[Gray]

I recently installed the new Media VPs and played "Mystery of the Trinity" ( awesome new Nebula effect!), and while following Zeta 1 i had time to think about one thing that irked me ever since i played this mission for the first time.

Why do we sit on the Engines? Why not start next to the Hecate? Or, far better - in the Hangar?

Which led to another set of questions.
Was the Hangar a HTL addtion? And where do they store all the Fighters, as the Hangar ist rather small and the Hecate is supposed to have more Wings then a Orion.

[wardog300k]

1.I wouldn't really call it engine,its more of a wing,for stability and sh*t,although really that's a good question considering that fighterbay is way forward.
2.Dunno
3.Assuming that Orion holds its fighters at the small place in the back only,Hecate could hold its fighter compliment at the back as well.

[Gray]

Well the runway/ Hangar thingy is directly connected to the aftsection of the Orion. There could be addtional Hangarspace/ storage right before the Engine section and the small thingy on top of the runway could house the "Alert" Fighter Wings, while the rest is stored in the Mainhull.

If we assume you're right, it's quite a long way from the back, through the Spine and into the Alert Fighter Hangar in the front.
Otoh, this would play well with BPs way of using the Hecate as a armed Carrier that stays waaay behind the Frontlines.

Not only due to her anrnament, but also the fact that it takes ages to move all wings to the Front. 

Is there a "community consensus" on what the giant flaps attached to the engines might be?
 

[wardog300k]

Maybe Hecate is designed to be buildable on the planet surfaces,and the wings are for aerodynamics,or maybe there is a secret door connecting the hangar to the wing,so it is kinda like the Orion's runway.

[Colonol Dekker]

That horizontal wing is just an efficient place to form up. No reason why they should all crash into each other parked up in the hangar.

I reckon the wings could contain fuel, coolant, water, stores?

[headdie]

That horizontal wing is just an efficient place to form up. No reason why they should all crash into each other parked up in the hangar.

I reckon the wings could contain fuel, coolant, water, stores?

agreed on the first bit.  for the second, I would perhaps go coolant as it means all the heat processing is done away from the core of the ship thus taking the heat away from key sections

[Dragon]

Radiators. The wings are right next to the engines. They're a bit thick for that role (you want as much surface area as you can muster), but it's a sensible role for wings on any spacegoing object. For them to work in atmosphere, the rest of the ship would have to be aerodynamic, too.

[NGTM-1R]

Your fighter didn't have an intersystem drive, but the "wings" provide a convenient shackle point for storing fighters during intersystem jumps, allowing the Hecate to rapidly deploy several squadrons of fighters on arrival in a new system without the risk a lucky hit to its hanger exit by anything on blockade will prevent this.

[Mongoose]

Also it looked really damn cool when the Aquitaine started to move and the whole wing just kind of fell away beneath you.

[Goober5000]

I recently installed the new Media VPs and played "Mystery of the Trinity" ( awesome new Nebula effect!), and while following Zeta 1 i had time to think about one thing that irked me ever since i played this mission for the first time.

Why do we sit on the Engines? Why not start next to the Hecate? Or, far better - in the Hangar?

This actually has a really mundane explanation.  The mission was originally FREDded when the Aquitaine was an Orion.  Originally, the fighters launched from the Orion's runway, directly in front of the hangar.  When the Aquitaine was changed to a Hecate (maybe the model was created late in development), the fighters were moved to the top wing area.

[Kie99]

Also it looked really damn cool when the Aquitaine started to move and the whole wing just kind of fell away beneath you.

Was that what that was? I've wondered for bloody years how that launch effect was done.

[Gray]

I recently installed the new Media VPs and played "Mystery of the Trinity" ( awesome new Nebula effect!), and while following Zeta 1 i had time to think about one thing that irked me ever since i played this mission for the first time.

Why do we sit on the Engines? Why not start next to the Hecate? Or, far better - in the Hangar?

This actually has a really mundane explanation.  The mission was originally FREDded when the Aquitaine was an Orion.  Originally, the fighters launched from the Orion's runway, directly in front of the hangar.  When the Aquitaine was changed to a Hecate (maybe the model was created late in development), the fighters were moved to the top wing area.

Ahh, interesting bit of trivia.
I would have loved to start the campaign on a Orion and get transfered later to a new Hecate class destroyer, something in the fashion of "oh look, there's your new shiny Destroyer".
But i assume, there's only so many times you can do that and all the thunder was reserved for the Collie.

Your fighter didn't have an intersystem drive, but the "wings" provide a convenient shackle point for storing fighters during intersystem jumps, allowing the Hecate to rapidly deploy several squadrons of fighters on arrival in a new system without the risk a lucky hit to its hanger exit by anything on blockade will prevent this.

Hm, makes sense. Also, the thickness of the wings allows for some serious storage space for non-critical goods.
Putting important goods in there, or have critical Systems like Radiators only in exposed areas like the wings begs for trouble.
I've put secondary or non-essential Systems in there - Storage compartments, auxillary Systems, showers, toilets and the like. 

But didn't the Hecate entered Service sometime after the First Shivan incursion, during which the Fighters got Jumpdrives?
Haven't read the Techroom fluff in years.

[Rheyah]

It was a mission design choice.  If you launch from the bay itself, you don't really get much of a view of the Hecate herself.  Which would defeat the purpose of showing how foggy the nebula is.

One of the changes I'd like to see in the next Hecate model is for the launching/landing bay to be horizontal to the ship.

[wardog300k]

One of the changes I'd like to see in the next Hecate model is for the launching/landing bay to be horizontal to the ship.

Then the Icelus is for you.

[Mars]

It was a mission design choice.  If you launch from the bay itself, you don't really get much of a view of the Hecate herself.  Which would defeat the purpose of showing how foggy the nebula is.

Except you never really get a good view because knew the original Hecate model was ugly, so they only let it out of the nebula in one mission for 15 seconds or so.

[Gray]

It was a mission design choice.  If you launch from the bay itself, you don't really get much of a view of the Hecate herself.  Which would defeat the purpose of showing how foggy the nebula is.

One of the changes I'd like to see in the next Hecate model is for the launching/landing bay to be horizontal to the ship.

Not sure this would be widely accepted, at least not by the FSU. I might be wrong though.
I have something like this planed for my Hecate...if i ever get around to finish the Argo.

[NGTM-1R]

But didn't the Hecate entered Service sometime after the First Shivan incursion, during which the Fighters got Jumpdrives?
Haven't read the Techroom fluff in years.

Apparently intersystem fighter drives are not standard issue, according to the Techroom. They're very expensive. As corroboration you could note that during the campaign there are basically two missions where you could have crossed a subspace node under your own power: at the start of Mystery of the Trinity, and just after you've completed Bearbaiting. All the others more or less make it explicit your fighter is only traveling intrasystem.

[Colonol Dekker]

Genuine inquiry, don't read as sharp toothed reply. Remind me do we ever see waves and waves of ntf fighters using nodes on anything other than rebel intercept? Do snipes and alpha one use one to escape on one of the ntf loop missions with the iceni?  Do we chase down the iceni during that chess pawn dialogue from a node to a node?

Edit-spelling on autocorrect fail

[NGTM-1R]

Once (The King's Gambit features a few wings of Ulyssess and Hercules, not sure how ships many in total), no, and you not only change fighters but actually change destroyers between Endgame and The Fog Of War and hence Gamma Drac and the Nebula. You're actually at the endpoint of the great chase that you're told about for the chess sequence.