swarms of bombers.

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Addtional Starfury weapons

I noticed in the battle screenshots section that the Badger had the additional 60 mm pulse gun pods attached to the top of the lower wings. I was wondering (and very much hoping) that the Aurora Starfury would also have the option to have these extra pods within the next or any future release.

Frankly, I don't really like the appearance of the rear facing canopy on the Badger and have no idea how it's function will be simulated ingame. In the Atlas of the EA Wars from AoG I have a picture of the Badger with full strike ordenance (except missiles) with the 2 gun pods and an additional 3 gun turret (I don't know what caliber or what it fires but it's clearly a different weapon than the pulse bolts fired from the normal weapons) located beneath the standard 2 40 mm Pulse cannons.

It is also stated that the normal Aurora has the capacity to mount these extra weapons additionally for extra anti-fighter firepower, since the Badger is technically more of a bomber and used in a anti-capship capacity. More than anything I'd love to see the Aurora with the extra pods since it is my fave fighter and it does support the weapons, so I was wondering if it would be at all possible to at least have them as optional additions to the Fury to be selected before a mission as desired since I belive it would difinately improve the performance of the Fury within battle.

Also since the Badger is being introduced, will we see anti-capship weapons such as anti-capship torpedos though I have no desire of making a habit of engaging caps, it'd be nice to see a cap or two being destroyed by swarms of bombers.

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i don't think that there has ever been any anti-capship torpedoes used in B5 on the figthers the only cap ship that has been destroyed by Starfurys with out the aid of a capship to my knowledge is a Vorchan in Season5 where it was sent to destroy the jumpgate there pls correct me if im wrong

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i don't think that there has ever been any anti-capship torpedoes used in B5 on the figthers the only cap ship that has been destroyed by Starfurys with out the aid of a capship to my knowledge is a Vorchan in Season5 where it was sent to destroy the jumpgate there pls correct me if im wrong

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FreeSpace 2 doesn't support external weapon pods (ie. a missile thats attached to the model, detaches, and fires - ala StarLancer). In Thirdspace, we saw Aurora class StarFury's pack a number of explosive missiles. Those missiles are ALREADY available in Release 1, but they were not on the ship in any of the missions. However, some custom missions and any custom mission you make will have them as default. They work like in Thirdspace, you fire them off....hit the trigger a second time, and they produce an area effect explosion. So we've already incorporated those extra weapons on the Aurora class. We will not be doing any more.

The Badger has the gun loadout that we saw on the show (A Voice in the Wilderness Part 2). The rear turret is shown on the show, and its debatable if the pods on the wings are extra guns or some kind of missile loadout, in either case, we've chosen to make the Badger fun to fly which is important.

An additional secondary weapon will be available, currently named the Bulldog. Its a torpedo/bomb like weapon. We never saw it on the show, but again, we're trying to create interest. Its not like FreeSpace 2's bombs and its definately more in-tune with Babylon 5 style universe. The missiles impact and do a fair amount of damage, but it takes a squadron worth of Badgers to really damage a capital ship or destroy it.

The Aurora can mount the larger 60mm cannons in place of the 40mm cannons so maybe thats what you wanted. Its a trade-off. Alot more firepower, alot less accuracy and bolt speed.

We've done all of these things for the sake of consistancy with the show, for the sake of balance, and for the sake of fun. Sometimes they contradict each other and we have walked the path that we have chosen to walk. Trust us that it will be fun.

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FreeSpace 2 doesn't support external weapon pods (ie. a missile thats attached to the model, detaches, and fires - ala StarLancer). In Thirdspace, we saw Aurora class StarFury's pack a number of explosive missiles. Those missiles are ALREADY available in Release 1, but they were not on the ship in any of the missions. However, some custom missions and any custom mission you make will have them as default. They work like in Thirdspace, you fire them off....hit the trigger a second time, and they produce an area effect explosion. So we've already incorporated those extra weapons on the Aurora class. We will not be doing any more.

The Badger has the gun loadout that we saw on the show (A Voice in the Wilderness Part 2). The rear turret is shown on the show, and its debatable if the pods on the wings are extra guns or some kind of missile loadout, in either case, we've chosen to make the Badger fun to fly which is important.

An additional secondary weapon will be available, currently named the Bulldog. Its a torpedo/bomb like weapon. We never saw it on the show, but again, we're trying to create interest. Its not like FreeSpace 2's bombs and its definately more in-tune with Babylon 5 style universe. The missiles impact and do a fair amount of damage, but it takes a squadron worth of Badgers to really damage a capital ship or destroy it.

The Aurora can mount the larger 60mm cannons in place of the 40mm cannons so maybe thats what you wanted. Its a trade-off. Alot more firepower, alot less accuracy and bolt speed.

We've done all of these things for the sake of consistancy with the show, for the sake of balance, and for the sake of fun. Sometimes they contradict each other and we have walked the path that we have chosen to walk. Trust us that it will be fun.

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Registered: Feb 2001
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You have to tread a fine line with this sort of thing.

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Thanks for your response IceFire. That's too bad that the game doesn't support the ability to have optional gun pods. I like the idea of the Bulldog and look forward to seeing it.

I know the Badger was created as it's supposed to look, I just don't like the rear cannopy, never have looks weird frankly. But the additional anti-fighter weapons loadout of the Badger is most impressive with the additional gun pods. Though never seen in the series, the Aurora can also have these additional mounts, but it's too bad that isn't an option ingame. I had posted way long ago an image of the Badger with all of it's additonal mounts but unfortunately I can't find the old thread, I altered the image slightly to make it look like a Fury but I can't post on this board from my hard drive.

Anyways, I was just hoping to fly a meaner Fury this time around, but it's cool it's still my fave fighter. I do hope the speed of the Fury is a little better this time around (the Aurora is supposed to be improved over the Minbari-War version Nova Fury) though a lot of good that'd do now that I am no longer fighting Nials. Thanks for the info.

Apothess: To the best of my recollection you are correct, the only cap ship destroyed by Furies single handedly was the Centauri Vorchan in season 5. On the other hand, the series did display fighters enagaging and huritng much bigger ships in the series. In "The Fall of Night" (seson 2 finale) Starfuries engaged a Primus Battlecruiser as it tried to prevent the G'Tok from escaping through the Jump Gate. Though B5's weapons were the ultimate cause of the Primus' destruction you can clearly see the opening of the fight as several Furies strafe the upper hull of the ship and really causing damage. Fighter swarms should have even more effect attacking a cap. Though no torpedos were seen in the series they are found in B5 Wars books practically for all races.

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Thanks for your response IceFire. That's too bad that the game doesn't support the ability to have optional gun pods. I like the idea of the Bulldog and look forward to seeing it.

I know the Badger was created as it's supposed to look, I just don't like the rear cannopy, never have looks weird frankly. But the additional anti-fighter weapons loadout of the Badger is most impressive with the additional gun pods. Though never seen in the series, the Aurora can also have these additional mounts, but it's too bad that isn't an option ingame. I had posted way long ago an image of the Badger with all of it's additonal mounts but unfortunately I can't find the old thread, I altered the image slightly to make it look like a Fury but I can't post on this board from my hard drive.

Anyways, I was just hoping to fly a meaner Fury this time around, but it's cool it's still my fave fighter. I do hope the speed of the Fury is a little better this time around (the Aurora is supposed to be improved over the Minbari-War version Nova Fury) though a lot of good that'd do now that I am no longer fighting Nials. Thanks for the info.

Apothess: To the best of my recollection you are correct, the only cap ship destroyed by Furies single handedly was the Centauri Vorchan in season 5. On the other hand, the series did display fighters enagaging and huritng much bigger ships in the series. In "The Fall of Night" (seson 2 finale) Starfuries engaged a Primus Battlecruiser as it tried to prevent the G'Tok from escaping through the Jump Gate. Though B5's weapons were the ultimate cause of the Primus' destruction you can clearly see the opening of the fight as several Furies strafe the upper hull of the ship and really causing damage. Fighter swarms should have even more effect attacking a cap. Though no torpedos were seen in the series they are found in B5 Wars books practically for all races.

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We've changed the speeds of all ships, not because of upgrades (note: if we do the Nova StarFury, it will be an actual model change - unlikey addition at the moment but perhaps), but because we wanted to give it a bit more of a Babylon 5 feel to it.

JMS' basically said in a post that in the Babylon 5 universe, Fighters are important in three roles:

1) Taking out other fighters
2) Disabling and disarming enemy capital ships so that friendly capital ships can finish the job
3) Preventing enemy fighters from doing number 2.

So we've followed this largely. But we also want the player to make an impacton. On a ship like the Badger and later the Rutarian and Gorith, we want to make it within the players grasp to eliminate an enemy capital ship. But with difficutly.

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We've changed the speeds of all ships, not because of upgrades (note: if we do the Nova StarFury, it will be an actual model change - unlikey addition at the moment but perhaps), but because we wanted to give it a bit more of a Babylon 5 feel to it.

JMS' basically said in a post that in the Babylon 5 universe, Fighters are important in three roles:

1) Taking out other fighters
2) Disabling and disarming enemy capital ships so that friendly capital ships can finish the job
3) Preventing enemy fighters from doing number 2.

So we've followed this largely. But we also want the player to make an impacton. On a ship like the Badger and later the Rutarian and Gorith, we want to make it within the players grasp to eliminate an enemy capital ship. But with difficutly.

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I hope the same will be true of the Bluestar.

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BlueStar will probably have enough primary weapon firepower to take down a capital ship in numbers

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BlueStar will probably have enough primary weapon firepower to take down a capital ship in numbers

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I think the primary purpose of the rear turret is the same as most WW2 bombers: to serve as having one person piloting and defending the ship, and the co-pilot delivering the payload.

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I think the primary purpose of the rear turret is the same as most WW2 bombers: to serve as having one person piloting and defending the ship, and the co-pilot delivering the payload to the target behind.

This so that they're not caught in the blast wave when the warheads hit.

<sorry, I obviously caught a hotkey for posting the message before I was ready to>

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One equal temper of heroic hearts, made weak by time and fate, but strong in will, to strive, to seek, to find…and not to yield.

Tennyson.
-------------------------------------------------
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Last edited by Tiletron on 02-22-2002 at 11:45 AM

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I think the primary purpose of the rear turret is the same as most WW2 bombers: to serve as having one person piloting and defending the ship, and the co-pilot delivering the payload to the target behind.

This so that they're not caught in the blast wave when the warheads hit.

<sorry, I obviously caught a hotkey for posting the message before I was ready to>

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…though we are not now that’s strength which in old days moved Earth and Heaven, that which we are, we are.

One equal temper of heroic hearts, made weak by time and fate, but strong in will, to strive, to seek, to find…and not to yield.

Tennyson.
-------------------------------------------------
[url=http://starwars-tpmtc.fateback.com/index.html]'Star Wars Phantom Menace TC'[/url] for Jedi Outcast (Co-Leader, Modeller, Webmaster)
[url=http://ja.ravencommunity.net]'Star Wars: Jedi Apprentice'[/url] for Jedi Outcast (Co-Leader, Modeller, Scriptwriter)
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Last edited by Tiletron on 02-22-2002 at 11:45 AM

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So will the Badger's turret be like those on the FS1 bombers? Obvously the barrel etc can't been shown to visally rotate 'cos it's not on the top or bottom, but will it be there or firing?

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Registered: Aug 2001
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So will the Badger's turret be like those on the FS1 bombers? Obvously the barrel etc can't been shown to visally rotate 'cos it's not on the top or bottom, but will it be there or firing?

__________________
'The past tempts us, the present confuses us, and the future frightens us ...and our lives slip away, moment by moment, lost in that vast, terrible in-between.' - Emperor Turhan

'Whether or not what you do has the effect you want, it will have three at least you never expected, and one of those usually unpleasant.' - Law of Unintended Consequences

Why not visit the [url=http://www.sectorgame.com/timeofchange/]Time of Change[/url] website?

Or perhaps my own website - [url=http://www.geocities.com/ackleyfarran/]Telencephalon[/url]

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Anyone that's ever played Combat Flight Sim 2 can tell you that in WW2, those turrets did jack **** to interceptors. Torpedo Squadron 8 at Midway found that one out the hard way. (Why yes I do fly a Zero in that engagement-do you think I've got a deathwish or something?)

In the EA civil war mission with the 5 Novas and 2 Hyperions I've noticed that by taking out a few enemy turrets on the Novas lets your Navas get through with a LOT less damage.

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