Gentelemen! (Err, and ladies if present?
)
As I have pointed out too many times to recall now, the "balance" problem with mines is not the number that can be deployed, nor even the relative ineffectivness of minesweepers. It is the INFALLABLE HIT of every single mine. Mines never miss. As things are now, when you enter a minefield you get hit again and again until you are destroyed or the mines run out. This is beyond ridiculous. The one weapon system that will probably be impossible in "real" space warfare is mines, but even if they are possible they sure aren't going to be 100 percent effective. The vastness of space makes the concept of a mine very difficult to implement. It's very hard to imagine ships "accidently" hitting them, and if they have to detect ships and seek then they have the same chance to hit or miss as other weapons. If we want even a trace of realism with mines, we need to make them have a less than 100 percent chance to hit.