GTF Apollo

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The GTF Apollo

The GTF Apollo was the mainstay Terran fighter used during the Great War. It was the easiest fighter to use, so novice pilots found themselves first in the seat of the Apollo. After the development of the GTF Ulysses, the Apollo was destined to "collect dust" (FreeSpace Reference Bible).

Description:

FS1 Tech Room Description

The GTF Apollo is the most common GTA fighter. It is highly versatile and can perform multiple roles, including space superiority, interception and assault.

Developer Notes

Original space superiority of the GTA fleet. Highly versatile, often doubles as assault type. Low weapon compatibility.

The FS Reference Bible and opening cutscene of FS1 swap the hardpoint locations of the primary and secondary weapons, and classify it as a two-person bomber.

Concept Art

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  This is the actual concept that the in-game model seems to be based off of, but all three are supposedly other concepts made for the Apollo.

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Command Brief Animation

Performance:

Statistics

Name	GTF Apollo
Type	Space Superiority
Manufacturer	Han-Ronald Corp.
Maneuverability	High (Fair)
Max Velocity	60 - 82 ms-1
Max Afterburner Velocity	140 ms-1
Armor	Light (Medium)
Hitpoints	240 pts
Shields	350 pts
Length	21 m
Weaponry
Primary weapons
1st bank	2 guns
2nd bank	2 guns
Secondary weapons
1st bank capacity	40
2nd bank capacity	40
Countermeasures
Countermeasure capacity	25 countermeasures

Armaments

The GTF Apollo in the FSPort MediaVPs.

The "Lt. Ash" variant from the FSPort MediaVPs, based on the FS1 Intro cutscene.

• Gun Mounts

FreeSpace 1
Bank	Guns	Standard Loadout
1st	2	Avenger
2nd	2	ML-16 Laser
Compatible primaries
ML-16 Laser, Disruptor, Avenger, Flail, Prometheus, Leech Cannon, S-Breaker

• Missile Banks

FreeSpace 1
Bank	Capacity	Standard Loadout
1st	40	MX-50
2nd	40	MX-50
Compatible secondaries
MX-50, D-Missile, Fury, Hornet, Interceptor, Cluster Bomb, EM Pulse

Modding Resources

Retail:

$POF File: fighter04.pof

Textures: fighter04-01a(/b/c), Thruster01

FSPort MediaVPs 3.6.13:

$POF File: fighter04.pof

Textures: fighter04-01( /b), Glass, Tercoc01

Veteran Comments

Please read the Veteran Comments policy before editing this section.

This ship is vastly underrated. There is a general consensus among the FS2 community that the Apollo is worthless once you meet the Shivans. That's not true. It is highly maneuverable, in fact more agile than the later GTF Myrmidon, and although it is on the slow side, it is relatively durable and its guns are very well-placed. It can't carry the Phoenix V or Banshee, but it does carry the Prometheus, so weapons compatibility isn't as bad as many people think. The Apollo is best when you need a jack-of-all trades: it has better missile capacity and armor than the Valkyrie and Ulysses and more maneuverability and speed than a Herc. It's tied with the Herc as my favorite ship.

The Apollo is truly the jack of all trades. Anything a Hercules, Valkyrie, or Ulysses can do, an Apollo can do, though probably not as competently. The adaptability of the Apollo is its most potent weapon, and it performs far better in rapidly changing tactical situations than any of its more specialized brethren. It also fills the gaps between more specialized ships. If the mission calls for heavy firepower but the Hercules isn't quick enough, dogfighting but the Ulysses isn't tough enough, or interception but the Valkyrie doesn't pack enough ordnance, then the Apollo will take over the task and serve well.

Also, if you notice at how high the attrition rate is for the Valkyrie (especially if you don't have shields or access to the Banshee), put your wingmen in Apollo fighters and they will survive for at least half a minute to a minute longer. Almost clearly the "everyman" ship, wise usage of ETS will let the Apollo do any fighter-based role. Early on in FS1, with the ML-16 Laser and no shields, the Apollo can have most of its energy on engines, making it surprisingly swift while not feeding much power to guns.

Its secondary banks are badly placed for the use of Furies except at very short range, as the missile racks are right near the edges of the ship's sides.

If you look at the tables, you can also see that the Apollo turns faster than the Valkyrie, it does do barrel rolls at a slower rate.

Downloads

• The Lieutenant Ash Apollo v1.1, a reskin for the FSPort without MediaVPs
• The HTL Apollo, with a table file for FreeSpace 2