I'm going to record more Empire at War gameplay tonight, make sure to subscribe to the second channel! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-F1ckB9zKI0s.html
EckhartsLadder i would suggest you install some mods (yodenmod 2017, RaW, Thrawns Revenge, Alliance, etc...). Vanilla is nice and all, but you can‘t deny that having the Eclipse in your fleet is pretty badass :)
Well I think the reason why the CR-90 has just Turbolasers is because it was never meant to serve as a anti-starfighter role. The rebel-alliance allready has superiority in terms of fighters. They used this heavily armed and very fast Corvettes to perform quick suprise-attacks on big targets like shipyards or even stardestroyers. They also used them to break through blockades, which is the reason they are also called Blockade-Runners.
The_.Jam._Man Definetly not. Tie Fighters are maybe a bit faster and manouverable, but they lack the Firepower of an x-wing (2 Lasers against 4 and some Proton Torpedos). And most important the Tie has no schields at all, so a single hit can destroy it, while x-wings have very powerful shields for their size. And last but not least the X-wing can travel through hyperspace.
@@mitthrawnuruodo1503 - I agree with you, not only are the Alliance fighters superior on individual terms but arriving already deployed en mass from hyper-space allows instant superiority in numbers of *deployed* fighters. Even with Ties on patrol the great majority of Imperial fighters are bottle-necked inside their carriers at the beginning of the engagement. Only in a pitched battle, like at Endor, where the Imperial forces know battle is immanent could they hope to deploy their fighters en mass, gaining *temporary* numerical superiority.
If we're looking for an anti-starfighter armament in a corvette and light laser cannons, shouldn't we maybe evaluate the Hammerhead Corvette for the alliance instead of the CR-90?
I might be incorrect but I think those were mainly cargo ships that were refitted with light weapons. We don't see them do much shooting. It's more of a transport ship that has some offensive capabilities in my opinion but I could obviously be wrong.
@@zanderhandler129 no. The Hammerhead cruiser from the old republic is a cruiser. The Sphyrna-class Corvette usually called Hammerhead corvette due to its design is a completely different ship
There are quite a bit of grenades like thermal imploder and the sonic imploder and much more in legends the yuuzhan vong had used a snap bug which was like a flash grenade
I remember seeing the CR-90 being listed as a blockade runner, which makes the turbo lasers, a much better choice for taking down orbital defense platforms while depending on a fighter screen to keep the TIEs at bay
Man the empire had tons of underutilized corvettes. The Tartan, The Carrack Crusier, The Raider and more. I kind of think that the Raider was an upgrade over the Tartan/Carrack crusier which were used earlier in the empires reign.
Patrick Cox The Carrack-class was a 350 meter long light cruiser though. Also, while putting 20 lasercannons on it is possible and has been done by the Empire a lot in the Expanded Universe, it's main configuration consisted of 10 Turbolasers and 20 Ion Cannons.
1. Can you do a video on mandlorian military ?? What ships they used, military tactics, their influence, etc ?? 2. Life for the common civilian under war 3. Talk about groups or clans like the pirates.
The Crusader-class corvette was a vessel of Mandalorian design and make, and it (and its sister classes, such as the Keldabe-class battleship) go to show how far in leaps and bounds the Mandalorians were ahead of the rest of the galaxy in tactical sense and technology even as far as the Galactic Civil War.
Those turbolasers are probably for patrolling against smugglers, pirates, armed transports, etc. Stuff that has better shields than a fighter but still needs a bit of speed to catch up with.
Yeah, I think corvettes are more useful in solo missions away from fleets and fighters. I agree that the CR90s heavy armament is probably and extremely effective pirate deterrent. Frigates are support ships in fleets, not corvettes.
That clears up my confusion. I didn't realize this ranking is based on how they would contribute in a fleet engagement, but like you mentioned you probably want something bigger for that role. I guess the rebels don't have any better options. Either way the context wasn't explained in the video or I just missed that part. The Doge is being confusing today!
Correct! Especially in WWII, Frigates and even some Cruiser classes were used as anti-air defense while the battleships duked it out with the big guns and the carriers did their thing with fighters and bombers. Corvettes filled a support role, but not an anti-air role; mainly used for anti-submarine warfare, and to harass the bigger ships on the field.
AgentFrosty Translating these roles into the space warfare of Star Wars can get a bit difficult though, mainly because submarines in WW1 and 2 were mainly used for either commerce raiding or (rarely) destroying single ships that didn't have the torpedoes/bombs to counter them. There are no submarines in space (unless you count stealth ships, but those can't shoot and be invisible at the same time; see the literal Stealth Ship from TCW and the TIE-Phantoms) and the role of small(ish), fast heavy hitters in SW is filled by bombers and superiority fighters. So, in a way, Corvettes are also "anti-submarine" in that there is no real distinction between "air"-craft and submersibles in Star Wars as far as space warfare is concerned.
I was a little surprised at your choice for the Empire's corvette. Why didn't you choose the Tartan Cruiser from the Empire At War games? I always saw that thing as the Imperial counter to the Rebel Blockade Runner, and I really hate that ship because it has a tendency to wipe out a LOT of my Rebel Fighters. So I always keep my fighters back until those Tartan Cruisers are all gone.
I suspect it has to do with looking cool. The Tartan class is not as visually interesting as the Raider class, which defiantly looks menacing and like an Imperial design. But yeah, always good to clear out those pesky cruisers before the fighters move in...
schoolterrorist What exactly does the term “point defense” mean? I keep hearing it used in Eckhart’s videos, but I’m still not quite certain what it means.
@Gabriel Drake Point defense is the use of dedicated rapid fire, fast tracking weaponry to take down fighters and missiles. Point defense weapons tend to be too low firepower to work against other warships, but are precise enough and fast firing enough to take on things like a rapidly maneuvering fighter or incoming missile barrage, something a heavy weapon, such as a turbolaser, cannot do effectively. The Empire is particularly bad at this, as evidenced by the slow firing, slow tracking turbo lasers defending the Death Star. If the Empire invested in proper point defense weapons, those would've been much smaller laser cannons like the ones on the Millennium Falcon, and a whole lot more of them. If you want to know about some real world point defense systems, try looking up the Phalanx CIWS (Close In Weapons System)
The Munificent isn’t a frigate. It’s labeled as a frigate because of Republic limits on military shipbuilding, do they had to call it a frigate when it’s really more of a destroyer.
what do you mean? the Zaan consortium did not make ships but bought them from Hutts and Mandal motors most of these ships are not even his. it's just rich man buying a army...
Loved this episode! Especially because you had Zann's navy's corvette! That has to be the most bada$$ looking corvette there is. Keep up the outstanding work!
I say the rebel gun boat(the second corvette that the rebels have in Star wars Empire at War i forget the name) over the CR90 due to it can by pass imperial capital ship shielding with it's torpedoes
Well, the passing by enemy shielding is an Empire at War thing. It wouldn’t really work that well in a real scenario, especially considering that proton torpedoes aren’t that great at tracking.
@@a.morphous66 sorry for the late reply, but I think the OP meant Concussion Missiles instead, even though both kind of weapon do ignore shields in EAW. Man, I bet having a Corellian Gunship filled with Proton Torpedoes would be OP, now wouldn't-- THAT'S RIGHT, MON CALAMARI FRIGATE, BABY! FEATURING 4 PROTON TORPEDOES LAUNCHERS, IT FIRES 200% MORE BULLET PER BULLET.
One thing I disagree with Eck here is that a Corvette needs to be anti-fighter vessel. Honestly I believe that it's like a fighter, you can have a bomber armed against capital ships or space superiority fighters or interceptors which fight other fighters and other small ships. For example NONE of these ships except Raider are very versatile because they either have only laser cannons (Consular and Crusader) or only turbolasers (CR-90). The exact thing with support ship is to be able to support other ships, which is why they should either be versatile or you need a couple specialised variants. Look at the Homeworld 2 for example. Hiigarans there have 2 types of corvettes, the regular Gunship and the Pulse Gunship. First one was an anti-fighter unit and the other was anti-corvette and maybe even anti-frigate one. Same with Frigates of which there were 4 types. Elite:Dangerous on the other hand has ships which are extremely versatile as for example Federal Corvette (look it up :3 It looks awesome) can be armed with loads and LOADS of different weapon types, from lasers (3 types of them), multicannons (basically rapid-fire guns which resemble miniguns), cannons, plasma accelerators, rockets, torpedoes and so on and so forth, which allows it to be used in a variety of roles EVEN as a passenger ship :| I don't think the Rebels needed much of anti-fighter unit rather than an anti-capital one, since the Empire has used ISDs most of the time, while against TIEs they could just use their own X-Wings and Interceptors.
Even wwii corvette were abysmal at fighter screans and mostly for patrol. Its only when you get to tye DE platforms where it becomes acceptable and the CL level where it became useful.
It would make no sense for the rebels to turn their corvettes into picket ships. They have much better starfighters than the Empire plus the Nebulon B which is plentiful and has 12 laser cannons and multiple missile turrets. They don't have a good way besides bombers to apply pressure and deal with capital ships, so they outfit their corvettes with an aggressive turbo laser set-up. That makes sense.
In regards to the consular class having turbolasers instead of laser cannons my opinion is that it's fine. You can really have two different types of corvettes, one that's good against small fighters and one thats good against similarly sized vessels i.e. other corvettes. The consular is a corvette killer which is perfectly fine imo. Modern militaries like to have multi-role aircraft and ships but specialized versions have their advantages. Pair up a consular with any of the other 3 corvettes and you have a good little patrol group. The consular can serve as heavy fire support for the other corvette basically and that's awesome. Just look at Star Citizen and it's two corvettes, same deal one is anti-fighter focused while the other is equipped with torpedoes and heavy turret perfect for killing other corvettes and even frigates/destroyers
Sniper .93c sure it's definetly multi-role which is really good in any vehicle but does it do both as effectively? That's always the issue with multi-role platforms, you sacrifice some ability for the versatility. Because of that versatility though I think I'd say the raider is the best corvette
jirl Seidl ya someone else who knows what that ship is, also where did you first see it, i first saw it in star wars intergim mod or sins of a solor empire.
Your confusing the roles of a corvette and a picket ship. Picket ships are used for anti star fighter and corvette are used to swarm large capital ships. Corvette are supposed to deal out good damage and use superior speed and maneuverability to avoid enemy fire. Look at how the cr90s are used by the rebels and the consulars are used by the republic. An anti starfighter ship like the crusader and the raider are pickets if you look into the legends you will find dozens of examples of laser cannon only armed ships those are used against fighters like the lancers and the enforcers.
Ecky gets too caught up in the raw stats - which imo in both fantasy and in reality will get you both surprised, then killed - in that order. You need the right tool - for the right role - in the right war. Stats alone are misleading, they're nothing without context.
person of the internet. GUIDE ME. i had the game years ago and palyed and then recently got it again and playing and its FUN! but the mods are a tad confusing and I don't quite know what i am doing there. what would you suggest?
Wind Sage Dragon Awakening of the Rebellion/AotR like SemiProParrot99 said, Thrawn's Revenge, Republic at War and Clone Wars 4.0 are some very good mods. There's also "Star Wars Empire at War: Remake" which has really good graphics and polishes a lot of the base game instead of completely replacing everything like the other mods I mentioned do, but it doesn't feature GC's as to my knowledge and the aforementioned graphics, while astonishing, also can slow down your game quite a bit, even if you have a good computer. If you're looking for utter insanity (using SSD's on the ground to give you an idea) and/or less well known Star Wars factions, I'd recommend using Yoden Mod. *Edit* : make sure you install only one mod at a time though.
Philipp Obitz on steam you can view a mods menu in settings to select which one you want to play. I do agree with your mod list however one I really Love is revenge of the mandalorians
Which faction has the best frigates for republic the acclamator, the rebels nebulan b or Assault frigate, C.i.s munificent , empire arquintens. Just my suggestions ecks can’t wait for more eaw videos on your second channel and keep up the great work on this channel too.
coming up on infra-red I don't think Eckhartsladder has any knowledge of the Replicators But I think I know a weapon that can destroy replicator ships, The Death Star
In my older "Star Wars Incredible Cross Sections" book, the Tantive IV CR-90 only had the two turbolaser turrets for main guns. The other four "turrets" are heavy laser cannons, and those are mounted on large lifeboat escape pods. They could be operated without detaching the lifeboats though.
Could you do a video explaining the different classes of ships. Like the difference between cruisers corvettes dreadnauts destroyers etc. if you already have just ignore this and I’ll find it eventually. Keep up the good work
MC90 Star Cruiser vs Nebula-class Star Destroyer. Vindication-class light battleship vs Venator-class Star Destroyer. Covenant CPV-class heavy destroyer vs MC80 Liberty type Star Cruiser. Yuuzhan Vong Miid ro'ik warship vs Imperial I-class Star Destroyer. The Providence-class carrier/destroyer vs MC80 Home One type Star Cruiser. Bulwark Mark III-class battlecruiser vs Resurgent-class Battlecruiser. UNSC Autumn-class heavy cruiser vs Imperial II-class Star Destroyer. Dreadnought-class Heavy Cruiser vs Acclamator II-class assault ship.
Bruce Jedi Lee When talking about the Bulwark-class Battlecruiser, you have to specify which one: There's the Bulwark Mark 1 used by the Seperatists in the coreworlds around Foreost, there's a Mk. II in the galactic civil war, and then there is the Bulwark Mk III used during the Yuuzhan Vong invasion. I'm just pointing that out because it'd be a shame if Ekhart did this comparison and would give the Resurgent a clear win because "the technology is just so far ahead" that everything else won't matter because he picked the CIS version.
From what I could tell from the clone wars, the consular class frigate was used to attack the separatist capital ships, as its turbolasers did a lot of damage and its high speed meant it could evade the seperatist fire
Base corvettes in Most Sci-fi Universes typically take on a purely raiding role when not accompanying a fleet, the tactic of most Sci-fi "Empires" not actively gathering for a large battle seems to be to scatter singular or packs of Corvettes through an enemy's territory to attack mines, stations, listening outpost, or even gang up and wolf pack larger lone capitol ships that may be patrolling an area. Likely you are attracted to the almost starfighter like qualities, while wanting some protection from the typical one shot deaths that starfighters seem to go through, and the most loose regulations that typically accompany the command of a corvette.
Personally I prefer the versatility of a Cruiser, preferably a cruiser playing host to a fighter and bomber compliment, though depending on the universe, that may not be possible for what that universe considers a cruiser sized vessel.
i love destroyers... but not the destroyers you see in star wars, those are closer to what most universes would consider cruisers. i love destroyers which are small to mid-sized, fast, multi-role warships with a heavy armament designed to engage a variety of threats ranging from fighters to huge battleships. their relatively small size and high speed gives them the speed and sensor profile of an effective long range scout, but are still large enough to make long range scouting runs and possess enough firepower to defend themself. a destroyer's heavy battery of point defense weapons (machine guns, autocannons or light laser cannons) allows them to defend convoys (or larger warships) from fighters or missiles. their moderately powerful, but often fast firing main gun turrets (combined with often exceptional speed and maneuverability for their size) allows them to hunt down and destroy smaller ships such as corvettes and frigates, and to put the pressure on larger enemy warships if a sufficient number of destroyers are present. a destroyer's torpedo/ missile armament allows them to deal a powerful blow to ships several times their size, and makes them a threat to even the largest enemy warships. destroyers are great because they can do anything and everything. they are fast enough to scout or hunt down smaller enemy scouts, equipped with enough defensive armament to defend friendly ships, and are well armed enough to participate in huge battles and legitimately threaten much larger ships. destroyers can be anything from the badass underdog to the unyielding sheepdog to the aggressive wolfpack depending on what is called of them at the time.
Richard Mc Enteggart yes that’s very true but I do believe that the Venator’s shields could offer a longer holding time I think yes the Epoch would win but the Venator could put up a fight if it could get through the titanium-A-plating from a constant barrage or if it could get a shot in the hanger of the Epoch. I do believe that the Venator is outclassed and would probably lose
XD Venator while one of my favorite star wars ships (purely cosmetics) would get it's ass handed to it, because UNSC fighters would mop the floor with any Star wars fighters, the standard was the broadsword and it had 110mm miniguns and lots and lots of rockets.
Don't think that would be the case Thyre first of all, the Broadsword's Minigun lacks range and accuracy (While they can shred a starfighter if close enough due of the fact it's a slug thrower (thus can penetrate energy shields) the further it gets from it the more useless this weapon becomes as it make it easier to avoid by maneuvering and also due the fact it is a minigun, the longer it fires, the more inaccurate it becomes, not to mention it have's limited ammo) if you compare to lasers and the rockets will barely pack a punch compared to Proton Torpedoes, although it depends of the fighter it's pit against, if it is V-19 Torrent, The broadsword wins (due to the fact the Torrent's Heavy blaster cannons can't penetrate in a few shots and require to be closer to make it effective which can bring it to the minigun's effective range and the rockets don't lock-on as fast as the Broadsword's, for such reason they were phased-out for the Clone Z-95 Headhunter and the ARC-170 as the Clone Wars progressed); if it is the Y-wing then the Broadsword will run with some problems as an Ion Cannon Barrage will surely disable the Broadsword's shields and if it manages to lock it's torpedoes and didn't manage to avoid, the Broadsword's destroyed as it normally fire 2 at a time and that would be more than enough to break the shield and the engine (and with it the entire ship); This can also happen with the ARC-170 but also a pilot might have a hard time lining the minigun to be effective due to the fact that the Rear gunner can still shoot back, also you'll need to take in consideration that is the most armored starfighter the republic have to offer making it hard to destroy, and it's heavy laser cannons can decimate the Broadsword in a couple of volleys
+alpha34098, sorry I only started reading your comment but *Thyre first of all, the Broadsword's Minigun lacks range and accuracy* that is wrong as they operate way beyond the range of even turbolasers in star wars and they are extremely accurate. And the rockets pack way more of a punch than proton torpedos (ignore the numbers and look at feats because star wars numbers are almost all BS.) And the ion cannon would do next to nothing to the broadsword because they have countermeasures against that because all covie weapons are ionized to make EMP's. And uhh no star wars fighter will ever and I repeat ever be able to get into their effective weapons range before the broadsword lights em up and the UNSC utilizes basic AI on the broadsword to help with tracking so they would not be able to avoid it and the broadsword has bean shown to take heavy damage on the scale of a medium turbolaser for a while.
Odds are stacked pretty heavily against Revan there. The chunk of the old republic that Revan took over, even with the Star Forge, does not have anywhere near the resources or available man power that the Galactic Empire does
this is basically the only channel I watch on RU-vid. I love all the in-detail stuff. In my opinion the empire is really stupid In their fleet philosophy, how the only ships the rebellion have are fighters but the Empire focuses on all big-guns like Imperial-Class Star Destroyer
The original Raider source suggests that it often runs a mix of laser cannons and ion cannons and that it usually brings hyper-capable support fighters with it. I don't know if either of those things would play into the rankings (ion cannons might give it an edge in some situations), but certainly it wins on aesthetics.
Which faction has the best Light Cruiser? Ex the Republic Arquitens Class, etc. I know the CIS, Rebels, and Imperials have one too, but I don't know the names (The edit was to add examples)
I would definitely pick the Raider Class Corvette. It represents what the Empire should have done with their Imperial-II Class Star Destroyers. Turbolasers AND Laser cannons
One of the things I love about his poles is you can tell what the general fanbase watches or consumes the most in SW content, if there are clone wars things featured they are most likely going to win the pole and if it's in a mainstream game like BF2 it wins XD though that aside amazing video as always
Hello Eck. I recently started playing Battlefront II, and am loving it. Actually, I recently got a PS4 and got back into console gaming, and though I did this just for SW:BF2, I am surprised at the other free games available to play. One in particular, DREADNOUGHT, I wish they would make a Star Wars variant of for flying and fighting with capital ships.
Not a fan of including the Zann Consortium, they're just a random faction invented for a game. Also I disagree the corvette is just there to defend against fighters. Most capital ships have their own point defense weapons as well. The ships have different sizes mainly because of cost and availability, but this doesn't mean there can't be anti-ship focused corvettes or point defense focused larger ships.
The cr90 is often referred to as a "rebel blockade runner", which means the ship would often come up against a blockade with Imp1s & 2s and/or Vic1s &2s in blockade throughout a rebel system. The tactic here would be to give it the gas and use those turbos to give the SD that's standing in the way a black eye as you make road-runner noises and prep for hyperspace
VF-1s Valkyrie variable fighter from SDF Macross (not Robotech) vs the Zeta plus Gundam. Thunderbolt starfury from Babylon 5 vs Sabre from Halo reach. YF-30 Chronos from Macross 30 vs the Gaia Gear Alpha from Gundam Gaia Gear.
probs clones in first place. First Order in second place. Empire in third place. Rebels in last. (Didn't count separatists cause they were droids so they didn't have training)
+beast ICY, UNSC had better training than some parts of the Imperium of man but if you do bring them into this you have to specificy what planet and what regiment XD and what kind of troop but overall the Forerunner from halo take the cake because to be their special forces you have to change your entire body for it, be born for it, spend millions of years training for it, and then be lucky enough to be noticed among the quintillions of others.
Thanks for the video, Eck! I've been asking for a while but I doubt it'll ever get answered; Unicron (Transformers franchise) VS The Death Star (your choice between first or second) OR Unicron (Transformers franchise) VS five large Reapers (Mass Effect franchise) I get the feeling that somebody very important mixed up laser cannons and turbolasers in the Consular's lore/technical documents, and nobody tried to correct them. I mean, a set of fixed, forward facing turbolasers with numerous laser cannon turrets makes far more sense than the canon layout.
A great video. I loved you including the Zahn ship in here as its my fav corvette. What about comparing factions star destroyers? Zahn Vs Empire Vs Remnent Vs First Order?
I´m not surprised that you chose the Zann Consortuim, it fields a Mandalorian design after all. But about the "best corvette", my choice would be the Raider, mostly because it seemed to have two pros the others lack: 1. missile launcher! Nothing better against incoming bombers 2. from the looks of it i think it is the smallest target due to it´s sleek design.
I'd agree with your assessment of the CR90 though I can understand why the ship was configured the way it was. In a conventional combat role your proposed modifications would make the CR90 shine as a fighter screen in a fully fleshed out battle-group. However, the Rebellion relied on guerrilla warfare so it would make sense to have faster smaller ships armed with weapons that punch above the ships weight class. Also have to mention that the Rebellion didn't have the same capital ship backbone that the empire had, and the loss of a single large ship was pretty costly for the alliance.
I'm happy the Zann Consortium is getting some spot light I loved empire at war and when forces of corruption came out they became my favorite faction, "RELEASE THE BUZZ DROIDS!!" "NEED A REALLY BIG GUN!?" Lol
If it was me, I would have the counselor cruiser at #4, CR-90 at #3, raider at #2 and crusader at #1. The "Crusader" is my absolute favorite cruiser, of course, I would add a few more heavy weapons to it to give it that, much more, over powered defense. Perhaps add a turret for a mass drive cannon, to help increase it's combat flexibility. I wonder what kind of illegal modifications could this ship take, if I was a bounty Hunter?
Keep it up Ecks! Tru fans will continue watching I'm sure, I'm guessing TLJ hype got a lot of eyes on your videos and that's why the views have fallen off. I absolutely love your videos, I don't think I can ever get enough star wars knowledge, so keep going for ppl like me, who truly cherish your videos!
I would argue that the turbolases of the Counsellor refit is in a really strange position. The CIS could field a lot of fighters, where the turbolasers aren‘t helpful but the CIS also fields a lot of Munificent frigates where the Counsellor class can be efficient. I feel like they would need either two types of the Counsellor or change some of the turbolasers to laser cannons
The Raider/Corvus has the additional flexibility/capacity of having a hangar for at least 2, possibly maybe 4 starfighters, which is greatly beneficial in any role
I believe the turbolasers on the CR90 are just really strong point defense lasers. It should be second place, or at least well ahead of the Consular-class.
I think the original intent for the Raider’s weapons (based on the x-wing game it came from) was 6 dual ion canons and ordinance tubes. That would definitely change its effectiveness in what it does in a fleet.
You should do a vs. video between the High Charity defense fleet and Snoke's fleet in The Last Jedi. You could probably even directly pit High Charity vs Snoke's capital ship.
I would like to point out that the Tantive IV/Corrillian Corvette/Rebel Blockade Runner was originally only that, a blockade runner: go in, do some damage, drop supplies on the planet being blockaded, the book it, doing any damage that they could going in and out. They weren't originally designed to take out fighters, but, as mentioned in the video, parts could easily be swapped out to fit the occasion. I still agree with the ranking, but the Blockade Runners were not originally a Corvette in the terms of fighter screening. There is another Corrillian ship that was made (can't remember the name, but it can be found in Forces of corruption, and maybe in the first EAW game) that actually was designed specifically for fighter screening.
Crusader sounds like one of those Mary Sue ships that gets introduced to make a faction interesting to people. And when you have such great fighters to oppose the enemy, and lack heavy ships in large numbers, turbolaser armed corvettes makes complete sense.
