Figher Balance Issues - Replies...

Grouped together for your reading pleasure or torture... (8-)

> Thomas Barclay wrote:

> > directly influence the outcome of battle. It is assumed that all

Oh agreed. I just assumed naval power projection missions for the planes
involved. There may be universes where fighters are not useful for naval power
projection, but extremely useful in planetary assault, garrison, and defence
duties.

> Fabet@aol.com wrote:
Instaed
> A/C with antiship missions rely on long range stand off weapons like

This is a very recent phenomenon.  In World War II, the main anti-ship
weapons of the time (airplane bombs, torpedoes, large calibre shell fire) and
the main air defence weapons (small calibre gun, air defence fighter) were
largely ineffective against other targets. Indeed you can argue that this
dichotomy
continues to this day, as large scale anti-ship missiles are ineffective
against
fighters, and SAM/AAMs and CIWS systems are ineffective against major
warships. (This isn't a strong as in pervious generations, since today's
navies depend heavily on active defences, and have little in the way of
passives.)

But the development of stand-off weapons is a perfect example of the
changing
nature of offense/defence.  The development of reliable, accurate fire
control
for small-calibre weapons (culminating in CIWS systems), and the
development of
reliable surface-to-air missiles means the day of close in attacks
against a modern fleet are over. (They are still viable against a fleet not
completely
modernized - for example, Argentina vs UK, Falklands, 1982.)

> John Leary wrote:

I actually wasn't looking at solving anything.  (8-)  My only purpose in
this was to attack the issue of balance. One of my pet peeves is when elements
are 'shoe horned' into a Universe just for the coolness of it all, with not
even a consideration as to whether or not this makes sense. (Some Anime is an
example of this.)

I do like 'no-brainer' movies just like everybody else (well, maybe not
everybody
else (8-) ); I just like a higher level of sophistication in my game
universes.

Apologies for the length of ramble,
J.