: I think science fiction is easier to forgive because a lot of it isn't real.
: The General Lee was a real car and it is trivial to point out the
: difference. The Pillar of Autumn isn't real, and there is no singular good
: reference to base its stats off of. Do we go with The Fall of Reach which
: was very quickly written, and includes many facts that are either highly
: questionable or completely retconed by later Halo truths. Do we go with
: internal observations taken from Halo CE? From Halo Anniversary? From the
: descriptions in The Flood? For external observations you have three games
: to contend with plus the various books. The General Lee is The General
: Lee, but the Pillar of Autumn has no such solidity to it.

: Yes, but unfortunately it wasn't. I'd love it if Halo had 100% complete
: consistency but it doesn't, and never really did. Because there are so
: many contradictory versions of the Pillar of Autumn (or most any Halo
: object really) I can't see the logic in trying to classify them using
: anything but the most major and deliberate visual changes. Is the Halo CE
: Ghost, which has no ground effects, a different vehicle using a different
: antigravity engine than every other Ghost in the series? I'd say
: absolutely not. The intent of the story and fictional logic of the Halo
: universe tells us that the Ghost design in Halo CE is likely meant to be
: the same type of vehicle seen in Halo 4, for instance, despite any other
: visual differences there might be between them. The same would apply to
: the Pillar of Autumn. It is, in all cases, a Halcyon class cruiser,
: despite the the addition of gun turrets, engines, and whatever else.

: On the other hand I would be much more willing to accept that the larger
: variations in the Banshee denotes different models or production runs or
: whatever. In my mind there are two or three models of atmospheric Banshee,
: and then the sealed, space capable model seen during the space battles of
: Reach. I accept it because in my mind the changes are more deliberate, and
: because Banshees are generic vehicles rather than specific, named objects
: with well known histories like the Autumn.

: Then on the far end of the spectrum we have the changes made to the Forward
: Unto Dawn. Yes, it's a named object with an important history, but the
: changes are much much more intentional between variants. Is it still the
: same ship? Story wise I begrudgingly say yes, but only under protest, and
: only because our hero characters are on it and refer to it by name. If we
: somehow came across the FUD's wreck in the course of Halo 4 instead of
: starting on it I would likely be looking to conspiracy theories or time
: travel or evidence of alternate universes. Not so with the Autumn which
: still has the same general shape and feel. It probably also helps a bit
: that the Halo CE Autumn and the Reach Autumn are separated by nine or so
: years of advancing graphical technologies, so any changes are more easily
: written off as added detail or the result of more rendering resources.

: In the end I think classifying The Autumns as different ship classes does
: more to add confusion that it does to correctly label the ship and its
: origins. An official guide should do the best it can with the information
: it has to work with, and all the relevant information suggests that there
: was no intent to portray the Autumn as a new type of ship between the CE
: and Reach versions.

: P.S. I hope that all makes sense. I was a bit time limited in writing this
: and had to cut out any potential editing / logic passes. Also, I want to
: point out that I love the work that you and the other hyperobservant
: people do. I in no way mean to take away from that work, I think we might
: just have a difference of opinions on how those keen observations should
: be applied.

I'm glad you used the Ghost as an example. It's an example I was going to bring up as well. From Halo 1, 2, 3, Reach, Anniversary and 4, the Ghost has remained remarkably similar to itself. There are some graphical upgrades such as the hexagonal pattern seen close-up and some variation in markings and moving parts on the engine area, but very little change from Xbox to Xbox 360, from one game to the next across a decade of changes.

The Autumn was rebuilt entirely by comparison and yet it was supposed to be the same vessel. I whipped up some comparisons for everyone's amusement:

Heavy graphics incoming:

Side view silhouette compare of Halo 1 Autumn to Reach Autumn:

Top view silhouette compare of Halo 1 Autumn to Reach Autumn:

Front view silhouette compare of Halo 1 Autumn to Reach Autumn:

Perspective view silhouette compare of Halo 1 Autumn to Reach Autumn:

Finally, the Ghost (with as much design time in between as the Autumn had):

Side and front view silhouettes compare of Ghost from Halo 1, 2, 3, and Reach: