i think this thread has highlighted a change in attitude towards capships between FS1 and 2.
In FS1 the attitude of the story and mission design was that the loss of a cruiser was a humbling blow and a destroyer was a day to be mourned for the rest of eternity.
FS2 even before the entry of Col and Sath, cruisers are being taken out merrily and the loss shrugged off like a fighter. and most command briefs mention the loss of a destroyer somewhere with no special note.
In FS2, I do recall corvettes and cruisers being knocked off like flies, but destroyers weren't that easy to wave off. I mean, the first time you kill a Ravana, it was treated as a pretty significant event (just ignore the fact that they sent in a handful of fighters/bombers against an Orion equivalent), as was the death of the Repulse. Similarly, in at least one mission, you go to great lengths to keep the Aquitaine alive. Yes, Shivan destroyers do go down at a rate that's bordering on ridiculous when considering the losses of equivalent ships from the GTVA, but that's just to emphasize the GTVA's hubris prior to the Saths showing up. Furthermore, quite a few of the destroyers were lost after the Saths started raping everything, but that's understandable. If you were command, you wouldn't be thinking "Crap, we just lost the Psamtik and Phoenicia. That's a big deal." You'd be thinking "Crap, we're on the verge of extinction. Who cares about chucking about destroyers like meat shields?"
Again, my memory isn't the greatest and it's been a while since I've played the retail campaigns, so this might be wrong.
Also, has anyone tried giving AI infyrnos, but table hacking them so that they can carry a decent amount? When spammed, they're pretty deadly, although they wouldn't come close to the chaos that EMP spamming would cause.
