Re: Super Starship/Cloak/Dragon
Originally posted by Nuclearbox
Actually, I would like to see a super carrier. Something that could carry two Cerberus Class carriers and is a ship killer.
The really big problem with such a massive ship is that it is such a massive ship.
IIRC in WCIV, the Vesuvius had to take the long way round to get from the Border Worlds to Sol because its size prohibited the use of certain jump points.
Your design would have to be at least four times the size of a Vesuvius to hold two Hades plus its own fighters.
This would seriously limit its usefulness in the long run.
As for cloaking fighters, (I'm sure LOAF will correct me if I am wrong) I think some the Excalibur still has cloaking abilities (wasn't something mentioned in the SO fiction?) but the Nephilim can see through them. Plus, it is an expensive piece of hardware, not really necessary for a military not officially at war.
Dragons (until you decide among yourselves what to call it, I'll stick with Dragon). The only plus the dragon has over any other Heavy Fighter in 2681 is its ability to afterburn indefinately. That's it. A Vampire for instance, can out fly it, out run it, out gun it and carry more missiles (a hell of a lot more!).
By 2681 it would IMO be relegated to the role of Medium fighter when compared to the current crop of Heavies. And a very expensive one at that!
Super ships...
Fighters:
I always had a soft spot for the Piranha. Fast, nimble and that stormfire rocks. The Tigershark, however is mediocre in the manoeuvrability department...but it packs a serious punch.
Take the best from both of them, mix it together and you will have a Light/Meduim Fighter beyond compare!
Capships:
Carriers are all well and good, but I would rather have a ship capable of defending them. The Plunkett is good, but those BFG's aren't really designed for shooting at fighters (at least not enemy ones anyway!).
The Murphy is the complete opposite. Too light to go against capships (and not very effective against fighters in the long run).
Something in between would be a Frigate with twice the turrets found on the Murphy plus one of those BFG's from the Plunkett.