Talk:Cruiser/Legends

A while back, another fan threw me out a couple of quotes on cruisers from the old WEG Heir to the Empire sourcebook: By my reading of that, "cruiser" as a generic military term during the Galactic Civil War refers to all heavily-armed warships over 400m. The designation has evolved over time, and there are exceptions to the rule - notably the tendancy to call all Star Destroyers "Star Destroyers" and the classification of the 350m Carrack as a cruiser (as well as the proliferation of civilian and police "cruisers", which is ignored here). The only exceptions I can think of immediately, the Assault Frigate and Headquarters Frigate, are themselves a modified Dreadnaught Cruiser and a Mon Cal Star Cruiser. Obviously, that's not necesssarily the only definition of "crusier", but it does seem to be a reasonably orthodox one. I'd suggest something like this: I'll leave someone else to make the actual edits, though, since I seem to annoy VT-16 (whos created this page) no matter how hard I try not to: see here and here... --McEwok 14:24, 7 Sep 2005 (UTC)
 * A specific sub-division of the classification combat starship is that of cruiser. Cruisers were once the backbone of the Old Republic Fleet. The original designation was for the largest class of ships in service, and as a general guideline, they were equipped with heavy weapons, tractor beam projectors and at least one squadron of starfighters. Now, as the Imperial Star Destroyers completely outclass the cruisers, the definition has been loosened to accommodate any combat-oriented ship over 400 meters long and emphasizing heavy weaponry over starfighters (Star Destroyers technically fit within this definition, but due to their enormous firepower, they are considered their own sub-category). Still, some cruisers are quite large, and many types fill important roles in both the Imperial Fleet and the New Republic.
 * An old, yet reliable ship finding its way back into the Imperial Fleet is the Carrack-class Light Cruiser. The vessel is among the smallest ships classified as a cruiser (in fact, it only falls into the classification due to its high proportion of weaponry compared to its size). Its armament is formidable enough to give it a chance when engaging larger vessels, although its primary mission is to handle smaller capital ships such as corvettes.
 * According to one influential classification system introduced duiring the Galactic Civil War period, a broad "cruiser" designation referred to all large combat warships designed primarily as heavy weapons platforms rather than starfighter carriers. The lower size-limit was fixed at 400m long, apparently with no upper cap. This rule allowed some exceptions - most notably, the seperate "Star Destroyer" sub-category and the inclusion of some smaller ships like the 350m "Carrack''-class light cruiser, designed to overpower pickets; but if these are born in mind, the system remains intelligible: apparently contradictory terms such as "Assault Frigate" and "Headquarters Frigate" certainly existed, but they were applied to ships built on what were unarguably cruiser hulls.