Re: [GZG] A New Screen System

[Oerjan Ariander <orjan.ariander1@xxxxxxxxx>]

Stiltman wrote:

>One way or another, I just don't like the whole PSB behind human screens 
>in this game.  What self-respecting military mind designs a defensive 
>system that completely overlooks pretty much all the most devastating 
>weapons both your own and every other species has ever designed and then 
>invests 5 or 10% of their warships' mass in it, which basically all comes 
>out of the ship's weapons payload?  Neat, so you reduce the damage from 
>one particular limited class of weapons by 20-30%, do absolutely nothing 
>against all the others, and in the mean time your own firepower is reduced 
>by 25% or so in return.  Awesome plan.

Mass for mass and point for point, the most devastating weapons in the 
current Full Thrust rules are the standard B2 batteries, standard fighters 
(when not opposed by sufficient anti-fighter defences), and the Phalon 
Plasma Bolts (likewise). Last I checked screens protected against all of 
these weapons :-/ (For those who use the beta-test weapons, screens also 
protect against Grasers, EMP beams and AMTs.)

The numerous screen-skipping weapons in Full Thrust fall in three categories:

* Direct-fire single-shot weapons  (SMP, MKP) with short range and narrow 
fire arcs. They pack a great punch if they get to fire at all, but they 
also restrict the user to very predictable tactics and forces him into 
prime B2 killing range.

* Direct-fire multi-shot weapons (K-guns, P-torps, Needle beams). Averaged 
over range these weapons inflict at best 80% as much damage per weapon cost 
against unscreened targets as similarly-ranged beam batteries do, and often 
less. IOW, if your opponent uses these weapons to counter your screens, he 
voluntarily gives up some 20-30% of his potential (ie., beam) firepower 
against *all* your ships (including those escorts that are too small to 
carry screens at all) in order to avoid having his beam firepower reduced 
by 20-30% against *some* of your ships (ie. the ones that have screens)... 
Awesome plan?

* Placed-marker 'single-shot' weapons (SMs, HMs, torpedo fighters) that to 
a greater or lesser extent have to predict the target's manoeuvres to hit 
and pray that they aren't smothered by the targets' PDSs or equivalent. 
Screens don't defend against these weapons, that's true - you'll have to 
rely on manoeuvre, false targets (BJs) and point-defences for that... but 
since this is an even narrower selection of weapons than the ones screens 
protect against, missiles and torpedo fighters by themselves hardly make 
screens useless :-/

>(It may shock you all to know that I almost never used screens in my ship 
>designs for mostly these reasons...)

That *is* a bit surprising, considering that those designs of yours that I 
can find described on this list were said to carry level-2 screens... (IIRC 
for protection against plasma bolts, which you and your opponent seemed to 
be quite fond of at the time.) But if you say so <shrug>

Regards,

Oerjan
orjan.ariander1@xxxxxxxxx

"Life is like a sewer.
  What you get out of it, depends on what you put into it."
-Hen3ry


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