Custom Fleets & Gimmickry

Begin at the beginning:

Stilt:
> The purpose of a starfleet of any sort of starfaring power is to keep

One of the purposes, sure.

> The general point is that science fiction is rife with examples of

[ID-4, ST, BGS, SW, B5 First Ones examples follow]

Your statement may be true about (many) specific SF universes. I know you
don't play in it, but I don't think it's true of the Canon FT universe. There
are no Old Ones or Planet killers in the FT game universe, and while you can
add that in, you have to be aware that's what you're doing. The only FT system
with quantified effect in planet to surface fire is, I beleive, Ortillery, and
Ortillery is not a sterilizer.

Planet Killers may make for fun, if not good, TV and movies, but not for fun
or good space combat games, IMO.

> A starfaring power that does _not_ want this to happen to them has to

I hope you're not assuming the Beam-6 fleet designed specifically and
explicitly to defeat your first posted version of the dreadplanet was
advocating that such a fleet be the mainstay of any particular putative
starfaring civilization.

> An enemy with slower ships with greater

That depends _entirely_ on the assumptions gaming universe, as
Laserlight and others have illlustrated. While you like the example of the KV
jumping the starbase (was it on a planet? I forget) There is other list
discussion trying to hammer out the physics of the Tuffleyverse that implies
that FTL must be exited some significant distance form target objectives. This
in now way precludes you from saying that in your universe you can FTL a tac
nuke into the opponent's flag bridge, or, more 'realistically' FTL a few
planetary radii away and commence assault, but that's not the universe I like
to play in.

> _That_ is why I would not give a lot of respect to the broad

Given the myriad differing assumptions of the game universe you like to play
in, I'm happy to concede that this, and other subsequent points you make are
true for _your_ games.

> IMHO, show me a game where keepaway tactics are considered sound,

I think it a bit premature for anyone to say what interstellar war is
_really_ about, other than a cool tactical and/or strategic game. Given
the absence of true reality, we are all within our rights to make a fake
reality however we want. IMO, as long as it's fun and has an internally
consistent logic to the liking of the players, I think you can make a game
where
virtually _any_ tactic can be considered sound for at least some game
circumstances.

Later...
> A skirmish fleet, regardless of the exact amount of time involved,

I could see things happening in a universe similar to yours this way (Though
from what I have read of your pseudo campaign, resources are so virtually
limitless that any type of fleet can appear in any type of combat.)
Dreadplanet (as initially presented) appears and defeats defenders of system
X. Beam-6 fleet is dispatched to hunt down and kill dreadplanet. It
succeeds, since that dreadplanet can't defeat that fleet. Then both sides
tweak subsequent dreadplantes and Beam-6 fleets to counter each other
changeing weapons, fighter mixes, escorts, etc, each evolving away from the
gimmicked original designs. This has already happened to some extent in the
"tweaking" discussions on this list.

FWIW I can also see in your particular universe, building a competing race
that doesn't have home planets or many hard targets. Nebula dwellers...Dark
Matter residents.... Energy beings that live in stellar coronas....

[FTL exit range...]
> Most likely, this is only going to happen if you've got either a large

A large number of assumptions at play here. I happen to be of the SF gaming
school that large gravity wells like stars have significant hyperlimits
(several AU) and individual planets have limits of several tens of radii. Thus
assualts on planets outside the life zone start on the order of 10 turns away
from a planet, and assaults on planets within can be seen coming significantly
in advance (whether much can be done about it is another question...)

> I'd probably take, as my example, the "Assault on Starbase 13"
scenario
> in MT:

I wouldn't. Enough of your game universe is different from base FT, I
wouldn't assume that _this_ example should rule you either.

> Let's not forget that scanner range in the previous books was
matter.

Aside from sensors being one of the occasional favorite debate points of some
listers, if Fighters can evade Novas for free, why can't active scanners go as
far as twice your max weapon range? Why can't FTL detection be something
completely different (and longer range, say 10 AU) than ship scanning? The
answer lies entirely in the asumptions you choose to play with.