[Skaarj]

Does it state any where on FS2 when the first hecate was produced and when the first beam cannons were used, cos i was thinkin of doin a mini-campaign using the FS-FS2 port when the beam cannons first come in to operation and the first hecate gets comissioned. thats the only only thing i didn't like about both FS, they didn't give many dates on when events happened like how long both shivan attacks last, eg months, years??

[Flaser]

Search for Eisthmo's post about collected FS history or smg. like that.
He mentions the most predictable date there - and it's strictly based on canon.

[SadisticSid]

I don't think the first Hecate was the first ship to use beam cannons, the tech room descriptions suggest that the Orions and Typhons were retrofitted with the new technology before the new models were produced to succeed them.

[Skaarj]

i realize that but i was just curious to how long they had been in service b4 FS2 cos there are a few kicking about in fs2

[aldo_14]

I have a vague impression it was about 5 years.... don't know why, though.

EDIT - nope, no idea why.  Could be totally wrong, could be another ship, this just came to mind for some reason.

[StratComm]

That sounds about right.  Not new enough to be rare, not old enough to fully replace the old ones.  The aquitane is probably very new, but some of the other Hecates may date back a little farther.  I would mention, however, that the NTF does not use any Hecates to my knowledge, so they may only have entered mainstream service for less than 18 months prior to FS2.

[diamondgeezer]

Or maybe the Sixth Fleet never got any, since most of the rebels came from there... they certainly seem to have nuff Orions

[Carl]

odd how they have plenty of deimoses too, but those are supposed to be even newer.

[magatsu1]

that's probably more a gameplay issue, but a Deimos would be a tempting target for Hi-jackers, shipyard_complete stylee.

[Akalabeth Angel]

The first ship to mount beam cannons is the Sobek I believe

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by Carl
odd how they have plenty of deimoses too, but those are supposed to be even newer.

Well, it's a fair bit smaller, so there's porbably a better chance of having suitably sized instalaltions for construction.  I mean, a Hectate is a big ship, and you don't generally need to replace destroyers often, so maybe there just isn't a great deal of shipyards outfitted to build one.

[Eishtmo]

Actually, the first Hecate, at a minimum, had to appear in 2353, a decade and a half earlier.  This is, of course, assuming the Goliath was an Orion (pretty reasonable idea, of course).

Given that it is a Terran ship, and most of the Terran shipyards were in Sol when the Orions were built, there probably weren't too many shipyards outside of Sol capable of building a Hecate.  Even 32 years later, with the Colossus being built and the divided Terran territories, there probably were only a few initially built, and only recently were new ones being constructed to replace the loses incurred during the NTF rebellion.

[Black Wolf]

Originally posted by StratComm
I would mention, however, that the NTF does not use any Hecates to my knowledge, so they may only have entered mainstream service for less than 18 months prior to FS2.

Why does everyone forget Rebel Inercept?

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by Eishtmo
Actually, the first Hecate, at a minimum, had to appear in 2353, a decade and a half earlier.  This is, of course, assuming the Goliath was an Orion (pretty reasonable idea, of course).

Given that it is a Terran ship, and most of the Terran shipyards were in Sol when the Orions were built, there probably weren't too many shipyards outside of Sol capable of building a Hecate.  Even 32 years later, with the Colossus being built and the divided Terran territories, there probably were only a few initially built, and only recently were new ones being constructed to replace the loses incurred during the NTF rebellion.

Um...why a decade an a half, exactly?  

I would have thought the need for a new destroyer would only be addressed after the founding of the GTVA and - more specifically - the introduction of a unified Terran fleet command.

I've always felt the Hecate has somewhat of a Vasudan influence in it's appearance, too....

[Kosh]

I've always felt the Hecate has somewhat of a Vasudan influence in it's appearance, too....

Which explains why it looks so much better than the Orion.

[Skaarj]

yeah i have to say the hecate was better looking than the orion for some reason reminded me of a omega from b5 dunno y, but the weapon load out isn't very good unless you change it and it looks better with different textures, don't like the brown not Terran if you ask me. I thought the NTF had a Hecate?

[Fineus]

It has to many random "spoilers" that just don't seem necessary - although the textures on the Orion are ****e and always have been.

[aldo_14]

I think the Hecate is a complete and utter mess, actually.... plus the Uv is far, far better on the Orion - at least the edges lineup, not to mention that the textures themselves aren;t the colour of sewer water.

In all honesty, if I'd made the Hecate, I'd have junked it and restarted.

[CP5670]

There is a subtle indication that the first Hecate came out quite recently before the main campaign starts. For the Hatshepsut, the tech entry says that "the Hatshepsut has taken over as the primary Vasudan destroyer" while the Hecate's says that "the new GTD Hecate class of destroyers is replacing the Orion class." Note the differences in the verb tenses; they imply that the Hatshepsut had already become the flagship for the front-line Vasudan fleets while the Hecate was still the process of doing so for the Terran ones. The first Hatshepsut was completed in 2360, so we can conclude that the Hecate must come after that, probably by some years.

I would mention, however, that the NTF does not use any Hecates to my knowledge, so they may only have entered mainstream service for less than 18 months prior to FS2.

Why does everyone forget Rebel Inercept?[/size]

I remember this issue of NTF Hecates coming up on FREDZone about two years ago; there was a bit of a debate on this point but IIRC we eventually decided that the NTF could not have had more than one or possibly two Hecate destroyers, seeing as most of the other stuff they use is a generation old. There is that NTD Corsica in RI, so that makes one. The only other candidate is the NTD Cyrene, which does not appear in any missions (so you never find out what class it is) but the fact that its battle group was able to drive off two GTVA fleets the first time they tried entering Sirius may suggest that it was a more advanced ship type.

[Knight Templar]

Why can't they use Hecates? Sure their stuff is usually old, but that's because it's manufactured in older, backwater-ish systems. I can easily see them stealing/defecting/building some.. at least two.