Capital ship
From Encyclopedia Hiigara
A Capital ship is a spacecraft longer than 100 meters equipped with its own propulsion.
The term Capital Ship has two major meanings. The Capital Ship are units with propulsion systems larger than a corvetteSSource: Homeworld: Cataclysm manual
page 103 as an example where capital ship term
is used to describe also Carrier, a super capital ship , and Capital Ship are a class of Frigate-sized unitsSSource: Homeworld Historical and Technical Briefing
page 38 , including Destroyers during the Homeworld 2 Era as wellSSource: Homeworld 2 Manual
page 47 .
Contents |
[edit] Capital Ship class
Capital Ships prior to the Homeworld 2 Era were units ranging from 100 to 200 meters, commonly named Frigates. These ships generally were much more powerful than strike crafts but had very limited maneuverability and speed, making them vulnerable to evasive maneuvers. Frigates during this era could also, in small groups, go toe on toe with much larger ships, such as Qwaar-Jet-class heavy cruisers.
During the Cataclysm Era, strike craft acquired anti-capital ship weapons and able to take on frigates relatively easily, even without resorting to evasive tactics. As a result, capital ships became less specialized and began focusing on being able to destroy both strike craft and other capital ships with equal ease.
By the Vaygr War, the purpose of capital ships had been redefined. A group of frigates were no longer significantly more powerful than a squadron of bombers and still had a considerable lack of maneuverability. Tactics which had been favored during the Homeworld War involving frigates on the front lines were discarded and replaced by tactics that used frigates in more cautious manners, and in sightly larger groups. Additionally destroyers, previously Super Capital Ships, become classified as regular Capital Ships and used more commonly in regular battles.
[edit] Generic Capital Ships
Capital ships were all units with propulsion larger than Strike Crafts, which includes:
- Capital Ship class, including frigates and later on also destroyers
- Super Capital Ships, including Destroyers till Homeworld 2 Era, Carriers, Cruisers, Battlecruisers and Dreadnaughts.
- Mothership Class, including Motherships, Flagships and (mobile) Shipyards
- Other mobile ships larger than strike craft, such as Ghost Ship or Headshot Asteroid
