The Clone Wars: Incredible Vehicles (spoilers inbound!)

Sorry in advance if this thread already exists, I haven't seen anyone mention this book in a long time.

Got my copy in the mail today and dove right in. I can honestly say, it's both satisfying on its own as well as coming off as kind of an appetizer for the Essential Guide To Warfare. It's got more pages and overall more info than most other ICS books combined. Logically, given it covers vehicles in a tv show instead of a single movie. Wonder if there'll be one for the Live Action show one day?

Almost all the movie vehicles are given different lengths in the book, to signify the differences in design between the movie and tv show models, I'd reckon.
There's several cross-sections, highly detailed, just like the older ICSs, but in CG format. I was surprised at some of the selections, like the Coronet and Hondo's pirate tank, but they look stunning and the Malevolence is given two cross-sections and seems like the center-piece of the book. Marvelous.

There's more backstory and details given on several characters, related through their respective vehicles and their uses and internal workings. I liked the blurb on the Nightsister speeder being intentionally hard to drive, so they can hone their skills with it, as well as its sidecar being used by Sisters to perform Force-augmented drive-bys.

Hondo Ohnaka and the Mandalorians have their own sections going into their respective ships and vehicles, there's shuttle pages, speeder pages, fighter pages (both factions), warships and transports. Going all the way up to the season 3 finale, so it covers a lot of episodes. My only gripe was the omission of the Republic light cruiser and the Separatist dreadnaught. I guess that was due to spacing issues?

All in all, it contains beautiful renditions of many vehicles, including model shots not seen in the episodes nor previous material (that I'm aware of). It's got personal ship-names, class names, stat boxes, the whole shebang. I highly recommend it, it fits right in with the movie-based ICS collection. Not gonna give score because I hate that.

 

Out of curiosity, does it explain how the Nightsisters manufacture or acquire their bikes? They seem fairly low tech, so I wonder where it came from.

 

An interesting point and one I am curious to know now as well. I would imagine its perhaps some offworld companies selling it to them. Is there any new material related to the Mandalorians that tackles the New Mandalorians/Deathwatch/True Mandalorians split by any chance?

 

Ubrikkian Transports. Alot of fringe vehicles in this book come from Ubrikkian.

Rogue MandalMotors employees make the Kom'rk-class fighter/transport for Death Watch.

 

Ooh, sounds very interesting. Thanks for the information. While I wish they would come up with more Republic capital ships, the Clone Wars cartoon series has come up with some nice new designs. Almost too bad this didn't come out a season later though, as there will probably be more new ships in season 4.

Gotta go look for a copy next time I'm at the bookstore.

While I'm not expecting much, any references to the Victory-class Star Destroyer or Imperator? I know one of these side books came up with a retcon for the earlier Visual Guide's mention of Imperators being in production (before the book's author found out this was set earlier in the Clone Wars than he had expected).

 

Didn't see any mentions of them. The only real hint at any other Republic ships, was the mention of the Malevolence's turbolasers being meant for long-range duels with Republic battleships. There's also the reference to cloaking devices being much larger than the one on the Stealth Ship (which gets several pages devoted to it). The SS-54 was also mentioned to be a gunship meant for Planetary Security Forces, wrongfully sold as a freighter.

 

I saw on the Wook that it also named even more minor characters and vessels. Must be really cool stuff.

 

Most interesting... does the Stealth Ship actually get a class name also? Or is it just called Stealth Ship? But anyway, awesome stuff... might see if I can get this one.

 

Model: [CLASSIFIED]
Class: Corvette

That's basically it.

The way the book handles model names and class designations is interesting.
The Malevolence is designated a "Dreadnought", yet retains its model name from the CWCG.
The Lucrehulk-class is given a larger diameter and is classified a "Star Destroyer" (being a battleship that's converted from a freighter design has its limitations, I guess.)
The Venator is classified a "Star Destroyer", yet the larger Recusant is classified a "Cruiser" and the smaller Munificent a "Heavy Cruiser". I assume some of this will tie in with the ship classification part of the EGTW, but right now, it's a bit confusing.

The Recusant is also given the length of 2,544 meters and is said to be able to handle a Venator in one-on-one combat. It still retains the designation Light Destroyer, but I think this, along with all the other size-changes for established ships is meant to showcase different stats for the models used in the films and the tv show. The Munificent is several hundred meters longer, the Acclamator also, the Venator about a dozen meters, the C-9799 landing craft is several hundred meters shorter. The Malevolence has the same length as the toy from last year, while all the new ships get statted out as well.

 

So basically the ships are as long as you want them to be, they fight as well as you wan't them to and their classification is whatever you want to call it I thought it would not get worse then Saga Edition and Empire at War for starship stats.

 

Gonna list some things here, to try to make sense of it all:

Republic:

Battleship (referenced through the line "The prow is studded with turbolasers that can duel enemy battleships at long range...", the book uses "warship" for warships in general, so I assume the particular usage of "battleship" in relation to the "dreadnought" Malevolence is intentional, here.)

Model: Venator-class Star Destroyer
Class: Star Destroyer
Length: 1,155 m

Model: Acclamator-class Military Transport
Class: Heavy Cruiser
Length: 891.59 m

Model: Consular-class Cruiser (retrofitted)
Class: Frigate
Length: 139 m

Model: [Classified]
Class: Corvette
Length: 99.71 m

Model: Pelta-class Frigate
Class: Frigate
Length: 282.24 m

Model: Haven-class Medical Station
Class: Space Station
Length: 651.84 m

CIS:

Model: Subjugator-class Heavy Cruiser
Class: Dreadnought
Length: 4,845 m

Model: Modified Lucrehulk-class LH-3210 Cargo Freighter
Class: Star Destroyer
Length: 3,356 m

Model: Recusant-class Light Destroyer
Class: Cruiser
Length: 2,544 m

Model: Munificent-class Star Frigate
Class: Heavy Cruiser
Length: 1,199 m

Model: C-9979 Landing Craft
Class: Gunship
Length: 149.28 m

EDIT: Just read the sad news, EGTW has a new release date. In May.

 

Boo, I was so hoping the stealth ship would be named Well, at least its got a designation and size. Also pleased that the Medical Stations get an actual class name Does it least who develops the Republic stuff? Like any new manufacturers?

 

VenteX Construction Yards from Star Wars: X-wing Alliance makes the Haven-class stations.

The Rogue-class starfighter is the TCW version of the P-38 with a cockpit big enough for ordinary humanoid pilots. It was based on P-38s the CIS stole from Utapau.

Ubrikkian Ord Pedrovia seems to be a new sub-faction of Ubrikkian Industries. It makes the WLO-5 Speeder Tank used by Hondo's forces.

Gallofree Aerial Products makes the MSP80 Pteropter Hover Pod.

 

Many things Tzizvvt78, you're a star! I'm definately now going to look out for this.

 

No problem!

Btw, does anyone know what Undicur means? I suspect it's Latin of some kind.

Also, noticed a lot of galactic government/Jedi speeders and ships come from Slayn & Korpil.

Also, also, the SS-54 Assault Ship was meant to launch from carriers and was sold as a "light freighter" without proper clearance by Republic authorities due to a suspicious clerical error. The cross-section of the Halo has some interesting details and is clearly meant to depict the aftermath of the episode "Bounty Hunters".

 

The retcon police will have fun with this one -- I had some chances to address some odd contradictions, fix an error or two of my own and of course try to keep up with the ever-changing show. Plus I snuck in a new planet for my fellow geography nerds. Anyway, hope folks like it.

 

nice, can't wait for endnotes^^ awesome book and I hunger for the Warfare guide now!

ps: any details on the new ship lengths and reasoning for that please?

 

Yes, please! I reasoned it out as depicting variant designs, but it would help with some confirmation or maybe LFL want to retcon the original designs into these new ones?

 

Imo, changing previously well-established stats defeats the purpose of having stats at all.

Would be better to just stick with layout/cross-sections/schematics and leave the numbers out of it.

If they're retconning the general internal designs, then it kinda defeats the purpose of these guides and just comes off as a scheme for more money.

 

My point was, this was a way of incorporating the differences between the established and the tv show designs by pointing out both size differences and various changes in hangars, weapons and so on. At least that's what I assume was the intention, not to invalidate previous designs.

For instance, the Recusant in the show is said to be based on a design from ROTS in the episode guide for Grievous Intrigue. It has a hangar and is bigger than the Recusant seen in the movie. Ergo, it's not the same model. Same goes for the other ships here with new sizes.

 

Weird. Ord Pedrovia is the name of Gasgano's podracer, although I suppose it's just named after an Ord planet.

 

Yeah, noticed that, too. Probably is a planet they're both named after.

On that note: Jakelian tuft-oak, lapis from Draboon and carpets from the looms of Harswee.

The third is the new planet? The first is from a similar place-name and the second was a world mentioned in Voyage Of Temptation. All are in Mandalore sector?

 

Any stats for the more intresting fringe ships?

 

I kinda didn't want to spoil everything at once...

Read on at your own risk:
- SS-54 Assault Ship is 24.19 m long.
- Trandoshan slave ship is a Modified Gallofree Yards HCT-2001 Dragonboat-class Freighter, 95.28 m length.
- Haor Chall Engineering's Flarestar-class Attack Shuttle, 22.56 m length.
- Kalevala Spaceworks Custom Luxury Spaceliner, 215.77 m tall. It's actually armed with both lasers and ion cannons for self-defense against pirates. Ship is used by tourists to reach Mandalore and by Mandalorians to carry goods to the Core.
- Gallofree Yards GS-100 Salvage Ship, 174.78 m.
- Kuat Systems Engineering Rainhawk-class Transport, 20.46 m. Baron Papanoida uses it as a mobile office where he keeps tabs on his business activities and information network.
- SoroSuub Corporation Peregrine-class Star Yacht, 30.59 m. This is King Katuunko's ship.

MandalMotors products:
- Aka'jor-class Shuttle, 17.97 m. Some Mandalorians arm their shuttles in private for use as an assault craft.
- Balutar-class Swoop, 2.66 m.
- Kom'kr-class Fighter/Transport, 68.1 m.
- Buirk'alor-class Airspeeder, 10.19 m. Yes, they name their cop-cars in macho Mando.

 

My, my, my... what a fascinating book this turned out to be. I'm sure there's bits that are signposts to the Essential Guide to Warfare, such as:

The classifications of the capital ships - for instance the Lucrehulks are classed as Star Destroyers, while the Banking Clan "frigates" are classed as Cruisers.

As far as the "big change" from previous references, that's mainly just the Commerce Guild destroyer - which is now the largest ship (presumably ignoring the one-offs like Malevolence) in the Separatist fleet, and can take on a Venator. The Munificents also got bumped up a bit.

Other notes:

The V-19 Torrents were originally designed to be similar to the B-wings... but the Republic didn't like it. Guess the Verpine held on to the design...

The Malevolence's nature as an "experimental ship" is emphasized repeatedly - the ion cannons caused problems with the ship's systems, and it was further hampered by having a crew of the B1 battle droids, something that incensed Grievous. It's also stated that there has never been an ion cannon of that power before, and that the scientists had managed to make the various components necessary "smaller than experts had previously thought possible" - which seems to a be a wink to the 'panel of experts' in the HNN discussion.

The Utaupan ships showing up are explained - Utapau is still neutral, Grievous "acquired" the Soulless One while the Porax-38s are actually Rogue-class fighters built by Baktoid based on captured Utaupan P-38s.

The Corona-class was manufactured by Haor Chall, but the Separatists didn't like it as a droid ship and they were dumped on the used starship market. A less detailed similar version appeared in Galaxy at War.

Entry on Baron Papanoida's ship - "He purchased it second-hand in his earliest days in the Wroonian holodrama industry..."

I'm guessing the new planet is Harswee, in Mandalorian space.

New shipyards - Botajef Shipyards, maker of the SS-54 assault ship... interesting, as it's an Imperial fortress world in the early NR era.

Each of the 20 Sector Armies eventually got one of the med stations.

Ubrikkian Ord Pedrovia is actually not new - it appeared as the manufacturer of the tank in WOTC's Galaxy at War.