Space warship architecture

F

Fenris

Spaceman
Just a few thoughts on capships.

There is a good deal of discussion in the WC universe about the big ships like the Vesuvius class and the Midway class, as being too big. I don't remember where this came up, but I believe it is somewhere. Also, somebody mentioned in a previous thread the gargantuan capships in FS2.

It seems to me that there are two possibilities:

1). Big ships. Lots of armor and weapons, lots of mass to go along with them, needing a huge powerplant to move it. Lots of redundant systems, makes it more survivable.

2). Smaller ships. Cheaper to build, harder to detect, harder to hit, but more easily taken out when hit. Less armor, fewer weapons.

Any thoughts?
 
I personally love capships in all thier shapes and sizes. Especially in Wing Commander, they are really cool. Unfortunatly the very nature of WC makes everything but carriers rather redundant. If it cant carry fighters its just a big flying target for fighters to destroy. If capships were able to handle more damage to the point where they would actually come into ship to ship fighting i could see a proper use for them.
 
They can handle enough damage, and are way to strong for fighters to destroy them, it's just that the games don't represent that.:)
 
Actually, the Capships CAN be made to handle enough damage to get into ship-to-ship combat, its just that they rarely if ever have the AI to target components...

Now, if you use the Corvette thingy in large amounts, you get pretty fireworks. Are there any good 'vette fests out there?
 
How hard is it to make AI target ship components? That would seem to be one of the easier things to program large slow moving objects to do.
 
Perhaps the progarmmers thought the players would not enjoy watching two biggies shooting each other but would rather make it all themselves.
I liked the cap ship battles in FS2 though and really would enjoy doing some dogfight in the middle of large ship battle.
 
Are they freakin nuts!?!? :)

Your right, the capship battles did add some cool elements to the dogfighting. Sucks getting hit by one of those huge guns.
 
Oh yes that sucks. Problem is in SOPS you get hit by those BFGs although you have no Cap ship battles. That means you get the worst part possible. :)
 
You know, strangely enough I was never hit by the Cereberus but i did come pretty close on a couple of occasions. Only one time do i ever recall it actually going up against another ship though. Cant tell if it was really doing any damage though.
 
Supdon, that is almost a real time chat between us :) .
I got hit from Cerberus BFG a cuople of times and it was always very annoying because it was very often at the end of a mission and I had to re.do the whole mission. :(
 
Like nearly everyone's said before, that's gotta be one of the worst death/failures. :)

As for capship AI not being smart enough to shoot components, they're not even smart enough to distinguish enemy fighters from dead capships! :)
 
Look at the real world. Ships ARE very vulnerable to fighters. A large percentage of US warship losses in WW2 were to Japanese carrier planes, and vice versa. If two navies were to engage in a battle today, how many would be lost in ship-to-ship gun battles? Pretty close to none, I would bet. It's all long-range aircraft or missile duels. Basically, if a capship is in range of enemy aircraft (land or carrier based) without fighter cover of its own then it's pretty much screwed.

Of course, the main disadvantage of aircraft is their lack of range. There is no reason why WC capships don't engage in duels when they are patrolling in regions without air cover. However since the whole purpose of WC is that you are a fighter pilot, then naturally you will not see this much. When a carrier detects an enemy ship, it is going to run like hell and send its fighters (you) to deal with the problem.

That being said, I do feel it would make an interesting mission or two - being sent to assist a capship that is being engaged by an enemy capship. That is a realistic mission. Your own carrier engaging a capship is far less likely.
 
Provided that capship you're assisting is not a carrier itself. Which it usually is.

Wouldn't it be a bummer if such attack were only feints, and then the enemy launches a full attack on your carrier, with only a skeleton CAP to defend it! Fortunately, the Kats and bugs don't seem to be very tactically minded. :)
 
Personally I am in favor of light cruiser/carriers that can carry enough fighters to defend themselves and then be able to outfight any capship that they cannot out run and out run any capship that they cannot out fight.
 
"If cruisers get in range of your carrier, then you deserve to die..."

Who said that again?
Admiral Tolwyn I think, huh? :D
 
Originally posted by AzraeL
Look at the real world. Ships ARE very vulnerable to fighters. A large percentage of US warship losses in WW2 were to Japanese carrier planes, and vice versa. If two navies were to engage in a battle today, how many would be lost in ship-to-ship gun battles? Pretty close to none, I would bet. It's all long-range aircraft or missile duels. Basically, if a capship is in range of enemy aircraft (land or carrier based) without fighter cover of its own then it's pretty much screwed.

Of course, the main disadvantage of aircraft is their lack of range. There is no reason why WC capships don't engage in duels when they are patrolling in regions without air cover. However since the whole purpose of WC is that you are a fighter pilot, then naturally you will not see this much. When a carrier detects an enemy ship, it is going to run like hell and send its fighters (you) to deal with the problem.

That being said, I do feel it would make an interesting mission or two - being sent to assist a capship that is being engaged by an enemy capship. That is a realistic mission. Your own carrier engaging a capship is far less likely.
Click to expand...

You are thinking of two-dimensional naval warfare. In spite of the naval parallels that are drawn in WC, space warfare would be quite a lot different.
 
Originally posted by Napoleon
Personally, I am in favour of light cruiser/carriers that can carry enough fighters to defend themselves and then be able to outfight any capship that they cannot outrun, and outrun any capship that they cannot outfight.
Click to expand...

Heard of the Cerberus? :)

Uh, what happens when they can do neither? It will happen eventually...
 
The same holds true anyway... its much harder to hit a small fast object then something thousands of times its size moving at less than 1/10th the speed, so small craft are more survivable in general. Then youve got the minor detail that (with projectile weaponry and slow-moving energy) its often difficult to hit ANYTHING moving at long range, and therefore many fighters and bombers are able to close to well under 500 feet before dropping their weaponry right on you. How many people here routinely miss from 50 feet?
 
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