Re: FT Taskforce and Fleet Actions

On Aug 7 , Ryan Gill <rmgill@mindspring.com> wrote:
> 
> At 9:25 AM -0400 8/7/01, Mark 'Indy' Kochte wrote:
> >
> >You won't. And it's very likely that space craft, travelling at
> >*any* decent velocity, are going to have some kind of active
> >sensors up in order to avoid terrain in space, even if the active
> >sensors are at low-level (there'll come a point where any
> >emmissions will be indetectable from background energies). Thus
> >Laserlight's comment about not flying faster than your radar.  ;-)
> 
> Welll...I don't know about any active sensors...especially if there 
> is a chance they have that perimeter setup as a first defensive
> line. Sounds like a really good place to loose the element of 
> surprise....still many of these tactical dynamics will let them 
> selves be known in the game on their own...

     Unlikely. After all, if you're using constant acceleration with 
a reaction drive, your drive is putting out WAY more energy than any 
sensors you could ever hope to employ. A fusion torch in the asteroid 
belt might easily be visible to the naked eye from Earth, and even if 
you're not THAT over the top, if you're thrusting you pretty much 
can't hide. And if you're not, don't bother with the scan because if 
you're not thrusting you can't dodge.
     This might even suggest that ships would use the biggest radar-
equivalent they could for scans -- after all, a bit more radiant 
energy won't make that much difference. Alternately, if you're 
decelerating on your way through the belt (which any invaders may 
well be), you might not have to worry much about rocks -- anything 
that will survive your drive plume may be trivially easy to dodge 
(and reflected light will be GREAT for detecting asteroids too).