Last use for SL SD captured

Old, DD, CL, CA or BC, out of Mothballs or Captured. With a Manty assistance crew, like Grayson had. Retired crew, those from civilian ship out of business for now, looking for work. Those who used to crew these, at the time, top ships. The ensigns made up from the local system and the XO, also local, learning to be a captain.

kzt wrote:Vice-Mister to the exchequer points out that Haven wants 4.3 billion Manticoran dollars up front and 800 million per year for support, while the slightly used scientists are available for the cost of transport.

Hopefully he also points out the ongoing costs to operate and maintain this "free" ship - with presumably no access to replacement parts or missiles. Kind of "there's nothing more expensive that a free horse"; except writ much much larger.

And then the the Chief Diplomat should point out that the League may look quite unfavorable on people taking possession of League warships -- rules of war on surrendered ships be damned.


Attempting to defend your system with a ship whose mere presence there may draw multiple vengeful SLN battle squadrons down upon your head seems a very counter productive exercise.

I have been away for a while and had to lightly skim the thread.
Manticore is still very busy doing things like rebuilding it's orbital infrastructure and working to get all that manufacturing capacity built, on-line, training people to build and repair stuff to make the stuff to make weapons, consumer goods, spair parts for much of it's current inventory of warships and training people for it's navy. That includes it's own citizens from The Talbot Quadrant, Silesia. They are heavily dependent on Beowulf (for which we still have not seen the event which inflicts 10 Million casualties on the Beowulf population).

Sure, Manticore has turned out new ships but the capasity is still very limited. They are in the position of having also shipped a lot of their R&D people out to Bolthole to ramp up Haven with Manticore state of the art tec which, theoreticaly, is going to be making RMN compatable equipment and weapons...and one has to hope also equipment to be shipped back to Manticore to recreate the various manufacturing capacity they need.

Even with the Aldermani and Erwhon cranking out spares for them AND the basic to high level equipment (and parts) to reconstitute the manufacturing, it is still going to take time. Manticore must already understand that is also must reconstitute the civilian side of the manufacturing base if for no other reason than to make stuff at home for the citizens of the Empire AND to provide export products to rebuild it's economy.

Nobody is mentioning Grayson. Grayson needs exactly the same thing.

At best, the SL SDs are really only good for two things. One is pure scrap value of the materials of the ships themselves and the other is as a source of "surplus" SL equipment that can be stripped out for sale or donation to people who may need to build up a local system force of some kind. Meyers comes to mind. Those Verge systems we saw have sucessfull revolutions in Shadow of Victory and want to have some protection from pirates or any chance of keeping of local warlordism MIGHT be able to handle getting a couple of former SL DDs and a CA but they are going to have to be able to provide a lot of people to train to 1st operate them and then to actualy fight them at need. One FF BC, heck one FF DD with an experience crew would be able to chop them up if they wished until such time as the new SDF get actual training.

The sooner the SL SDs in the hands of the GA get converted to newly manufactued ANYTHING to rebuild Manticore and Grayson's infrasturcture, the better. Doing that will also provide training in said manufacturing as well.

Brigade XO wrote:
Even with the Aldermani and Erwhon cranking out spares for them AND the basic to high level equipment (and parts) to reconstitute the manufacturing, it is still going to take time. Manticore must already understand that is also must reconstitute the civilian side of the manufacturing base if for no other reason than to make stuff at home for the citizens of the Empire AND to provide export products to rebuild it's economy.

Nobody is mentioning Grayson. Grayson needs exactly the same thing.

Grayson has the advantage that only their military and civilian ship building took a hit. All Comercial manufacturing (what there was) is still in Grayson planetary orbit.

But beyond that,you are correct, neither has the luxury to waste manpower on anything else but rebuilding their infrastructure.

Dauntless wrote:while CL level ordinance doesn't pose much threat to a modern SDs armour, these are being used against Solly SDs so they will do more damage then would against anyone else's SDs.

What makes you think that? An SD is an SD, they have just as much armor and sidewalls - just not bowwalls

Weird Harold wrote:1: Any "enemy ship" except a freighter or another Scientist/Vega Class SD can simply depart and gather reinforcements.

or go somewhere else, where it isn't & from where BF "oh, please help us all powerful BF we are too week to wipe our own butts. " Like FF going to do that.

kzt wrote:In either case, they might be willing to give you some antiquated ships they have no practical use for.

Exactly - oh and here are a few hundred now...

Castenea wrote:For the fool part, there has been such a change in war fighting tech on the top end that anyone who has been paying attention knows that Scientist/Vega class SDs are a resource sink with very little upside...

1) The SL couldn't make enough intel out of the reports to know better than stick their (well...) nose into the beehive, what makes you think some Podunk Verge system is going to have the itel to know different?
2) Pirates and other verge systems aren't running around with Apollo or Cataphract (Can somebody please put that word into the site spellcheck dictionary?). Those are the main adversaries these ships would be intimidating, no the GA or the Sollies.

The E wrote:As somebody upthread pointed out, this is really really important. Superdreadnoughts are always power projection platforms...

That's kind-of the same thing some losers said in the 1780-90 about the Navy, which was why the US was unable to deal with the Barbary pirates and was so woefully unprepared for war with England in 1812. A warship - ANY warship is a platform for what you use it for. There is no reason to assume that a SD is an "attack" weapon. it can be used just as effectively to 'project power' within your own system against raiders and invaders. Thinking that SD are ONLY used for attack is just flawed thinking.

Jonathan_S wrote:Hopefully he also points out the ongoing costs to operate and maintain this "free" ship - with presumably no access to replacement parts or missiles. Kind of "there's nothing more expensive that a free horse"; except writ much much larger.

Except nobody ever looks at this, if some do, well then they just don't get any, as for replacements, there will be plenty on the market when the SL folds under the GA.

Jonathan_S wrote:Attempting to defend your system with a ship whose mere presence there may draw multiple vengeful SLN battle squadrons down upon your head seems a very counter productive exercise.

While fighting for their lives against the GA? The SL attitude will be - leave them till were finished then we can deal with them. If they survive the GA (assuming they do) then the system can deal with them - If they intended to "

Jonathan_S wrote:defend your system

" in the first place then they would want whatever they can get, for when they decide to come for them anyway. If they're planning to cow-down to the SL, well then - "here's your ship back - we were keeping it safe for you so someone else wouldn't take it." Like the Romanians did in 1905, either case they should grab as many as they think they can, while they're available.