Comments on: TORCH OF FREEDOM — Snippet 06

By: John T Mainer

John T Mainer — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 19:48:04 +0000

The problem has always been in the control of the larger missile salvos. How many times have “old style SD’s” been used to control Podnout salvo’s? Shannon Foraker got around that problem with her smaller sized platforms that were nothing more than control runs for system defense pods. How much better would those have been on Light Cruiser platforms that are fast, manoeverable, heavy point defenses networked into squadron level formations? Who cares if the podlayers aren’t armoured, they will be firing from out of anyones range. Firing from behind the wall of battle of the “destroyers” the best defense of the podnoughts would be ECM. It is the active sensors of the destroyers that will be visable, and the layered anti-missile defense of these platforms that must be smashed before a missile can get to the podlayers.

Can you imagine what kind of layered missile defense a light cruiser could mount if it sacrificed shipkillers and energy broadsides for nothing but control runs and anti-missile systems? You’d have a light cruiser or destroyer you needed more missiles to hit than you would need to blow a Sollie SD right out of space.

By: robert

robert — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 05:05:08 +0000

And I can guess what Chapter 10 is…dead slavers.

By: robert

robert — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 05:04:00 +0000

Hey! How come Chapter 11 is on the Buckley site? Why is that and are you holding out on us, Drak?

By: Stephen M. St. Onge

Stephen M. St. Onge — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 19:39:13 +0000

George Phillies @9:

Creating multi-drive missiles isn’t hard. Pay the size penalty, and you can do it very quickly.

It’s just that, until pod-layers came along, nobody saw the point in launching a few very-large missiles at a range where fire-control was likely to be poor anyway.

Now that missile pods exist, everything has changed. Only the SLN hasn’t realized that yet.

By: RobertHuntingdon

RobertHuntingdon — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:46:22 +0000

@15, Yeah that was pretty much my point robert.

Hopefully the unknown heir has quite a few years to wait tho… but given the recent health concerns of EF and DW I very much hope they haven’t forgotten to at least consider possible plans for that unpalatable eventuality.

By: robert

robert — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:04:12 +0000

@12 Of course, you said popular acclaim. So you mean there’ll be a referendum to change the constitution. As RH said, we will all be dust by then and some unknown heir to the Weber empire (sorry) will have to write that book.

By: robert

robert — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:00:30 +0000

@12 I may be mistaken, but the progeny of the possible merging of Harrington line and the Winton line cannot rule the Empire. The heir to the throne must marry a commoner and they ain’t…anymore.

By: Woff'65

Woff'65 — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:55:04 +0000

This is potentially nasty for the Mesan Alignment. Their plan seems to be to use the RMN to hammer the SLN into scrap whilst siultaneously directly attacking the RMN’s ability to build new warships when the RMN is in a 2 front war with the RHN. This would leave the Alignment with both an intact construction base and a fleet of modern, technically advanced warships which would have an edge on the SLN and the System defence forces.

What they haven’t planned for is another party within the League with a Navy and warships which, whilst not up to RMN, Grayson, RHN and Andermani levels of technology, would have a definite edge over both the SLN and various SDF’s. They haven’t even twigged that such a force is being constructed nor could they facture into their plans the implications of such a force.

By: RobertHuntingdon

RobertHuntingdon — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:02:16 +0000

A million books in the future.

By: Daryl

Daryl — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 10:54:13 +0000

A point to ponder is, when does the individual resulting from the joining of the Harrington and Winton dynastic lines take up by popular acclaim the title of Empress of the Meritocracy Of Man?