Relax wrote:Assumes: SL is still around in 2+ years. It won't be. GA already has enough ships to eliminate all ships in known space if they chose to do so.
Can't speak for anyone else, but I don't assume that. It's part of the reason for giving priority to smaller ships that can be built or converted faster.
Relax wrote:Assumes: GA can't build streak hyperdrive in Haven yards and MUST be done at Manticore.
Talk about Manticore myopic glasses. R&D? Theory; sure, but prototyping? Nope.
I suspect that much like the Apollo capable Bolthole Special SDs, the basic systems will be built/installed in Haven yards but the production Streak Drives will be built initially in Beowulf.
Haven still hasn't matched Manticore or Beowulf in miniaturization and it will take some time to upgrade that technology and yard equipment so they can. If a GA version of the Streak Drive isn't amenable to miniaturization then the whole system can be built and installed by Haven.
The Manticore-centric argument is more about how improvements and new ships will be paid for. Home-built in Manticoran yards can be paid for with IOUs, Haven-built for the RMN needs cash.
Relax wrote:Assumes: SL worlds have MDM.
-- Cataphract pods are useless for defensive purposes against any GA force. Anyone thinks otherwise, I have some swamp land in Florida to sell you and I have heard the London Bridge is for sale. I have the deed, right here(searches under my...)
If you don't scout properly and don't know the Cataphracts are there, they can be extremely dangerous. Which was the point of mentioning Technodyne's System Defense monsters and Cataphract pods -- no matter how much pre-war intel the GA might have, current intel still matters.
Relax wrote:Only reason GA will really want Streak in the foreseeable near future is to patrol ex SL worlds that broke away with no defenses, but are not trusted/given MDM pods/Moriarity for defense and therefore their defense requires ships and pods under GA control. Of course these ships will all be 2nd rate ships resigned to backwater duties.
It has been demonstrated that RMN Heavy cruisers can control Apollo pods deployed in a system defense role; with Mycroft to add FTL fire-control, even light cruisers should be able to ride herd on borderline systems. Not that I think the GA will bother if they follow the Harrington Doctrine and make every possible effort to avoid the appearance of being a Conquistador.
Relax wrote:After SL breaks, we are looking at a several year break with intelligence gathering being the main thrust as one tries to determine who is just an SL stooge, and who is a MALIGN world....
Creating a situation where the flow of information is more critical than combat power. Where the Navy gets involved at all, it will need couriers, scouts, and CLACs full of an improved version of Haven's Recon-LAC (as used at Trevor's Star in
War of Honor.)
Not much role for SDs there, and lots of time to upgrade the SD force -- new-build or conversion.
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Answers! I got lots of answers!
(Now if I could just find the right questions.)