New ships for SoSE 2: Corvettes and Destroyers

Well, I've beaten Freespace 2 campaign again last week (it's such a great game) and I thought that adding more diversity to ship classes would perhaps make things more interesting.


Of course, in order to include these 2 types of ships, lots of balancing would be needed, since these are supposed to be biggers than cruisers, but smaller than capital ships. Perhaps making capital ships even more massive, more powerful and expensive so you only own a couple per game (I'm talking SP since in MP you don't have much time to build many capitals) would balance things up.

 

Whadda ya guys think?

38,184 views 16 replies
Reply #1 Top

Aren't destroyers smaller than cruisers?

Reply #2 Top

Quoting Shunmaha, reply 1
Aren't destroyers smaller than cruisers?
End of Shunmaha's quote

Destroyers are smaller than cruisers, but bigger than frigates and corvettes. I honestly see no purpose of adding corvettes, but a destroyer unit (classified as a frigate) might be a decent idea.

Reply #3 Top

During design phase, it might have been possible to have low end frigates level up through battle experience to corvettes or destroyers. One or the other. Hard now.

Reply #4 Top

Quoting Shunmaha, reply 1
Aren't destroyers smaller than cruisers?
End of Shunmaha's quote

 

hmm I think you're right, Freespace 2 got me all mixed up.

Reply #5 Top

correctly AFAIK it is something like this:

corvetes, frigates, destroyers, cruisers, battlecruisers, battleships

Reply #6 Top

Probably a stupid question but what exactly is a corvette's purpose?  Is it some sort of escort ship?

Reply #7 Top

well since i play homeworld when im not playing sins you could say a corvette is a bit bigger then a fighter and of course more heavily armed (in homeworld they circle and fire around an enemy kind of like a helicopter)

ah sorry forgot to answer your question

yes a corvette would be something like an escort ship

Reply #8 Top

This whole thing about cruisers and destroyers is quite interesting and confusing....as far i remember, destroyers were smaller than cruisers...but then Freespace 2 biggest ships were destroyers....babylon 5 - omega class destroyer was bigger than Hyperion cĂ´ass cruiser...and finally i am not sure about this, but it seems to me that in modern navies destroyers are second biggest ships after aircraft carriers....

wonder why?

Reply #9 Top

I searched a bit on the subject (wikipedia) and I saw that cruisers and destroyers are approx. of the same size while corvettes are smaller ships.

What would be interesting IMO is to had a 3rd tier ship, ala battlecruiser. They are not as big as capital ships, but they're still a real threat against a few frigates.

Reply #10 Top

I just hope there's a few new ship designs in the sequel if there is one.  Entrenchment was great for the star bases, but I usually play with teams locked and the last expansion was pretty much unnecessary for me.

Reply #11 Top

completely agree, this is what has always been missing from sins. Destroyers and Battlecruisers need to compliment the larger heroe ships. We need to get to know the smaller capital ships also. But their really are none to speak of.

Problem is I think the smaller ships are supposed to actually do this now and be destroyers and battlecruisers. They just don't look big enough to be those ships though and don't act like capital ships. They all act and look like corvettes or support ships with a single main armament up until the heroe ships are built.

I have always wanted to have a proper fleet. But the Kodiak and others like it have not looked of felt in any way shape or form like anything other than heavier support vessels. Remember that in most fleets that have ever been the flagship may have been one of 50 or more capital ships all the same size. Think of Jutland. The largest capital ships are never too much larger than the others. An example of this is the flagships in old roman or rennaisance galley fighting.... the flagships were massive, but they were also complimented by many others approaching their size. The most they would have been would be twice the size of the larger standard line of battle ships.

Reply #12 Top

The problem with adding new ships is what will be their role in the fleet. Currently everyship role is filled by frigates and cruisers. And IMHO, those 2 terms were picked to simplify the building UI. Honestly you could call then what ever you want.

Heck LRF act like destroyers. HC act like Battlecruisers. etc etc.

Reply #13 Top

Quoting zalesak, reply 5
correctly AFAIK it is something like this:

corvetes, frigates, destroyers, cruisers, battlecruisers, battleships
End of zalesak's quote

It's actually-

corvettes->destroyers->frigates->cruisers->battlecruisers->battleships->dreadnoughts

Generally a modern day "destroyer" is more akin to a frigate.

For a video game, a great way to delineate destroyers from frigates would be to have them have equal firepower, but the destroyer is cheaper/less tanky/has less endurance (if there's a logistics system of some sort)/is smaller than a Frigate.

Reply #15 Top

but it seems to me that in modern navies destroyers are second biggest ships after aircraft carriers....
End of quote

Battleships are the second biggest ships.  Frigates are actually the smallest and are the real world navy's escort ship. Destroyers are also small and are escort ships.  Cruisers are  between Destroyers and Battleships.  they don't have a corvette class.\

http://www.nvr.navy.mil/class.htm

 

Reply #16 Top

Quoting zalesak, reply 14
hm, my classification is based on DW's Honorwerse so could be true..

but i did some research  and it seams DD > FR

http://everything2.com/title/Differentiating+between+frigates%252C+destroyers+and+cruisers

i will stick to DW's classification, as he is a history buff, did design wargames and i like his books. And actually based on every instance i saw FRs and DDs, DDs were > FRs
End of zalesak's quote

But originally the destroyer was actually inferior to a frigate.

Historically speaking, frigates were ships that were sent wherever a battleship wasn't warranted. Destroyers (originally Torpedo Boat Destroyers) only came into existence with the widespread usage of torpedoes and torpedo boats, which could easily sink a battleship. A destroyer acted as the battleship's escort, popping any torpedo boats that got too close, while the battleship protected the destroyer against larger threats and did the bulk of the ship-to-ship work.