Author Topic: Ship classes  (Read 1563 times)

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Offline Ghastly

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Despite having beaten FS1 and 2 (twice) and several mods in the month or so I've had them, I'm still not totally sure on each ship classification. I get cruisers, corvettes, destroyers and juggernauts, but the super-destroyers, dreadnoughts, carriers and frigates that seem somewhat prevalent in mods kind of muddle things up. What exactly are the roles of each class?

While I'm at it, I'm also not sure about classifications of fighters. Interceptors are pretty clear, but space-superiority and heavy assault (and strike, heavy and light bombers)?

 

Offline General Battuta

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FreeSpace ship size designations work just as real life does, with the exception of cruisers, which have been moved below corvettes into the space filled by 'gunboats' or cutters or the like in reality.

From smallest to largest it runs

cruiser - basically for very light patrols and minimal combat in support of fighters
corvette - the smallest 'line warship' in freespace, capable of holding its own against fighter and bomber squadrons and attacking corvettes in groups
frigate - a larger, more powerful corvette, often retaining great speed and flexibility
destroyer - the first capital ship class, the centerpiece of a battlegroup, with both powerful main guns and the ability to carry and launch fighters
(superdestroyer, which is more a destroyer with fancy stuff than a bigger destroyer)
carrier (a destroyer with fewer guns but more ability to carry fighters)
dreadnought (historically a big ship with a set of very large guns of the same calibre)
juggernaught (something big and hard to stop)

For fighters:
Space superiority - tough, all-around combatant designed to shoot down other fighters and prevent them from causing trouble
Heavy assault - a fighter craft still capable of dogfighting but also loaded with a lot of ordnance for attacking light targets like cruisers and freighters
Light bomber - bomber that carries mostly anti-turret/subsystem weapons
Strike bomber - fast bomber design capable of carrying heavy warheads
Heavy bomber - big slow bomber, needs to travel with escort, carries large amounts of the heaviest warheads


 

Offline StarSlayer

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No love for the interceptor?
“Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world”

 

Offline Mars

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Interceptor - Fast craft designed to kill bombers before they can reach their target.

It's harder to see in FS2 because the Perseus was more of a multirole Space superiority - interceptor. The Valkyrie in FS1, and the Serapis in FS2 are better examples of this class.

I would note that Super-destroyer is used ambiguously, and may refer to an actual class; but I would tend to agree with Battuta.

 

Offline General Battuta

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He said he knew what interceptors were, so I omitted.

 

Offline Ghastly

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Thanks! That helps! So, the GVD Hedetet that I saw in Sync would be more of a dreadnought than a superdestroyer? Also, I thought the carriers in Inferno looked a lot more powerful than more standard destroyers.

 

Offline General Battuta

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Thanks! That helps! So, the GVD Hedetet that I saw in Sync would be more of a dreadnought than a superdestroyer? Also, I thought the carriers in Inferno looked a lot more powerful than more standard destroyers.

'Carrier' is more of a role than a specific size. You could have a frigate-size escort carrier or an Inferno-style fleet carrier, or something in between.

 

Offline Trivial Psychic

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I think from Inferno R1, the Tannen and the Warlock were classified as super-carriers.
The Trivial Psychic Strikes Again!

  

Offline Luis Dias

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FreeSpace ship size designations work just as real life does

I remember a quote from someone somewhat famous that went along the lines of "science fiction tells us more about what was going on in the time when people wrote it, than it is about the future".