Re: FTFB idea's for Free Cal Tex + SML usage

Thomas Anderson wrote:

> On Wed, 25 Nov 1998, Charles Choukalos wrote:

> > After Playing around with SML's some over the past couple o'weeks, I
came 
> > to several solutions and decided to create some missle ships to
anhilate 
> > my friends with.  Lets just say that your opponents need a lot
o'speed and/or
> > a lot more pdaf's then are typical in the fleet book to survive.

This will work the first time they meet it... but I wouldn't give you
more than equal odds in the next battle, if you use equal-point
build-your-own fleets.

> aha! as i have long feared, it seems that massed SMs are in fact the
> ultimate weapon.

I doubt that. While their damage can be impressive, they aren't all that
easy to use them well and have some rather efficient counters. 

Their average damage per Mass varies a bit with what type of launcher
you
have, but if you assume SMR or 2 standard SM salvoes per SML (and that
every salvo is on target!) you get an average damage/Mass of 3 if the
salvo is unopposed by point defence or fighters. This is a lot, but it's
the only shot the salvo gets; if it misses or is intercepted, well...
let's hope you can disengage and withdraw before being destroyed :-/

'Course, the "average damage" can be rather misleading with SMs
considering their huge damage range (0-36 per salvo)! It is also a *lot*
better against slow ships using vector movement than against fast ones
using cinematic movement, since high thrust and the cinematic turning
system means that you have to spread your salvoes out to ensure hits.

> yes, with good maneuvering and fast closing a skilled
> admiral can beat a bad admiral who has SMs, but what if both are good
> admirals? perhaps diversity just is not possible ...

If both are experienced admirals with good designs/fleet mixes (eg, the
non-SM fleet hasn't forgotten to bring ADFC <g>), the SM-heavy fleet
tend
to lose in my experience. (I won't say that I'm *good*, mind you! I
might
arguably qualify as "experienced", though <g>).

Regards,

Oerjan Ohlson
oerjan.ohlson@telia.com

"Life is like a sewer.
  What you get out of it, depends on what you put into it."
- Hen3ry