A new addition to the guide, this page will thrill you (or maybe not) with the specifications of each of the different ship classes in I-War. Most of this information comes from the DOC files in the game (European owners, look in the C:\Program Files\I-War\psg\resource\text\docs\Ships\ folder for HTML versions of the DOC files, where C: is the letter of the hard disk partition I-War is installed on.). Additional notes have been made under the heading of GUIDE NOTES in each relevant entry.
LENGTH: 26m.
MASS: 650t.
MANOEUVRABILITY: High.
Durability: Low.
Tactical Assessment: No offensive capability.
NOTES: The NSO-Command section serves as the bridge module for both Dreadnaught-class Corvettes and Tariq-class PAT-COMs. The unit can be detached in flight for small excursions.
GUIDE NOTES: You'll notice that, once the Dreadnaught gets double-PBCs (from the mission WEP Advanced II onwards), that you can actually fire a cannon from a detached command section. Judging from With Extreme Predjudice, command modules are also occassionally used for short shuttle flights. Command modules are first seen in the mission Salvage.
VESSEL TYPE: Single-seat fighter craft.
LENGTH: 20.3m.
MASS: 400t.
MANOEUVRABILITY: Extreme.
DURABILITY: Very low.
NOTES: The C-Fighter was developed in an attempt to break the increasing spiral of vessel size and power. Having no shields or capsule-jump capability, this tiny one-man ship devotes some 42% of its mass to its cannon. It uses its manouevrability and turn-rate to get around the shields of the enemy ship.
GUIDE NOTES: C-Fighters are carried into battle by Alabama-class carriers. The Indies have their own version of the C-Fighter (the 'C' stands for Commonwealth, by the way): the S- or Scorpion-Fighter. This is much the same as the C-Fighter, only slightly smaller at 18 metres in length. Note that the DOC files say that the C-Fighter is 18m, I'm using information from the ship indentification chart that came with the game for this bit. C-Fighters have been designated as Blitz-class. C-Fighters can be glimpsed first in A New Force, and S-Fighters in WEP Advanced II, as carried by some sort of modified fuel transporter.
VESSEL TYPE: Gun Boat.
LENGTH: 120m.
MASS: 4870t.
MANOEUVRABILITY: High.
DURABILITY: Medium-low.
TACTICAL ASSESSMENT: Despite having only a single cannon, the PatCom is a most effective warship.
NOTES: The Patrol Combatant is the lighest fully functional ship in the Navy fleet. With a crew of 20, it falls into the gun-boat categort. However, the PatCom is fast and manoeuvrable. They are equipped only with a single upper-side shield array, and so are vulnerable to attacks from below.
GUIDE NOTES: Designated as Tariq-class, PatComs seem to fill up much of the Indie fleet. COSA's black PatComs seem tougher than the normal ones, so one could assume that they are advanced somehow. PatComs are first seen in GateKeeper.
LENGTH: 200m.
MASS: 8500t.
MANOEUVRABILITY: Medium.
DURABILITY: Medium.
TACTICAL ASSESSMENT: A well-balanced and capable warship.
NOTES: The Corvette is the workhorse of the Navy and one of the most common ship types in service. As a vessel it is immensely flexible and can adapt to many roles. Although they are not the most glamorous vessels, they are still regarded fondly by those who serve on them.
GUIDE NOTES: The Dreadnaught-class Corvette is, of course, the ship described in most detail during the game. There are some 794 Corvettes in active service, which means that they constitute just under a third of the Commonwealth's 3,000-strong fleet. If you ignore the training missions, the first Corvette seen is (unsurprisingly) the Dreadnaught in the mission Salvage. It's also the last one you see, but I won't go into that. Corvettes have a crew of 40, plus the four people stationned on the bridge.
LENGTH: 700m.
MASS: 18940t.
MANOEUVRABILITY: Low.
DURABILITY: Medium-high.
TACTICAL ASSESSMENT: Not a combat vessel - but useful in transporting key personnel.
NOTES: This ship is probably the most basic of all vessels in the Commonwealth Navy. It is a powered box, used for transporting a large number of personnel or equipment.
GUIDE NOTES: I don't think you actually see a troop carrier in the game (correct me if I'm wrong on this). I assume that they're only used for transporting personnel between destinations in space, and can not actually land on planet surfaces.
LENGTH: 210m.
MASS: 11280t.
MANOEUVRABILITY: Low.
DURABILITY: Moderate.
TACTICAL ASSESSMENT: The unique design features of this ship have undermined its usefulness as a combat vessel.
NOTES: The LST is the first fully-functional starship capable of atmospheric re-entry and landing. Its usefulness has yet to be proven.
GUIDE NOTES: The LST only appears in the game's hidden missions, The Lander and Midway. During atmospheric entry it needs to retract its displacement arrays, which means that it can neither go into LDS and has no shielding, and is thus vulnerable from attacks. I imagine that the research boffins will look into the LST again, and we can probably expect to see some of them (or descendents of it) in I-War 2. LSTs are Omaha-class, after the first of her type that is seen in the Lander.
LENGTH: 540m.
MASS: 22050t.
MANOEUVRABILITY: Low.
DURABILITY: High.
TACTICAL ASSESSMENT: The Destroyer is suitable for deplotment alone, or as the backbone for attack squadrons.
NOTES: The Destroyer is without doubt the most dangerous warship in the fleet, having both enormous firepower and much of the speed of a lighter ship.
GUIDE NOTES: Destroyers are designated as Bastille-class. From the intro movie, we can deduce that Destroyers are powered by two reactor rings instead of one.
LENGTH: 1000m.
MASS: 44000t.
MANOUEVRABILITY: Very poor.
DURABILITY: High.
NOTES: The fighter carrier is a single-purpose vessel. It exists only to provide jump-cability for the C-fighter ships. It is neither manouevrable nor well armed and therefore should be heavily defended.
GUIDE NOTES: Designated Alabama-class. It's not revealed in the game if there are other fighter carriers than the first prototype Alabama. It may be worth noting, however, that the Alabama-class's fighter-hangar can, when empty, hold a Dreadnaught-class Corvette. The docking procedure, however, is not reccommended.
LENGTH: 1000m.
MASS: 64870t.
MANOUEVRABILITY: Very poor.
DURABILITY: Very high.
NOTES: The cruiser is the largest ship in the fleet and its role is almost always as a command vessel. The size of a space-station, the cruiser is not a fast vessel, and so is rarely used in an offensive role. But its vast firepower and large number of cannons provide a secure zone in a hostile area.
GUIDE NOTES: Simply put, you must be out of your mind if you go into a battle without a Danube-class cruiser backing you up. Missions such as A New Force and Test Pilot might suggest that a cruiser can also be used as a mini-fighter carrier.
LENGTH: 1220m.
MASS: 62220t.
MANOEUVRABILITY: Very poor.
DURABILITY: Moderate.
NOTES: The use of standard form container pods led to the development of this class of cargo transporter.
GUIDE NOTES: A Jeep-class ship, and a very dull one to boot. Not much to say about this, I'm afraid.
LENGTH: 2400m.
MASS: 228900t.
MANOEUVRABILITY: Very poor.
DURABILITY: High.
NOTES: A new class of ultra-large transport has been made possible by out-rigger LDS pods, small detached vessels which extend the range of the LDS field making it possible to shift very large volumes of space.
GUIDE NOTES: Powell-class mega-transporters can easily be spotted due to: a) the little LDS extender pods that look like twinkling stars from a distance and b) the fact that they're about the same size as a small continent. A truly massive spacecraft, and a masterpiece of design. Ugly as hell, though. Theoretically, mega-transporters could also be used for transporting small fleets; I suppose they're too easy to target, though.
LENGTH: 100m.
MASS: 5130t.
MANOEUVRABILITY: Good.
DURABILITY: Low-medium.
NOTES: One of the most ubiquitous vessels in space; the Puffin-class tug is the workhorse for countless mining and deep space operations. Its heritage means that it is both powerful and tough, although it is lacking in acceleration. The Indies frequently retro-fit these ships with cannon to become attack ships.
GUIDE NOTES: Trouble is, of course, that they're very bad attack ships. Cannon fodder.