Carl wrote:5. Talking of the Sagi-C's again, there's an offhand comment in At All Costs that mentioned Mantie cruisers firing rolled on their side, and the Sagi-C's are supposed to be able to fire both broadsides together, but without keyhole i don't see how that can work, was that ever explained?
Think that's all for now.
Technically, ships have been able to do this for a long time, it just wasn't a very good idea. The reasons why this has become SOP for Manticoran designs are as follows:
1. Better sensor drones. Before Ghost Rider, ships were limited to what their shipboard sensors could tell them, and while it's possible to look through your own wedge, the information you receive is still distorted by it, making it not as useful for targeting purposes (meaning, in this case, your ability to observe the opponent's EW and adjust your missile seekers)
2. Better missile drives and launchers. Before the advent of the MDM, the missile launchers imparted a great deal of velocity on the missiles. Overcoming that particular vector and making a 90-degree course change would cut the effective range of the missiles by a lot. This, needless to say, is no longer an issue with MDMs.
3. Better missile seekers. Before Ghost Rider, missiles were pretty stupid. They still are, compared to missiles that are tethered to the launching ship's fire control, but they're a lot more capable on their own, making it possible to launch a largely autonomous salvo while still getting acceptable hit ratios.
Keyhole basically addresses point 3. It extends the envelope in which the ship can exert direct fire control, making the off-bore fire as accurate as regular fire.
4. Talking of boat bay's, I've noticed their on the underside, i always had the impression from the text they where side mounted, have i missed something in the text or did the great re-sizing I've heard about require a change in that?
They have always been on the underside. Think about it: Putting a hangar bay on the sides means putting a great big hole into your main armor, no warship designer will do that unless the payoff is enormous (see also: CLAC design).
2. Regarding the Keyholes. Given that they'd probably be targeted at energy range, Have no armor to protect them from even simple shrapnel at energy range, and modern combat doctrine has hardened towards missile combat which gives more reaction time to surprise attacks, i have to ask why the thing needs to be kept recessed. It probably does have some minor advantage's, particularly in not blocking LoS at extreme angles for certain sensor systems. But i'd think at least in the Aggie's case that mounting them in a dedicated external cradle would be better than making a mess of the internal's that way on a design allready light on armor and the like. Cutthroat allready provides a valid example here to inspire someone to think that way...
My guess? this is because of the compensator field. The compensator effect does not extend that far away from the hull; something the size of a Keyhole (to say nothing about the KH2) may be too large to fit inside the compensator envelope, making it vulnerable to acceleration stress while the ship is under way.