why was the Arrow's speed lowered after Armada?

D

Diablo

Spaceman
Why in the world did they slow down the Arrow fighter so much after Armada? Sure, I'm grateful for the increased gun and missle loadout, but there were times in WC3 I would have traded it all to have the Arrow's original speed back. Those Arrow Mk I may not have had much in the way of weapons, but they were great for strafing the enemy at high speed.
 
They were great recon fighters/personell transports... the 'fast' Arrow appears for the first time in Wing Commander Academy.

But I digress -- since Armada and WC3 take place at almost the same time, Confed probably has both Arrows in their inventory... just for different missions (like the point defense Hellcats versus the regular Hellcats in the WC3 novel)
 
We need to keep in mind thought that the relative size of objects and velocity is completely unrealistically proportional...
by that I mean, 1600k/s ... thats what, close to length of the midway ? Imagine a one second flyby...

Aiming anything at the 700kps or whatever the WCArm Arrow travelled at would be redic. hard compared to as things really are... you'd end up doing probably 20x as many flybys of enemy ships before a kill results.
 
Originally posted by akashra
Aiming anything at the 700kps or whatever the WCArm Arrow travelled at would be redic. hard compared to as things really are... you'd end up doing probably 20x as many flybys of enemy ships before a kill results.
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Yeah, because it'd be silly to fly at anything less than TOP-FRICKING-SPEED.
 
Well, if the Point Defense Arrows were on the Midway, imagine the Magnum Launch response. You'd have a crap load of Arrows in the air in a matter of 5 seconds. Plus, imagine the possibilities of a attack against a captial ship and sending in P-D Arrows as the wave to attack it's fighter escort! Those suckers, though light, would probably tear up a good portion of the fighters with little effort (depending on the number of Arrows used).
 
Originally posted by Diablo
Why in the world did they slow down the Arrow fighter so much after Armada? Sure, I'm grateful for the increased gun and missle loadout, but there were times in WC3 I would have traded it all to have the Arrow's original speed back. Those Arrow Mk I may not have had much in the way of weapons, but they were great for strafing the enemy at high speed.
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What do you mean increased gun and missile loadout the arrow in armada only had 2 lasers. in WC3 it had the ion (iirc) as well
 
Except on the Midway, the speed of a ship makes no difference to the speed at which it can launch.. the mechanism to lift ships in to the tubes and the catapults move the same speed regardless of the ship.
 
Granted, Hades, but theres 6 launch tubes launching a high speed fighter that can cover great distances under its own power. This allows a greater allowance of covering fire for the Midway but also thins out it's defenses if theres 3 fighters running around like mad instead of 20 fighters forming a protective sheild around her.
 
Save for onboard the Intrepid, the speed of a fighter is *never* an issue in how quickly it can launch. *All* carriers have catapults...
 
I wonder what would happen if a pilot hit his afterburners while launching off a catapault! You'd probably get a pissed deck officer and some fried techies! :)
 
Consider you might also loose control of your fighter and splatter yourself on the FD ceiling... :(
 
Why go to all that hassle to splat yourself on the ceiling when you can just forget to toggle your eject safety before turning off the engine?
 
Well because with the method you describe, Hades, you only splatter your body on the ceiling...

With LeHah's method, you also by all probabilities, blow up a n million credit fighter and severely damage the FD of a capship... :)
 
Originally posted by Bandit LOAF
Save for onboard the Intrepid, the speed of a fighter is *never* an issue in how quickly it can launch. *All* carriers have catapults...
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But what about the WC3 launch cutscenes? They CLEARLY don't use a catapult. They launch on their own power. Do catapults only come into play if they're launching out of tubes instead of directly from the Flight Deck like the Victory?
 
Originally posted by Napoleon
What do you mean increased gun and missile loadout the arrow in armada only had 2 lasers. in WC3 it had the ion (iirc) as well
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That's what I was trying to say..In armada you only had the 2 lasers and 2 DF missles, In WC3 they added the ion gun and two more missle hardpoints, but at the cost of speed. I would rather have had the option to fly either the Arrow mkI with the lesser armaments but more speed or fly the Arrow mkII with the extra ion gun and missle hardpoints but lower top speed.
 
Originally posted by Diablo
That's what I was trying to say..In armada you only had the 2 lasers and 2 DF missles, In WC3 they added the ion gun and two more missle hardpoints, but at the cost of speed. I would rather have had the option to fly either the Arrow mkI with the lesser armaments but more speed or fly the Arrow mkII with the extra ion gun and missle hardpoints but lower top speed.
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Shouldn't that be TWO extra ion guns, and SIX more missile mounts? Call me crazy, but I could swear the Arrow in WCIII has two lasers, two ions, and 4x2 missiles (4 dual hardpoints)....
 
Originally posted by Bandit LOAF
Save for onboard the Intrepid, the speed of a fighter is *never* an issue in how quickly it can launch. *All* carriers have catapults...
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Not to disbute you but in both wc3 and 4 aboard the lady lex and tin can sally you launch under power at the speed you choose
 
Originally posted by Napoleon
Originally posted by Bandit LOAF
Save for onboard the Intrepid, the speed of a fighter is *never* an issue in how quickly it can launch. *All* carriers have catapults...
Click to expand...


Not to disbute you but in both wc3 and 4 aboard the lady lex and tin can sally you launch under power at the speed you choose
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True, but the catapults are there, as evidenced by the novels. Carriers can have catapults and not necessarily use them. WWII-era ESSEX-class were a prime example, each having 2 steam cats forward and a third directly out of the hangar bay, but they weren't used all that often. Even fairly recently, the A-7E Corsair II could launch from the US Navy's nuclear carriers without the aid of a catapult shot.
 
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