Galaxy: Tech and freighters

From: lewchuk@cs.UAlberta.CA (Michael Lewchuk)

Date: Mon, 03 Aug 1992 20:11:33 +0000

About tech:
I like the standard Galaxy, with no AGRI or other additions.  I think
that freighters carrying ships would be an interesting idea.  Of course,
the code allowing for fractions of cargo would have to be eliminated in
the case of ships.

About cargo:
I think that cargo ships are more than just space.  Cargo tech could account
for things like stasis fields, metallurgical skill in building the hull,
and other things.  Also, I would guess the "standard" Galaxy freighter hold
is just a sealable empty box with appropriate stasis etc. equipment.

HOWEVER:
If you assume freighters can carry ships, there is the possibility of ships
not quite fitting tightly.  Ships would presumably be big, but units of COL
and CAP and MAT would be small -- it's pretty easy to cram people and
resources into appropriate shaped boxes (cubical or spherical) to fit, but
try squishing lots of triangular starships into a spherical freighter.

On freighter shielding:
Unless shield 1s will be effective (usually nobody shoots at me for a long
while, probably 'cuz I'm such a nice guy <hehheheh>), there is no reason to
put them on freighters.  Consider:
10 0 0 5 10 : one ship, which will probably get picked off by a corvette
or destroyer.
2 0 0 1 2: another ship, which can be picked off by a fighter.
Also, if weapons tech is high enough, your initial freighter fleet
(at weapons and shield tech 1) will be relatively useless with shielding and
will just be cannon fodder anyways.
By the way, shielding freighters is useless unless they're escorted by
armed ships.  What good is dumping CAP on a planet that is about to be
bombed?

Michael Lewchuk
					lewchuk@cs.UAlberta.CA

References

Galaxy: Autodate tech?
ninja@halcyon.com (Jonathan Roy)
Sat, 01 Aug 1992 21:55:54 +0000