Battlewagon vs. Dreadnought

[frostytheplebe]

We hear a little about the early warships in the Kilrathi War being huge battlewagons... in other words, battleships. Thus I'd assume each had massive offensive weaponry... so what is the difference between these and the Dreadnoughts we see?

 

[Haesslich]

We hear a little about the early warships in the Kilrathi War being huge battlewagons... in other words, battleships. Thus I'd assume each had massive offensive weaponry... so what is the difference between these and the Dreadnoughts we see?

Well, the Kilrathi one's 22 kilometers long, and possibly has better shields due to having 22km worth of volume to hold reactors in as well as massive shield generators. The battleship probably has more guns, though, or at least more heavy plasma turrets. The TCS Concordia, Confed-class, had more fighters and one REALLY big ship-killing gun. The Nephilim ones had fleet-killer weapons and a lot of fighters, IIRC.

 

[Aginor]

Wasn't it just 2.2 km long?

SCNR, don't want to start that discussion again. It is so ridiculous.

 

[Ijuin]

In Wing Commander usage, it seems that the term "dreadnought" is used to describe a vessel that combines the functions of a battlecruiser and a carrier--it has enough armor and guns to shoot down a cruiser, but it also has a full fighter/bomber wing as opposed to the reduced wings of cruiser-carriers such as the Waterloo and Fralthi classes.

 

[Bandit LOAF]

We hear a little about the early warships in the Kilrathi War being huge battlewagons... in other words, battleships. Thus I'd assume each had massive offensive weaponry... so what is the difference between these and the Dreadnoughts we see?

The battlewagons (Texas, Gamorgin, Yar, Zulu, etc.) were armored platforms for large plasma weapons - basically, World War 2-style battleships in space. They didn't carry fighters or maneuver quickly or anything like that... they bombarded planets and other ships with heavy guns.

Dreadnaught seems to encompass a wide range of ships in Wing Commander, from the giant Kilrathi Hvarr Kann to the Concordia from Wing Commander II. The common factor seems to be that they are all armored warships which also carry fighters. Many, but not all, of them carry central large-scale weapons - the Sivar's Proton Accelerator Gun, the Hvar Kann's planetary missiles, the Concordia's Phase Transit Cannon, etc.

Wasn't it just 2.2 km long?

It was 22 kilometers - the length is stated in Victory Streak and the sheer size of the ship plays a major role in False Colors.

Space Point