Did UNSC Frigates SUCK? - Halo Lore Explained

Were UNSC Frigates bad? Did they seriously hurt humanity's chances during the Human-Covenant War? We'll continue our look at the lore of Halo as we prepare for Halo Infinite! All that and more on today's video!

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[owenparris]

I don't think they were bad, at least not at first. Using Frigates worked against other human ships but against the Covenant, yeah, they had a rough time. That being said, their wolfpack tactics and being deployed as a force multiplier/extra firepower alongside other ships likely helped, even if it was just a bit.
And they all look cool,

[piercepayumo]

"This is UNSC Savannah. Our wings may be clipped, but we got your back."

[shaneboardwell]

Love how half the space of the frigate is taken up by the Mac gun. Literally a space gun with engines.

[enoughothis]

The Humans were definitely on the backfoot in the Earth-Covenant war. The UNSC Navy was particularly outclassed. Until the launch of the Infinity, there was really nothing that could come close to Covenant capital ships.

[BravoHalcyon]

I agree on the point that Frigates shouldn't have been used in a Destroyer's role, but I think that was covered in the lore. In books about the early human covenant war (Impossible Life of Cole, Cole Protocol), destroyers were the main frontline ship seen in engagments, and frigates were presumable in the backlines. But due to the immense losses suffered by the UNSC, we can assume many of the ships that saw combat didn't make it back, thus by the battle of Earth, that is why the Home Fleet used the frigates they had left and a handful of Marathon cruisers they held in reserve.
Also when Covenant weapons can one-shot even Marathon Heavy cruisers (as seen in the battle of Earth) I suppose it would be wise to build cheaper, smaller ships based around dodging shots before they connect

[IAsimov]

Something you must also keep in mind is that the UNSC needed to outproduce the Covenant with the little technology and fewer resources they had. Even shipyards would need time and money in order to train them to build new ship types. Frigates by themselves are weak against Covenant vessels, and only effective against other humans. But, given how much a single marathon cruiser cost, and how easily the later could be destroyed all the same, the UNSC figured out it was better to have a swarm of cheap vessels, rather than expensive ones that could be destroyed and sink even more money and resources.

Halo: The Fall of reach, and the expanded universe naval lore that followed it, were heavily inspired by the United States' ventures into the Age of Sail. Historically, frigates were produced at ridiculous numbers akin to Halo, and yet there were never enough of them. Building bigger ships, while tempting, was always a risky endeavor given how easily could they be destroyed.

And when those ships have no shields, the UNSC's best and only hope is to drown the enemy in numbers, and produce far more ships than what the Covenant can field. Once the UNSC *finally* managed to research enough into developing shields and advanced weaponry from Covenant and Forerunner tech, it's only then when we see the new ships come in and take on Covenant ships without trouble.

[Ninjewdi]

On the bridge location critique - as valid as that is, I remember at least one Elite admiring the courage and honor of human commanders showing their faces in space battles while simultaneously lamenting that Covenant ships hid their bridge away in a central location. Not much of a comfort, but anything that fosters feelings aside from malice and disgust has to be worth something.

[izumishion]

One small nitpick I'm gonna pull out of this video Ecks, is that you keep referencing the ships as if they were designed during the Covenant war. All three ships class predate the Covenant war. They were built and designed to fight the Insurrection who use small ships no bigger than the frigates themselves with enough maneuverability to dodge MAC gun fire should the Insurrection get their hands on a larger ship.
Just a small nitpick I picked up during the video. Still pretty good.
Edit: Having just rewatched the video, another point I'm gonna have to disagree on is taking the Halberd Destroyer over the Frigates. Sure the destroyers are just a little bit smaller, maybe faster, more heavily armored and armed but that comes at the cost of fighter defense. When we factor in that most Covenant ships carried fighters that could dish out alot of damage to a UNSC ship, and the Insurrection would be using smaller ships to attack, the Halberd becomes a big fat target.

[goldenhedgehog]

"That is a knock against the UNSC frigate. There's no covenant ship, literally none, larger than a dropship this thing has a chance of beating in single combat." He says while showing active gameplay of a Paris class having to restrict it's weapon usage to not gut a covenant corvette with a MAC or archer missiles.

[antinoble]

You have to give respect to the men and woman of the UNSC Navy who still joined to operate these ships knowing full well their chances of survival in space combat was slim to none.

[darkbooger]

The UNSC didn't really design any of their ships with fighting the Covenant in mind, they had more urgent things to worry about like the insurrection that was causing chaos in both inner and outer colonies. If we were putting these vessels up against other human vessels then I think that any frigate class would do just fine, however against the Covenant they would be outclassed nearly every time regardless of the crew at the helm. However, unlike most ships designed by the UNSC many of the frigates like Forward Unto Dawn and In Amber Clad could operate in atmosphere with experimental anti-gravity capabilities which is what made them useful for delivering ground troops and providing fire support as something of a mobile base of operations decked with artillery, missiles, and machine guns. I agree with your assessment, they were really put into a situation they were not designed for during the Human Covenant War.

[ethnobotanyboy]

The exposed bridge was actually one of Key's main complaints about the pillar of autumn. "While the view was spectacular, keys thought, he was not thrilled with how exposed the bridge was. He didn't need one stray shot taking out his entire bridge crew" -The Fall of Reach

[nicostrabac]

On the placement of the bridge. One detail I love In the novels (maybe first strike?) Is either chief or Cortana notices the ingenuity of covenant design housing the main bridge in the centre of the ship

[rc]

I love the designs if we can't have Venators and Hammerhead Corvettes in our future then UNSC is the next best thing.

[overclocked]

I'm pretty sure they were actually pretty good. A small fleet of them could hold their own. As long as their a Paris class since the Charon class and stalwart class were not as heavily armed or armored.

[toby]

Ok my opinion, no, they operated well, but again with many UNSC ships, the Covenant was far more advanced, I honestly believe the new Frigates with the forerunner and covenant tech would operate better, while the ones on Reach and Earth were not only outclassed when alone, but also didn’t have enough energy projectile defense and heavy guns besides the main cannon.

[kethtemplar]

"For a brick... He flew pretty gooood"
*rolls eyes with a smile*

[kostakatsoulis]

You know, one thing I think needs pointing out is that I'm pretty sure the only reason humanity managed to hold out for 30 years was because the Covenant didn't actually know where their planets were, so they had to find them. If the Covies had gotten a detailed map of human space when they took Harvest, the war would've been over in a couple years at most, maybe even months.

[TheBenghaziRabbit]

I love the Frigate.

Ive molded the Paris and Charon into a custom class on Space Engineers. Took 1200 hours of work but the “Promise of Dawn” is out and about.

[irishijo]

The thing I like about UNSC frigs js that they have a slim head on profile, or a relatively slim one, which enables them to use their MAC guns while maintaining some level of cover, something you can see in setting like Battletech with the Marauder and Bushwacker mechs. Catch them from any other angle and theyll be in some hot water, but head on they stand a chance