[StratComm]

'Cause that wouldn't be Terran

And it still doesn't resolve the issue of launch time.  My "Carrier" types I've made (and yes, I have made them) usually have more launch ramps/tubes than your average destroyer to be able to launch more fighters in less time.  Doesn't make them invulnerable by any means, but it's better than just cramming more hanger space into a destroyer.

[NGTM-1R]

To be honest, I consider the Hecate to be the FS equivalent of a carrier. With 150 combat spacecraft (read that: fighters/bombers), the truth is a Hecate ought to be able to mount a strike capable of killing several Sathani.

Only, for some odd reason, we never see anywhere near the total number of fighters one destroyer can carry. Heck, we've never seen an Orion launch all twenty of its wings either, have we? Twenty wings of fighters will make short work of just about anything. You could disable and disarm a Sathanas with twenty wings of PVF Anubis, for God's sake, or GTF Apollo. Then just send a Fenris to poke at the Sathanas until it dies.
That's why people insist that they can carry more fighters: they aren't launching their full complements. The only time you even get a hint a destroyer is launching its full fighter complement is in the briefing for "Their Finest Hour", when the briefing officer lists the squadrons the GTD Aquitane is detailing to certain tasks. There are at least four squadrons mentioned (oddly, none of which save the Blue Lions were ones you served in).

[Mongoose]

That's the one element I always hated about Freespace.  Command had absolutely no tactical clue when it came to utilizing fighter/bomber squadrons.  Take Bearbaiting, for example.  Why send in one or two dinky wings of bombers when you can send in twenty?  With that many ships, you could have destroyed the Sathanas without the Colossus's help.  I've always dreamed of a scenario like that portrayed in the FS1 animation that plays at the beginning of "The Aftermath."  It shows dozens of Scorpions pouring out of the Lucifer's fighterbays.  Picture 50 ship on 50 ship dogfighting action...pure chaos .

Edit:  Now that I think about it, if you sent in enough bomber wings with fighter cover, you might be able to do something about that uber-Sathanas fleet.  The Sathanes didn't seem to have anything in the way of an escort, i.e. cruisers and corvettes.  Just get a bunch of fighter wings clustered around the jump node to Gamma Draconis and order them to start disarming.  Have the rest of the fleet as backup, so that once a Sathanas is disarmed, they can easily finish it off.  I don't think this tactic could have worked for 80+ Sathanes, but at least it could have put a dent in them.  Of course, this infers that your wingmen have some semblance of intelligence, which we all know they do not .

[Akalabeth Angel]

Edit: Now that I think about it, if you sent in enough bomber wings with fighter cover, you might be able to do something about that uber-Sathanas fleet. The Sathanes didn't seem to have anything in the way of an escort, i.e. cruisers and corvettes. Just get a bunch of fighter wings clustered around the jump node to Gamma Draconis and order them to start disarming. Have the rest of the fleet as backup, so that once a Sathanas is disarmed, they can easily finish it off. I don't think this tactic could have worked for 80+ Sathanes, but at least it could have put a dent in them. Of course, this infers that your wingmen have some semblance of intelligence, which we all know they do not

        It also infers that the Shivans will not launch any fighters of their own, which we know to be false. As each Sathanas should have at least the compliment of the Colossus if the aforementioned FS1 animation is taken into account.

        GTVA launches a thousand fighters from four destroyers and the Shivans launch thirty-thousand fighters from eighty Sathanas. Who do you think is going to win?

[Mongoose]

Actually, if all of those pilots were Alpha 1, the odds might not be so bad .  Plus, there's a limit as to how quickly the Sathanes could launch their fighters.  If the GTVA had enough fighters in the area already, they might be able to stay ahead of the Shivan launches.

[FireCrack]

you have to think, even if the Orion can cary 20 fighter and bomber wings 1) it may not have 20 wings for some reason and 2) not all of the wings will be usefull and 3) sending all the ships to one place leaves the destroyer venerable and other places undefended. It's safe to assume that less than half of the craft on a ship are bombers, it's also safe to assume that a ship isn't going tto send all it's fighters to cover it's bombers, think about it.

An orion will probably have 4+ fighter wings for cover, that leaves around 16 wings, odds are that around 4 of those wings are going to be "not flying" down to 12, and odds are that "deployed fighters" are going to be in several groups, assuming 4 groups that leaves 3 wings per group, mabye one of these missions doesnt need bombers, then mabye it only has 2 wings. These things add up fast.

[InfernoGod]

my version:
fighters/bombers
gunships
cruisers
corvettes
frigates
destroyers
super destroyers
dreadnauts (and yes, it is a type of warship in Sci-Fi stuffs)
carriers
juggernauts
super juggernauts
warships that pwn joo

And what I don't understand is why today, destroyers are weaker than cruisers. You know, it sounds like destroyers were meant to, well, destroy things, while cruisers were meant to, well, cruise around... I like [V]'s idea much better.

[NGTM-1R]

What I've always wanted to know is why we never see them launch their full fighter complement when under attack. Like the Aquitane in the nebula during "Proving Grounds". Imagine if it had recalled its patrols and launched everything had that could fly.

That's probably more then a hundred fighters and bombers flying around out there. Shivans? What Shivans? Moloch-class corvette called Tiamat? What're you talking about? Oh, you mean that stuff we vaped in under twenty seconds.

[Zarax]

In Rise of GCA it will be fixed...
Now the destroyers launches fighters until their bays are empty...

[Kosh]

What I've always wanted to know is why we never see them launch their full fighter complement when under attack

Because Alpha 1 is defending it, so they don't need anymore. Either that or high gas prices.....

[StratComm]

As has been said repeatedly, you can't launch fighters in rapid succession.  It takes time to get them readied and lined up on the launch ramp.  If it takes 15 minutes to prep a fighter for launch, how can you dump everything into a battle that lasts 5?

[Zarax]

Any ship should have at least a minimal complement always ready... Heck, even today's carriers do...
And who said a battle couldn't last for 15 minutes or more?

[StratComm]

They will typically have close to as many ready as they can fit in the launch bay, meaning, maybe 2 or 3 wings.  Destroyers under fire in FS typically do scramble about that many fighters.  As for battle time, how many missions did you play in FS that were more than 15 minutes long?

[Zarax]

Can't remember, but who forbids to make some that long?
That's what modding is for...
And Q2: Why then the enemy (be shivan or NTF) seems to always be capable to launch a nearly unlimited number of ships?

[NGTM-1R]

In a combat zone, it generally behooves you to have several fighters ready for immeditate launch, fully loaded with weapons and fuel, pilots sitting in the cockpits, spotted for launch. That's your ready group, and probably the 3 or 4 wings we see launch in defense of a destroyer under attack are the ready group.

The majority of what's left would be on Alert 5 status (can be launched in five minutes or less; most often less) with full loads of weapons and fuel but the pilots off sleeping or whatever. The name is misleading; generally you can get them off much faster then that, five minutes represents the absolute slowest-case scenario. Then you'd have some on Alert 15 status (being reloaded or refueled, or having minor maintance done, but if needed they can be launched relatively quickly), and finally those which are downgrudged and unfit for flight ops without major maintance.

Depending on just how good the destroyer's deck crew is, you might be able to launch a four-fighter wing every thirty seconds after you've launched the ready group.

In fact, if you consider how a lot of the time they seem to be able to launch a bomber wing the moment somebody sends a cruiser or corvette after them, one might think that they could be launching more fighters, they just don't.

[Zarax]

And i seem to remember there is a mission where a NTF carrier (Feint! Parry! Reposte! maybe?) launched wing after wing of fighter from it's bay...
So we can assume that would be canon too...

[Mongoose]

Originally posted by Zarax
And i seem to remember there is a mission where a NTF carrier (Feint! Parry! Reposte! maybe?) launched wing after wing of fighter from it's bay...
So we can assume that would be canon too...

It wasn't that mission.  Admiral Koth's Orion, the Repulse, launches just one or two wings of Lokis.  I think there may be another mission with multiple launches, though.

[FireCrack]

fighters wouldnt be stored readily armed, warheads for "alert 15" ships would probably be stored in a seperate warhead room while "alert 5" ships would probably not be armed either (remember the wing of thoths in the second last FS1 mission). pilots would'nt be waiting in fighters, probably a nearby waiting room.

[Fergus]

Originally posted by Zarax

And who said a battle couldn't last for 15 minutes or more?

Mwahaha, a cunning plan emerges for a mission.

[Singh]

Originally posted by Fergus


Mwahaha, a cunning plan emerges for a mission.

not if i can finish it first