"realistic" ship design.

[geoschmo]

Well, maybe solar sails should be protected by shields. If the shields are a bubble around the whole ship.

There is also the physical properties of the sail to consider. They are very large, very thin things. Perhaps the weapons would go right through them, making small holes and such, but not seriously degrading their performance until a lot of damage was done, or a hit landed on some vital mounting point which could be protected by the armor.

There are also theories now about magnetic or electrostatic solar sails where the sail itself is not a phisical object that could be damaged. In taht case you'd have to hit the generator and that could certainly be protected by armor.

Geo

[Gryphin]

Posted by Geo:
"right through them, making small holes and such, "
Reminds me of paintings of Wooden Warships with cannon ball holes through there sails.
Anybody ever play, "Wooden Ships and Iron Men"?
You were in big trouble if your rigging / mounting got recked.

[geoschmo]

Right Gryph, that's kind of what I had in mind too. IIRC they could take lots of shots through the sails, but if one hit the mast square they were pretty much dead.

Geoschmo