Re: Fast speeds

On Fri, 4 Apr 1997, Joachim Heck - SunSoft wrote:
> ...but I can say that high-tech sensors and computers have made life a
> lot easier for military people already.  Radar-aimed guns would
> perhaps be the low-tech equivalent of some of the futuristic weapons
> found in FT.	They tell you how far away the target is, then they aim
> themselves, wait till the target is in optimal range, fire at the
> target, track the bullet (!), figure out whether the bullet hit the
> target or not, adjust their aim, and fire again.  All this while you
> decide whether or not to put jalepenos on your sandwich.  Sure beats
> that other war when you had to actually pull the trigger.

Hmm... call me cynical, but I still don't believe that all the
whizbang high-tech stuff envisioned in starships would make it
possible to pinpoint another ship and plot its probable course 
within the next few milliseconds to the degree necessary to hit it
thousands of kilometers away, especially if they know you're there, 
and they're maneuvering as erratically as possible to keep you from
getting a good shot (and of course, you're doing the same thing, too).

(Working with network technology has made me a believer:
Murphy rules the cosmos! Never forget that your equipment was 
made by the lowest bidder!)

Now, I'll happily admit that this is simply a way of justifying
my preference for not pre-measuring anything in miniatures games,
but I think that the argument in favor of pre-measuring is based
on a whole lot of optimism about future technology.

--
Rick Rutherford ----- rickr@digex.net ----- The above opinions are mine.
"I've seen collisions on fire off the side of the ethernet LAN. 
I've seen the lights on the CSU/DSU glitter in the dark near the router.

All these things will be lost in time, like dropped packets. Time to
die."