The Infinity is a very powerful and important ship, indeed. But as in real life, important ships must be protected by smaller ones. Even large combatants must be escorted by lighter ships for increasing combat efficiency.
So, is there an escort fleet for Infinity? In Spartan ops we got to see the Strident frigates that were carried within the ship, but several were destroyed. In FUD there is a huge fleet escorting Infinity, but the fleet is nowhere to be seen later.
The ship has proven to be a very easy target. So I wonder. Why is the Infinity deployed without an escort?
Infinity has an embarked squadron of ten Strident-class heavy frigates, or “sub-vessels,” to provide organic fleet air defense and detached tasking for the commodore. Approximately two squadrons of Autumn-class heavy cruisers and four squadrons of Paris-class heavy frigates have been known to accompany Infinity on various ocassions.
As as you said, a large capital ship like Infinity needs her escorts and many of them, though not at all times or so close-in to the flagship. Sometimes the best defense comes from pushing out your perimeter to project force. It should be noted however that a capital ship’s escort force fluctuates in size, composition, availability, and proximity quite regularly. One day you’ll have three heavy cruisers right at your side and a light frigate the next a few hundred kilometers off starboard.
During the mission to rescue John-117 on Requiem, Captain Del Rio as the task force commodore may not have have seen it necessary to keep his escort squadrons attached for a seemingly mundane task. Of course, his judgment is usually pretty off, but only moderately so in this circumstance. Personally I would have retained them at Installation 03 at a ready posture while I took Infinity to Requiem. Their combined air defense capability would make quick work of the CRS-class light cruisers, Lichs, and Phantoms that assaulted Ivanoff Station.
However, from a developmental standpoint, perhaps they simply didn’t want to model two highly-detailed ships for just a few brief scenes, but mostly because they want to highlight Infinity as a powerful, entirely independent vessel. A lot of what you’ll see Infinity get into in the Escalation comic series is purely for dramatic purpose rather than to create an entirely realistic atmosphere. Otherwise, Jul 'Mdama’s fleet and associated forces would very rarely be as brazen as they are when their small combatants have to stand toe-to-toe against a dozen Treaty-era Human heavy cruisers. Sadly, the best examples you’ll see of realistic fleet forces will be in the novels and short stories, not games.
Just think of it this way. It is a rare sight throughout fiction to see a ship accompanied by a friendly vessel, let alone an escort. I can probably count on just my two hands throughout hundreds of episodes across five Star Trek television series where Enterprise or Voyager were provided an escort in peacetime conditions or in a low-intensity conflict. Galactica, Serenity, Millennium Falcon, and Normandy all sailed through the cosmos on their lonesome so the narrative of their stories could foster a sense of abandonment and uncertainty.
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> Infinity has an embarked squadron of ten Strident-class heavy frigates, or “sub-vessels,” to provide organic fleet air defense and detached tasking for the commodore. Approximately two squadrons of Autumn-class heavy cruisers and four squadrons of Paris-class heavy frigates have been known to accompany Infinity on various ocassions.
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> As as you said, a large capital ship like Infinity needs her escorts and many of them, though not at all times or so close-in to the flagship. Sometimes the best defense comes from pushing out your perimeter to project force. It should be noted however that a capital ship’s escort force fluctuates in size, composition, availability, and proximity quite regularly. One day you’ll have three heavy cruisers right at your side and a light frigate the next a few hundred kilometers off starboard.
>
> During the mission to rescue John-117 on Requiem, Captain Del Rio as the task force commodore may not have have seen it necessary to keep his escort squadrons attached for a seemingly mundane task. Of course, his judgment is usually pretty off, but only moderately so in this circumstance. Personally I would have retained them at Installation 03 at a ready posture while I took Infinity to Requiem. Their combined air defense capability would make quick work of the CRS-class light cruisers, Lichs, and Phantoms that assaulted Ivanoff Station.
>
> However, from a developmental standpoint, perhaps they simply didn’t want to model two highly-detailed ships for just a few brief scenes, but mostly because they want to highlight Infinity as a powerful, entirely independent vessel. A lot of what you’ll see Infinity get into in the Escalation comic series is purely for dramatic purpose rather than to create an entirely realistic atmosphere. Otherwise, Jul 'Mdama’s fleet and associated forces would very rarely be as brazen as they are when their small combatants have to stand toe-to-toe against a dozen Treaty-era Human heavy cruisers. Sadly, the best examples you’ll see of realistic fleet forces will be in the novels and short stories, not games.
>
> Just think of it this way. It is a rare sight throughout fiction to see a ship accompanied by a friendly vessel, let alone an escort. I can probably count on just my two hands throughout hundreds of episodes across five Star Trek television series where Enterprise or Voyager were provided an escort in peacetime conditions or in a low-intensity conflict. Galactica, Serenity, Millennium Falcon, and Normandy all sailed through the cosmos on their lonesome so the narrative of their stories could foster a sense of abandonment and uncertainty.
I’ve been away. Yeah you are right. It serves as a tool for creating a more dramatic scenario; Infinity really appears very powerful by being a very independent ship. As you said, maybe the escorts are not really that close to the ship. I like to imagine that sometimes the ships are too far away to be seen in an establishing shot.
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> Somebody who isn’t doing a very good job.
This. Spartan Ops made it clear that Fireteam Crimson was about all that stood between Jul and tearing the UNSC Bound for Disaster a new one, and from what I’ve seen of Escalations, very little has changed since then.
Somewhere, the Keyes are rolling in what passes for their graves.