Re: Suicide attacks in FT

On Thu, 3 Apr 1997, Phillip E. Pournelle wrote:

> I think the only way to prevent wargamers from conducting all out
attacks 
> to win scenarios are campeigns.  If you know that you have to maintain
a
>  fleet in force to prevent an opponent from sacking your home world,
you
>  are not going to risk near destruction of your fleet to completely
destoy
>  your opponent's.  

I don't quite agree. If you discount minor matters like human life, the 
value of trained, experienced crews etc. suicide attacks are a viable 
tactic for whoever holds the material advantage.

Ofcourse it's usually not worth it to fight losing battles to the end, 
but if you can force even or nearly so trades, a war of attrition
becomes 
a very good proposition.

This is espcially troublesome in campaigns where starting forces are 
roughly equal. If I force even trades in a massive fleet showdown and 
lose all my ships, so does the enemy. There won't BE an enemy ship left 
to raid my defenseless home planet. Whoever holds the production edge
has 
the benefit now.

And if you can't force even trades, you're losing anyway... 

IMHO, badly damaged ships in FT execute suicide maneuvers because the 
player knows they're going to be finished off anyway. It should be made 
advantageous to the *winning* player to let them go and not risk further

damage to himself.

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