Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom

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Wing Commander IV
Developer(s)	Origin Systems
Publisher(s)	Electronic Arts
Release date(s)	December 31, 1995 (Windows) February 17, 1998 (Windows) February 17, 1998 (Windows)
Genre(s)	Space Combat Sim
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: T (Teen) BBFC: PG OFLC: MA 15+
Platform(s)	PC, Windows, Apple Macintosh, PlayStation
Media	CD
System requirements	486 Processor, 8 MB RAM, Hard Drive space: 11 MB, MS-DOS (Windows 95 patch avail.)
Input	Keyboard and mouse (PC) or game controller

Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom is the third direct sequel in Chris Roberts' Wing Commander science fiction flight simulator franchise of computer games, produced by Origin Systems.

Released in 1995, WC4 was produced on the then-unheard-of budget of USD $12 million.[1] The majority of this budget went to the shooting of its full motion video, which retained the previous game's cast and used real sets instead of bluescreen techniques. The game required 6 CD-ROMs, but was later re-released on DVD for special DVD-ROM kits. A single-sided DVD version simply repackaged the game's content, while a double-sided DVD edition re-encoded the video to MPEG2 DVD-quality. [2]

The first game set after the end of the Terran-Kilrathi War, WC4 depicted a galaxy in the midst of a chaotic transition, with human civilians, Kilrathi survivors and former soldiers on both sides attempting to restabilize their lives. The game includes a large number of branching conversations in which the player must choose what response his character, Christopher Blair, will give; the choice may affect the other person's attitude toward your character, the morale of the entire crew, the player's next assignment and even the game's ending. As the man giving the orders, Blair often gets to choose what ship he will fly, what missiles it will carry, and what wingman (wingmen) he will take with him.

WC4 was also the first game to have "redshirt" pilots, who had their own identities but were not important to the plot (as opposed to the flight groups of the previous three games, which contained at most ten pilots). These redshirts can be killed permanently in combat, but main-character pilots will always eject unless their death is mandated by the game's plot.

A novelization, by William R. Forstchen and Ben Ohlander, was published on October 1, 1996.

Contents 1 Synopsis 1.1 Game 1.2 Novel 2 Characters 2.1 Confed pilots 2.2 Border Worlds pilots 2.3 Confed personnel 2.4 Border Worlds personnel 2.5 Kilrathi personnel 3 Weapon systems 3.1 Armaments 3.2 Terran fighters 3.3 Terran capital ships 3.4 Border Worlds fighters 3.5 Border Worlds capital ships 3.6 Black Lance fighters 3.7 Kilrathi fighters 3.8 Kilrathi capital ships

[edit] Synopsis

[edit] Game

The war between the Kilrathi Empire and the Terran Confederation has been over for several years. Confed is attempting to stabilize its economy and social structure, after the abrupt end to thirty-five years of war. The Kilrathi survivors, now led by Melek, retainer to the late Prince Thrakhath, are having even more trouble with the same problem, since so much of their racial and societal makeup revolves around hunting and killing. Tensions between the outer colonies and inner Confed worlds are higher than ever. And the Savior of the Confederation? Col. Christopher Blair, retired, is trying to eke out a living on a desert world...as a farmer.

Salvation comes from Major Todd "Maniac" Marshall, who bears orders: Blair has been recalled to active military service by Admiral Geoffrey Tolwyn. The conflict between the Confederation and the Union of Border Worlds has deepened, most recently with a monstrous attack on an unarmed medical transport (detailed in the opening movie). This transport is destroyed by a wing of mysterious fighters equipped with a bizarre new anti-shipping weapon that doesn't explode, but rather incinerates the target's contents, leaving only a burning shell behind. Maniac is able to relate very few details on the recall order, but Blair gets an eyeful within five minutes of taking the cockpit when the station he's heading to is attacked by an Avenger Border Worlds fighter. Border World claims that similar strikes have occurred on their shipping are ignored, but between one thing and the other, it's getting near to open war. Blair is assigned to the TCS Lexington under war buddy Captain William Eisen, with the task of unraveling these tensions and getting to the bottom of the story. Serving with him are Maniac, Lt. Winston "Vagabond" Chang, and Lt. Troy "Catscratch" Carter, a Kilrath-o-phobe who joined the military a couple of years too late.

Blair can find no concrete evidence, other than the fact that no one can positively identify the harassing ships. Further undermining his confidence, Tolwyn transfers a new officer to the Lex, Captain Hugh Paulson, who soon manages to have Eisen removed from command. Not long after, Paulson calls Blair and Chang in for a surprise mission briefing: Eisen has just defected to the Border Worlds and is fleeing in a shuttle, with Maniac piloting. Once in space, Vagabond announces that he is going to follow Eisen over, and the player must choose whether to defect or not. If he does not, Blair returns to the Lex to meet a new cadre of pilots brought in by Paulson: cold, efficient, wickedly dangerous. The best, and coldest, is a man known only as "Seether." Blair flies with them for several missions before being confronted with a Border Worlds attack, led by Maniac, who gives Blair another chance to come over. Staying loyal to the Confederation leads to certain death, making it clear what series creator Chris Roberts expects the player to do. Blair and Maniac succeed in downing the Lex, though Paulson escapes in a shuttle. But his pilot, Seether, knows that their commanding officer will only see failure in his actions, and executes Paulson with a knife.

If Blair chooses to defect when Vagabond goes over, he arrives with Eisen, Maniac, Vagabond and Catscratch at the BWS Intrepid, an old Durango-class carrier that has recently suffered immense damage from a Confed attack. Much of the senior staff has been killed, and the two officers currently sharing the command are Colonels Jacob "Hawk" Manley and Tamara "Panther" Farnsworth, who claimed fame for their actions in the Astoria system during the war. Panther and Hawk bow to the Heart of the Tiger, giving him the post of Wing Commander for the Intrepid's flight group, and Eisen becomes her captain in the lack of any other Navy personnel. Other notable Intrepid natives include Chief Technician Robert "Pliers" Sykes, far older and less pretty than Rachel Coriolis but just as canny with the planes if Blair is friendly to him; Col. John "Gash" Dekker, head of the ship's contingent of Marines; and Communications Technician Velina Sosa, whom Catscratch quickly takes a shine to. Eisen also takes the time to confide the reasoning behind his defection: he's been in touch with connections back on Earth, and it seems that this nascent Confed-Border Worlds war is being encouraged by elements within Confed—including whoever sent Paulson. If he wanted the whole story, Eisen saw no choice but to defect.

Pliers comes up with a number of new inventions, such as a jury-rigged cloaking device and a "Manned Insertion Pod"—a torpedo-sized coffin that can be used to land ground troops. Blair takes two of them in against a communications station in the Orestes System, and Sosa and Chang collect valuable data. Unfortunately, only Sosa makes it out alive, as Vagabond fights off the stations Marine defenders on foot and is killed by a parting shot. It is at this point that the two plot paths rejoin and the game proceeds identically for all players, inaugurated by a video sequence in which Tolwyn tells James "Paladin" Taggart, now a leading Confed Senator, that Blair has defected. Tolwyn is sure this means treachery; Taggart is not so sanguine.

Blair catches a distress convoy from the Kilrathi Melek and rescues his friend's convoy. Melek brings with him flight recorder data of the sleek black ships using their incineration weapon against a Kilrathi transport. Then Eisen leaves the Intrepid, intent on sneaking back in to Earth and uncovering whatever he can; he leaves Blair in command, with Border Worlds Vice Admiral Eugene Wilford as his immediate superior. The player's next challenge, in the Peleus System, involves a giant electronic warfare ship that is capable of jamming radar, targeting sensors and even shielding. Finally, the player is given a choice on what system to attend next: at Circe, Confed forces are attacking innocent Border Worlds civilians, but the Speradon System contains many of Confed's latest munitions and vehicles of war. Panther advocates the former, Hawk the latter. Blair's choice not only affects gameplay (new hardware if he chooses Speradon) but the game's ending. Either way, Catscratch is sent to capture a peculiar Confed satellite but gets into trouble, and Blair must decide whether to rescue him. Besides the obvious loss of a wingman, Sosa is not precisely friendly to Blair if he chooses to abandon the rookie. Finally, the Intrepid catches wind of a secret Confed freighter sneaking through the area, and Blair is assigned to subdue it so that Dekker and his boys can capture it. Pliers, clambering aboard in the aftermath, discovers a shipment of sleek black fighters and a single round of their incendiary weapon, called "Dragons" and "Flash-Paks" respectively.

The next mission takes place in the Telamon System, which is under attack by... Some sort of plague. The vast majority of the colony has died, but a few survive, hale and untouched, evidently due to some sort of innate immunity; regardless, the death toll is atrocious. The survivors at the FT957 colony implicate sleek black ships in the destruction; supposedly, the visiting Dragons dropped canisters that undoubtedly contained a biological weapon. Blair traces the attacking Dragons to the Axius System, which he infiltrates. There he discovers a secret starbase, guarded by the TCS Vesuvius, Confed's latest supercarrier, and thousands of black-clad soldiers, led by Seether, who commands when the true leader isn't there. But, today, he is, and Seether respectfully steps aside for his commanding officer: Admiral Geoffrey Tolwyn. His "Black Lance" operation will bring order and chaos back to the human race; they are instigating a war between the Border Worlds and Confed as a form of backhanded evolution. The Gen-Select Bioweapon, recently tested at Telamon, is the next obvious step in the plan: a virus that kills off all but the most genetically superior. Blair, barely getting over his horror in time, is forced to fight his way out.

The Intrepid, pursued heavily by the Vesuvius and Tolwyn's Black Lance pilots, makes a run toward Earth. Since Tolwyn needs Congressional support to launch his war, it's obvious what he plans to do, and Blair needs to get there first and stop him. The Intrepid must bypass a major starbase in the Ella System, and the player is given the choice to sneak past it or Flash-Pak it -- killing thousands of civilians in the process. Besides possibly altering the game's ending, this choice also determines whether Blair will have the Flash-Pak when it comes time to take out the Vesuvius, a job made slightly easier by the intervention of the TCS Mount St. Helens, sister ship to the Vesuvius and recently hijacked by Captain Eisen. Finally, Blair duels Seether one-on-one above Earth and then lands at the Congressional Building.

The game's final battle is notable for involving not weapons but words. Tolwyn, who has just been promoted to Space Marshal, is in the midst of his "report" on the Border Worlds' activities when Blair, a shabby figure in his dusty flight suit, slips in. If the player chooses to make a dramatic entrance, Paladin gives him the chance to speak. The player must then choose from an array of conversational choices, sending Blair through a verbal dance, successfully baiting Tolwyn into revealing his true agenda and thus preventing a Terran civil war.

BLAIR: Space Marshal Tolwyn believes that our victory over the Kilrathi was a fluke, that we, as a race, need tinkering with, engineering! If a few billion die along the way—well, they weren't worthy, anyway! Why can't we be more like the Kilrathi—addicted to conflict, the only meaning of life being found in death?! Tell us all, Admiral! Is that the price of freedom?!

TOLWYN: Mankind was at his zenith when fighting the Kilrathi. Now our society is crumbling. We have no goals, no focus. We've grown complacent and confused. Who will protect us when the next race wishes to dominate us? Who can tell where that threat will come from and when? No. We must be prepared.

Progress only comes through struggle. Fighting keeps us fit! Conflict ensures our readiness and survival. The Kilrathi understood this. They endured for millions of years, and so will we if we continue fighting. If we continue to perfect our methods of killing—

If the player makes the right choices, Paladin cuts Tolwyn off at this point, and the Senate votes against war. Tolwyn is then indicted and convicted for his actions; lacking an appeal, he hangs himself in his jail cell. Finally, the game's ending movie depends on whether the player agreed more frequently with Hawk or Panther: Blair can either be seen helping Panther train new pilots at the Academy, or using Black Lance assets to crush rebellions with Hawk at his side.

[edit] Novel

Forstchen and Ohlander made a number of significant deviations from the video game with their novelization, rewriting large swathes of background information. Changes include the following:

• In the opening sequence of the novel, Blair accidentally replays a holographic message from Rachel Coriolis, establishing why she left him.
• Most notably, Catscratch and Vagabond are missing almost entirely; they do not defect with Blair and their fate after the loss of the Lexington is unknown. Sosa romances Blair (instead of Catscratch) after a few false starts in which Blair points out that he's over twice her age.
• The Border Worlds' technology is totally rewritten, replacing the video game's Banshee, Vindicator and Avenger with Wing Commander II-era fighters.
• Tolwyn, though stripped of his rank and ultimately a suicide, is acknowledged by the novel's characters as something of a tragic hero, a man taking on the bitter and unwelcome job of ensuring humanity's survival by any means necessary, essentially reversing the game's premise that some forms of survival have costs too high to accept.
• Maniac serves primarily as Blair's second-in-command, and begins to grow into the role, developing maturity and no small amount of leadership skills. At the end of the novel he is given a long-overdue promotion to Lieutenant Colonel and assigned as Wing Commander aboard a light carrier.
• Blair is known primarily as the "Heart of the Tiger," his Kilrathi warrior name and the most famous title of the man who ended the war. (This choice makes sense; pilots' call signs are often bestowed by friends or instructors, and this particular call sign allows Blair to use the considerable weight of his celebrity status as a weapon in combat.)

[edit] Characters

[edit] Confed pilots

• Colonel Christopher "Maverick" Blair: the player character, played by Mark Hamill, returning to his roots as a farmer on a desert-bound world.
• Major Todd "Maniac" Marshall: the frenetic, irresponsible younger brother to Blair's more calm personality, played by Tom Wilson of Back to the Future fame. An inspired but undependable flyer, Maniac is the source of much of the humor in the game.
• Lieutenant Winston "Vagabond" Chang: rarely found far from a deck of cards when off duty. He is older than Blair and has seen quite a bit of the galaxy. Though still a consummate survivor, he is outmatched and killed at the Orestes listening post in 2673. Played by François Chau.
• Lieutenant Troy "Catscratch" Carter: afflicted with a case of hero worship toward The Heart of the Tiger, Catscratch soon finds out that Blair is as human (or Kilrathi) as anyone else. He can be killed permanently during the Circe/Speradon missions. Played by Mark Dacascos in an early role.
• Seether: real name unknown, this brown-haired, brown-eyed man is the finest of the Genetic Enhancement program, now known as the Black Lance. He stands as Blair's final combat challenge on his run to Earth. Played by Robert Rusler.

[edit] Border Worlds pilots

• Colonel Jacob "Hawk" Manley: a battle-hardened warrior, Hawk serves primarily as the voice of decisive, aggressive action. A fellow TCS Tiger's Claw veteran, he flew in the Battle of Earth and had 96 kills before Blair's Temblor run. Played by Chris Mulkey.
• Colonel Tamara "Panther" Farnsworth: a veteran of the Kilrathi War, she flew alongside Hawk in the Astoria System. She is known for a much more pacifistic approach, preferring stealth and trickery to a stand-up fight. Played by Elizabeth Barondes.

[edit] Confed personnel

• Captain William Eisen: Jason Bernard plays the middle-aged captain of the Lexington. He was Captain of the TCS Victory, with Blair, Maniac, and Vagabond under his command at the end of the Kilrathi War, and the pilots remain very loyal to him.
• Admiral Geoffrey Tolwyn: played by Malcolm McDowell in a portrayal so celebrated that it has been retconned onto all of Tolwyn's previous appearances. Wily, charismatic and not a bit unbalanced, he is still one of the finest and most respected admirals in the fleet.
• Brigadier General James "Paladin" Taggart: Blair's fellow Tiger's Claw survivor who has now turned to politics. He now serves as a senator in the Confederation Assembly. Played by John Rhys-Davies.
• Captain Hugh Paulson: another member of the GenSelect conspiracy, and briefly Captain of the Lexington. He is killed by Seether for failing to prevent Eisen from acting on his suspicions. Played by John Spencer.

[edit] Border Worlds personnel

• Chief Technician Robert "Pliers" Sykes: an old man—very old. Nonetheless, he loves his work and can be counted on for several improvements to the game's fighter craft, including jury-rigged cloaking devices and upgraded storage space on missile racks. Played by Richard Riehle.
• Lieutenant Velina Sosa: the friendly face seen by pilots departing and arriving at the Intrepid, Sosa is a pleasant young woman seemingly untouched by the war. Played by Holly Gagnier.
• Vice Admiral Eugene Wilford: a lifelong denizen of the Border Worlds, he fought with distinction in the Kilrathi war and returned to protect his beloved homelands afterwards. Played by Peter Jason.
• Colonel John "Gash" Dekker: known primarily as Gash, a nickname he received as a trainee when he gave himself such a fierce paper cut on a foil packet of rations that he had to be medevaced out. Played by Jeremy Roberts.

[edit] Kilrathi personnel

• Melek: Thrakhath's retainer, the first Kilrathi to bow to the Heart of the Tiger. Now the nominal leader of the Kilrathi nation, he helps maintain peaceful relations between Kilrathi and Terrans. Voiced by Barry Dennen, played by Christopher Bergschneider in an animatronic costume.

[edit] Weapon systems

[edit] Armaments

Because most spacegoing craft use similar armaments, they are covered first. As befitting a post-war military, many of WC3's more esoteric guns have been retired.

• Laser Cannon: the longest-range weapon in space, and the one that takes the least juice to fire, but also the weakest in terms of damage. Many capital ships boast this weapon on a turret mount.
  • Photon Cannon: an upgraded laser with slightly more damage, slightly less range, slightly more gun-energy drain and slightly slower refire.
• Mass Driver: a medium-range, medium-damage, medium-refire reate, medium power-requirement weapon. Where it gets "mass" for its projectiles is not addressed for a very long time.
  • Stormfire Gun: not truly a mass driver variant, but is the only other weapon that fires solid-state projectiles. Devised by Pliers, this gatling gun can produce hundreds of rounds a minute.
• Particle Cannon: fires "nuclear particles," described elsewhere as the "opposite of ions," for destructive force. It does moderate damage over long range.
• Ion Cannon: requires more gun energy than the Particle Cannon, does less damage, has less range, fires slower.
  • Scatter Gun: an ion cannon modified by Pliers to provide five blasts in a roughly diamond-shaped pattern.
• Leech Gun: another Pliers invention, this weapon is a direct equivalent to Star Wars's ion cannon: it overloads shipboard power and electrical systems, causing the targeted spacecraft to come to a complete halt. Perfect for capturing enemy ships or subduing them preparatory to boarding.
• Plasma Gun: firing superheated hydrogen, it does tons of damage but requires a whole lot of juice. It also doesn't fire very quickly.
• Tachyon Gun: slows down faster-than-light particles for massive damage and range. Fires quickly, and its projectiles are the fastest-moving gun bolts in the known galaxy.
• Dart Dumbfire (DF): The DF is essentially an unguided rocket, and requires a sharp eye to use. However, its lack of tracking systems allowed munitions engineers to pack in a lot more bang, and a good hit will severely damage any fighter. The advent of phase shielding has rendered it useless against many larger ships, however, and it has seen decreasing service in recent years.
• Javelin Heat-Seeker (HS): this infra-red munition can only lock onto enemy ships from behind, and can be easily countered at long range by simply turning 90 degrees, causing the missile to lose its targeting lock. At close range, however, it's perfect to finish off an aggravating furball when your guns are out of power.
• Pilum Friend or Foe (FF): relying on identification friend or foe beacons for targeting information, this munition is truly fire and forget... But may attack you, if your IFF beacon is damaged.
• Spiculum Image-Recognition (IR): though it takes the longest to lock, this missile memorizes the target's electromagnetic, visual and thermal signature. If not thrown off by an electronic countermeasures decoy, it will continue to chase its target until it either 1) runs out of fuel and self-destructs, or 2) ...hits.
• Leech: this unconventional round overloads all power systems on the targeted craft, much like the Star Wars ion cannon. Capships will only be stunned for a moment, but fighters are permanently incapacited. Unfortunately, WC3 does not take this weapon to its logical extent of allowing the capturing and flying of Kilrathi fighters.
• Lance Torpedo: Phase Shielding has once again asserted its dominance over singleship weapons, and capital ships are susceptible to fighters only if that fighter carries a torpedo. Torpedoes have sophisticated sensors and circuitry, which allow them to actually bypass phase shielding and detonate directly against the ship's hull, with spectacular results. The problem is that torpedoes need about 20 seconds of locking time to do so. Those 20 seconds are generally the longest of a bomber jock's life.
• Porcupine Mine: like all naval mines, this free-floating munition was simply an explosive booby-trap, designed to detonate in the presence of spacecraft. Thankfully, advances in techology allowed the Porcupine to contain its excitement until enemy spacecraft were nearby.
• Flash-Pak: this nasty piece of weaponry works in an esoteric way: it attaches to any capship, seeds that ship's internal atmosphere with an incendiary gas (methane or hydrogen would work), and then provides a spark. Ships destroyed with the Flash-Pak show a peculiar characteristic: all windows and viewpoints are blown outward, instead of inward, as from an external explosive like a torpedo.
• Gen-Select Bioweapon: an icky piece of work. Skin like mozzarella cheeze. Not pretty. Fortunately, it is delivered in very distinctive biohazard-marked canisters.

[edit] Terran fighters

• Arrow Light Fighter: swift, agile and surprisingly durable, the Arrow carried only two lasers and two ion cannons and was downgraded after the war to four missile slots (2 DF, 2 HS). Like the real-world F-16 Fighting Falcon, Confed engineers were able to adopt the Arrow for multiple missions, and some variants featured a cloaking device. Blair does not get to fly this fighter.
• Hellcat V Medium Fighter: successor to the venerable Rapier II line of all-purpose dogfighters, the upgraded Hellcat was a somewhat better craft. It was armed with two Particle Guns, two Ion Cannon and six missile hardpoints (6 IR), and is one of only two ships in the game that can undertake atmospheric flight.
• Excalibur Space-Superiority Fighter: the Confederation's newest hot property has been sadly reduced in killpower by post-war budget cuts, but this baby can still do it all: fly atmospheric missions, run recon using the Confederation's first working cloaking device, tackle any fighter in space with two Ion Guns, four Tachyon Cannon and eight missile slots (4 HS, 4 IR). Sadly, Blair does not get to fly this fighter.
• Thunderbolt VII Heavy Fighter: featuring six missiles (FFs by default), a centerline torpedo hardpoint and an alarming gun rack in the form of four Plasma Guns and two Photon Cannon, not to mention a rear Mass Driver turret, this craft was dangerous against fighters and ships alike. Of course, it needed its heavy shielding. Blair does not get to fly this fighter.
• Longbow Torpedo Bomber: armed with four torpedoes and a whopping sixteen missiles, this craft was maneuverable enough to employ its two dual Particle Guns and Ion Cannon against Kilrathi fighters, a first for the Confederation. Some players also enjoyed using it as a missile-based interceptor, loading up on fire-and-forget FF missiles and discharging all of them into the face of a Border Worlder attack. It also featured a rear Particle Cannon for defense.
• Bearcat Heavy Fighter: a new development based on the Hellcat V, this fighter featured technology developed for the Excalibur, featuring four Tachyon Cannon, eight missiles and better maneuverability. Still in testing and development stages, this craft can only be obtained if the player chooses the Speradon missions.
• Razor Light Fighter: mostly used by pirates, this fighter carried two Lasers, two Ion Guns, eight missiles, and armor so insufficient that just about anything could knock it over. Blair does not have the misfortune of flying this fighter.

[edit] Terran capital ships

• Alpha-class Shuttle: a boxy little thing, meant for ferrying small numbers of personnel. Blair does not have to deal with them in combat.
• Transport: as always, these combat-critical craft are not armed with Phase Shields. Post-war transports also lack any form of defensive weapon emplacements, making this ship even more of a death-trap in a combat situation.
• Caernaven-class Frigate: three Laser turrets and two FF rounds made this craft marginally dangerous against most threats.
• Jamming Ship: possesses no weapons outside of its elaborate ECM, making it a pushover once its fighter escort is gone.
• Destroyer: nine Laser turrets, strong shielding and enough staying power to do some real damage to enemy capital ships. What more could you ask for from a destroyer?
• Tallahassee-class Cruiser: twelve Laser turrets and a "light" fighter compliment (believed to be below thirty craft) made this the smallest Confed ship to achieve anything near true battlefield autonomy.
• Concordia-class Fleet Carrier: carrying 96 fighters and 11 dual-mount Laser turrets, this carrier was the ultimate in Confed military might, designed to hold offensive and defensive actions together.
• Vesuvius-class Supercarrier: extremely well-armed (14 dual-mount Anti-Matter Guns, 16 Mass Driver turrets, 24 dual-mount Laser turrets and 2 torpedo tubes) and carrying a whopping 400 fighters, the Vesuvius-class was designed to provide an entirely new level of military superiority.

[edit] Border Worlds fighters

• Banshee Light Fighter: fast, maneuverable, armed with eight missiles... But only four laser cannons, mounted at the extreme wingtips. Its weak gun rack made it harder to fly than the Arrow, but it was still the Border Worlders' only option in terms of sheer performance. Its alternate weapons were a Scatter Gun and two Leech guns.
• Vindicator Medium Fighter: more of a heavy fighter, this craft had a rear Laser turret, two forward Lasers and two Tachyon Guns, Leech guns, a Stormfire gun, six missiles, three torpedo hardpoints and enough aerodynamics to survive in atmosphere. The ship could carry Manned Insertion Pods instead of torpedoes.
• Avenger Torpedo Bomber: slower than the Longbow but packing two Mass Drivers in front and two behind, two Photon Cannon to the front, a Leech gun, a Stormfire gun, eight missiles and four torpedo mounts. This ship could accommodate Manned Insertion Pods.
• Bearcat Heavy Fighter: though designed by Confed, this craft is only available to the player if captured on the Border-Worlds side in the Speradon system. This is the fastest ship available.
• Dragon Heavy Fighter: Though constructed by the Black Lance cell of the Confederation, the player only gets to fly it after defecting to the Border Worlds. See further down for a description.

[edit] Border Worlds capital ships

• Assault Shuttle: armed with a single Laser turret for defense, this craft allows for speedy insertion of Border Worlds Marines.
• Durango-class Carrier: according to the novel, these carriers, such as the BWS Intrepid, were converted over from old Tango-class destroyers. It carries a "light" compliment of fighters and about eight Laser turrets for defensive purposes.

[edit] Black Lance fighters

• Dragon Heavy Fighter: evolving out of the Excalibur, this craft features its own internal matter-antimatter engine and Bussard ramscoops for refueling, resulting in infinite afterburner fuel and enough power to run a cloaking device, a jump drive, two Tachyon Cannon, two Plasma Guns, a top speed rivalling the Arrow's and a unique weapon on its bent wings: the Fission Gun, which can be charged up by holding down the fire button. Ten missiles, two torpedoes and a Flash-Pak slot rounded out this flying nightmare. These fighters were constructed secretly by the Black Lance, Geoffrey Tolwyn's secret part of the Confederation. Dragons were used in the bioweapon attack on the Telamon system, killing about 90% of the population. They were used to attack Confederation transport vessels as well, as seen in the game's introduction. The Confederation authorities then believed that these unmarked ships were of Border World origin. The player only gets to fly it after defecting to the Border Worlds and capturing a Black Lance transport.

[edit] Kilrathi fighters

• Dralthi IV Medium Fighter: though uninspiring, this design was still one of the best the Kilrathi had at the time of the war. Armed with two Particle Cannon, one Photon Gun and four IR, this craft could still pose a credible threat when the need arose.
• Shuttle: designed to take small numbers of personnel from one location to another, this craft has negligible combat abilities—a misfortune, as it also has a tendency to attract enemy attention.

[edit] Kilrathi capital ships

• Starbase: part of a reduced and mostly cooperative military presence, Kilrathi starbases may also house civilians.