Re: The Osa missile boat -- small strike units

John Atkinson wrote:

>>Suppose you build a unit off a small hull, maybe
>>a corvette, with 1 FC, an SMR, a thrust 4 engine,
>>and 1 hull box. Suppose further you build a lot
>>of them and use them to conduct WWI destroyer
>>torpedo attacks on an enemy battleline. Is that
>>feasible? How many would you need relative to the
> 
>Yes it's feasible.  I have been known to drive people
>up the wall with that strategy back before I finalized
>on the doctrine I use today.

They're feasible on restricted/fixed tables or stationary targets, or
when used as a threat to force the enemy to maneuver where you want him
to. I'd make them at least thrust-6 though - it only costs 3 pts more
per ship, and it allows them to overtake most capitals :-/

However, they're quite vulnerable if the enemy is able to back away
(eg. using the 'moving table' described on FT2 p.28, or not tied down
by very slow ships or a fixed base which must be defended), because
then the missile boats have to get inside the enemy weapons range
before they can launch... and since they are so brittle, they die
*fast* once inside enemy weapons range. They also need either
anti-fighter weapons of their own, or anti-fighter escorts :-/
 
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."