Ran Targas
SOC-14 1K
Yes, welcome aboard Oz! What did you do in the Nav?
Well, there may be 8,000 systems to patrol, but there's also a population of over 10 trillion, with naval taxes (assuming 1% of GWP) exceeding a quadrillion credits. You could have 10 billion credits worth of ships in every system, and your overall naval budget would be in no trouble (that's only 5-10% of the total budget)Originally posted by The Oz:
Yes, that's very true. You don't build a fleet of all battleships because you just don't get enough ships to be everywhere you need to be. That must be especially true in the OTU 3rd Imperium with 8,000 star systems to patrol.
Or you have to assume fleet priorities that don't result in a fleet in every system; what's possible and what's actually done aren't the same thing.Originally posted by Tom Schoene:
I tend to assume the budget is a lot lower than canon sources claim. I used to scoff at the comments in EE Doc Smith's Lensman series about the incredibly low tax rates, but I'm increasingly incluined to agree that they need to be kept very low to avoid the fleet in every system problem.
It helps if you deploy the Gazelles in squadrons.Originally posted by Tom Schoene:
I agree that there will be smaller combatants for piraty supressiona nd such like, but I'm not quite sure how small. The Kinunir is probably a good one -- the large marine:crew ration makes sense if the ship will be raiding the ocasional Pirate hideout. But the really small ships like close escorts are problematic. Too many of the canonical "pirate" ships can give a Gazelle a serious beating.
It helps if you deploy the Gazelles in squadrons.Originally posted by rancke:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Tom Schoene:
I agree that there will be smaller combatants for piraty supressiona nd such like, but I'm not quite sure how small. The Kinunir is probably a good one -- the large marine:crew ration makes sense if the ship will be raiding the ocasional Pirate hideout. But the really small ships like close escorts are problematic. Too many of the canonical "pirate" ships can give a Gazelle a serious beating.
Just think of the Meson as a spinal mount Mk7 16in 50cal from an Iowa class...Now THAT would be a sailing age monster..Originally posted by The Oz:
This again emphasizes the similarity between Traveller and the Napoleonic era. Only the spinal meson gun makes Traveller combat really different from three-decker ships of the line slugging it out while the frigates and gunbrigs do the dirty work.
I'd use some kind of remote sensor platform: either a drone or fighters or an escort. If I don't have meson communicators I'll have to have a chain of repeating units to provide comm links to the scouting unit.A question to those who adhere to the BSG/ISD model:
Before committing your Star Destroyer to entering planetary orbit, how do you check out the far-side of the planet for possible threats?