Design of Excalibur.

[Zalenka]

Why is it so poor?

It has a major flaw in the design of its primary weapon and its point defence weapons is nothing compared to that of the Sharlin class cruisers or those aliens with the saucer ships that took out loads of fighters at the same time.

I'd of added an organic hull, a minbari weapons system and the ability to enter an atmosphere.

[P-90_177]

Hmmmm. Not sure about the Point defence systems. You'd think that they'd put some kind of minbari weaponry on there really. Not the Earth Force weapons they seem to have. I always found that a bit strange. Maybe Earth Plasma weaponry has an advantage over Minbari point defences that we don't know about.

As for the rest.......well it's hull armour is based on Vorlon Tech. As is the weaponry. I think when we first see it it is said that the hull can absorb almost all the energy from known weaponry, leaving just the physical impact. Course I'm not sure weather that's better than the armour on the whitestars that actually learns.
Weaponry though is primarily the same beams on the whitestars. Which are incredibly powerful for a start. Couple that with the mega-beam O Death and I think that's a pretty powerful arsenal. It's a shame we never saw it in combat properly with a capital ship that we can compare it to. Like a Omega or even Shadow Vessel. But even then from what we know, other than the point defence system I reckon it's still a near perfect ship so not really seeing the problem. Plus there isn't much need to enter an atmosphere anyway.

[Zalenka]

[QUOTE=P-90_177;8773557]Maybe Earth Plasma weaponry has an advantage over Minbari point defences that we don't know about.

[QUOTE]

remember how effective the minbari weapons were in tn the battle of the line.

Landing on a planet would look cool, that's the only reason I'd want it.

I would also like it to look more like a cross between a Narn and a minbari cruiser, that way it would just look like you wouldn't want to mess with it. The towers look to flimsy to me.

[nx01a]

I like the ship, though not as much as I love my Whitestar. The main gun is based on Vorlon systems. The hull is a mix of Human and Minbari design concepts. The ISA intended to grow Vorlon organic armour over the hull, but never got the time, what with the plague and all.
http://b5tech.com/isa/excalibur/excalibur.html

[nx01a]

I'd of added an organic hull, a minbari weapons system and the ability to enter an atmosphere.

Then we'd have a huge Whitestar. Not a bad thing, mind you.

[Missster.Freeman]

I think that's what the Interstellar Alliance were trying to create in the first place - a Destroyer/Cruiser sized version of the Whitestar. I'm glad they were never covered with Shadow skin. Those modified Omegas sure were ugly! Yuck.

[./freelancer]

The Victory class is described as a Heavy Destroyed, but to me it seems more like a Battleship/Carrier, intended to be escorted by several other ships, which can handle point defence. The way it was used in Crusade (all alone) just seems odd. The fact that it loses all power when firing the main gun strongly suggests that it's not supposed to be alone.

[jds1982]

I dunno I thought the Omega-Xs were pretty sweet looking.

[nx01a]

I second that. Literally the opposite of the Whitestars.

I think that's what the Interstellar Alliance were trying to create in the first place - a Destroyer/Cruiser sized version of the Whitestar. I'm glad they were never covered with Shadow skin. Those modified Omegas sure were ugly! Yuck.

Vorlon organic armour was going to be used on the Victory class, not the Shadow skin. And the Shadow skin is beautiful! Now, if Earth covered the Warlocks in Shadow skin, that would be very sweet.

[Missster.Freeman]

Yeah, blocky and ugly as opposed to sleek and beautiful. Maybe if those spiny bits were trimmed off it'd look better.

That said, if the Excalibur was coated in Shadow skin without the spines, I can imagine it would look good.

[nx01a]

I meant Human/Shadow vs Minbari/Vorlon. Sure, the Omega-X's were bulky but yet beautiful, as opposed to the Whitestars being sleek and beautiful.

[Zalenka]

I've thought about it a bit more and these are the features that I'd like to of seen in the excalibur.

An all round weapon system that resembles that of the Sharlin Battle cruiser.

A secondary weapon system that resemles the main weapons of the Sharlin, but has similarities to the weapons of a vorlon escort. 4 prongs that produce a beam from which the weapon extends.

A holographic battle control room. Where the picture comes up and you can see everything. (but can't control the weapons from the movement of your hands etc)

A busy bridge that requires a lot of people working together. (I'd like to see to a chief of the boat who relates commands to the helm operatives.)

[An-Alteran]

The Victory class is described as a Heavy Destroyed, but to me it seems more like a Battleship/Carrier, intended to be escorted by several other ships, which can handle point defence. The way it was used in Crusade (all alone) just seems odd. The fact that it loses all power when firing the main gun strongly suggests that it's not supposed to be alone.

A Destroyer in the EarthForce fleet is the equivelent of a Battleship/Carrier.

The Warlock Destroyer is the most powerful purely EarthForce warship.

And it can go alone generally.
But I agree it was supposed to be escorted and the plague messed up the plans and stretched them to thin.

[Zalenka]

I was giving some more thought to why I didn't like the excalibur and I think it's that, despite its immense size it's got wasted space. The arms and the weapon just look too flimsy for an all powerful starship.

[nx01a]

Flimsy looking, but I'm sure the materials involved were quite strong. All that flimsy was to make the most powerful guns the younger races have possible.