I agree with NGTM-1R's vision of the VCs (they should include info FREDders may need to know). The problem here is that many FRED tips could be misenterpreted as useless assumptions.
I also wholeheartedly agree on the objection to the use of vulgarities. I totally dislike barbarian words.
Anyway, you all need to take into account that table entries are not as canon as tech descriptions and certain cutscenes, not to mention weapon alterations made with FRED. The following statements, IMO, should not be removed from the Wiki:
- The GVC Mentu's tech description clearly says that the cruiser has beam cannons at its disposal, but none can be seen in the table entry. The tech description even says that the Mentu was designed for the specific purpose of using beam cannons. This apparent contradiction may be given by the fact that a Mentu cruiser armed with beams, the Yaaru, may have caused balance issues in the mission "Rebels & Renegades". It may be a good idea to change the armament of 2 turrets out of the 4 that (turrets 06 through 09) seem capable of firing beams with SVas Vasudan beams;
- The Iceni has 3 BGreen beams at its disposal, which is the way too much for a ship of that size. It's worth noting that one of the turrets equipped with those beams, turret 08 (port flank), seems too small to fire a beam of that magnitude. turret 16 (starboard flank), which is located in the opposite side, is equipped with Piranha warheads. This oddity may be explained by analizing the mission Rebels & Renegades, during which the Iceni uses its extra power to handle a Mentu-class cruiser, the Yaaru, and a Sobek-class corvette, the Asar. In the mission "Endgame", the Iceni is equipped with SGreen beams, not BGreens, so the damage inflicted to the Colossus is very limited.
- The Shivans are known to have weak primary weapons and the same secondary weapons as the Terrans or Vasudans. Weak primary weapons affect the performance of virtually every single spacecraft in the Shivan arsenal, so it has been assumed that the Shivans use weak primaries for balance issues. Their usage of Terran/Vasudan secondary weapons is far less acceptable;
- The GTD Orion-class destroyer is known to have considerable firepower if compared to the destroyer class that, at the time of FreeSpace 2, is supposed to replace it. According to the table entry, in fact, the Orion has 3 BGreen beams while the Hecate has only one of them. It's woth noting, however, that one of the Orion's beams is mounted on a three-barreled turret which theoretically shouldn't be capable of firing a beam - especially a beam of that magnitude. Additionally, by looking at the Hecate, it can be easily noticed that its beam weapon turrets are very, very big - far bigger, in fact, than those of the Orion. Although it's not plausible to assume that the Hecate should be armed with 5 or so BGreen beams, it may be appropriate to assume that at the beam turret mounted on the rear should have been armed with a BGreen. Again, table oddities can be justified by balance issues - had the Aquitaine had more powerful beams, its encounters with the Moloch-class corvettes Tiamat and Abaddon would have been more favorable to the GTVA without any particular effort by the player and his wings.
Those comments may sound like useless assumptions, but I have the right to voice my opinion and post this. I based that (incomplete, because it serves as example) list on my gaming/FREDding experience.
More in general, table entries should not be considered the most accurate source of canon info, or things wouldn't make sense (GVC Mentu). The game is not the universe, and taking this into account may help. I have personally never played a game in which the differences between the game itself and the universe it was intended to represent/show are nonexistent. In the SW and BSG universes, for example, 1-2 rounds of a primary weapon are enough to take an enemy fighter down. The same principle is not applied to the games based on those sci-fi universes for obvious balance reasons.
FreeSpace paid the price of those differences with modified table entries (balance is extremely important) while other games paid the prince in their own different ways.
