Hey everyone. When I play standoff, I have a chance to fly the wing commander 2 / armada / academy / spec ops / some privateer era fighters with a relatively modern WCP engine. With this, you notice some interesting things about fighter and capship design, with lots of "What was Confed thinking??" moments. Which got me researching the Wing Commander ships... and then I wrote this
First, the guns. To me, what matters in a gun, when you actually have a decent game engine is a few things:
range
speed of projectile
low energy use
refire rate
and THEN damage...
why does this matter? In my opinion, if you have a gun that does these sorts of things, and it is in the center line of the ship, you can compensate for low damage by *simply having more of them*. To that end, neutron guns and mass drivers really really aren't that great. I would rather have four lasers in the spread of the later style arrow than a ton of mass drivers and neutron cannons. So what would make a good line of guns throughout the upgrade of the games? To me it would be something like this:
pre wc1
laser, mass driver (starting with slightly higher tech level than what we have...)
wc1
laser, neutron, mass driver (phasing out mass driver for neutron. You don't have to carry a ton of metal slugs in the ship!)
wc1secret - wc2
laser, particle, neutron (phasing out neutron for particle)
wc2 through so to armada
laser, photon (don't need much testing, is based off of laser -- phase out laser for photon), particle, tachyon (testing mostly)
wc3 era
photon, particle, tachyon, ion (testing mostly, ion isn't better than photon yet)
wc4 era (post kilrathi! new weapons development!)
photon, particle, tachyon (including new light variant), ion (phasing out photon for ion, which is now better), plasma (testing mostly)
wcp era
ion, particle, pulse particle (phasing out particle for new variant), tachyon (including light variant), heavy plasma
SO era:
ion, pulse particle, tachyon (including light variant), heavy plasma
There is no need for all this reaper, meson, etc. crap. This way you have a clear upgrade path for guns, they make sense, you don't have to worry too much about short range guns, and they didn't waste so much money on buying the latest and greatest guns that were worse than what they had...
And, for that matter... how come cap ships didnt start to use photon guns for their big turrets? Since you can upscale a laser to turret size and it is (relatively) powerful, can't you scale up a photon gun too?
Next, fighter design. Flying the Epee / Super Ferret / Early arrow / hornet / stiletto in the simulator teaches me a few interesting things.
1.) It's okay not to have armor if your ship is designed well -- if the pilot is an expert
2.) You really need ITTS
3.) Centrally located guns are KEY
4.) Fast firing guns are KEY
5.) A really maneuverable ship is very good for dodging
6.) A fast afterburner speed is really essential in surviving
7.) If you have itts, you don't REALLY need heat seeker missiles to do damage if you have a very fast ship -- dumb fires will do.
8.) Heat seekers are useless. I would rather have dumb fire than heat seeker missiles. The best missiles for dogfighting are friend or foe, imrec, and dumb fire.
So what does this say about ship design?
To me it says that they should have kept a variant of the super ferret a LOT longer. The speed is good, it is cheap, the guns are central... what I would have done would be to put two lasers on the original and super ferret designs, and keep updating it for a VERY long time. Instead of using energy intensive guns, just *add a third laser*. This gives it an upgrade path to photon and then ion cannons, which lets it be useful for a very very long time. This basically lets the basic design -- a very small, light fighter -- last all the way until the PIRANHA... after all, the Arrow didn't really surpass the Ferret in actual performance until it really got the cloak, and the ferret *IS* harder to hit... with a third bottom gun, itts, and the guns being laser / photon / ion based, it would be great. Just keep the shields upgraded and replace the durasteel with the later versions and you are golden. No need to get a “bigger and easier to hit” Arrow, really... even in the WCIV era. In fact the only ship that REALLY obviously surpasses the Ferret and remains obviously small and hard to hit (remember all the stats say the arrow is bigger than it is in Standoff) is the Piranha! Remember, the airframe of the Arrow is OLD. Just like the Ferret. Which means that you can do quite a bit with an old airframe in a light fighter.. after all, light fighters are mostly engines anyway!
Now, the Rapier. IMO, the hellcat need NEVER have existed. The rapier is faster, more maneuverable, smaller (thus harder to hit...), has an afterburner that lasts forever... look at the last set of guns that the hellcat had. Particle and Ion (the laser replacements). Hmmm. The rapier could have been viable to (maybe past) WC4! Hell, the rapier has better maneuverability than the SO TIGERSHARK!
Now let's look at the super fighters.
The medium ones: Rapier, Wraith, Vampire
The heavy ones: Morningstar, Excalibur, Bearcat, Lance/Dragon
Which of these needed to be made? If we are upgrading a Rapier as the medium space superiority fighter, there is no REAL reason to make the wraith so early (but to test reaper guns that don't exist! ... wait...), so that leaves the heavy ones. The Morningstar? If we assume that guns have been moved to be more center line, and that heavy fighters don't have a fetish for mass drivers... that leaves the sabre being more like the Morningstar in the FIRST place. So yea, the two fighters are essentially the same idea (big heavy gun torpedo carrying strike / heavy fighter), with the Morningstar being the only jump capable, can actually both fight and carry torpedoes, can actually maneuver fighter. So the morningstar? Yea. The Prophecy era ships should have carried Morningstars...or Sabres that could actually JUMP. Same difference. Since, to me, the whole idea of a heavy but non space superiority fighter is to have at least a little bit of strike capability, and be able to jump, but okay at fighting, that means that the Thunderbolt really doesn't have a reason to exist. Just keep the Morningstar!
Now what about the heavy space superiority ones? The Excalibur's raison d'etre was the cloaking device, and somewhat the gun autoaiming. Okay, I will buy that. I don't like that it was less maneuverable than the Morningstar, but we will chalk it up to being prototype new technology. What about the production version, the Bearcat? Now there is a ship! Good gun loadout except for the locations of the guns (how come NONE OF THE OTHER GAMES used Light tachyon cannons??) … but not jump capable, and didn't have an optional cloak? Um. Yea. The bearcat should definitely be jump capable, and have an optional cloak. Hello, updated Excalibur? Now... The Dragon? Oh, the Dragon. That is a cheater's ship. It is so hideously beyond what should have been capable at the time (for crying out loud, it trounces the SO black vampire in many, MANY non minor ways), I just can't see how it was made other than writer's fiat. It obviously cost a bundle too, and didn't work, since you *don't see any Lances (the non evil Dragon variants) elsewhere in the games*! So for heavy space strike, we have the Morningstar, and for heavy fighter we have the jump capable, also sometimes cloak capable Bearcat. So should the Morningstar/Sabre/whichever is used ever be really retired? I would say YES... when you can fit a few light torpedoes on a medium fighter... which happens in SO era.... which means you could fit it on a non-normally-torpedo-capable HEAVY fighter from later on (see previously mentioned Bearcat, which is superior to the Morningstar. Or at least would be with a better gun location!)
What about the medium fighters? The Rapier can't be the end all of the medium fighters... though it is certainly better than the Tigershark (just look at the maneuverability). What about the Wraith and the Vampire? Extrapolate the updated Wraith's stats via upgrades to Prophecy era... and lo and behold, it is actually a better medium fighter than the Vampire, except for the crazy SO era missiles. Huh. I can see the Wraith being a “before it's time” sort of thing that only went into full production when they actually needed a “most definitely better than the Rapier” medium fighter... which I can only see as happening in Prophecy Era. (We are, of course, assuming that it is easier and cheaper to upgrade the Rapier to actually HAVE itts rather than develop the Hellcat and then the Tigershark, which I take to be true!) So I guess research focused on “jump capable / cloak capable / torpedo capable / heavy over medium” fighters happening, with a really awesome medium fighter languishing in development hell (What do you MEAN we don't have funding for the new medium space superiority fighters??) until the Rapier's lack of armor structure ultimately matters enough that shield technology updates and better armor materials don't make up for it. So Wraith replacing the Rapier at the time of the Tigershark/Vampire. I can see that. So do you need a Vampire then? No, not really. And if you don't need a Vampire, you don't need a Panther.
So... bombers. We start with the Broadsword... which while an awesome bomber, gets SHOT DOWN quite a bit. Then there was the crossbow, which was to be on smaller ships so they would have bomber capability, and also be a little faster. It was STILL getting shot down though... So the earliest afterburner capable bomber is the Longbow. And lo and behold! It gets shot down less! Now looking at the Longbow and the Devastator, the Devastator is about the same mass, but has the big huge gun, and is more maneuverable. Otherwise... about the same. Now, to me, I think they could have KEPT the Longbow well into Prophecy as the premier heavy bomber. It would certainly have FELT more like a heavy Bomber, and they could just have added the big gun later (remember, most of the longbow is internal torpedo bays.. that means lots of empty room. Like empty room where you could put a BIG GUN). The Shrike? I can see a reason to have the Shrike – something that isn't as GIGANTIC as the Longbow, has afterburners, is more maneuverable, and can carry lots of (late model...) torpedoes. But only very, very late, after the Longbow has LONG since been the main bomber for the fleet, and they simply want to cram more bombers onto one smaller ship. But after the Broadsword, Confed should DEFINITELY have awarded the bomber design to pretty much anyone who could come up with a torpedo / jump capable bomber that can fit on smaller ships and has afterburner. Which means Longbow. Oh, before I forget. The Gladius. Ahhh, the Gladius... made to be cheap, roughly capable of doing most any job, except jumping. Okay at fighting, okay at killing capships, has torpedoes. How I would reconfigure the ship would be to put four laser, and then later photon cannons near the center of the ship, and maybe add itts... and that's about it. Even when ion cannons surpass photon cannons in power, you want a ship that is cheap and gets the job done. For missiles, you have to stay better than the centurian, so 2 ff, 2 imrec, and a torpedo or two. The only real performance need for this is for it to be, in at least a few ways, better than what civilians have. Which I guess means better than the civilian heavy fighter – the Centurian. If your gladii can stay ahead of the Centurian and continue to be able to threaten capships, you are golden. It's the ship for when you have massive budget cuts and need to buy ONE ship in bulk to serve all your needs!
Now... Big ships. Cap ships Did you know that the Vesuvius and the Midway are about the same size? Whereas the Midway favors more redundant systems with regards to the launch tubes, the Vesuvius, on the other hand, favors the more traditional but vulnerable “gigantic hanger deck”, and therefore can hold many MANY more fighters. And the Confederation class dreadnoughts – great when the gun worked, but that was rare. A failed idea. Remember, the most powerful force in Wing Commander tends to be fighters for long range power projection. And that gigantic hangar bay on the Vesuvius is awfully vulnerable... So what big ships SHOULD confed use or develop? It is understandable that they were pressing into service are tons of converted supply ships and ancient carriers. The Concordia class carriers are a sad wartime necessity. But what should they have been TRYING to do as the war ended? I think they should have pursued a strategy based on carrier strike groups. What I would have done, at the end of the war, was have a “big ship” strategy based on this:
per group:
1 carrier, lexington class
1 cruiser, either waterloo or tallahassee class
2 escort carriers, wake class (or Eagle class, what the TCS Eagle was named for... If we could ever get the stats for one. I would presume it would be as fast as a Wake... being designed from the ground up as a light Carrier!)
2 destroyers, gilgamesh class
at least 3 corvettes, venture class (including at least one electronics warfare / sensor corvette.)
at least 2 supply/transport ships
Why only two WC3 type game ships? Remember that by the end of the war, the “latest and greatest” carriers were the Jutland and Lexington classes. Of these, there is one VERY important thing to note – the Lexington class has secondary launch bays. This is a Very Good Idea. So the power projection from wing commander 3 on should have been focused on Lexington class... and I would ASSUME that the one without all the crazy modifications would probably be a bit faster than the one in Armada. Maybe 100 kps? Rather than develop a Vesuvius or Midway super carrier, they should have made dozens of these things! And note something about the Wake on down. Wake, Gilgamesh, and Venture ships all have something in common that their cousins in the same classes don't: they all go at least 240kps. Speed is HUGE, and a quick response (get there firstest with the mostest!) that might have less power is often better than a delayed response later. As far as the big ships go, I don't see many major improvements from WC2 to WC3 era big ships. The only ships that I can tell are actually BETTER is the Tallahassee class is better than the waterloo class, by virtue of being more maneuverable and having more guns. Based on my doctrine of “ships from escort carrier on down need to be fast, capable of doing their roles, and have phase shields, and that's about it.” NONE of the newer replacements work. Southampton instead of Gilgamesh? Too slow. Paradigm over Venture? Too slow (note neither has phase shields..). The new Caernaven Frigate? Too slow. Anyway, I thought the doctrine of the Midway being able to “take care of any problem it comes across” was really stupid, seeing as how it really wasn't capable of doing that, and they had to make other size ships anyway, and besides, the Vesuvius class (or hell, the LEXINGTON class. Which I mentioned earlier!) was enough of a super carrier ANYWAY... just get two of the things, damn!
So. There is my obsessively researched, gigantic rant on how Confed could have saved lives, saved money, saved resources, without wasting time on so many super projects. I mean seriously, you dont NEED the Behemoth to destroy a planet... Standoff taught us that there are many more traditional ways to do so!
First, the guns. To me, what matters in a gun, when you actually have a decent game engine is a few things:
range
speed of projectile
low energy use
refire rate
and THEN damage...
why does this matter? In my opinion, if you have a gun that does these sorts of things, and it is in the center line of the ship, you can compensate for low damage by *simply having more of them*. To that end, neutron guns and mass drivers really really aren't that great. I would rather have four lasers in the spread of the later style arrow than a ton of mass drivers and neutron cannons. So what would make a good line of guns throughout the upgrade of the games? To me it would be something like this:
pre wc1
laser, mass driver (starting with slightly higher tech level than what we have...)
wc1
laser, neutron, mass driver (phasing out mass driver for neutron. You don't have to carry a ton of metal slugs in the ship!)
wc1secret - wc2
laser, particle, neutron (phasing out neutron for particle)
wc2 through so to armada
laser, photon (don't need much testing, is based off of laser -- phase out laser for photon), particle, tachyon (testing mostly)
wc3 era
photon, particle, tachyon, ion (testing mostly, ion isn't better than photon yet)
wc4 era (post kilrathi! new weapons development!)
photon, particle, tachyon (including new light variant), ion (phasing out photon for ion, which is now better), plasma (testing mostly)
wcp era
ion, particle, pulse particle (phasing out particle for new variant), tachyon (including light variant), heavy plasma
SO era:
ion, pulse particle, tachyon (including light variant), heavy plasma
There is no need for all this reaper, meson, etc. crap. This way you have a clear upgrade path for guns, they make sense, you don't have to worry too much about short range guns, and they didn't waste so much money on buying the latest and greatest guns that were worse than what they had...
And, for that matter... how come cap ships didnt start to use photon guns for their big turrets? Since you can upscale a laser to turret size and it is (relatively) powerful, can't you scale up a photon gun too?
Next, fighter design. Flying the Epee / Super Ferret / Early arrow / hornet / stiletto in the simulator teaches me a few interesting things.
1.) It's okay not to have armor if your ship is designed well -- if the pilot is an expert
2.) You really need ITTS
3.) Centrally located guns are KEY
4.) Fast firing guns are KEY
5.) A really maneuverable ship is very good for dodging
6.) A fast afterburner speed is really essential in surviving
7.) If you have itts, you don't REALLY need heat seeker missiles to do damage if you have a very fast ship -- dumb fires will do.
8.) Heat seekers are useless. I would rather have dumb fire than heat seeker missiles. The best missiles for dogfighting are friend or foe, imrec, and dumb fire.
So what does this say about ship design?
To me it says that they should have kept a variant of the super ferret a LOT longer. The speed is good, it is cheap, the guns are central... what I would have done would be to put two lasers on the original and super ferret designs, and keep updating it for a VERY long time. Instead of using energy intensive guns, just *add a third laser*. This gives it an upgrade path to photon and then ion cannons, which lets it be useful for a very very long time. This basically lets the basic design -- a very small, light fighter -- last all the way until the PIRANHA... after all, the Arrow didn't really surpass the Ferret in actual performance until it really got the cloak, and the ferret *IS* harder to hit... with a third bottom gun, itts, and the guns being laser / photon / ion based, it would be great. Just keep the shields upgraded and replace the durasteel with the later versions and you are golden. No need to get a “bigger and easier to hit” Arrow, really... even in the WCIV era. In fact the only ship that REALLY obviously surpasses the Ferret and remains obviously small and hard to hit (remember all the stats say the arrow is bigger than it is in Standoff) is the Piranha! Remember, the airframe of the Arrow is OLD. Just like the Ferret. Which means that you can do quite a bit with an old airframe in a light fighter.. after all, light fighters are mostly engines anyway!
Now, the Rapier. IMO, the hellcat need NEVER have existed. The rapier is faster, more maneuverable, smaller (thus harder to hit...), has an afterburner that lasts forever... look at the last set of guns that the hellcat had. Particle and Ion (the laser replacements). Hmmm. The rapier could have been viable to (maybe past) WC4! Hell, the rapier has better maneuverability than the SO TIGERSHARK!
Now let's look at the super fighters.
The medium ones: Rapier, Wraith, Vampire
The heavy ones: Morningstar, Excalibur, Bearcat, Lance/Dragon
Which of these needed to be made? If we are upgrading a Rapier as the medium space superiority fighter, there is no REAL reason to make the wraith so early (but to test reaper guns that don't exist! ... wait...), so that leaves the heavy ones. The Morningstar? If we assume that guns have been moved to be more center line, and that heavy fighters don't have a fetish for mass drivers... that leaves the sabre being more like the Morningstar in the FIRST place. So yea, the two fighters are essentially the same idea (big heavy gun torpedo carrying strike / heavy fighter), with the Morningstar being the only jump capable, can actually both fight and carry torpedoes, can actually maneuver fighter. So the morningstar? Yea. The Prophecy era ships should have carried Morningstars...or Sabres that could actually JUMP. Same difference. Since, to me, the whole idea of a heavy but non space superiority fighter is to have at least a little bit of strike capability, and be able to jump, but okay at fighting, that means that the Thunderbolt really doesn't have a reason to exist. Just keep the Morningstar!
Now what about the heavy space superiority ones? The Excalibur's raison d'etre was the cloaking device, and somewhat the gun autoaiming. Okay, I will buy that. I don't like that it was less maneuverable than the Morningstar, but we will chalk it up to being prototype new technology. What about the production version, the Bearcat? Now there is a ship! Good gun loadout except for the locations of the guns (how come NONE OF THE OTHER GAMES used Light tachyon cannons??) … but not jump capable, and didn't have an optional cloak? Um. Yea. The bearcat should definitely be jump capable, and have an optional cloak. Hello, updated Excalibur? Now... The Dragon? Oh, the Dragon. That is a cheater's ship. It is so hideously beyond what should have been capable at the time (for crying out loud, it trounces the SO black vampire in many, MANY non minor ways), I just can't see how it was made other than writer's fiat. It obviously cost a bundle too, and didn't work, since you *don't see any Lances (the non evil Dragon variants) elsewhere in the games*! So for heavy space strike, we have the Morningstar, and for heavy fighter we have the jump capable, also sometimes cloak capable Bearcat. So should the Morningstar/Sabre/whichever is used ever be really retired? I would say YES... when you can fit a few light torpedoes on a medium fighter... which happens in SO era.... which means you could fit it on a non-normally-torpedo-capable HEAVY fighter from later on (see previously mentioned Bearcat, which is superior to the Morningstar. Or at least would be with a better gun location!)
What about the medium fighters? The Rapier can't be the end all of the medium fighters... though it is certainly better than the Tigershark (just look at the maneuverability). What about the Wraith and the Vampire? Extrapolate the updated Wraith's stats via upgrades to Prophecy era... and lo and behold, it is actually a better medium fighter than the Vampire, except for the crazy SO era missiles. Huh. I can see the Wraith being a “before it's time” sort of thing that only went into full production when they actually needed a “most definitely better than the Rapier” medium fighter... which I can only see as happening in Prophecy Era. (We are, of course, assuming that it is easier and cheaper to upgrade the Rapier to actually HAVE itts rather than develop the Hellcat and then the Tigershark, which I take to be true!) So I guess research focused on “jump capable / cloak capable / torpedo capable / heavy over medium” fighters happening, with a really awesome medium fighter languishing in development hell (What do you MEAN we don't have funding for the new medium space superiority fighters??) until the Rapier's lack of armor structure ultimately matters enough that shield technology updates and better armor materials don't make up for it. So Wraith replacing the Rapier at the time of the Tigershark/Vampire. I can see that. So do you need a Vampire then? No, not really. And if you don't need a Vampire, you don't need a Panther.
So... bombers. We start with the Broadsword... which while an awesome bomber, gets SHOT DOWN quite a bit. Then there was the crossbow, which was to be on smaller ships so they would have bomber capability, and also be a little faster. It was STILL getting shot down though... So the earliest afterburner capable bomber is the Longbow. And lo and behold! It gets shot down less! Now looking at the Longbow and the Devastator, the Devastator is about the same mass, but has the big huge gun, and is more maneuverable. Otherwise... about the same. Now, to me, I think they could have KEPT the Longbow well into Prophecy as the premier heavy bomber. It would certainly have FELT more like a heavy Bomber, and they could just have added the big gun later (remember, most of the longbow is internal torpedo bays.. that means lots of empty room. Like empty room where you could put a BIG GUN). The Shrike? I can see a reason to have the Shrike – something that isn't as GIGANTIC as the Longbow, has afterburners, is more maneuverable, and can carry lots of (late model...) torpedoes. But only very, very late, after the Longbow has LONG since been the main bomber for the fleet, and they simply want to cram more bombers onto one smaller ship. But after the Broadsword, Confed should DEFINITELY have awarded the bomber design to pretty much anyone who could come up with a torpedo / jump capable bomber that can fit on smaller ships and has afterburner. Which means Longbow. Oh, before I forget. The Gladius. Ahhh, the Gladius... made to be cheap, roughly capable of doing most any job, except jumping. Okay at fighting, okay at killing capships, has torpedoes. How I would reconfigure the ship would be to put four laser, and then later photon cannons near the center of the ship, and maybe add itts... and that's about it. Even when ion cannons surpass photon cannons in power, you want a ship that is cheap and gets the job done. For missiles, you have to stay better than the centurian, so 2 ff, 2 imrec, and a torpedo or two. The only real performance need for this is for it to be, in at least a few ways, better than what civilians have. Which I guess means better than the civilian heavy fighter – the Centurian. If your gladii can stay ahead of the Centurian and continue to be able to threaten capships, you are golden. It's the ship for when you have massive budget cuts and need to buy ONE ship in bulk to serve all your needs!
Now... Big ships. Cap ships Did you know that the Vesuvius and the Midway are about the same size? Whereas the Midway favors more redundant systems with regards to the launch tubes, the Vesuvius, on the other hand, favors the more traditional but vulnerable “gigantic hanger deck”, and therefore can hold many MANY more fighters. And the Confederation class dreadnoughts – great when the gun worked, but that was rare. A failed idea. Remember, the most powerful force in Wing Commander tends to be fighters for long range power projection. And that gigantic hangar bay on the Vesuvius is awfully vulnerable... So what big ships SHOULD confed use or develop? It is understandable that they were pressing into service are tons of converted supply ships and ancient carriers. The Concordia class carriers are a sad wartime necessity. But what should they have been TRYING to do as the war ended? I think they should have pursued a strategy based on carrier strike groups. What I would have done, at the end of the war, was have a “big ship” strategy based on this:
per group:
1 carrier, lexington class
1 cruiser, either waterloo or tallahassee class
2 escort carriers, wake class (or Eagle class, what the TCS Eagle was named for... If we could ever get the stats for one. I would presume it would be as fast as a Wake... being designed from the ground up as a light Carrier!)
2 destroyers, gilgamesh class
at least 3 corvettes, venture class (including at least one electronics warfare / sensor corvette.)
at least 2 supply/transport ships
Why only two WC3 type game ships? Remember that by the end of the war, the “latest and greatest” carriers were the Jutland and Lexington classes. Of these, there is one VERY important thing to note – the Lexington class has secondary launch bays. This is a Very Good Idea. So the power projection from wing commander 3 on should have been focused on Lexington class... and I would ASSUME that the one without all the crazy modifications would probably be a bit faster than the one in Armada. Maybe 100 kps? Rather than develop a Vesuvius or Midway super carrier, they should have made dozens of these things! And note something about the Wake on down. Wake, Gilgamesh, and Venture ships all have something in common that their cousins in the same classes don't: they all go at least 240kps. Speed is HUGE, and a quick response (get there firstest with the mostest!) that might have less power is often better than a delayed response later. As far as the big ships go, I don't see many major improvements from WC2 to WC3 era big ships. The only ships that I can tell are actually BETTER is the Tallahassee class is better than the waterloo class, by virtue of being more maneuverable and having more guns. Based on my doctrine of “ships from escort carrier on down need to be fast, capable of doing their roles, and have phase shields, and that's about it.” NONE of the newer replacements work. Southampton instead of Gilgamesh? Too slow. Paradigm over Venture? Too slow (note neither has phase shields..). The new Caernaven Frigate? Too slow. Anyway, I thought the doctrine of the Midway being able to “take care of any problem it comes across” was really stupid, seeing as how it really wasn't capable of doing that, and they had to make other size ships anyway, and besides, the Vesuvius class (or hell, the LEXINGTON class. Which I mentioned earlier!) was enough of a super carrier ANYWAY... just get two of the things, damn!
So. There is my obsessively researched, gigantic rant on how Confed could have saved lives, saved money, saved resources, without wasting time on so many super projects. I mean seriously, you dont NEED the Behemoth to destroy a planet... Standoff taught us that there are many more traditional ways to do so!
