WildWeasel
Spaceman
Read.
He didn't say that you were incorrect.
He didn't say that you were incorrect.
carriers
- Thread starter Thymerlord
- Start date
Thymerlord
Rear Admiral
The Midway class has just as much room for defense guns,the designers just did'nt utilize it correctly.As for the Concordia since I've never played the game(s) with it I can't give an honest opinion, but the only one I've ever lost is the Intrepid.Personally I prefer the Victory and the Midway(love catapult)
After considering this for some time, I have come to a conclusion. While the Midway can indeed launch 6 at a time, with the Vesuvius only two... the Midway needs time to reload the launch tubes. A spacecraft doesn't need much of a runway, and there could be at least 20-30 fighters lined up two-by-two on the vesuvius' runway. Thus, in the time it took the Midway to launch 12, the Vesuvius could have it's full compliment in the air. 
So, in a scramble situation, the Vesuvius would have all it's fighters out first.
Edit- In the time it took me to post this, someone else put out the exact same point, in a shorter fashion. Go figure.
So, in a scramble situation, the Vesuvius would have all it's fighters out first.
Edit- In the time it took me to post this, someone else put out the exact same point, in a shorter fashion. Go figure.
Thymerlord
Rear Admiral
I do seem to remember it saying in WC4 the novel that the Intrepid did it that way since she had no catapult and a short deck,I could be wrong,..but if I am someone will know
Couple 'o comments.
Firstly, we've seen the 'crane' thingy work on the Midway. But what it really doesn't tell us is how closely you can pack them together. The crane deposits a fighter into the launch tunnel, the hatch closes and the ship launches. While the hatch is closing, another crane could be positioning another fighter for launch.
Open hatch - load fighter - close hatch - launch - Repeat
You're limited by the opening and closing time of the hatch, which really isn't that long.
Secondly, the Versuvius (or any 'conventional' carrier for that matter) isn't going to just stream fighters off the deck in long line, and here are several reasons:
- The fighters must be brought out of the hangers and lined up on the flight deck prior to launch. Try to do this too quickly and you wind up with chaos.
- The thrust behind a fighter blasting off the flight deck must be VERY significant. Current carriers raise a shield behind the fighter to deflect this. There must be a minimum spacing between fighters, or the trailing fighter will get cooked/damaged.
- If you launch the fighters too closely together, if something happens to a leading fighter, you would wind up with an enormous pile-up on your flight deck. It would be every Kilrathi pilots dream to see a line of fighters trying to stream off the flight deck. All he has to do is slow one fighter and he's crippled the entire flight deck. I would be VERY surprised if a fighter attempted to launch before the previous one had cleared the deck, even in a scramble situation.
I would doubt that the Versuvius can launch fighters faster than the Midway. Perhaps the open flight deck is slightly quicker than the Midways catapult system, but it is unlikely to faster than all six in operation and far more susceptable to enemy attack while it is lauching.
Firstly, we've seen the 'crane' thingy work on the Midway. But what it really doesn't tell us is how closely you can pack them together. The crane deposits a fighter into the launch tunnel, the hatch closes and the ship launches. While the hatch is closing, another crane could be positioning another fighter for launch.
Open hatch - load fighter - close hatch - launch - Repeat
You're limited by the opening and closing time of the hatch, which really isn't that long.
Secondly, the Versuvius (or any 'conventional' carrier for that matter) isn't going to just stream fighters off the deck in long line, and here are several reasons:
- The fighters must be brought out of the hangers and lined up on the flight deck prior to launch. Try to do this too quickly and you wind up with chaos.
- The thrust behind a fighter blasting off the flight deck must be VERY significant. Current carriers raise a shield behind the fighter to deflect this. There must be a minimum spacing between fighters, or the trailing fighter will get cooked/damaged.
- If you launch the fighters too closely together, if something happens to a leading fighter, you would wind up with an enormous pile-up on your flight deck. It would be every Kilrathi pilots dream to see a line of fighters trying to stream off the flight deck. All he has to do is slow one fighter and he's crippled the entire flight deck. I would be VERY surprised if a fighter attempted to launch before the previous one had cleared the deck, even in a scramble situation.
I would doubt that the Versuvius can launch fighters faster than the Midway. Perhaps the open flight deck is slightly quicker than the Midways catapult system, but it is unlikely to faster than all six in operation and far more susceptable to enemy attack while it is lauching.
Except that the fighters are stored in an assembly-line style loading sequence... it'd take longer to move them to the launch bays than you think. In fact, I seriously doubt it'd be possible without slowing the entire process.
I agree with Napoleon, though. We should go by what we SEE, not what we think is possible. As far as I could tell, the launch system was moving as fast as possible without smashing the ship down on the launching brackets... There is a limit to how quickly things can be done.
Edit- Also, if you've flown through the Vesuvius, you know it's several fighter-lengths in distance. it takes quite a while at top speed to run from one end to the other.... That's a lot of fighters to launch, and the Vesuvius didn't seem to have any trouble launching pair upon pair immediately after each other... which leads me to believe the end-to-end concept isn't so far-flung.
I agree with Napoleon, though. We should go by what we SEE, not what we think is possible. As far as I could tell, the launch system was moving as fast as possible without smashing the ship down on the launching brackets... There is a limit to how quickly things can be done.
Edit- Also, if you've flown through the Vesuvius, you know it's several fighter-lengths in distance. it takes quite a while at top speed to run from one end to the other.... That's a lot of fighters to launch, and the Vesuvius didn't seem to have any trouble launching pair upon pair immediately after each other... which leads me to believe the end-to-end concept isn't so far-flung.
Preacher
Swabbie
Banned
...Um, there's no "in-game" indication that either of those USE catapults...
Sure, the WC *books* describe catapults (but lotsa folks have never read the books), and one can *infer* from the overall config'n of the launch tubes (and the FMV cutscene) that there MIGHT be a cat mechanism, but based solely on the games themselves, we don't know that 4 sure...
I guess what I'm sayin' is, what's the relevance of "loving catapults" when you'd never know that they were even bein' used?...
Preacher
Swabbie
Banned
That's partly true, but there's a second reason: In a single hangar carrier, if an enemy DOES manage to fly in & foul the deck, it totally cripples launch operations. With the Midway's design, you essentially eliminate that possibility on two fronts:
a) Flying into a launch *tube* is near impossible to do, and
b) If an enemy DID somehow manage to do that on the Midway, they'd only take down 1/6th of the launch capacity, and the other 5 tubes will still continue to launch whilst the stricken tube is repaired. Pretty good design twist! (I believe all this is referred to in the WCP manual, also)
Preacher
Swabbie
Banned
Well after all, it WAS only a Strike Cruiser, and not a full fledged carrier...
Which raises the question: Isn't this the first WC game (well, OK, expansion pack) where you play thru the whole campaign stationed on anything LESS than a carrier?... (I've only gotten all the way thru WC 3 & 4 thus far, but from what I've read, it seems yer always on carriers...).
