t.c.cgi
Vice Admiral
Lets say we take Arena as Canon.
Using the word canon in a hypothetical way can be a very dangerous thing. It is canon, end of story.
What does it tell us then? It tells us that Broadswords can eventually have afterburners. That Rapier II's and Arrows and Broadswords can fight in the Nephilim-era. That eventually pretty much every ship can be jump capable. Meson Blaster remains a late-era gun. That after Ion cannons made the laser pretty much obsolete on the Midway, there are still people using lasers effectively. Afterburner velocity goes down as late modifications are added to spaceframes. Mines are VERY relevant. Late model tractor beams can be used offensively. The dragon STILL has the most shields (gyah!). Am I missing anything?
Are you trying to use an element of Arena to either win the argument or discredit Arena? We see afterburners on bombers before Arena you know.
The Longbow, Avenger, Shrike, and Devastator all have afterburners. The Crossbow and Broadsword are the only ones that do not. Whatever the hiccup was has been resolved by WC3 and beyond.
The proliferation of jump drives starts in WC2 with the Morningstar. The big deal was that it took a bigger boat, like a bomber, to carry the fuel needed - fuel that was likely displacing the space required for afterburner fuel. The Morningstar appears to have no problem fitting a jump drive and afterburners into a tight little frame. Yet the Morningstar is also supposed to be a super fighter - expensive and not too common. This happens again with the Excalibur and Dragon. Yet in Privateer - circa between WC3 & 4 IIRC - you can put a jump drive on everything and it's not that expensive, but does still burn fuel. Clearly the size, power requirements, and cost of jump drives continue to decline until they're as common as ejector seats and acceleration dampeners.
As for a decided lack of center-line guns? Gun convergence. It's a cheap answer, yes, but ITTS/gun convergence make extreme spacing a non-issue. And the incredible improvement in convergence and ITTS in WC3 over WC2 shows that whatever was preventing center-line armament (propeller blades! oh wait) wasn't being ignored, and a work-around solution has been created.
Why does everyone still use Lasers hundreds of years after the Hornet in WC1? Why does anyone still use bolt action rifles? It's a mere questions of the right tool for the job, and clearly the fact that they all co-exist so much later means that the manufacturer's idea of "better" doesn't make the older weapon obsolete.
Oh, and the Dragons aren't "main line" fighters. They're the black helicopters, remember? Of course they're still going to be insanely powerful.