Re: Bigger not always better--Take 2

On Tue, 25 Mar 1997, Paul Calvi wrote:

Ahem. No offense, but your messages would be easier to reply to if you 
hit some hard returns at the end of the lines.

> I guess I didn't explain myself well in my first post. What I was
> attempting to do with my modifications was lower the power of the cap
> ship. In my mind, reflecting modern naval practices, the SIZE of the
ship
> has NOTHING to do with its ability to carry lethal weapons (and thus
its
> striking power).

Not strictly true, or nobody would bother with super carriers.

> With FT, BBs can carry
> enough A Bats to pummel an escort and the escort can't do squat in
return.

Well, that was very much the case when big guns rules supreme.
Big guns shoot farther, they're generally more accurate and big ships 
usually had better fire control (it was worth the cost).

Ship size wasn't a major factor. The hit/miss ratio of all naval guns
was 
abysmal. If the big boys had hard time hitting small fish, the small
fish 
had even harder time.

The limiting factor was the horizon. Aircraft and missiles could strike 
targets over the horizon, guns couldn't. Thus the end of the big gun era

in warship design. 

But there's no horizon in space. Technological advances *may* bring big 
guns back.

IMHO, it is the intention of FT to give big guns a chance again, model 
perhaps not so realistic but very cool gigantic space battleships
slugging it out with big guns. I like it that way. Apparently you do
not.

If you want to play "Harpoon in Space", just disallow all batteries
above 
C and stick as many missiles as you can in each boat. Sure, big ships
can 
still mount more of them (well, they're bigger), but they're too easy 
targets for the points because of their low thrust. Thus no-one wants a 
cap ship anymore, unless they have to use one, i.e. a carrier.

If you want to retain A's and B's as obsolete weapons, you could just 
triple their cost and mass. But then nobody would want any and you could

just as well disallow them.

In FT A's and B's are NOT the weapons to use against cap ships, since 
they generally suck against well-screened targets. If you make them 
unusable against smaller ships, they become unusable, period.

This will also mean screens are less important, meaning more
non-screened 
ships, thus reflecting "modern reality" better.

You would need better EW rules though. And you'd have to stop
"launch all missiles and FTL out/turn tail" tactics somehow.

since hull costs are linear, I have a strange feeling a Mass 4/Thrust 
8/One missile "bathtub launcher" would be the ideal design.

Oh, and disallow "C-batts as PDAFs" while you're at it.

--
maxxon@swob.dna.fi (Mikko Kurki-Suonio) 	  | A pig who doesn't
fly
+358 50 5596411 GSM +358 9 80926 78/FAX 81/Voice  | is just an ordinary
pig.
Maininkitie 8A8 02320 ESPOO FINLAND | Hate me?	  |	     - Porco
Rosso
Http://www.swob.dna.fi/~maxxon/     | hateme.html |