Naval Combat Primer (old)

[woolfe99]

I'd kind of like to know if PETE or RUSS are following this thread. They haven't popped in...

[RTGPete]

Heh, I've read every message in this thread

 

Working on it now - I'll post sample results before it goes live. It's not possible to list something like "ship so-and-so fired its 10 Light Beam Lasers at target such-and-such, with 3 being stopped by Reflective Armor Coating" because individual ships do not pick out particular individual targets. It's a fleet engagement, with all of your ships firing at the enemy in total. However, I can put in details about the effectiveness of your ship's weapons versus enemy defensive systems, and make the results easier to read in general. Effectiveness of installations, leaders etc will be in there as well.

[hobknob]

Looking forward to it. :alien:

[Paradigm]

Working on it now - I'll post sample results before it goes live. It's not possible to list something like "ship so-and-so fired its 10 Light Beam Lasers at target such-and-such, with 3 being stopped by Reflective Armor Coating" because individual ships do not pick out particular individual targets. It's a fleet engagement, with all of your ships firing at the enemy in total. However, I can put in details about the effectiveness of your ship's weapons versus enemy defensive systems, and make the results easier to read in general. Effectiveness of installations, leaders etc will be in there as well.

Does that mean that adding old ships with technologically poor defenses to a fleet of high tech ships could make the high tech ships more vulnerable to loss in an engagement?

[RTGPete]

Does that mean that adding old ships with technologically poor defenses to a fleet of high tech ships could make the high tech ships more vulnerable to loss in an engagement?

Nope. It just adds some inferior ships to the mix. They'll fire their weapons and absorb damage - they just won't be all that good at it. The superior ships will just be better at the job.

[Azuth]

Any news yet on how ship damage will be handled. That's just as important as how much damage you can dish out.

[PhaseDragon]

While I believe that ship damage and repair is important I also need to find someone first to engage in combat. So far I am all alone in the galaxy.

[Paradigm]

Does that mean that adding old ships with technologically poor defenses to a fleet of high tech ships could make the high tech ships more vulnerable to loss in an engagement?

Nope. It just adds some inferior ships to the mix. They'll fire their weapons and absorb damage - they just won't be all that good at it. The superior ships will just be better at the job.

But if damage is just one big amorphous number, wouldn't adding old ships without fancy defenses, such as Black Sphere generators vs a Plasma Torpedo attack, dilute the fleet's specialty defenses?

[RTGPete]

But if damage is just one big amorphous number, wouldn't adding old ships without fancy defenses, such as Black Sphere generators vs a Plasma Torpedo attack, dilute the fleet's specialty defenses?

Not at all - the inferior ships would just absorb some of the damage that might otherwise have been directed against better ships. They might not absorb it as well as better-armored or -shielded ships, or they might not degrade that fire efficiently because they have inferior defensive systems, but they still help. If you're battling for your homeworld, you might not want to lose freighters....but they'll absorb firepower in your desperate struggle to survive.

 

If nothing else, if you have inferior ships that you don't care about losing, they make great screens. The enemy is going to fire at something...it could well be that you'd rather lose those vessels than something else, so you might decide to put the old ships up front and hope for the best :lol:

 

I've gotten a lot of work done on the new space combat reporting engine over the last few days - will post a sample battle when it gets closer. We can then discuss what you want done with it before it goes live.

[Locklyn]

But Pete, won't inferior ships lessen tonnage based systems? Won't for example Bridge Systems which you've earlier said are fleet wide, take a beating if you put inferior ships without systems to so to speak "pull their own weight"??? It would seem so with combat being so fleet based?

 

/Locklyn

[RTGPete]

But Pete, won't inferior ships lessen tonnage based systems? Won't for example Bridge Systems which you've earlier said are fleet wide, take a beating if you put inferior ships without systems to so to speak "pull their own weight"??? It would seem so with combat being so fleet based?

 

/Locklyn

Mmmmm...could have a detrimental affect on fire control, but overall the screening advantage is pretty hefty. If you don't want to lose those older ships, and they otherwise don't contribute much offensively, then naturally they'd just be in the way. Personally, if I were defending my homeworld I'd take everything I could get. On an attack? It would depend how hard it is to get those old ships to the front...might not be worth the effort, hard to say. If they're already there, then it would depend on what kind of attack. Warp point assault? I definitely wouldn't want them in the way unless I was willing to lose them to soak off enemy firepower. Unfortunately, if they're old they probably have huge warp bubbles...so might just get in the way by being vaporized as they arrive (and thereby not contributing much).

[Krelnett_of_Kraan]

Does the system re-figure fleet statistics after every combat pass, or is it checked once and then assumed to remain constant?

For example, Empire A sends 2 big new ships and 5 pathfinder "screening elements" against Empire B's well-built orbital fort. The pathfinders degrade the force's overall bridge rating in the beginning, but they're quickly toasted. Does A-Force's bridge rating then improve for the rest of the battle, or are they still handicapped by the now-atomized pathfinders?

This all, of course, assumes the two empires are stupid enough to believe in "war"...

[RTGPete]

Does the system re-figure fleet statistics after every combat pass, or is it checked once and then assumed to remain constant?

For example, Empire A sends 2 big new ships and 5 pathfinder "screening elements" against Empire B's well-built orbital fort. The pathfinders degrade the force's overall bridge rating in the beginning, but they're quickly toasted. Does A-Force's bridge rating then improve for the rest of the battle, or are they still handicapped by the now-atomized pathfinders?

This all, of course, assumes the two empires are stupid enough to believe in "war"...

Recalculates everything as ships are destroyed, so if you lose a flagship loaded with bridge gear, your fire control would drop on the spot.

[Locklyn]

Ah...yes, that would indeed make good use of those old ships for screening in for example a WP defense situation. They will get blown away and the Bridge Rating goes up again. Then again, why send out ships in space that don't have any armor or weaponry. The GGT works on the principle that ALL ships should have a minimum of weaponry, bridge systems and armor...

 

 

 

/Locklyn

[woolfe99]

Does the system re-figure fleet statistics after every combat pass, or is it checked once and then assumed to remain constant?

For example, Empire A sends 2 big new ships and 5 pathfinder "screening elements" against Empire B's well-built orbital fort.  The pathfinders degrade the force's overall bridge rating in the beginning, but they're quickly toasted.  Does A-Force's bridge rating then improve for the rest of the battle, or are they still handicapped by the now-atomized pathfinders?

This all, of course, assumes the two empires are stupid enough to believe in "war"...

Recalculates everything as ships are destroyed, so if you lose a flagship loaded with bridge gear, your fire control would drop on the spot.

That would seem to affirm my theory that if you pack your electronics heavily onto a flagship in the rear, then as the battle goes on and you lose your screen ships in the front, you fire control rating will actually improve because fire control is relative to fleet tonngage. Am I right?

 

- woolfe