Beef #1: Ramming

[Taqwus]

Officer's log --

Strange. No other word suffices to explain this... strange ship design. Have our Fleet Engineers gone insane? While the _Hammerhead_ may be a large ship, she bears no weaponry, for her structure is largely armor plating, shield generators, and propulsion systems. Horrible rumors abound about how we are to be used, but surely those deserve little credence.

I would have asked the Captain, but he did not appear to be in a talkative mood after reading his confidential briefing; instead, he turned pale and retired to his cabin.


;-)

Hmmm. If the AI used engine-destroying, or, alternately, armor/shield-bypassing weapons (Time weapons [both], Shard cannons [bypass armor], etc), then it might be able to slow down the rammers sufficiently.

Alternately, right now repulsor beams don't seem that useful, because their range is so short compared to other weapons, and thus even after the push the enemy will likely still be close enough to shoot you. But... if there were opportunity fire (say, crews/Master Computers can respond with unfired weapons to approaching ships -- perhaps with probability based on crew experience or MC level), then repulsors might be able to force an attacker to expend more MPs to close.

Emergency propulsion systems would also seem to be a good candidate for an auto-fire for avoiding a ram.

FWIW, crew loyalty could be useful in discouraging silly rams, as well.

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-- The thing that goes bump in the night