Well, real frigates have only been a small type of ship for a few decades - back in the days of sailing ships, frigates were the equivalent of modern cruisers, and quite a few people were upset when the term 'frigate' got applied in modern times to ships smaller than destroyers. So, the Aces Club had no reason to be upset .Bandit LOAF said:As for the purpose of frigates in the Wing Commander universe. The Aces Club has cried fowl over the fact that they're larger than destroyers and cruisers... as "real" frigates are a smaller type of ship.
Both seem reasonable. I would guess that frigates were, before the war, supposed to fill a niche similar to that later taken up by CVEs - to be relatively powerful but expendable ships that can be used to escort convoys, resupply larger vessels on the frontlines, and to also be able to raid behind enemy lines, harrassing enemy shipping. This would explain why we see so few frigates in WC - fighters with anti-capship weaponry have simply made them obsolete as a class.- They use expendible munitions versus rechargable lasers. We see missile frigates lobbing multiple CSMs around in WC4.
- They double as transports. We see a group of frigates rescuing endangered colonists in the Circe System in WC4.