Re: needle beam thoughts)

>On Tue, 3 Dec 1996 PsyWraith@aol.com wrote:
SNIP
>
>maybe adding a shield level isn't such a bad idea after all...
>
>just for my own edification, about how expensive is a "cheap" ship?
(just
>to make sure I'm not designing expensive throw-away's...
>
>Brian Lojeck
>lojeck@mizar.usc.edu

If you're planning this, I reckon you'll also need something a bit
larger
than an escort to occupy your opponent's attention- perhaps a well
defended
capital to lumber about looking threatening while your needle ships run
in.
I think most experienced players would tend to go for escorts early on
to
get "cheap kills".  Needles have a pretty high probability of complete
failure- even 6 aimed at a single target have about a 1/3 chance of
leaving
it operational (assuming my 2am maths is right!).  The best plan would
perhaps be to try and damage the engines of a major unit, so that the
maneuvres of the whole enemy fleet would be constrained by having to
follow
it, or risk destruction in detail.

I hate statistics
I hate caterpillars
I hate writing up
I'm going home

;-)

Rob Paul

Rob Paul
NERC Institute of Virology 
Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3SR	  Tel. (01865) 512361
rkp@mail.nerc-oxford.ac.uk
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