Re: Star System Attack

----------
> From: Chris Klug <cklug@earthlink.net>
> To: FTGZG-L@bolton.ac.uk
> Subject: Re: Star System Attack
> Date: Wednesday, September 10, 1997 9:23 PM
> 
>  If whatever FTL technology you use allows entry into a solar systems
at
> *any* point, then there is no effective way to defend a solar system;
it's
> just too damn big to position any kind of ships to protect against all
the
> potential angles. Delta-V, thrust, etc., all prevent an adequate
coverage
of
> the area (unless you have unlimited defensive resources).
> 
> An entry (jump) point metaphor allows strategic defense while at the
same
> time logically encouraging *realistic* battles.

You could also think of FTl travel the way Timothy Zahn portrays it in
his
Conqueror series of books.  A ship meshes in and out of  hyperspace 
(i think) but creates a tachyon wake that can be detected by planets or 
other ships.   The larger the ship/fleet the bigger the wake, so the
defender
would have time to ready a defense.  A neat little deversion he used in
the last book was a proposed attack on earth by an alien fleet using the
tachyon "cover" of a fleet of merchant ships flown by supposedly
pacified
aliens.

Chris


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