Re: FT-Fighters and launch bays

> David Reeves wrote:
> 
[...]
> >>>>>>>>>>
> Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2001 10:30:48 -0400 (EDT)
> From: Roger Books <books@mail.state.fl.us>
> Subject: Re: FT-Fighters and launch bays
> 
> On  6-Jun-01 at 10:20, David Reeves (davidar@nortelnetworks.com)
wrote:
> >
> > sorry this is late in the discussion -- one downside to digest
format....
> >
> > small correction:
> > in the B5 show ships are not "all launch at one time", but phased. 
the B5W
> 
> > game also has per-turn launch limitations as well, especially the
carrier
> > hulls.
> >
> 
> You are saying that they don't have all fighters launched in under 30
> seconds?  In FT terms this is "all at one time".
> 
> **********
> 
> I'm confused as to where the 30 s is coming from???
> 
> by observation from the whole B5 series, Omegas launch 6 or 12
fighters in
> one wave before the next wave launches (given that's Hollywood and JMS
is not
> militarily accurate).
> 
> from the B5W game, the Omega may launch 2 flights of ftrs (12) each
turn.
> 
> from the show each wave has about 30 s interval.  the B5W game turn is
> approximately a few mins (no rules in front of me now).
> 
> given all that, I merely tried to model the same behavior, introducing
some
> management of fighter operations versus the all-at-once
launch/recovery that
> is currently in FT.  I'm not so concerned about the detailed physics
as long
> as the game model is believable, playable and fun.  the main driver
here was
> that ftr ops are another command decision in fleet mgmt.  command
decisions
> like this have lots of appeal to us.	is that where your question was
going?

I'm piping in here mainly because I just watched "Severed Dreams" again
the other night.  :-)

There is no official set rate for fighter launches in B5 that has ever
been mentioned [by any of the characters or JMS]. That said, in "Severed
Dreams", the two Omegas defending B5 ("Churchill" and "Alexander") both
launched 20+ fighters in one fell swoop. I didn't time how long it took
to get the fighters out (I didn't count them this time, either, but once
in the dim distant past on this list this same discussion came up and
a few people did go back - I included - and counted the number being
launched; iirc the on-screen shot showed 22-24 before they cut to
another
scene), but it was about one or two (or more) a second. If you assume a
granularity in FT of 15 minutes/turn, you should be able to get all your
fighters out with no problems. If you go the B5 route and take the
"Severed Dreams" episode as canon, you should still get out about a
fighter
a second - so launching 4 or 5 flights of 6 fighters each in 30 seconds
should not pose any difficulties.

Mk