Difference between revisions of "Avenger"

Latest revision as of 23:05, 19 January 2017

Starship Databank Entry

The Ilwrath Avenger is the result of technology that the Ur-Quan Kzer-Za bestowed upon the once newly conquered, technologically simple Ilwrath.¹ Above all, the Ilwrath delight in tormenting their victims and this cruelty has carried over to how they wage war. Stealth technology is employed so widely by the Ilwrath armed forces that it has become synonymous with their species. Due to the ship's stealth capabilities, combat involving an Avenger will more often than not play out like a game of cat and mouse. It is because of this stealth capability that, according to Commander Hayes, the Avenger was as deadly a threat as the Androsynth Guardian to the Alliance deep-space patrols.

Propulsion[edit]

The Avenger turns and accelerates swiftly, but its top speed is fairly low. This limitation is considered the ship's Achilles' heel.

Armament[edit]

Primary[edit]

The primary weapon of the Avenger is a short range flamethrower which has been dubbed the "Hellfire Spout". The Avenger's rapid rate of energy recovery allows it to maintain a nearly constant stream of flame over a length of time. Each individual puff of flame inflicts a single point of damage.

Secondary[edit]

All Avenger craft come equipped with a cloaking device. Homing weapon systems and subsidiary craft of all shapes and sizes are unable to follow a cloaked Avenger. However, the Ilwrath cloak is not perfect — some of the Avenger's own scanning instruments do not function properly while the cloaking device is active.² In addition to that, hostile craft will retain some awareness of the Avenger's approximate position. In Super-Melee, the game's camera remains centered between the Avenger and its opponent regardless of whether the cloak is active. The Hellfire Spout and cloaking device cannot function at the same time. The Avenger's cloak will shut off automatically when the weapon is activated. If stealth is broken in this way, the Avenger will also orient itself towards the enemy ship's position regardless of where the Avenger was facing before.

See Also: Hoaxes and Rumours FAQ

Tactical Overview[edit]

When up against an opponent that is too fast for the Avenger to catch, the best solution is to find a planet. The Avenger's top speed is no longer restricted while the ship is within a gravity well's area of effect. This can be capitalized upon by lurking around a planet's immediate vicinity until the opponent moves in to engage or by performing a Leyland Gravity Whip towards the enemy, hopefully overtaking them.

The cloaking device may not be very helpful for sneaking up on an opponent, but the ability to negate the homing function of most weapons is no small thing. This can buy an Avenger the time needed to find a planet or force a short-ranged enemy ship to travel straight towards the Avenger (and hopefully its Hellfire Spout) to attack.

It is difficult to figure out what direction the Avenger is facing while cloaked. When in doubt, especially near planetary bodies, the cloak should be turned off to reorient the ship.

When fighting against an Avenger, the best approach is to keep one's distance and gradually pick the ship apart from outside of its range. A direct shoot-out against an Avenger is not recommended with anything less than overwhelming firepower.

Notes and references[edit]

¹According to the Star Control II manual, pg. 69 (PC) or pg. 34 (3DO), the Ur-Quan gave the Ilwrath modern weaponry and drive systems which they previously lacked. Additionally, the Ilwrath captain dialog indicates that the Ur-Quan improved the Ilwrath's starships and weapons 29 years prior to the events of Star Control II.

²From the 2007 IRC chat with Toys for Bob (robot is Fred Ford, PR3 is Paul Reiche III):

23:21 <@Meep-Eep> < Shiver-> I've been kicking this around a while: Was the Ilwrath Avenger ever meant to be visible to the player controlling it while cloaked? With online play this feature could enhance the ship a good deal.

23:42 <@fOSSiL> So, not to press the question, but was the Ilwrath Avenger ever meant to be visible while cloaked to the player controlling it?

23:43 <@fOSSiL> re Avenger; Now with netplay it could be done pretty well.

23:43 <+PR3> We meant for the Ilwrath's cloak to somewhat affect that ship's captain as well, though it was not a huge issue.

3DO	Ilwrath Avenger

Basic stats

Crew: 22	Value: 10 pts
Battery: 16	Batt. Regeneration: 0.8 units/frame

Armament

Primary: Hellfire Spout	Secondary: Cloaking Device
Refire delay: 0 frames	Refire delay: 13 frames
Energy use: 1 units	Energy use: 3 units

Propulsion

Max speed: 25 world units/frame	Turn rate: 0.33 facings/frame
Acceleration: 5 units/frame	Mass: 7

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 __NOTOC__
-[[Image:Star_control_i_ilwrath_avenger_databank.png|thumb|Starship Databank Entry]]
+[[Image:Star_control_i_ilwrath_avenger_databank.png|thumb|306px|Starship Databank Entry]]
-The [[Ilwrath]] '''Avenger''' is a sinister looking ship.  The only thing less comforting than seeing one is ''not'' seeing one.  The Ilwrath delight in torturing their enemies and this shows in their ship design.
+The [[Ilwrath]] '''Avenger''' is the result of technology that the [[Ur-Quan Kzer-Za]] bestowed upon the once newly conquered, technologically simple Ilwrath.{{ref|1}} Above all, the Ilwrath delight in tormenting their victims and this cruelty has carried over to how they wage war. Stealth technology is employed so widely by the Ilwrath armed forces that it has become synonymous with their species. Due to the ship's stealth capabilities, combat involving an Avenger will more often than not play out like a game of cat and mouse. It is because of this stealth capability that, according to Commander [[Hayes]], the Avenger was as deadly a threat as the [[Androsynth]] [[Guardian]] to the [[Alliance]] deep-space patrols.
-==Navigation==
+==Propulsion==
-The Avenger is about average in terms of speed and manuverability.  They tend to skulk around and wait for an opportunity to strike.  The best defense, the Ilwrath have found, is not to go through the effort of dodging, but to instead allow your enemy's weapons to miss entirely through the inferiority of their targeting systems and the incompetence of their Captains.
+The Avenger turns and accelerates swiftly, but its top speed is fairly low. This limitation is considered the ship's Achilles' heel.
 ==Armament==
 ===Primary===
-The primary weapon for an Avenger is a short-range flamethrower known as the Hellfire Spout. The Avenger's quick recharge rate allows it to maintain a nearly constant stream of flame.  Many a crew have been cooked alive (only to suffer an excruciating death immediately afterword when their ship explodes into space dust) by the sudden application of this deadly weapon.
+The primary weapon of the Avenger is a short range flamethrower which has been dubbed the "Hellfire Spout". The Avenger's rapid rate of energy recovery allows it to maintain a nearly constant stream of flame over a length of time. Each individual puff of flame inflicts a single point of damage.
 ===Secondary===
-While not a weapon per se the Ilwrath Cloaking Field is the signature device associated to their race (immediately following, of course, the various implements of pain they use on their captives). Auto-tracking weapon systems (the [[Earthling]] [[Cruiser]] Point Defense, the [[Spathi]] [[Eluder]] B.U.T.T., the [[Arilou Lalee'lay]] [[Skiff]] laser) are useless against a cloaked Avenger, as are any subsidiary craft ([[Orz]] [[Nemesis]] Space Marines, [[Ur-Quan Kzer-Za]] [[Dreadnought]] Fighters), both of which will head back to their mothership immediately.  However, the system is not perfect.  A well trained Captain, through use of gravity mirroring (or perhaps by sensing the burning hate radiating from the Ilwrath vessel) can dumb-fire his weapon systems toward the empty spot in space where the Avenger ''should'' be and expect to find its all-too-solid silhouette. Also, when the Hellfire Spout is employed the ship returns to being visible. It is not clear if this is a limitation of the system or a means of psychological warfare; the starship [[melee]] equivalent of "boo!" One can hardly argue the impact on a crew's morale when an Avenger uncloaks on the ship's stern with Hellfire blazing.
+All Avenger craft come equipped with a [[Cloaking device|cloaking device]]. Homing weapon systems and subsidiary craft of all shapes and sizes are unable to follow a cloaked Avenger. However, the Ilwrath cloak is not perfect &mdash; some of the Avenger's own scanning instruments do not function properly while the cloaking device is active.{{ref|2}} In addition to that, hostile craft will retain some awareness of the Avenger's approximate position. In [[Super-Melee]], the game's camera remains centered between the Avenger and its opponent regardless of whether the cloak is active. The Hellfire Spout and cloaking device cannot function at the same time. The Avenger's cloak will shut off automatically when the weapon is activated. If stealth is broken in this way, the Avenger will also orient itself towards the enemy ship's position regardless of where the Avenger was facing before.
+''See Also:'' [[Hoaxes and Rumours FAQ]]
 ==Tactical Overview==
-One of the more remarkable aspects of this ship is that if the player fires while cloaked, the Avenger will un-cloak pointed directly at their opponent.  However, the short range of its weaponry makes this of marginal usefulness.
+* When up against an opponent that is too fast for the Avenger to catch, the best solution is to find a planet. The Avenger's top speed is no longer restricted while the ship is within a gravity well's area of effect. This can be capitalized upon by lurking around a planet's immediate vicinity until the opponent moves in to engage or by performing a [[Leyland Gravity Whip]] towards the enemy, hopefully overtaking them.
+* The cloaking device may not be very helpful for sneaking up on an opponent, but the ability to negate the homing function of most weapons is no small thing. This can buy an Avenger the time needed to find a planet or force a short-ranged enemy ship to travel straight towards the Avenger (and hopefully its Hellfire Spout) to attack.
+* It is difficult to figure out what direction the Avenger is facing while cloaked. When in doubt, especially near planetary bodies, the cloak should be turned off to reorient the ship.
+* When fighting against an Avenger, the best approach is to keep one's distance and gradually pick the ship apart from outside of its range. A direct shoot-out against an Avenger is not recommended with anything less than overwhelming firepower.
+==Notes and references==
+{{note|1}}''According to the [[Star Control II]] manual, pg. 69 (PC) or pg. 34 (3DO), the Ur-Quan gave the Ilwrath modern weaponry and drive systems which they previously lacked. Additionally, the Ilwrath captain dialog indicates that the Ur-Quan improved the Ilwrath's starships and weapons 29 years prior to the events of Star Control II.''
+{{note|2}}{{IRC2007}}
+::23:21 <@Meep-Eep> < Shiver-> I've been kicking this around a while: Was the Ilwrath Avenger ever meant to be visible to the player controlling it while cloaked? With online play this feature could enhance the ship a good deal.
+::23:42 <@fOSSiL> So, not to press the question, but was the Ilwrath Avenger ever meant to be visible while cloaked to the player controlling it?
+::23:43 <@fOSSiL> re Avenger; Now with netplay it could be done pretty well.
+::23:43 <+PR3> We meant for the Ilwrath's cloak to somewhat affect that ship's captain as well, though it was not a huge issue.
+{{ShipBox|image=Avenger_icon.png|link=avenger|race=[[Ilwrath]]|crew=22|value=10|batt=16|regen=0.8|primary=Hellfire Spout|prim-cost=1|prim-rate=0|secondary=Cloaking Device|sec-cost=3|sec-rate=13|speed=25|turn=0.33|accel=5|mass=7}}
-While cloaked, The [[Avatar]] tractor beam, [[Earthling]] missiles, [[Ur-Quan]] fighters, [[Kohr-Ah]] blades, and [[Nemesis]] space marines are unable to lock on or follow the Avenger.
 [[Category:Ships]]
+[[Category:Ilwrath]]