RE: hello

-----Original Message-----
From:	cgray [SMTP:cgray@icehouse.net]
Sent:	Thursday, November 05, 1998 9:10 PM
To:	gzg-l@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU
Subject:	hello

why build big ships ?? I have been decimating the other players with
small
20 and 30 ton vessels armed with SML and ER missles or just loaded with
fighter bays ?? at about 100 per ships I get about 8 for every large
ship
they bring in so I hit them with either 8 salvos of SML or 16 squadrons
of
fighters what gives here is it something we are missing or.....maybe our
ships arent designed well any help would be appreciated

Thanks in advance

Clarence

If you're that loaded with SML's or Fighters, and managing to hit with
most
of them, then your opponent is probably staying under velocities of 24.
Many people who play against missiles often are in the 40+ velocity
range
when closing, making it difficult to target since you have to spread the
missiles out widely to cover even just a 1 point turn to either side of
their
current direction.  This cuts down the effectiveness of the missiles by
half or more depending on how good you are at predicting where the
opponent will be.  Faster, more maneuverable ships are more effective
against missiles, although well screened (by escorts) and A/PDF covered
capitals are nearly as effective.

One thing you might want to look at is the scenario design - if the
scenario
requires holding a section of space - planet, asteroids, jump point etc.
then
a fleet of munchkins with nothing but missiles isn't going to do the
job.  If 
the
objective is just to destroy the enemy at any cost, then a munchkin
fleet
is a viable alternative.  Lots of people use modern and historical
analogies
to generate fleet compositions - i.e. the Tomahawk missile has a range
of
several hundred miles and can hit within dozen of meters of its target -
why
do we still have cruisers, battleships and aircraft carriers when a
destroyer
can carry a dozen Tomahawks?  The reason is that the modern fleet faces
a
variety of tasks and threats - from submarines, missiles, aircraft,
mines, etc.
Each of these threats requires a different response and various types of
ships
give the flexibility to respond to these at an appropriate level.

	There are also some backgrounds that postulate that most ships
will be
general service -capable of a variety of duties such as patrol, rescue
and
recon and that extended period missions would not be conducive to large
numbers of expendables - such as missiles.

Some thoughts,

-Binhan