RE: Small Ships--Why?

> To the Wise and Venerable list,

Yeah, right ;-) (turns away and laughs, and then keeps typing, and
typing.
This got much longer than I first intended)

> I apologize in advance for bringing up a topic I am certain must
> have been discussed many times on this group.
> I have had little success locating references in the archive so I
> will beg your indulgence here.

Check the archives for around March 27th with the topic 'Fleet Escorts'

> My group has been having discussions as of late regarding the
> usefulness of smaller vessels (10 to 50 mass).

8< snip >8

> They seem to get smoked well before any beam weapons they are armed
with
> fire.  Their increased manuverability seems to have little impact on
> increasing their survivability.  It may simply be a function of my
play
> group's lack of experience but larger ships seem to be the way to
> go. In a design-your-own environment or in the Fleet Book fleets,
would
> small ships have a role in your fleet in one-off games?

Are your escorts leading your fleet into battle?  This is a common
tactic I
have seen that only results in their destruction.  I have seen much
better
results by leading with your capitals and cruisers with your escorts
hanging
back.  Make your opponent choose between a close ship with screens and
lots
of hull or your escorts which are a range band further away.  The same
rolls
which would do damage to your escorts will have much less effect against
a
capital ship or screened cruiser.  Don't give them an easy target,  make
them choose between rolling less dice at your small ships or rolling
more
dice at a harder to damage target.  Plus when your larger ships are in
front, they now can hit your opponents earlier instead of having to
wait.

Now how to use the small ships:
- With their higher thrust level, they can move and react quickly to
where
needed.
- Make a perfectly timed deadly strike against major target.
- Finish off damaged ships when you don't want to commit a major ship.
- Intercept your opponents smaller ships when they attack.
- A quick addition of a specialty ship when needed (area defense, etc).
- Overload your opponents Fire Controls, he can only fire at so many
ships a
turn.
- Screen larger ships from Salvo Missiles (Banzi Jammers)

> I often see "house" rules requiring some proportion of smaller ships
to
> larger.  To me, this is validation of my perceptions about their
> usefulness (or lack there of).

One-off battles when there is no reason for the battle are not to my
taste,
so the least I can do is try and force a more 'realistic' mix of ships
to be
used.  There are many campaign reasons for smaller ships (convoy
escorts,
picket duty, power projection, quick way to increase the navy, etc) and
without these influences, an all large ship navy is possible but then
what
are you simulating?  I want my space battles to reflect what could
happen
between 2 or more spacefaring powers, not just an exercise for number
crunching on what gives the most damage potential per point of damage
taken.

If you don't want these campaign type of issues forced onto your fleets,
then go ahead  and play a demolition derby in space, have fun, I won't
stop
you. I just disagree and think FT can be more than that. Small ships are
more valuable in a campaign than in a tactical battle, but their
tactical
value can be found - you just have to look for it.

> When addressing ths problem, I find myself thinking about ocean
> navies.  Why	can't carriers be armed to operate without escorts? 
Perhaps
in
> the answer to this question, an answer an be found to the game
question.

As I understand WWII/Modern naval warfare, there are lots of reasons,
more
flexibility for the fleet if you can swap out smaller ships instead of
refitting a larger one.  If tensions increase, it is easier to add
defenses
via additional escort ships than adding to the carrier.  The tonnage for
defensive weapons on the carrier is better used fielding more aircraft
while
these weapons are more effective on an escort.	Used correctly, a fleet
of
ships each specialized for their roles is more effective than a fleet of
generalized jack-of-all-trades ships.  Plus as has been said, each hit
on a
escort means that it didn't hit the carrier.

Some of these are 'campaign style' issues that are irrelevant in a
one-off
battle.

Dean Gundberg

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