Hello, I am shadowhunter100, brand new to HLP/FS universe forums!
I've been reading about way too many things about freespace and the universe of it... :eek2:
Anyway, this post is about my take on the events in the freespace timeline and some stuff about the techs.
It may be long, but I'm pretty sure everyone has time to kill when we're contributing to the wiki project :p
PLEASE note again* This is purely MY take and it may not agree with all of you.
"The Freespace 1 story"
-After going through the freespace bible that I have found online and reading so many other theory/stories, I have concluded the single player campaign begins in the later days (perhaps the last year or 2 of the 14 year T-V war, this is based on "operation thresher" in the opening briefing of FS1).
-Now how long was "The Great War?" That is my question... I have never figured it out but I am assuming at least one year long, not including the mop-up of remaining shivans after the Lucifer was destroyed.
-The Hammer of Light is an interesting part that isn't discussed much about (i.e, NTF campaigns are made, but HoL campagins are never discussed). :doubt:
<off topic>I've read about talks of the early days of the "T-V War", what's the story behind it? ;) </off topic>
"Silent Threat"
-It made me wonder if the main character (Alpha 1) plays the role of admiral Aken Bosch in this campaign :confused:
-In FS2, Bosch in one of the cutscenes talked about his motive for ETAK and he mentioned he was a young pilot that battled against the GTI and their secret project (See GTD Hades).
"The Reconstruction period"
-After the mop-up of all the Shivans in GTA/PVN Space.
-Lasted about 3 decades, with the formation of the GTVA in place some time in between.
-During this whole time, HoL isn't discussed, but it should be assumed they had some power that was enough to lead up to "Operation Templar" that occured late in the period.
-The Neo-Terra Front was formed after this period, within their influence are the Polaris and another system that I can't recall.
-Sometime during the formation of NTF, Bosch took command of the Iceni and assumed it as the flagship of the NTF.
"Freespace2"
-The campagin begins about 18 months into the GTVA war with the NTF. (Corrected by you guys, thanks, it was during the first briefing of FS2).
-How long did this second great war last? No time stamps were given. I am again assuming at least a year (Because I simply don't believe the GTVA can be pumping out new advance fighters/guns/missiles everyday, and that hulls of destroyers/warships can be repaired in 10 hours).
Techs
-Beam weapons have rendered shields useless.
All the campaigns about how indestructible the Lucifer is, in MY OPINION, bogus.
(Sorry, that includes the Lucifer of the "Derelict" campaign. Great campaign, but that part about the Lucifer being superior to the Collossus really bothered me).
Now some of you might be wondering why I said this... On this subject, I referred to my Freespace bible.
(I found the link to download it, check http://www.volition-inc.com/fs/downloads.cfm, its at the bottom).
-Also note, that when you played FS2, beams goes right through your shields and knocks your hull rating off rather quickly.
...The emergence of beam turrets have created a new dimension in space warfare because they practically reduce the threat of heavily shielded warships by being able to pump flows of energies that would not allow shields to form at the area of impact. (At least that is what I believe).
-The Thoth in the tech room was probably a type by the original staff of FS2... it ain't 40 years, but 30 :P
-I don't care what any of you guys say, but the Terran Corvette (Deimos) is better than everything BUT destroyers/crazy things. If you read the tech room description of its most energy-per-ton output... just imagine slapping a couple of those together to make a battle ship... :ick:
-Note* FS warship classes are based on navy terms(?).
There are:
Fighters/bombers are just air units again, nothing new.
-Gunboats
Well, you got cruisers... Aeolus class is probably the best example... taking down bombers and fighters like umm... a diamond saw through the trees? :P
Corvettes-
Bigger and badder than Cruisers... but not as expensive or as slow as destroyers, excellent when used to assault convoys. Deimos is the best example of a good corvette in freespace.
Frigates-
Only one in FS, and that is the NTFFr Iceni... Nifty, Frigates is considered a class below destroyers but packing more firepower than a corvette... Just like how the Iceni can waste a cruiser and/or a corvette.
Destroyers-
In FS2, those things dub as semi-carriers... pretty handy considering the fact if an "actual carrier" comes in FS, it would be just be a giant hanger that launches freebies for multiple cruisers/corvettes on strike missions. I would put the Ravana or the Hatshepsut here because they pack the firepower to attack or defend a battlegroup.
Carriers-
See above... But if you gotta put one here, I would go with the Hectate... not so good against other warships, but sure can carry a decent amount of fighter crafts.
Submarines-
Unless someone comes up with a stealth warship in freespace... then being nullified by the common AWACS in deployment :lol:
Battleships-
Closest thing to it? the Shivan Juggurnauts... In navy terms, they pack the most firepower in ship-to-ship combat but weak Anti-air (weak vs aerial bombers), often requiring cruisers/anti-air carriers to assist them. (Quite impractical in my opinion, too costly and quite imposing to maintain, but, as FS2 indicated... overwhelming numbers + firepower > all defenses).
I know there will be some arguments maybe even flames, but I think I'll leave what I have here until proven otherwise.
I'll have to update this post some other time, cause I gotta go. :(