Re: NRE, IF and Alarishi designs

>> >IFN Tulwar "DDH" (though at Mass 50 - *more* than the Turcoman and
>> >Kronprinz Wilhelm classes of Light Cruisers! - I'm a bit suspicious
>> > about calling this a "destroyer"... <g>): With a total Mass of 50,
>this > > ship is
>>
>>
>> Brendan was responsible for classifying (and designing) this one; if
>you
>> look at the mass ranges given for DDH in the Fleet Book,  you'll see
>that > 50 can qualify as a DDH.
>
>Sure. It's just that the classification uses the extreme upper end for
>the DDH class and the extreme *lower* end for the CL class - which
means
>that within the same service, the DDHs are 25% bigger than the CLs...
in
>my mind it ought to be the other way around :-/ Comparisions with ships
>from other services (eg, my using the NSL CL as an example) aren't very
>valid, of course.
>
>'Course, the ship classes tend to grow with time. so the Turcomans may
>simply be a very old, obsolete class while the Tulwars are brand new
><shrug>
>
  The Islamic Federation isn't a monolithic state like the NSL--it is a
collection of emirs, atabegs, beys, and such, most of whom are fiercely
independent, resentful, and suspicious.  They are subject to the
Sultan--less so if the Sultan's fleet isn't around to enforce it.
Cooperation between the emirs is a very dicey thing, and a lot more
likely
on defense than offense.  This is why the Federation hasn't managed to
conquer any of their smaller neighbors, such as the Alarishi.
  The Tulwar was designed for one planetary emir's fleet, while the
Turcoman
was designed by the Sultan's architects.  We're lucky they pay any sort
of
attention to the mass ranges at all.