Capship Speeds vs Era

M

Miracynonyx100

Swabbie
Banned
I was thinking about something, and I asked some questions to various people who know what they're talking about.

The 2635 era Southampton-Class cruiser can do 200 kps... in addition to being almost 500 meters in length and being larger than the Exeter-Class ship, which appears by most purposes (Design resembles Gilgamesh which was a 2650-ish design) to be a more advanced design is actually 50 kps slower (only as fast as a Talahassee-Class Cruiser) even though the design is substantially smaller.

I've heard arguments about how capships can close their ramscoops and dash, in fact I'm probably the person who has brought this topic up the most, but some people have made an argument that standard R/S closed speeds aren't important as a result. But they are... those are the speeds it can fully maneuver at. The ability to maneuver fully at 200 is better than 150 kps.


Also the 2654 era Fralthi which was supposed to be a fearsome new cruiser that could double as a light carrier was capable of 180 kps, while the Waterloo could do 200 on a routine basis and also carry twice the number of fighters operating as a standard cruiser, while the Fralthi to carry that much (slightly more, 50) would have to be configured into a carrier.

I've also wondered why the Fralthra was only able to do 150 kps even though by most purposes, it's armament was slightly less than the Waterloo (although it was armored a great deal more), and had the same fighter compliment.


Finally the Midway, which was a brand new carrier design could only do 80 kps, a disgracefully slow speed. The Concordia, which was considered a slouch, could go faster. Hell the 22,000 meter H'varkann Dreadnaught could go faster.


Victoria Kent
 
It most likely has to do with the power plants. The Tarawa was able to achieve its higher speeds because its original power plant was removed and replaced with the ones installed in Gilgameshes.

And stop making up "design eras." They are your own creation and mean nothing to everyone else. What the hell is a "2635 era Southampton-Class cruiser?" Just stop this. Stop it now.

All of your variables also have nothing to do with your topic. What does fighter carrying capacity have to do with speed? Another nonsense thread. Ugh.
 
Unless you come up with a Grand Unified Theory of Wing Commander physics that explains how all the game's made-up-technology-that-hasn't-been-invented works, from phase shields to magic power plants to mass drivers that get their ammunition from nowhere, you will never have the answers you seek.
 
You are not playing with a full deck.

... and I don't mean that in the normal sense which usually applies to you. You're comparing things which can not be compared because you do not have, are inventing or are not considering information necessary to the question.

The combat speeds of these ships is one of many, many factors which relates to their effectiveness. Which ship has the biggest crew to support? Which carries the most munitions? Which has the most energy weapons? How do their cruising speeds compare? What about acceleration or maneuverability? Which has the most armor? Which is the newest design? What role was each created for? Which is the cheapest? Which is built in the greatest numbers? How do their build times compare? Which has the fastest transit speed? Which has the smallest radar signature? Which outputs the least energy? Which is the most modular and can be most easily repaired or upgraded? Which ones can do things we don't usually consider, like land on planets or transport dignitaries? You've considered none of that, save for occasionally pretending that you know when ships entered service...

... and before you hit reply, do not dare - do not *dare* - posting another mindless one-liner that sort of addresses the same galaxy as the responses people have posted to you.
 
I would say that it all comes down to internal space. What do you want to use the space on your ship for? Shield generators? Armor? Weapons? Fighters? Supplies? Engines? Crew habitation? Some ships, like the Hakaga and Midway supercarriers, emphasis protection and fighter/personnel capacity, resulting in less space for engines, while faster ships like the Tarawa emphasized mobility.
 
Midway is so slow 'cause of lots of ships, pliots, techonogy, etc. It is a megacarrier...but I'm suprised the Plasma Cannon didn't slow it down.

By the way, during SO does the Plasma Cannon get removed?
 
Interesting. One of the most important things that has been totally left out of this discussion is actual observation from combat in the games, or even the Wing Commander Movie. At no point during any of the games do we experience combat in the hundred of kilometers per second range. If we did, a fighter firing its afterburner and passing a 700 METER Tiger's Claw would be very very far away from said ship very very quickly. Even as the HUD readout may express our speed in terms of KPS, it is more likely KPH that we experience in Wing Commander combat. Supposing that what we see on the hud is supposed to read KPH, than it wouldn't at all matter if a CV could make 50 kps, or a DD 200 kps; either way, it would be well faster than what we perceive in the games.
 
Lt.Overload said:
Midway is so slow 'cause of lots of ships, pliots, techonogy, etc. It is a megacarrier...but I'm suprised the Plasma Cannon didn't slow it down.

By the way, during SO does the Plasma Cannon get removed?
Click to expand...

I'm 90% sure that Midway retains the plasma cannon.
 
Dragon1 said:
Interesting.Even as the HUD readout may express our speed in terms of KPS, it is more likely KPH that we experience in Wing Commander combat. Supposing that what we see on the hud is supposed to read KPH, than it wouldn't at all matter if a CV could make 50 kps, or a DD 200 kps; either way, it would be well faster than what we perceive in the games.
Click to expand...

I've heard the theory somewhere that KPS might stand for 'klicks' per second instead of kilometers, but since in modern jargon a klick is equal to a kilometer, it still wouldn't make much sense unless it stands for a completely different measurement in six hundred years.

Dyret said:
Why would anyone even want to do that?
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To kill the enemy as fast as possible?
 
It seems like in combat we are experiencing battle in meters per second instead of kilometers per second, and the "kilometers" really only applies for flying between nav points.
 
brothels tannin booths... klicks per second.. Perhaps I had one too many shots o turkey tonight but this thread is kinda reachin. I think I needa buy more stickers from McGruff an slap em on the trucks at work.
 
I've heard the theory somewhere that KPS might stand for 'klicks' per second instead of kilometers, but since in modern jargon a klick is equal to a kilometer, it still wouldn't make much sense unless it stands for a completely different measurement in six hundred years.
Click to expand...

Yes, I've heard that before - and it's an odd way of explaining something, since as you note 'klick' is just slang for kilometer.

The actual 'story' is that speeds are measured in KPS *relative*, and the exact details are explained in the various Joans intro pages in the manuals. To see this in practice, target a Drakhri in Wing Commander 2 and you'll find that it's 2,000 *meters* away... but then target a Nav Point and you'll find that it's 20,000 *kilometers* away. Try flying down the length of the 1,830 meter Midway and you'll find that you aren't travelling at hundreds of kilometers per second at all.
 
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