[Grunt]

I do not insist on defending this idea at all but ...

1) Keeping fighters outdoor and having only a limited hangar space would make the ships cheaper, just as it does today.

2) Vulnerability to enemy fighters would not be worse than it is today (most aircrafts are outside on carriers).

3) Leaving the damaged ship before explosion does make just as much sense as it does today. Even in battle you simply have more chance to survive.

3) Going out into space to meet rockets without a suitable suit is absolute crazy. You have only a thin layer of transparent plastic or whatever around your head. A piece of metal hits the cockpit and your body freezes and explodes in the same time (cca. zero pressure outside). No time to close the helmet.

Other than that I would prefer to serve on a Hecate.

[EdrickV]

Originally posted by Grunt
I do not insist on defending this idea at all but ...

1) Keeping fighters outdoor and having only a limited hangar space would make the ships cheaper, just as it does today.

2) Vulnerability to enemy fighters would not be worse than it is today (most aircrafts are outside on carriers).

1. I disagree. Space is not the atmosphere of a planet. You can't survive in space without a space suit, and space suits have limited abilities.

2. Again, this is space not atmosphere. The space shuttle doesn't carry it's cargo on the exterior of the hull, it's hidden in an internal cargobay. If fighters were stored outside, the first thing enemy fighters/bombers/etc. would do is try to destroy all those fighters, before they launch. And an unoccupied fighter would not be much of a target. (Attacking planes sitting on the ground around a military airport is a standard tactic you know. It would be harder to do if those planes were stored in a protected hangar at the end of the runway.) Not to mention the fact that the fighters would have routine maintence done on them after every single game mission. (After all, how often does hull damage carry over from one mission to another when they are not red alert missions?) Would you want to be standing on the outside of a carrier, in the middle of battle, preparing a reinforcement ship for launch with only a space suit between you and death? One bit of stray fire and you'd be less one crewman. The pilots would also be very vulnerable when they tried to get into their ships. It's not exactly easy to run in space and space suits are notoriously clumsy to work in. Hangars are contained areas that are used for launching ships. The ships might not even be stored in the hangar itself, but in a room off of it that can be pressurized. (Since the hangars on FS2 ships don't have doors.)

[HotSnoJ]

Originally posted by EdrickV

The ships might not even be stored in the hangar itself, but in a room off of it that can be pressurized. (Since the hangars on FS2 ships don't have doors.)

Certain Star Wars ships don't either. It's done by some electro-something-or-other. So

[Eviscerator]

Mag shields... good point.

Oh, and I was not thinking of "ejection seat", I was thinking of "ejection pod", whereas the entire cockpit becomes a lifeboat of sorts, the EVA suit being the back-up of this system.

Consider for a moment the immense amount of time and investment needed to train a competant pilot. Surely the powers that be would not send them out without some sort of escape system. In a war of attrition, craft are relatively easy to replace, trained crew is... well, not.

Consider the air war over Europe in WW2. The Luftwaffe did not lose due to lack of birds. They still had plenty. However, they had few pilots to fly them. All other pilots were lost in combat.

[diamondgeezer]

Originally posted by Eviscerator
Oh, and I was not thinking of "ejection seat", I was thinking of "ejection pod", whereas the entire cockpit becomes a lifeboat of sorts...

Can you say SA-43 Hammerhead?

If people are going to insist on some sort of ejection system, then a S:AAB-style cockpit-jettison affair is the choice of the professional. But note that the guys in S:AAB didn't wear full pressure suits. For one thing, you can barely move whilst wearing one.

[Galemp]

Originally posted by Eviscerator
Consider for a moment the immense amount of time and investment needed to train a competant pilot. Surely the powers that be would not send them out without some sort of escape system. In a war of attrition, craft are relatively easy to replace, trained crew is... well, not.

Good one, Visc. I almost believed you. Then I played through Silent Threat...

Competent pilots... *snicker*

[Eviscerator]

You certainly have a point there. The term "competant" most certainly cannot be applied to any AI pilot in any FS game.

I would concede, but that isn't the point.

BTW, I would not see an EVA suit actually pressurizing unless the life pod was breached, so your point is pretty much moot DG. :wink:

[Tar-Palantir]

But note that the guys in S:AAB didn't wear full pressure suits. For one thing, you can barely move whilst wearing one.

That's true for modern day EVA suits - but in two hundred years time whos to say that we wouldn't have EVA suits which are as flexable as normal day clothing?

By the way, would BETAC prohibit the shooting of ejected fighter lifeboats if they existed? Probaly not since BETAC prohibits the destruction of capital ship lifepods but who knows.

[Eviscerator]

I think it would most certainly prohibit it, just as the Geneva Convention and Laws of War do now, but the NTF don't recognize BETAC and you can bet the Shivans don't even know what BETAC is.

[diamondgeezer]

Originally posted by Eviscerator
BTW, I would not see an EVA suit actually pressurizing unless the life pod was breached, so your point is pretty much moot DG. :wink:

*pokes Evis in the eye with a rusty fork*

[SayWhatNow?]

...getting back the Karo's Carrier, the fighter beams are a good way to go, I mean it's a carrier... being a logistical command hub, providing air support and a mobile base of operations is what they do. You thought about using missiles to a larger extent (compared to other FS cap-ships)? You know several hardpoints like making it a mofo to try sortie against in fighters?

That leads to another Q, can you arm capships with torpedoes to use in capship combat or will the ships just target fighters?

[StratComm]

Yes, torpedo weapons do target capships.  There is a cruiser torpedo mod out there somewhere (basically a modified cyclops) that should give you a good idea about the usefulness of such weapons.

[Star Dragon]

I like Kazan's Exocets missiles. Cool looking .pof and range of 15KM...

[Mr Carrot]

One point, modern carriers are escorted by effective fleet defence which means your unlikely to have missiles or planes coming close enough to shoot at the carrier let alone the planes on deck.

In FS the high survivability of fighters negates this so your better off keeping the fighters inside.

[SKYNET-011]

Carrier look's good.

I like!:nod: