A thought though....
Concerning the overall design, I see everyone getting really excited over lots of parts of the WC universe that they'd love to see included. However, it does not seem that piling them all together in the same mod is conducive to an emersive experience, let alone coherent game design.
I think it'd be a good idea to pick a time period, find the game dynamics that work within it, and don't stray from it. For instance, focusing on the WC 1 era, find a working paper/rock/scissors dynamic that could exist within the WC1 experience, and work from there. Start simple, maybe, with a carrier focus and some P/R/S between WC1 fighters, and another P/R/S between WC1 cap ships.
Maybe we can elaborate on features later, but trying to mash in lots of time periods and features without regard to how the game works seems like a big muddy mess.
Just a thought.
I agree. True a good start would definately be with WC1 and perhaps including WC2. As metioned above, the Kilrathi War is where most of the great stuff happens anyway. Now I wouldn't say "maybe" a carrier focus. I would say that it is necessary to have a heavy carrier focus. In most of the written material of wing commander (barring later timelines) the presenceof a carrier would make or break an engagement. Most often, fleet strength was not concerned with total number of ships, but measured by the total number of carriers and fighter/bomber strength.
Other, larger ships were of course present and played important roles. The functional purpose of these other ships were varried though. If I recall there were smaller frigate class ships and destroyers that were designed to run cover for carrier class vessels against fighter/bomber and take out other enemy destroyer class vessels. And there were plenty of known troop/material transports and whatnot.
Now with consideration of the game mechanics of Sins, I feel that good use of carrier units would be nearly an absolute requirement for victory. Definately not an end-all ship, but a player should be hard pressed for a victory against another player who uses one. Now thinking of changes to the current carrier I dont think you really need too many (I'll do a little bit of checking and reading later on, and give a better answer). I think the number of fighter/bombers on a maxed out Sins carrier should be about the standard contingent. Bombers, although effective against larger ships already, should be made to be a bit more potent yet a tad bit more vulnerable.
Now to make sure we keep other ship classes useful in a fight. Smaller ships that are very effective at knocking out bombers (maybe not so much against fighters) could be used to provide cover for larger ships. Larger destroyer/cruiser class vessels while somewhat vulnerable to bombers, should be the frontline combatants. Their purpose being to punch through other destroyers/cruisers and take out anti-fighter/bomber ships, creating an opening for bombers. Of course there should be a bit more to it than just that, but overall I think this is one way to tackle the idea.
