How many WC torpedos does it take to down a capship?

[Ignorant_Boy]

I was wondering about the relative firepower of a Wing Commander torpedo. I've heard some conflicting numbers, and find it hard to swallow that two or three can take down a supercarrier like the Big V. Can anyone help out an ignorant newbie?

[Slartibartfast]

The first time I completed WC2, after a very heated dogfight with Mr. Cat, I went for the station/carrier/whatever I was supposed to destroy. Guess what: the only system I had damaged was the sensors so no missile lock for me

The next time I managed to win the fight unscathed, I think it took about 2 torpedoes to kill the bigass vessel. (I find it very very stupid that my ship had nearly a dozen torpedoes, talk about overkill)

[Alyeska]

In WC2 it takes aproximately 2 torpedoes to kill any capitalship. Though larger vesels probably take more. In Prophecy it requires killing the bridge AND engines to cripple a ship. Thats one torpedo apeace, or 2 light torpedoes apeace.

[Bob McDob]

Yeah, what he said.

(In Fleet Action the Concordia takes three torpedo hits and is barely operational, while the Hakagas take four direct hits, and are badly damaged, but operational).

In POF the Lexington gets taken out of action by a single near-miss.

[Ignorant_Boy]

Ok, thanks for the answers.
So, about 2-3 for a normal capship and 4-5 for a "supership" like the Hagaka or Versuvius?
Isn't this kinda underbalanced in favor of the bombers though? A WC2 Broadsword carries 3 or 4 torps, giving a single bomber (provided escort) the capability to take out a large capship and the capability to seriously cripple the supercarriers.
By comparision, a modern F/A-18 can carry 2 Harpoon missiles, I think, which is not enough to seriousily threaten a supercarrier.They will reduce their effectiveness but not sink it.

[consequences]

Doesn't it vary at least a little based on the difficulty level?(once again game mechanics screw up analysis)

[Alyeska]

Ok, thanks for the answers.
So, about 2-3 for a normal capship and 4-5 for a "supership" like the Hagaka or Versuvius?
Isn't this kinda underbalanced in favor of the bombers though? A WC2 Broadsword carries 3 or 4 torps, giving a single bomber (provided escort) the capability to take out a large capship and the capability to seriously cripple the supercarriers.
By comparision, a modern F/A-18 can carry 2 Harpoon missiles, I think, which is not enough to seriousily threaten a supercarrier.They will reduce their effectiveness but not sink it.

Super ships actually take even more abuse. It takes flights of bombers to take them out because their armor is so insanely thick its impossible to get through. Then suddenly the Confed got a new armor and was able to armor ALL of their capships equal to or better then the Vesuvius. So tactics changed again. Instead of trying to blow up capital ships the idea was to hit them at their weakest point, the engines, shield generators, and bridge.

[Bob McDob]

All right, I was just watching the WC Academy episode Chain of Command ... and the Ralari in it took three direct torpedo hits (while shooting down around four others) while still staying intact. This seems to confirm that torpedoes in 2654 were much less powerful than later models (which explains how the Tiger's Claw in the WCM was able to survive something like three torpedo hits with only a 40% shield failure).