GTVA Colossus ship type debate

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There is no explicit evidence in FreeSpace canon about the ship type of the GTVA Colossus.

Ambiguous evidence in canon

Warship

In-game dialog simply calls the Colossus a warship. Warship is used as a generic term in FreeSpace to designate all combat-capable ships cruiser size and above. In the second stage of The Great Hunt's mission briefing, even a Rakshasa is simply called a "warship."

TVA battle ship of massive proportions

A block of text in the Colossus cutscene reads: "TVA battle ship of massive proportions. " link There are a number of inconsistencies between confirmed canon information and the FreeSpace cutscenes. The Colossus cutscene itself is not in accordance with, for example, the size and armament of the in-game Colossus. The introductory cutscene of FreeSpace 2 also potrays the SD Lucifer with its beam cannons misplaced. An out-of-universe explanation for this is that the cutscenes were made in a separated studio, and was not overseen by Volition.

Fan suggestions

Juggernaut

In a forum thread at Hard Light Productions, fans have suggested the juggernaut designation. 58 votes were cast on juggernaut, with superdestroyer being second with 16 votes. The community seems to agree that the juggernaut designation would be fitting for the Colossus, because it is the Terran equivalent of the Shivan juggernaut SJ Sathanas. The Sathanas class is explicitly called a juggernaut, so logic would dictate that a warship that is on par with it in effectiveness should also be a juggernaut.

Superdestroyer

Superdestroyer is used for the SD Lucifer to distinguish it from other destroyers in FreeSpace 1. The Colossus may be distinguished from other destroyers in FreeSpace 2 in such a way. However, designating the Colossus a superdestroyer would imply that it is on par with the SD Lucifer. It's hard to determine factually, because the Lucifer is given two SReds instead of Shivan Super Lasers in FreeSpace 2, which makes a Lucifer-class vessel's canon armament 2 SReds at the time of FreeSpace 2.

Super capital ship

The Colossus is given the -supercap flag in its ships.tbl entry. It is the same flag that is used for the Sathanas, which is explicitly referred to as a juggernaut in game, and the Lucifer that is designated as a superdestroyer.