RE: Size Class Escalation -- How high in Mass?

At 1:55 PM -0700 6/25/01, David Griffin wrote:
>Systems like this bother me. Basically it's an
>attempt to force each side to take ships that
>they don't really think belong in a major engagment
>between large ships. Haven't you guys just been
>convincing me that those small ships get crumpled
>like an empty beer can when fighting big ships?
>Wouldn't it be a better use of the fleet's shipyards
>to build more big ships? Maybe size escalation is
>a natural consequence of the realities of combat.

Bigger ships are in fact better and more capable of battle. The 
Bismark and his kith and kin (Scharnhorst, Gneissau, etc) were more 
than capable of wreaking havoc among the smaller craft that performed 
the Northern Convoy run escort duties.

Small ships are built because they are cheaper and they are able to 
fly the flag in more far flung locations. They act as sensor pickets 
and allow you to perform more various tasks over shorter durations 
than a single larger vessel can.

Lines of battle ships are not the same as picket ships.

>Sure build DDs to escort convoys. Build Cruisers
>to explore strange new worlds or scout. Use
>Fleet scouts (BC's or CA's) to scout prior to
>a battle if the bogey rules are in play. But
>once the big guns start booming, if the small
>ships are that disadvantaged, shouldn't they be
>watching from a distance?

Yes. They should, but, in war, you _should_ be operating with more 
than the odds you actually get ofttimes. You want to be at 200% 
supply needs, 120% manning status, 100% training state and with no 
fog of war. Guess what, you don't always get that.

Stop fixating on points and building super ships. Start thinking 
about scenarios that are more than two battle squadrons lining up 
across the table and closing to knife fighting range for a slug match.

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