Re: SML Absorbers

On Fri, 13 Aug 1999, Thomas Barclay wrote:

> AI's I can buy, but again, the only place you'd see these is in a hot
> war. Note that in RL specialized ships such as these tend to evolve
> where there is a need (ah Darwin!) such as in a war where line ships
> are going down from SMLs. In normal relatively-peaceful time
> operations, they'd be pretty non-useful, and so would eventually
> become decomissioned or mothballed. So it is a case where the nature
> of the universe you have should define the nature of the fleets. FB
> fleets (not optimized) seem very consistent with peace time roles.
> Whereas SMR monstrosities or shrapnel SML absorbers seem like "hot
> war" creations. I think they are viable in wartime, but in peacetime
> your economics take them out of the fleet.

i'd point out that granaatscherven-type ships would have a multitude of
other uses, as couriers (no other FTL comms, remember), scouts
(likewise,
not FTL sensors), customs, police and fleet security work (stopping
civilians and spies at bay rather than enemy fleet units) and general
runabouts (need to get a vaccine to a colony planet before the plague
strikes? you could do a star trek and send your biggest battleship, or
you
could stash it in the fridge in a granaatscherven and send that
instead).

in the wet navy, they are also useful for fishery protection, but i'm
guessing this is less important in space. however, they could be useful
for policing belt mining areas, etc: i can see a fleet dropping in
system
o show the flag, with the battleship occupying the main planet's orbit
whilst the little ships do the real work - cruisers visiting the main
stations and rocks in the system and shrapnel swarming over the asteroid
belt, outer moons, interplanet traffic, etc.

all in all, i'd say navies would get more peacetime bang per buck for
granaatscherven than for heavies.

tom