Re: IF Fleet

>> I would base them off an attrition model for fighters.
Every one of their
>> ships carry at least one group of fighters. They have no
true carriers -
>> instead every ship is expected to fight in the line and
carry some fighters
>> as well. Think Hydran from SFB in that they are all
partial carriers - a
>> full fleet would have less direct firepower than most
fleets, but able to
>> fields a good deal of fighters. Plus the loss of any one
unit means that
>> enough other units can spread the surviving fighters so
that none are lost
>> for want of space.

This makes for very inefficient ships, though.	My IF
designs (which I posted a day or two ago) assume the
following:
a) FTL drives are less available to the IFN than to the
major powers.  Therefore many warships have no FTL drives,
and are hauled from system to system by tugs or tenders.
Ships with FTL drives tend to belong to the Sultanate rather
than the amirs (who can be somewhat independent-minded).
b) The IF accepts aid from anyone who wants to give it, but
warships principally come from the FSE. Therefore the IF
ships often have lots of missiles, particularly SMR's.
c) The IF also have lots of fighters, I just haven't
designed a lot of carriers to haul them around (because I
don't handle fighters well).  Many of them would be
planet-based.
d) I wanted to create vessels which require skirmishing
tactics and maneuver, rather than straight toe-to-toe
slugging.  Therefore the IF ships usually have Thrust 6, and
hulls which are Weak or at most Average.
e) IF commanders have to accept that they will probably have
to fight other IF ships at some point, as the amirs work
just as hard to be autonomous as the Sultan does to control
them.  The Federation is in a permanent simmering civil
war--that's one reason why its aggressive leaders and eager
troops haven't swamped its neighbors (the other reason being
the lack of FTL drives).  Therefore they tend to have lots
of PDS and armor, and not much in the way of screens.

see also www.angelfire.com/va/laserlight/fullthrust.html and
follow the links to the IF Navy