Capital Ships: Atmosphere capable?

Has it ever been confirmed or denied that the capital ships (Farragut Battlecruiser or Majestic Interdictor) are capable of atmospheric re-entry? I have a sneaking suspicion that the answer is yes, considering normal ships have relatively weak thrusters and would perform rather poorly as CAS craft for ground troops, as opposed to the generally faster and more nimble ship-launched fighters, and what better platform to launch fighters from than a capital ship?
 
Has it ever been confirmed or denied that the capital ships (Farragut Battlecruiser or Majestic Interdictor) are capable of atmospheric re-entry? I have a sneaking suspicion that the answer is yes, considering normal ships have relatively weak thrusters and would perform rather poorly as CAS craft for ground troops, as opposed to the generally faster and more nimble ship-launched fighters, and what better platform to launch fighters from than a capital ship?

Lore-wise, the fighters can be launched from their carrier in orbit, re-enter the atmosphere to engage an intra-atmospheric target or several, then return to orbit and rendezvous with the carrier again... At least there are no Newtonian mechanics preventing such a thing.

Game-mechanics-wise, that's most likely another story entirely. Since there are no atmospheric worlds capable of approach by players or NPC's at present (pending a future game update), we are unlikely to know one way or another for some time.
 
Last edited:
Considering you can fill a Cutter to bursting point, and still hover over the surface of Achenar 3... I won't worry about staying aloft on atmospheric planets.
 
I can't see any reason why they couldn't. With the amount of power available and the relatively low fuel consumption they could easily fly sufficiently slowly to avoid all the heating effects from shockwaves that our current technology has to endure.
 
Thanks for the replies. I hadn't really thought about the fighters being capable of reentry, although, without FSD's, one would assume they'd have to do a full, manual descent, and that takes a while. As for the capital ships themselves, I don't think heating would be the greater issue, but instead the ability to keep a certain attitude relative to the horizon, which depends on the relative power of the thrusters and the aerodynamic capabilities of the ships. The Interdictors may have an advantage here, but the Farraguts would likely need monstrous thrusters to avoid tumbling.
 
I can't see any reason why they couldn't. With the amount of power available and the relatively low fuel consumption they could easily fly sufficiently slowly to avoid all the heating effects from shockwaves that our current technology has to endure.

If their arrival over the barnacles are anything to go by, they will just Jump in to the atmosphere directly, with all the ill effects for unprotected observers that entails.
 
Back
Top Bottom