Originally posted by pygmypiranha
So where was the MIDWAY's battle group throughout the bulk of WCP? Through the whole game the thing was doing END RUNS into Kilrathi territory and trying to run away from the new Alien threat.
Midway's battle group wasn't ready yet - remember, this was a shakedown cruise. It wasn't meant to go into battle - which is why it was missing the Vampires and Devastators of the Wolfpack squadron... those had to be sent to us, once it was clear we needed them, and were going on the offensive.
Otherwise, Blair wouldn't have been onboard to get captured.
The fact of the matter is this - Midway is a big target, but she's also just one target, with a limited number of vulnerable points. WCP capship combat requires you take out several key points to disable the ship's control and manuvering capabilities; shields at this point are good enough to make the old-fashioned 'full ship kill' of previous Wing Commander games improbable. Remember, we didn't need to target any specific sections before WCP - we just had to deliver enough torpedoes to kill the enemy ship.
Now, in Prophecy, we have to kill specific subsystems and targets - Engines and Bridge. It still takes a few moments to get around to these targets with maneuvering speed in a single fighter, and she's got enough turrets and fighters to make hitting these targets a problem - you can't just launch a torpedo from any old angle and blow the ship open anymore. You have to hit those two specific targets from very close range, lest the torpedo get hit by defensive turret fire.
With this sort of requirement for anticapship operations, the 'big target' is suddenly a better choice for a fleet than five or six targets... five or six more vulnerable targets. It's a lot easier to have BARCAP around the main targets of engine and bridge, even if it means you may lose the capabilities of the science ship and marine transport the Midway represents should you screw up.
In peacetime, the Midway is the best platform you could buy. In wartime, it's a valuable asset because it can do research on the fly without waiting for a science division base or ship somewhere to figure out what targets to aim for. They're onboard, they're integrated, and they can even use the onboard facilities to modify your weapons to be more effective.