Table Inconsistencies

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Even though default table entries are considered reliable sources of canonical information, there are several inconsistencies between a given ship's tech description and its in-mission representation, Since Volition has never officially retconned these discrepancies, only assumptions can be drawn to explain them. Those differences may be justified by the need of balancing missions in the main FreeSpace 2 campaign, since modifying a table entry probably seemed much more convenient than changing weapon configurations in FRED. Changes made using FRED can be noticed in later appeareances of a given warship, like the Iceni—therefore, the "default" weapon configuration usually is the one that fits in the first appeareances.

Notable examples

Ships

Performance of the GTB Artemis D.H.

According to the tech description, the Artemis D.H. is faster and more maneuverable than the standard GTB Artemis. The table entries of those two bombers, however, are basically the same: the only noticeable difference is given by the different textures.

Possible purpose of the GTCv Deimos

According to the Deimos's tech description, the purpose of the corvette is replacing the cruiser classes Fenris and Leviathan as "the foundation of future Terran fleets." The Aeolus is not mentioned at all because its production stopped early and only 24 warships of that class were produced, meaning that it's far less common (not to mention the Aeolus cruisers sided with the NTF which have been lost during the rebellion) than Fenris and Leviathan cruisers. The tech description leads to assume that, unlike the Vasudans (who developed the Mentu), Terrans would no longer make use of cruisers in their fleets.

Firepower of the GTD Orion

It is widely known that, according to weapon configurations, the Orion class of destroyers is more heavily armed than the Hecate. The Orion's most powerful weapons, in fact, are 3 BGreen beams (compared to the sole beam of that kind mounted on the Hecate). One of them, however, is fired by a three-barelled turret which, theoretically, shouldn't be able to fire a beam of that magnitude.

Hitpoints of the GTD Hecate

The Hecate's number of hitpoints is the same as that of the Orion, 100,000. The Vasudan Hatshepsut, however, has 140,000 hitpoints (20,000 more hitpoints than its predecessor, the Typhon). According to the Hecate's table entry, however, the destroyer is more heavily armored than the Orion and therefore should have had a higher number of hitpoints (comparable, if not higher, to that of the Hatshepsut). It is unclear why the Hecate's hitpoints haven't been changed according to the warship's tech description. It's possible that altering the hitpoints may have made missions like Proving Grounds and Argonautica easier, so Volition decided to use the same hitpoints as the Orion without having to make substantial changes to the missions.

Firepower of the NTF Iceni

The Iceni is armed with a total of 3 BGreen beam weapons, one of which is fired by a very small turret (which, in theory, shouldn't be able to fire a beam of that magnitude) that, giving the warship's symmetrical turret placements, should have been armed with Piranhas. In Rebels & Renegades, the Iceni uses its beam cannons to eliminate the Vasudan warships Yaaru and Asar with ease, since no other Neo-Terran Front units in the area were capable of inflicting a comparable amount of damage to those warships. It's worth noting that the Iceni was armed with SGreen beams in Endgame: it has been assumed that the Iceni was quickly recharging its subspace drives to jump to the nebula and therefore had to divert energy from weapon systems to the subspace drive.

Possible additional turrets of the GTSG Mjolnir

According to the Mjolnir's tech description, the advanced sentry gun is armed with a variety of weapons that go well beyond the single anti-warship beam cannon seen in the game: according to the tech description, that Mjolnir is equipped with two anti-spacecraft beam cannons and three missile batteries. It's not known why all weapons other than the anti-warship beam are not in the table, as the model file itself doesn't even have the required gun placements and submodels.

Designation of the PVFR Ma'at

Unlike any other old Vasudan asset that was in service at the time of the Great War, the Ma'at kept the old "PVFR" designation in FreeSpace 2. This did not happen to other ship and spacecraft classes, such as the GVF Seth, the GVT Isis, and the GVFr Satis.

Armament of the GVC Mentu

Although no anti-warship beam cannons appear in the Mentu's table entry, its tech description clearly says that the cruiser has been designed for the specific purpose of using that new kind of weaponry.

Weapons

Shivan armaments

The Shivans' primary weapons are much weaker than their Terran and Vasudan counterparts, possibly for balance purposes. The fact that the Shivans use the same secondary weapons used by Terrans and Vasudans, however, is far harder to explain: there have been several unofficial attempts to provide the Shivans with specific secondaries (recent MediaVPs, Inferno, the "Shivans" mod), and we know for sure that they don't make use of Terran/Vasudan warheads in the FreeSpace universe. In the FreeSpace 2 intro cutscene, for example, a Manticore fires a missile of obvious Shivan origins on a Hercules.

Vasudan turrets

Excluding beam weapons, Vasudan ships don't have any race-specific weapons: they make use of Terran weapons (such as the Terran Turret and the Terran Huge Turret). Both the GVG Anuket and the GVC Mentu have a turret equipped with the Subach HL-7 instead of the Mekhu HL-7, which is said to be its Vasudan equivalent.