Hard Light Productions Forums
General FreeSpace => FreeSpace Discussion => Topic started by: Kestrellius on August 30, 2017, 04:41:51 pm
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So, after Place of Chariots, when Bosch's frigate shows up, Command (or your squadron leader, I guess?) says that it's been designated the Iceni in the debriefing. Which is to say, that's the name the GTVA have selected for it.
And then you go and infiltrate them in Rebels and Renegades, and all the NTF personnel are referring to the ship as the Iceni, too, and not as the Fantabulous Boschmobile or whatever. So...how does this work? Ship names are kind of weird in general, really. Obviously it's not an issue with the Shivans, since they don't talk and nobody knows what they call their ships, but in cases like the NTF, Hammer of Light, or Zods in FS1, it's kind of glossed over why everybody uses the same names.
I'm guessing that with the NTF, most of their ships are still using the original names from before they defected, so the GTVA is aware of them that way. But the Iceni is a really weird example. Are we supposed to assume that Command found out what Bosch had named his warship somehow?
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I don't think it was a stretch for the GTVI to have learned the ship's name as quickly as they do. Considering how much of a threat to the stability of the GTVA the NTF is I would assume the GTVI immediately went to work trying to learn all they could about the Iceni (including its name). Add to this that they likely had operatives throughout the NTF, getting the ship's name probably wasn't too hard.
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Oh, yeah. I forgot that like half of the NTF is actually SOC. There's a text LP of the game out there that jokes about the whole NTF being set up by GTVI so they could practice infiltrating things.
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The Iceni could very well have been broadcasting its name, in which case Command didn't so much designate it as just read out its designation.
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The Iceni was under construction prior to the NTF split from the GTVA, so I expect that Command knew about it from then. That said, I expect that Bosch had been preparing for his rebellion for a long time, so he likely kept a lot of the Iceni project details from Command.
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A bit of a side question, but is the Iceni the class name or the ship name? And why doesn't there seem to be any other vessels of the class? It seems like a competent design afterall.
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I would imagine Iceni refers to both the specific ship and its class since we're never led to believe there's more than one in existence during FS2. Whether the GTVA actually put the class of corvette into production post Capella is another matter entirely since it is a capable vessel but given what it represents that benefit may not be enough to out weight the strain it placed on the alliance.
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I'm guessing that with the NTF, most of their ships are still using the original names from before they defected, so the GTVA is aware of them that way. But the Iceni is a really weird example. Are we supposed to assume that Command found out what Bosch had named his warship somehow?
Given that Command is pseudo-actively collaborating with Bosch to get ETAK it's no surprise GTVI already has the correct name for the ship.
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A bit of a side question, but is the Iceni the class name or the ship name? And why doesn't there seem to be any other vessels of the class? It seems like a competent design afterall.
Traditionally, the first ship of a class inherits the name of the class, so "Iceni" is the name of both. The ship was highly specialized and designed to Bosch's specs, so I wouldn't be surprised if it's not intended to be easily replicated. I think Firesteel's got the right idea about more Icenis, but there's precedent in Derelict if someone wanted to explore them.
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I get that the Iceni was Bosch's flagship, but it wasn't designed and built entirely during the rebellion. There must have been some justification for its development for Command and probably the GTVA security counsel to fund it. And I doubt GTI has the same authority it had during Silent Threat to develop a capital ship in secret. So at some level, the Iceni should have been designed for some purpose that wasn't just Bosch's secret plans. Sure, Bosch probably retrofitted a lot of systems to get ETAK working, but the core frame of the Iceni should be something the GTVA desired.
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Hm. Well...the thing is, realistically, I think you could probably build a ship like that quite quickly, given the resources of at least three whole star systems. I mean, countries in the real world have built up whole militaries in just a few years. However, our only example of long-term military development in FS is the gap between 1 and 2, where very little was accomplished in 32 years -- just a few new classes of ship, and most of the old ones are still in use.
On the other hand, we see the GTA developing new tech at ludicrous rates during FS1 (and kind of FS2; they use the "you're now authorized" thing, but still, most of the tech is described as pretty new), so maybe they're faster than they seem.
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Keep in mind with the 32 years between FS1 and 2 that the Terrans and Vasudans were in the process of rebuilding their entire government and that would very likely bog down any new developments for some time. It wouldn't surprise me if most of the replacement vessels found in FS2 were completed in the 3-5 years before FS2 since :v: specifically chose the "authorized" phrasing over "issue" or "deployed". I don't remember the exact language surrounding the Prometheus S but it was very clear that it was put "back into production" (cause it's really a completely different weapon from FS1 let's face it).