Ton-Falk-class Escort Carrier image - Rise of the Mandalorians mod for Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption
The Empire has fallen and a New Republic is born out of the conflict. But in the ashes of civil war, yet another life stirs...
The Ton-Falk-class Escort Carrier is a purpose built starship meant as a means for the Empire to overcome the lack of hyperdrives in their primary starfighter, the TIE fighter. Essentially a giant hangar bay surrounded by light armor and an engine system, the Kuat-build ship was designed in the very early years of the Empire, when standard navy doctrine still called for inexpensive fighters without hyperdrives. The vessel fell into obscurity as more advanced fighters were accepted into the Imperial Fighter Corp and as Imperial power grew, allowing for Star Destroyers to do the majority of the 'escorting' duty themselves.
However, because they are lightly armed for a ship their size and serve a singular purpose, they are substantially cheaper to field and repair than a full-sized Imperial Star Destroyer. It is because of this that they have seen a resurgence in popularity with the Imperial Remnant, who have fewer Star Destroyers to field for such a menial task.
My inner Space Engineer would leave all the fighters out and fill the hangar bay with high explosives, seal it off, and aim it directly at the enemy space station.
Random moment of inspiration aside, that ship looks gorgeous!
Who needs explosives when you can leave behind one purple-haired, insignificant admiral and have them hyperspace into your target instead?
That moment should have gone to Admiral Ackbar, not some random purple-hair woman.
Yeah, they're not gonna have a guy named Ackbar use a suicide attack.
You're right, much better to have had Akbar killed offscreen with only a passing mention.
It wouldn't be a suicide attack. It would be a Trap! Attack...
Totally agree. Would have even been a good farewell to Leia too. A kick *** send off for Fisher.
I was so ****** off at that. They just brushed him aside like he was an insignificant character. I don't even remember purple hair lady's name.
Holdo. Admiral Holdo. That name is burned into my memory... Like Rose, an absolutely worthless and wasted character. She served NO purpose at all. We didnt' know her before TLJ and we didn't care when she died. Leia or Akbar being killed would have been so much more...poetic.
Imagine:
The Resistance is fleeing and all the events unfold similar to the movie (minus floating Leia). Then, when things get desperate and they decide to evacuate, Leia says "get to your transports" then herself turns for the bridge. Akbar encounters her and she tells him to evacuate. Looking tired, Akbar puts a hand on Leia's shoulder and says "no, princess, you go. The Resistance needs you more than I. I'm tired. This should have ended at Endor 30 years ago. I know, I was there. Let me finish this my way. I'll cover your escape."
She looks at Akbar with mixed feelings of gratitude and sorrow, they share a moment of understanding and Leia departs with one last, "may the Force be with you".
Akbar goes to the bridge and with almost a sense of nostalgia, takes the helm. Transports are fleeing, Akbar turns the ship.
Cut to the bridge of the FO star destroyer. FO captains and bridge crew laugh. "Foolish Resistance! They think they can turn and fight??"
A random bridge crewman says "Sir...they aren't preparing to attack. They are spooling up their hyperdrive and have plotted a course...right at us!"
Bridge captain says "Impossible! ITS A TRAP!"
Cut back to Akbar, who cracks a smile. He punches the go-to-hyperspace button on the console. WHAM. Glorious special effects and a moment of silence.
Why wasn't THAT my movie? Why Disney?
Holdo. Heh, I don't care to remember the name of some random old woman.
Not when I can direct my anger on a certain "special forces" traitor, a hypocrite and complete idiot who betrayed the Empire for themselves.
Iden?
The thing is, her story wasn't bad... But they marketed the campaign COMPLETELY WRONG. Talk about bait and switch...
"See this really awesome and badass Imperial SpecOpps trooper? You get to play as her and fight for the Empire! For the first time pretty much ever, experience SW solely from the perspective of the bad guys!"
PSYYYYYYYYYYYYYYCH (and spoilers)
She turns good just like every...single...other...character...in Star Wars, probably ever. It's almost as if it's impossible to write a SW story that doesn't include a protagonist who either one, joins the good guys at some point or two, has secret Force powers or Jedi ancestors.
In all seriousness, there was so much about that movie that I hated. EU FOR EVER!
TLJ is a quandary for me. I want to love it because there were some really, REALLY great things about it. But there were also some things that were so unimaginably bad that they just overshadow any of the good.
First of all, amazing model and texture. Really appreciate all the time, effort and care you're putting into this project, it certainly shows.
With that said, I completely agree with you on The Last Jedi. It did leave mixed feelings with its oddities and missed opportunities, while having some really great moments. May I ask how you feel overall about the new canon? I sort of assumed you don't care much about it since you're restricting the mod to exclusively Legends material.
I love the old EU mostly but it does have some incredibly terrible stories (cough Crystal Star cough cough).
That said, there was no blatantly social agenda ("the Force is Female") and many of the stories were written with a kind of care and passion for Star Wars that just isn't felt in the new movies. The exception might be Rogue One. I feel like that movie is, bar none, the best SW film since the OT. It has heart, it has the classic SW feel, and they weren't afraid to let main characters die because it told a better story.
As a whole though, the new canon is just...ok. It's better than the prequels but that's damning with faint praise.
Yeah, I hated TLJ & TFA & I wasn't a big fan of Rogue One either (the characters felt dull and uncompelling to me). I do agree though that it is a far better film than the other two and it certainly feels like it could fit into the universe thematically.
As for the prequels, I honestly think they are better than Disney's movies. They are by no means good films but they are at least creative and feel like Star Wars. The new films not only suffer from the same problems (namely, bad acting & dialogue) but a whole host of new ones as well (unoriginality, multiple major plotholes, politically-driven writing, etc).
The new movies have plot holes the size of a small moon and have humor about as terrible as that joke.
They are a failed attempt by some micro-managing Disney number crunching "suit" to sell a formula to audiences.
X worked really well for our Marvel series and those guys are nerds. Well, Star Wars fans are nerds too so...let's do the same thing but with the Force and X Wings. Yeah! That will work!
They've taken a global pop culture phenomenon and politicized the hell out of it, while trying to turn it into a "popcorn" flick. It's shameful. The worst part is that you can see where the writers were really trying to make something good and true to Star Wars...only for those moments to be crapped on in rewrites by the big-wigs with dollar signs in their eyes.
As for the prequels... They could have been truly great. The problem there is that Lucas was surrounded by a bunch of "yes men" who never challenged him to improve what he had. He wrote a single draft, presented it, and everyone was like "oh yes, well done Lucas. Very great. You're amazing. Where is my money?"
So then you end up with a trilogy that ultimately sucked (IMHO) because there was no collaboration or collective creativity. It was Lucas, writing and directing unchallenged and unquestioned...and the truth is that he isn't the best writer or directer, by a long shot. He just has really good ideas and a general vision for things.
FWIW the voice actor for Ackbar passed away before the movie so they decided to have him killed essentially off screen. That was the director's rationale for why a 'new' admiral had to be created to be sacrificed.
It is an incredibly weak argument for multiple reasons, but that's what was given.
While I understand the problem of the old VA dying, they still had Tarkin in R1 (honestly, the VA who does him in SW: Rebels was better than the R1 one, imho). Having Ackbar or Leia sacrifice themselves for the Resistance in TLJ would have simply been a much better moment (better than Leia floating through the vacuum of space) and a great send-off for the characters (since we now know that all the heroes of the OT will die in these movies). I gave TFA a pass on the grounds that it was SW done by completely different people for (let's face it) a different generation. TLJ gets no such privilege. What they have done to Luke, Ackbar and (to an extent) Leia I simply can't forgive. I've had my fill with the politics, etc. If it's any consolation, my cousin, who is a girl, despised TLJ for these reasons as well. We simply wanted Star Wars, and got this mess.
Yep. The VA actor passing away is a horrible excuse. How many VAs did they use in video games? Other Star Wars movies (Tarkin is a great example)? And so on. It was just an excuse...and a terrible one.
Rian Johnson spends more time defending or explaining this film than any director ever should. Your movie, if you've crafted it well, should explain and defend itself.
I couldn't have put it better myself.
So, a platform with explosives and engines on it to propel it towards the enemy? I think we have something like that. I think they're called missiles or something.
Assuming you're fighting a symmetrical war, that's true. Guerillas or...Rebels might (and did) use tactics like this.
Well, why not add a special ability for all ships to hyperjump into enemy spacecraft? Jokes aside, this looks amazing, especially with your art style put on.
Thank you!
Reminds me of Rebel Strike on the GameCube. The attack on Fondor when they rammed a transport into one of the primary shield stations to destroy a SSD with a cloaking device.
Exactly. That's the mission I was thinking of when I replied. Sadly, we will probably never see another game like that... Disney doesn't care about single player games.
Too true. I love singleplayer games, maybe not always linear games, but singleplayer is always great, combined with multiplayer
Agreed. Interesting fact that I was discussing with a buddy who worked at Wargaming.net (the company who does World of Tanks)...
More people (by a lot) actually play single player games and prefer them. The market for multiplayer is actually quite small BUT it is far more lucrative because that small group of players will keep paying to play, no matter what (loot boxes, monthly subscriptions, etc).
So basically, you can blame "whales" for the death of single player...not a lack of interest.
Only death in triple A games, not with games like EAW, SoaSE:R, Stellaris, etc. It still lives on through people like you designing mods like this
Fantastic redesign, it looks so slick!
Thanks!
Love the look of all of your remodels. I also like that you are taking the time to put actual gun emplacements.
Thanks! Turrets are a lot of work (just ask anyone on the Vong mod...they have dozens of turrets per ship at a minimum) but they do add so much quality.
I loved using this thing in 4.0, and i love how it turned out here. Great work!
Thanks! I think it will be better in this version. Much more polished in not just appearance but gameplay.
So much sexyness ! Great Work !
Thank you lol
METAL BOXES! IN SPAAACE!
You know, some indie game dev needs to make a satirical game with that title.
Noted. Also on a more serious note, I like your boxes. The slight angles work very well.
I...Must...Fighter...SPAM!!!!!!!!
Lovely model, keep up the great work!
Thanks!