[Mars]

Exactly, although there's no mention of any classified uses, it could well be GTI had used them previously, the Ursa was designed with a GTI hull.

[tobiwan81]

So you've got: (pre Great War)

Angel scout for recon/scout
Apollo for space superiority
Athena as bomber
Seeing as the Athena is a light/strike bomber there was probably some sort of slower heavier bomber, presumably (from the above info) based on the Apollo. Maybe a 25-35% bigger two-seat Apollo with only 2 guns but bigger missile/bomb bays.

Seems to me also that all the names start with A? :-)

Even if the Apollo served the entire T-V war it seems there would have been some older fighters in use before it and still left for part of the T-V war. But this would be conjecture.

Herc saw service in the T-V War but only the latter parts - it doesnt seem to be there was a heavy fighter before it.

Interceptor? Was the Vulkyrie (can't spell) the first interceptor? Unless the Angel Scout stood in as an interceptor before that - recon planes often do...I am sure the GTi used the Loki as such.

And possibly small numbers of an early Ursa in the hands of SOC.

[aldo_14]

AFAIK the Herc was only introduced in the Great War.

I'm wondering how much the GTA needed interceptors, etc, of course.  The tech descriptions make it sound like the Orion was The Daddy for quite a long period before the Typhon came along, and that would perhaps entail they didn't have a necessity for too many fighter types beyond a generic space-sup type Apollo, and the Angel for scouting.  Particularly as, offhand, the Vasudans best bombers are quite slow in the TV War.  Of course, I guess the Angel could be used in an interceptor type role (perhaps because the Valkyrie or some other interceptor project was way behind schedule?), given that the Loki was designed as a sort of scout but was a front-line fighter for the NTF rebellion.

[Qwer]

Look at FS1 Intro. There are Hercs and Medusas over there. I think they must have been developed earlier.

[Mefustae]

Medusas were referred to as "the staple in any bomber pilot's career", so I doubt they were introduced during Alpha 1's service, more likely they were Missile-boats or simply carriers of smaller bombs superceded by the much more effective Tsunami. Regarding Hercs though, I don't recall seeing one... but I do find this quite odd:



The cruiser, fighter and bomber icons are obvious, but in the bottom left-hand corner of her screen, those two icons look a lot like Hercs, IMO.

Edit: Better picture; those are Herc icons, i'll be damned, prototyping possibly?

[aldo_14]

Easter egg?

[Kosh]

I think T-V war era bombers were kind of weak, the crappiness of the Orion's anti-fighter defenses is a testimony to it.

Then suddenly at the end of FS1, a wing of bombers can cripple, or even destroy a major capital ship. So the new FS2 destroyers (except the Ravana) have greatly improved AF capabilities.

[Wanderer]

Well... atleast a single class of Vasudan bombers were capable of taking down or cripling 'atleast 3' GTD Orions in 2 years period in the pre-Great War era... So i wouldnt call them weak. See for example PVB Amun's tech description. Also there are no mentions in the tech descriptions that Medusa or Hercules wouldnt have been deployed before Shivans attacked.

[aldo_14]

Well... atleast a single class of Vasudan bombers were capable of taking down or cripling 'atleast 3' GTD Orions in 2 years period in the pre-Great War era... So i wouldnt call them weak. See for example PVB Amun's tech description. Also there are no mentions in the tech descriptions that Medusa or Hercules wouldnt have been deployed before Shivans attacked.

No idea how many wings of Amun were used, though.

[Taristin]

You guys try killing an Orion with ML-16/Vasudan light lasers and Fury missiles.

[aldo_14]

You guys try killing an Orion with ML-16/Vasudan light lasers and Fury missiles.

Which explains how over 500 pilots died in Operation Thresher....

[Wanderer]

Why should i stick to those? If you mean the weapons available in the beginning of FS you ought to notice that not all the FS2-era weapons are available or even viewable in tech room when FS2 begins.. In other words there might be earlier - perhaps bit less efficient - bombs existing before tsunamis and harbingers.

[Mars]

Those are all weapons with a (fairly clear, the Harbinger is more of a probably) reference to service to before the Great War, basically all other weapons were developed during the course of Freespace 1. Yeah, those fighters apperantly aren't Hercs, because the Tenderizer Command Breifing says:

I am pleased to announce we have two new weapons to use against the Shivans, the Hercules Heavy Assault Fighter, and the Synaptic cluster bomb.  You may study these in the Tech Room.  They will prove very useful.

[FireCrack]

They could well be prototype hercs, ross 128 was experimenting wiht sheild technology, it wouldnt be a far cry to say it was testing new kinds of fighters.


I always felt the GTA had rather few planets in it's space to start raining harbingers down on them, or even prehaps the will to do so.

[Taristin]

Why should i stick to those? If you mean the weapons available in the beginning of FS you ought to notice that not all the FS2-era weapons are available or even viewable in tech room when FS2 begins.. In other words there might be earlier - perhaps bit less efficient - bombs existing before tsunamis and harbingers.

No one said there weren't. Undoubtedly there were. But having read the tech descriptions of most of the more powerful weapons, they always tended to say that they were too costly to equip. The GTA/PVN economies were downtrodden at best by the point in the war where the shivans arrived. It's probable that the more powerful weapons were available earlier, but cost made it imposssible to arm anything but the best squadrons with heavy lasers and big bombs...

[Hamano]

I think that tweak existing ships in older form is most effective way.
Like below, this is bommer variant of Apollo.

[aldo_14]

Those are all weapons with a (fairly clear, the Harbinger is more of a probably) reference to service to before the Great War, basically all other weapons were developed during the course of Freespace 1. Yeah, those fighters apperantly aren't Hercs, because the Tenderizer Command Breifing says:

I am pleased to announce we have two new weapons to use against the Shivans, the Hercules Heavy Assault Fighter, and the Synaptic cluster bomb.  You may study these in the Tech Room.  They will prove very useful.

To be fair, that quote could simply mean it is new to the player and ship, not to the GTVA as a whole.

However, the high regard the Herc (in particular) is held in, especially it's FS2 tech description, to me indicates it didn't see service anywhere until the Great War.  It would surely have been mentioned beforehand, as it's one of the best fighters the GTA had and would doubltess have been highly effective if involved in the TV War.

[karajorma]

I think that tweak existing ships in older form is most effective way.
Like below, this is bommer variant of Apollo.

Nice to see you back with us again Hamano Always like seeing your designs

[Nuclear1]

I think that tweak existing ships in older form is most effective way.
Like below, this is bommer variant of Apollo.
http://www.lares.dti.ne.jp/~hamano/TEMP/AVB_catalog_00_01_640.jpg

Or the bayonet version, which was highly effective during the early years of the Terran-Vasudan War up until the Vasudan development of long-range weapons.

[TrashMan]

Is that a warhead below? Or is it a engine+gun pod?