RE: [LST] Attack Vector: Tactical RE: Stealth and Fighters

On Wed, Mar 17, 2004, s666@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca wrote:

>>     As such, stealth still exists in the AV universe (and could still
>> exist in FT), but it changes form. Instead of trying to conceal the
>> existence of your ship, you can try to make it look like something
>> harmless. I don't specifically recall any of the Ten Worlds powers
>> designing a warship class with the same (rough) mass and transit
drive
>> characteristics of a common merchant ship, but it's something that 
>> could be an interesting choice.
>
>In another discussion on the 10 Worlds list, a warship drive has orders

>of magnitude better performance than a freighter's. Freighters don't 
>shoot at warships unless they are suicidally depressed. Noone would
build 
>a warship with a freighter drive because it may look harmless, but
would 
>end up being totally useless.

    I may be a few editions off, but as I recall the improved
performance
was largely in two areas.
    1) The warships had considerably more delta-v. This was largely an
economic thing, but it meant that a freighter couldn't actually run
away,
since it could always be caught. Of course, this would be unlikely to be
detectable except by measuring fuel use.
    2) The warships had a drive which would work for both transit and
combat (transit at 0.05g or so, combat at much higher thrust and fuel
use), whereas freighters only had a drive capable of transit thrust.
Thus, a freighter couldn't actually ever dodge effectively, it simply
didn't have the thrust. This, again, *might* (I don't recall) not be
obvious until the warship used a non-transit thrust.

    In such circumstances, there could be a clear difference in
effectiveness, without that difference being obvious. I don't recall if
that's still the state of the 10 Worlds (it was once, a long time ago,
and may be now, but I don't remember). Either way, it's a defensible way
to run things, and it does allow for some stealth. Of course, such
stealth isn't very useful in the 10 Worlds, where there are so few
spacefaring nations (10 total inhabited planets, total population <1
billion, of those planets only 7-8 divided into 2-3 power blocs have
native spacefaring capability), but it could be useful in a universe
life
the GZGverse.

    -Brian

-- 
Brian Quirt <brianq@ncf.ca>
Proud Member of the Society for the Conservation of Angular Momentum
Visit the society web site at <http://www.ncf.ca/~cy856/bio/scam.html>
Or visit my web site at <http://www.ncf.ca/~cy856/>