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Fleet Spacing

From: mehawk@c... (Michael Sandy)
Date: Tue, 9 Dec 1997 10:19:58 -0800
Subject: Fleet Spacing


What are the tactical doctrines governing how far
apart one should space one's ships?

If there aren't any area effect weapons, why not clump
as close as possible?  Granted that when ships blow
up they do damage to the ships around them, but there
are some very good reasons for flying in a dense
formation.

If an enemy ship has a weapon which doesn't bear on
one ship in a dense formation he is very likely to
not have a target at all.  If you are firing on a
loose formation, you will at least have _some_ target.
Also, the dense formation can concentrate its firepower
on the closer target, doing more total damage.

ADAFs and Interceptor squadrons can more efficiently
protect a denser formation.

Some people abuse the FTL - Jump rules to improvise
area effect weapons.  I think that any jump malfunction
chart should take into account disparities of mass.
For example:
A 2 Mass boat attempting to jump with 6" of 200 Mass
of shipping should be more likely to just burn out its
drive.

A 100 Mass Dreadnought shouldn't have to worry too
much about jumping near a 2 Mass boat.

I am going to work out some good numbers for a drive
failure chart with:
Jump Fails
Jump fails and damages drive and FTL systems
Jump fails and drive explodes
Jump quietly destroys ship in hyperspace
Jump fails and inflicts area damage
Jump Succeeds, inflicts area damage, roll threshold
check on Jump and Drive systems
Jump Succeeds and inflict area damage

Maybe there should be two rolls, one to see what
happens to the jump, and one to see how badly you
mangled the jumping ship.

How much should a legitemate Area Effect missile
cost?  Should the damage an Area Effect missiles does
penetrate shields?

I suppose even without Area Effect Weapons there is
some justification for spacing, if only so you have
more time to intercept the Submunition Carriers
before they are within 6" of your Capital ships.

What kind of spacing do people have between their
ships and why?	And how well does that spacing work?

Michael Sandy

ps:  I haven't actually played Full Thrust yet.  I live
in Portland, Or and I am looking for Full Thrusters in
the area.  


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