The Pegasus Class.

[Mafty]

So is there a standard for the Pegasus Class? Like is there one unified design , that other ships can be modified from? Because we see some "Normal" Pegasus class ships with fewer features (like the Gray Phantom ) and some that are more heavily modified (like the Blanc Rival, the Spartan and the Thoroughbred) . The White Base itself having fewer features than its successors makes sense, because it was the first ship of the line. So would the White Base be the standard of all ships, and the others are modified? Or is every ship different?

[MythSearcher]

I just typed the text wall over here: viewtopic.php?p=398771#p398771

My own fan theory is that the first block has engine problems, and the Sub-WB type(that ugly Thoroughbred we see in FG parking next to WB and another called Troy Horse being the same design) was just a fast build modification that didn't take care of that problem and thus stopped development and scrapped for the first block, thus not counted into the main class 7 ships.
Those names where reused for the 2nd block with new engine designs but also used as testbeds to try out new exterior designs. Like the Gray Phantom(and Troy Horse) was a shape more streamlined for atmospheric flight, the (new) Thoroughbred with more engines(4 instead of 2), the Blanc Rival had a different 4 engines orientation, etc.
Then we get the overhaul new design of the 3rd block, Albion. Which took as much new tech and whatever is learnt from the previous testbeds.

But as I said, the mess is just too tangled up and we don't really have a clear official statement(Gundam Officials didn't even try to explain every ship.)

[tHeWasTeDYouTh]

There is no standard ship in the Pegasus line. We know that the White Base has a few other ships that look exactly like it, on the top of my head one of them shows up in Char's Deleted Affair and it is the White Base II. The Pegasus that shows up in 0080 shows up again in the naval review of 0083 and there are two of them. Besides them all other Pegasus class ships are unique ships.

[Mafty]

There's probably different reasons for this. The out of Universe reason is the fact that nobody knew the franchise that would ensue when they made FG, so there wasn't as much technical data and worldbuilding. Let's face it there's been plenty of retcons after FG. So as a result continuity on the OYW has been more in flux, than other time periods, in other words there's a free for all continuity wise on the OYW, and its ships Gundams, and GM's(there's also the fact manga is questionably canon to start with). In Universe there is some continuity with sub classes. According to MythSearcher there the main Peagusus, Sub-Pegasus class, White Base class AND Sub-WB class, needless to say it is confusing.

The popularity of the OYW is also probably why there's actually more continuity with later portions of the franchise. Everyone tries to keep adding more advanced tech, more Gundam's, More Pegasus Class Ships and earlier introduction of mass produced Federation units. Meanwhile later UC not only see much fewer spinoff's , their tech level is higher so adding more units and better tech is less of an issue.

Also as the background tech information increased you can see more continuity in later ship lines. For example the Salamis Kai, Clop and Ra Calium class all have much more consistent continuity (at least partly because the designers were short on time, and decided to reuse the ship designs across decades, which actually fits the Federation well). Ditto the Alexandria, Endra, Musaka, and numerous ships of the Crossbone Vanguard and Zanscare. These are largely less likely to have one off or variable ships and more likely to instead have custom flagships, or just paint the commanders ship a different color.

[MythSearcher]

There's probably different reasons for this. The out of Universe reason is the fact that nobody knew the franchise that would ensue when they made FG, so there wasn't as much technical data and worldbuilding. Let's face it there's been plenty of retcons after FG. So as a result continuity on the OYW has been more in flux, than other time periods, in other words there's a free for all continuity wise on the OYW, and its ships Gundams, and GM's(there's also the fact manga is questionably canon to start with). In Universe there is some continuity with sub classes. According to MythSearcher there the main Peagusus, Sub-Pegasus class, White Base class AND Sub-WB class, needless to say it is confusing.

The popularity of the OYW is also probably why there's actually more continuity with later portions of the franchise. Everyone tries to keep adding more advanced tech, more Gundam's, More Pegasus Class Ships and earlier introduction of mass produced Federation units. Meanwhile later UC not only see much fewer spinoff's , their tech level is higher so adding more units and better tech is less of an issue.

Also as the background tech information increased you can see more continuity in later ship lines. For example the Salamis Kai, Clop and Ra Calium class all have much more consistent continuity (at least partly because the designers were short on time, and decided to reuse the ship designs across decades, which actually fits the Federation well). Ditto the Alexandria, Endra, Musaka, and numerous ships of the Crossbone Vanguard and Zanscare. These are largely less likely to have one off or variable ships and more likely to instead have custom flagships, or just paint the commanders ship a different color.

The reason we get 7 ships in the class is because 0083 claims the Albion to be the 7th ship of the class and the official settings recognises it.
The problem is that there's no official settings about which ships are of the class other than their own individual settings saying they are of the class or even assign them with a number.
And then we get semi-official to basically not really official but kinda like magazine speculations but later got semi-endorsed stuff.

Thus I propose what I said above. The same ships are not neccesarily all Pegasus class. They can well have split off on their own class just because.
And about a week ago when I saw a discussion on WWII Japanese fleet it strenghtens my idea.
Unlike other countries they have kinda a taboo for having more than 3 ships in a class. They will manufacture the 4th and make improvements on it and then call it a new class.(which is not really known till more modern times)
Which the Pegasus having 3 ships per block actually makes sense that way.
Thus each of the second block ships basically kinda split off as their own class.