Figures

[Dragon1]

Hi everybody!

I had asked this question in one of the discussion threads, but I believe it may have been a bit off-topic. So, just because I am genuinely curious, I will ask it in a separate thread.

In WC1, the capital ships displayed having a shield and armour strength far lower than those of WC2. You could typically chalk this up to natural technological progression. But, all of the sudden, WC3 (using older ships) jumps the shield and armour strength up into the thousands of centimeters. Then, strangely enough, WC4 brings armour and shield strength back to the WC2 scale. This has always confused me.

Which scale is the most accurate?
Why would a Bengal-class Carrier which first commissioned (but constantly upgraded throughout the period) in 2619 have 24 centimeters of forward armour?
A Ranger-class Light Carrier which has 1000 centimeters of armour, and a newer Concordia-class Fleet Carrier have only 300 centimeters of armour?

Thanks guys

 

[Bandit LOAF]

In WC1, the capital ships displayed having a shield and armour strength far lower than those of WC2. You could typically chalk this up to natural technological progression. But, all of the sudden, WC3 (using older ships) jumps the shield and armour strength up into the thousands of centimeters. Then, strangely enough, WC4 brings armour and shield strength back to the WC2 scale. This has always confused me.

I don't think the WCIV numbers are so extreme -- the lightest WCIV capital ship is still as heavy as or heavier than WC2's dreadnought. The actual reason they're lower than the same ships in WC4 is purely game mechanics -- you're supposed to blow up Tallahassee-class cruisers instead of protect them... so the game made them easier to kill (this is also why their armaments decrease -- no more antimatter guns on the capital ships.) This is also largely an 'under the skin' change -- unlike WC2 and WC3, WC4 didn't print the 'in universe' specifications for its capital ships in the manual. (Those that exist now are from the Official Guide.)

The best explanation for the jump in values comes from the three types of armor you can purchase in Privateer. Your ship has room for (for the sake of argument) one centimeter of durasteel armor. You can instead buy plasteel, tungsten or isometal -- which modifies the armor x10, x20 and x60 respectively. This means that a ship with 10 cm of plasteel armor in 2654 might be armored with *600* centimeters plasteel equivalent in 2669!

 

[Quarto]

(Those that exist now are from the Official Guide.)

Are the Vesuvius stats from the Official Guide as well? If they are, then they're a very good indication of why this change was made - judging from the CIC database, the Vesuvius has something like thirty times the armour of the Concordia. Imagine if the Concordia's armour was on the WC3 manual-scale, and the ratio between the Vesuvius and the Concordia values was the same. Getting through 30,000 cm of armour probably wouldn't be much fun.

(BTW, do we know anything about the WC3 in-game stats? It's probably relevant to this discussion that WC3 capships aren't really any tougher to kill than WC4 capships - which means that the in-game stats in both games are likely to be roughly on par)

 

[Bandit LOAF]

Are the Vesuvius stats from the Official Guide as well? If they are, then they're a very good indication of why this change was made - judging from the CIC database, the Vesuvius has something like thirty times the armour of the Concordia. Imagine if the Concordia's armour was on the WC3 manual-scale, and the ratio between the Vesuvius and the Concordia values was the same. Getting through 30,000 cm of armour probably wouldn't be much fun.

I don't believe they are -- we did some pretty comprehensive 'in game testing' of the Vesuvius a few years back, after Captain Johnny asked for whatever specs we had on it... I think that's where those numbers come from.

(BTW, do we know anything about the WC3 in-game stats? It's probably relevant to this discussion that WC3 capships aren't really any tougher to kill than WC4 capships - which means that the in-game stats in both games are likely to be roughly on par)

Another thing to consider is that torpedoes have a much higher yield in WCIII -- they do something like four times as much damage (I believe WC4 ships have variable 'hull' values depending on which side you're on, too... so the Lexington is harder to kill until it becomes your enemy).