I think it would be totally awesome if the battleships filled a role similar to the large Capital ships in Star Wars. Big, huge things that needed insane tactics to fight against and could pummel just about anything that was smaller than them, oftentimes taking a small fleet to defeat, if not more.
In the SARP, battleships just aren't that strong, due to the way the DR rules work. However, since they're king of the spectrum, it does mean that nothing will hit their hull until the shields are down, which is a great advantage in making them the toughest ship around.
The small-midsize vessel range is most often the one chosen for plotships. It can understand the need to make a battleship look daunting, but I don't like seeing a plotship made insignificant. The smaller fleets were made for a reason - to make player vessels more significant because they weren't lost in a crowd (well, not as much) so, in a way, I find Wes' battleship concept to be threatening that. It makes me worry.
I think one of these battleships would make a GREAT plot ship setting, in the way the Senbu (also a huge ship) is a "big plot ship." It won't make smaller ships insignificant at all because small ships are going to be doing totally different mission types. Having Yuumi battleships around never kept the YSS Yui from making a difference...the Sharie won't adversely affect ships like the Eucharis either.
I believe that if a Plumeria is a 'pocket battleship' that then it should not be that insignificant before said battleship.
The Plumeria can't take on a battleship because the battleship has better shields and armor. That's irrelevant, because all battleships in this setting have 50 SP/SP.
Wes doesn't seem to ascribe to the idea that 'the next ship class size category is about 150% stronger than the previous
Each is 20 SP stronger.
If Wes has a new vision about battleships, I want him to share it so that we can understand it - rather than go "OMG overpowered!". Then, however, the impact will be that most battleships to come will be designed to be about the Sharie's power level.
Battleships are the king of space combat. They're not invincible, but they have enough firepower that taking them on alone is near suicide. The Sharie is not overpowered. It has the same SP as any other battleship and weapons in reasonable numbers for its size. It's the first real battleship we've had since the new DR rules and it's basically what a battleship is supposed to look like. The Chiharu, by comparison, is woefully underarmed by current standards because it is was made in the time where weapons still did total annihilation.
They're engines, they're high performance, and they glow and move the ship. Basically, an aether tap is used to draw high energy plasma from the 'aetherverse' and instead of being used for power, it's directed out the back of the ship to move the ship around. Not the stealthiest, but you don't have to worry about fuel or power.
The ship is just too big and can take on too much stuff.
Its size is lovely. Its capabilities are reasonable for its size.
as it'll move up from smaller ships to massive ones that probably could destroy a planet.
There isn't too much incentive to build anything bigger than, say, 1km long because then you just end up making an even juicier target for the enemy without a lot of benefits. All battleships in the SARP have 50 SP...so a larger ship is just as easy to sink as the smaller battleships. I agree that there could be a battleship arms race, but you can just sink whatever the enemy builds with the same amount of effort.
The setting doesn't really care about resources or how they're acquired in the least. In fact, Yamatai's massive ship numbers of more or less the same very strong resource is particularly erroneous in this regard. You can't cite that as a example for OOC concerns...
The setting cares about the number of industrialized systems controlled.
... Two, however, you are basically asking people to trust you. I don't think the majority of the site can really do that, though. You haven't set a particularly lofty precedent.
It doesn't matter if you buy it or not, Gamer. It only matters that I believe it, since I'm the one running my shipyards and military, giving me control to limit the amount of battleships going around. I don't want them to be throwaway ships. They're like ninjas in movies. A lone ninja is always a badass, but fifty of them in one place is is asking for a slaughter...in the same way, I think overproducing them would hurt their coolness factor. I've already told you my estimated production numbers.
Presently, the reason why the Shlarvasseroth hasn't been seen yet ICly in YE 31 is because I did consider it overpowered the way the current DR system works
As a note, the Shlarvasseroth was present at the invasion of both Tatiana and Nataria, IIRC.
My personal view is that any ship should avoid being so armed that it could destroy itself in one salvo. If that happens, exchanges between battleships become slugfests decided in the first 10 seconds and that's already pretty quick. I personally don't really like the idea of making it quicker.
In a best case scenario, the Sharie tilts forward to get maximum guns on its target and fires 14 main turrets at once, for a total of 70 damage. If it's fighting another battleship, that leaves the other ship with 30 SP left. So, it'd take a second salvo to slag the other ship. But really, any GM can make a battle last as long as he needs to.
What does it take to take out a battleship?
In one combat round, it takes 20 Plumeria gunships to fire their main cannon on it. (However, the Plumeria's secondary cannons could probably cut that number in half, so let's say 10 gunships or so). That sounds about right to me.
The battleship is powerful, but it's not a one-ship fleet in itself. It will need to operate as part of a group.
EDIT: NMX Battleship, for comparison
https://wiki.stararmy.com/doku.php?id=mi ... battleship
