Unfair Kamikazes?

Brian Bell wrote:

> I would hate to lose this rule. It makes for a good alternative to a
ram
>as a last ditch effort to stop an enemy.
>I agree however, that it should not be a commonly used tactic. Perhaps
a
>manditory rule about purposely leaving the board. Something like each
ship
>that purposely leaves the play area, counts 4x its value (points,
victory
>points, or ships).

This whole thread is very interesting; not just Brian's comments. I
can't
agree that ramming should deliberately be ruled out for any speed or
reason. Why? I hate to say it, but war of any kind is never, EVER fair.
Sides fight to obliterate now, not to be gentlemanly. Consider the
Russians
of WWII deliberately throwing out the lives of hundreds of thousands of
men
because they know that the weight of pressing numbers is their best
advantage over their more mobile, better commanded German enemy.

In the Full Thrust universe, if you encounter a technically or
tactically
superior enemy, and you don't (as a race) have the ability to win a
combat
or war, then why not build cheap ships to deliberately ram the enemy?
It's
a tactic that your opponent will have to deal with on a strategic level.
If
I can build a really cheap ship that takes out your dreadnought that's
10x
the cost, that's a REALLY good tactic!! You're gonna be broke before I
am -
and that is more a part of war than who has the best equipment. Don't
kid
yourself either  - there will always be lots of volunteers to save your
planet, manning these ships!

Consider finally the typical analogy of nuclear weapons... If a nuclear
power can't win a strategic war, it's gonna nuke you on the way out. Why
not? It's got nothing to lose, and EVERYBODY loses in a nuclear war. Now
that's definitely NOT fair (or fun) but that's war.

Instead of ruling out ramming, create rules that allow one to defend
against it - 'cause it's gonna happen to somebody out there. As long as
there are millions of warring races out there, there will be those that
ram. After a few battles with a Rammer, if you haven't adapted your
tactics
for defense - you deserve to be annihilated...

(Or just make a gentlemanly agreement with your opponent ahead of time
that
ramming is not allowed.)

Dave Ross