Other Wing Commander (WC) fan sites may lazily classify ships into “fighters” and “cap-ships”. Here we've decided to break things finer, as the term “cap-ships” (for “capital” ships) is usually made to span too broad a range of ship sizes, —from tiny, 80-meter long corvettes; to dreadnoughts up to 22 kilometers in length.

But it's not just size that matters; it's the fact that “cap-ships” often include types of ships designed for widely different roles. If you were the sensors officer aboard a carrier, and suddenly announced to the captain “Three kilrathi capships within sensor range!”, the captain would snap at you “what kind of cap-ships?”. And very rightfully so: If it were 3 corvettes, he'd send bombers to deal with them. If it were 3 destroyers, the situation would be a bit more delicate. If it were 3 battlecruisers, it would be very delicate. Not to speak of if it were a mix, like a cruiser, a frigate, and a destroyer, and fighter escorts…

Thus, counting “cap-ships” amounts to adding kiwis and watermelons.

However, this document attempts something more than merely describing WC ship size classes and their roles as they are seen in the games. It is a rather forward-looking attempt to capture the spirit or essence of those classes and their roles, in the hope of seeing better defined implementations in future games and fan mods. Back in the years when the original games were released, PC computing power was laughable compared to today's microprocessors; and Artificial Intelligence (AI) was expensive to compute. Thus, in the original WC games, we see destroyers that behave the same way as cruisers or frigates, for example. In future mods we should expect better role differentiations: Cruisers that sail at the front of a fleet and lead the charge; giving targeting priority to their enemy counterparts; destroyers that keep a distance from the carrier they protect, trying to position themselves (and their “kill zones”) along the likely path of attacking bombers, but that avoid finding themselves within weapons range of the enemy fleet's larger capital ships; etceteras.

It should be noted that improving upon original ship attributes and behaviors is not necessarily anti-canonical, as the WC series novels by William Forstchen and other authors —which are considered by most WC fans as being canonical sources at least as good as the games themselves— often describe battles where ship roles and attributes are better defined than in the original game implementations.

The creators of WC used WW2 navies as the main source of inspiration for thier ship classification, as it's obvious from many of the ship and class names. It is therefore only fitting and prudent to begin with at least a modicum of historical accounting of naval classes, roles and attributes, before trying to second-guess Origin.

But we also wanted to avoid cutting things “too thin”, and therefore, each of our categories includes subcategories and variants, as described below.

These descriptions, however, are more whishful than canonical, in the Wing Commander sense. They are an adaptation of traditional naval roles and categories to space, rather than a strict description of Wing Commander ship size categories and roles. They are intended as a guideline for improving differentiation and enriching tactics in future mods. For the differences, see the notes at the bottom of this page.

Typically 10 to 30 meters long, fighters are small ships designed to fight against similarly small ships or slightly larger ships, such as bombers.

Ligtly armed but fast and long range fighters used mainly for reconaissance.

Interceptors are short range and lightly armored but well armed fighters, mainly for use in fleet defense.

Fighter types whose designs favor speed and maneuverability over armor and weapon strength.

Fighters that feature an even balance between speed, maneuverability, armor and weapon power.

Fighters that have stronger armor and powerful weapons at the expense of speed and maneuverability.

A fighter (usually a heavy fighter) that can be configured for capital ship attack, such as having pylons for carrying torpedoes.

A typical variant applicable to any of the above subclasses is atmospheric flight capabilities.

Another term for “fighter aircraft”.

Cannot operate within an atmosphere. Non-atmospheric fighters have no requirement for wings or aerodynamics, though they may feature nacelles that may resemble wings, to hold maneuvering drives, weapons or sensors.

Fighters that can operate in space or within an atmosphere. They are usually not particularly good in either medium, though perhaps the Excalibur could be considered an exception to this rule. Example: Hurricane dual role escort fighter.

Bombers are typically 20 to 40 meters long, about twice as big as an average fighter, and carry anti-cap-ship torpedoes and/or heavy energy weapons. Bombers are slower and less maneuverable than fighters, and very vulnerable to interceptors during the long procedure of launching and guiding a torpedo. Bombers, therefore, often have one or more turrets for defense against fighters and interceptors; but it is standard practice to have bombers be escorted by fighters, anyhow.

Not seen very often, as a light bomber's role —attacks against small capital ships, such as destroyers— can easily be fulfilled by reconfiguring a heavy fighter/bomber.

Bombers big enough to carry the types of torpedoes that are used against large enemy capital ships, such as carriers.

Same variants apply to bombers as to fighters: Bombers can be space-only, atmospheric only, dual role, ground-to-space, or, conversely, space-to-ground attack.

Unlike the role specificity of the “fighter” and “bomber” categories, the term “corvette” implies no more than a size. Namely, corvettes are ships whose lengths are from about 70 meters to about 200 meters. Roles may vary.

Cutters are corvette-size ships designed for picket and reckon-in-force roles. They tend to be fast, nimble and long range, and may include recycling facilities in order to be able to stay deployed for extended periods.

These are corvette-sized ships designed for carrier escort. Essentially, they serve as mobile turrets that add their firepower to a carrier's own defensive turreted guns. Escort corvettes are slow and heavily armored, and they fly close to the carrier they escort to “take heat” (draw fire away from) it, and still survive; —i.e.: “tough nuts to crack”, that can be a real nuisance if you don't. In Wing Commander, we rarely see escort corvettes, but that may change in the future… .

Typical (WC) lengths in the range of 150 to 300 meters (this is more wishful than canonical). “Frigate” is again a term that denotes nothing more than a size range; but their most common role, historically, has been anti-submarine; though initially they served as convoy escorts. Nowadays frigates continue to be THE size-class of surface ships for anti-submarine warfare, but they are also more and more taking on the role of destroyers; –fleet defense.
Frigates in World War II
In Wing Commander, frigates come in different sizes and their roles are not very specific; but then again, there aren't submarines in space, (except the Tiger Claw [sic], if you watched the darn movie…)
A good starting point for better defining a frigate's role in WC would be “A kind of micro-cruiser, having a good mix of weapons, but just smaller, and designed to operate alone; but would also be useful for guarding convoys of transports, outer perimeter guard for fleets, picket roles, etc). It would feature enhanced sensors and electronics and/or able to launch and recover fighters and/or reconnaissance craft.”

Typical (WC) lengths in the range of 200 to 400 meters. The term “destroyer”, in naval terminology, is a short for “torpedo boat destroyer”. Destroyers are quintessentially big guys that take on little guys. Their role is always fleet defense; —destroyers never operate alone, except perhaps against pirates. Like escort corvettes, they serve as mobile turrets for a carrier fleet; but destroyers feature less armor and more speed than other ship classes, for their size. Destroyers are relatively fast for their size, allowing them to quickly deploy away from the carrier. Their comparatively light armor, however, puts them at a disadvantage in combat against large ships, so their helms will try to avoid any such engagements. Destroyers in World War II The true WC role of a destroyer, in summary, would be to defend a carrier by flying around it, some distance away, trying to block the path of incoming enemy bombers. In WC they'd be blocking the paths of bombers. With their multiple turrets, they'd establish a “kill zone” around themselves. (Wishful, but also canonical: Forstchen speaks of destroyers' “kill zones” in Heart of the Tiger.)

Cruisers are the “big iron”: They are typically almost as large as carriers. They may operate as part of a fleet, but are designed to be able to operate alone. In a hypothetical confrontation with a carrier, a cruiser could be expected to prevail by virtue of endurance and heavy firepower. Such an engagement would not happen in the real world, as carriers always have an escorting fleet. Cruisers --1919-1945 Typically, in WC, cruisers would mount every kind of weaponry: Numerous turrets for defense against fighters and torpedoes, ultra-heavy forward cannons for cap-ship to cap-ship engagements or space-station attack, light missiles, cap-ship torpedos, and ground attack bombs. One typical role of cruisers would be the securing of newly conquered systems: Just as cutters are used as pickets to engage intruders in home turf, cruisers are used in a similar role but within forward areas, where heavier intrusions are expected.

Battlecruisers may look much like cruisers, from the outside. They are similarly big and heavily armed; but there's a fundamental difference: Battlecruisers sacrifice armor for the sake of greater speed. Their designs follow a philosophy of “outgun what you can't outrun; outrun what you can't outgun”. Thus, a battlecruiser would be taking a big chance going against a carrier: It can easily blast a carrier out of space if it manages to come within weapons range of it; but its light armor makes it vulnerable to sustained attacks by smaller craft.
From all the evidence I see, it would seem to me (Monk) that the kilrathi do not have real cruisers. Kilrathi “cruisers” are really misclassified battlecruisers, for the most part. The ways and roles in which they are used attest to it, as well as the fact that they are fast enough to catch up to carriers (Battle of Baka Kar, False Colors), and the fact that they can be so easily taken out by smaller craft.

Carriers are large ships, from about 500 to about 1500 meters in length. They serve as long-range, autonomous transports as well as bases of operation for fighters and bombers; and they are usually the flagship or center piece of a fleet, and fleet command orders are usually issued from their bridges. In WC, unlike in real life, carriers often operate alone. WC invented a new subclass of carriers for this role: The “Strike Carrier”, specifically the Bengal, of which the Tiger's Claw was the foremost representative. The strike carrier Bengal is a hybrid between a carrier and a cruiser. Modern 3D engines should allow fan projects to put carriers in WC (other than the Bengal) back in their traditional role as platforms, rather than fighting ships; and provide them with traditional escorts that would have overwhelmed the polygon pushing capacity of engines of the 90's. Traditionally, carriers need a large number of escort ships, from tenders to cruisers to destroyers and frigates. See Carrier Group Tactics.

Ligt Carriers typically carry arround 50 fighters. They were more common in the pre-war era, though, by late 2660's, the Confederation has lost so many of its newer carriers that they begin to forward-deploy old relics like the Ranger class light carrier.

Escort Carriers came about as a desperate solution in mid 2660's. A number of cargo ships were being constructed, but a severe need for carriers prompted someone to suggest that those cargo ships could be converted to light carriers. Launching, recovery, maintenance and command and control facilities were added in a hurry. These improvised carriers were called “escort” carriers because the initial vision was for them to add their carrying capacity to existing fleets. However, their superior speed was later taken full advantage of, and escort carriers became the center pieces of a new type of mission: Deep penetration strikes targeting supply convoys, shipyards, and other support facilities. Their success nearly brought the kilrathi to a defeat in 2668.

“Fleet Carrier” is just another term for “carrier”. The name only implies “bigger than a light carrier”. Typically they hold upwards of 100 fighters, bombers and other craft; and as the name suggests, they are the center pieces of fleets, which should include other capital ships, such as corvettes, destroyers and one or more frigates. Fleet carriers are lightly armored and armed; and good strategy calls for their never engaging in ship to ship combat.

Strike carriers are also lightly armored, but unlike fleet carriers, are fairly well armed. They may engage another capital ship in direct combat —specially another carrier—, but wouldn't have much of a chance against a well armed and well armored cruiser. One could say that a strike carrier is a cross-breed between a carrier and a battlecruiser.

(Also super-carriers and “mega-carriers” [sic].)
Fleet carries but of large/humongous size.

Not to confuse with Battlecruisers. Battleships were the *really* big iron; designed to fight opposing battleships. Battleships in World War II In WC, we only hear about them in the novel Action Stations, by William Forstchen. Action Stations's timeline is the months leading into the start of the Terran/Kilrathi War, culminating with the attack on McAuliffe. Battleships are becoming obsolete right around this time, due to shield penetrating torpedoes. Personally, I believe Forstchen was trying to retcon the lack of battleships in the games.

“Dreadnought” is a term that simply denotes a “huge ship”. Their designs and roles may vary considerably, from the part-carrier/part-cruiser character of the Confederation Class, to the “huge floating gun” architecture of the Behemoth. Kilrathi dreadnoughts are more often lumbering monsters designed for space-to-ground bombing, and to hopefully draw hopeless fire to themselves. They have guns and turrets in excess, but lack the necessary speed to force confrontation with a fleet.

Transports are non-fighting ships used for transporting personnel or supplies. “Non-fighting” here doesn't imply that they aren't armed or that they never fight; it only means that their intended role is not combative.

Transports specialized for the transport of liquids (usually fuels).

Tankers with the ability to fuel ships in-flight.

Also called “shuttles”. Have the ability to serve meals to their cargo (and show news holos, too).

Large, heavy and crowded personnel transports for ground troops and marines, who supposedly are able to tough it out.

Atmospheric capable, armored shuttles that can deliver marines to a planet's surface.

Space-only, armored shuttles that can deliver marines to an enemy ship or station to be boarded.

Lightweight, unarmed or lightly armed transports that offer more speed than defenses.

Heavyweight transports that feature turrets for defense and better armor.

Heavy transports with additional defenses and armor, to supply front-line, forward fleets. Usually modified corvettes or larger ships.

The creators of Wing Commander probably couldn't tell a destroyer from a frigate from a hole in the ground. Destroyers in Wing Commander are often almost as large and slow as cruisers (which are often too small), and have little or no role differentiation –often operating alone. Cruisers should have ultra-heavy forward guns, for cap-ship to cap-ship battle; while destroyers should only have turrets (of various sizes), and no forward guns; as a destroyer's role is to fight against smaller ships than itself; but in Wing Commander destroyers are not much different from cruisers or frigates, whether in armament or behavior. I (Monk) would like to see these shortcomings addressed in future Wing Commander fan projects. Having ship size categories with distinctive roles, speed, armor and armament designed for those roles, and corresponding AI's that are well defined and complementary, would take the player's experience to a whole new level.

But to summarize, the traditional (poor) implementation of ship size classes in Wing Commander has cruisers that are too easy to defeat, smaller than carriers, and only slightly larger than frigates (which are often too large). Kilrathi cruisers are actually battlecruisers mislabeled. Destroyers possess forward guns, and are tougher and slower than they should be. The only official corvette in the Confederation, in WC1, (the Venture class) is really a cutter. Frigates know no subcategories, in Wing Commander; and if I were to suggest one it would be a “missile frigate” for starters. With fewer guns and turrets, but able to launch great numbers of missiles and torpedoes in short order, they'd be particularly well suited for the role of forward element across jump points: If an enemy fleet was awaiting on the other side, a large cloud of missiles and torpedoes would keep them busy trying to shoot the torpedoes and break missile locks while the rest of the fleet transits the jump point.

This post and the discussion that follows… http://wcjunction.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=3383#3383