Babylon 5 Mod

[Nomor]

If you're a space faring race the first line of defence would be ships, then fighters, then "GOD sats around Earth" then planetary based missile systems.

The problem with the latter is that too much of the missile would be taken up with propellant and less on warhead.

Your heavy destroyer busting missiles would be on orbital sats/stations. Missile systems on planet surfaces would have to be light, fast, long range affairs; otherwise there seek times would be very slow as they fought against gravity and the atmosphere.

This is less of a problem on planets/moons with low gravity's and thin or no atmosphere. e.g. Mars or our Moon.

In fact it makes more sense to have a nice strong, concrete, semi-buried, pop up missile system on these worlds than a nice sore thumb of a satellite. How do you reload a satellite any way? I would think mobile ground system would be more easily maintained on fledgling colony worlds and easier to conceal.


Why not have Planet based missiles as Fast firing e.g. 2 or 3 missiles per turn*; rapid seeking; but very low damage. *OK I know it can't be done. Let the launchers be 3-5kT?

Let them be multi targeting e.g. ships/fighters/seekers.

This would be more realistic. Fighters should not be able to attack planets with too mush success. Missiles would be taken out by antimissile missiles; leaving it up to the capital ships to have to get within range.

It is important to allow planet based missiles to have very long ranges as they are only trying to destroy small targets.Ship based missiles designed to damage planetary facilities would have to be heavy yield ;slow and shorter range in order to impact a much larger stronger planet based target.

This would result in a tech battle as capital ships designed for planet capture would develop and carry armour that negates the effect of low yield planet based missiles. So research would have to be done to increase the effectiveness of the opposing technologies. IMHO However I'm glad it's not me working on the AI

[ August 25, 2002, 03:28: Message edited by: Nomor ]

[pathfinder]

Good ideas Nomo, BUT there were no planet-based defenses in B5 on TV except for the planet that B5 orbited...sssssooooooooo........

[ August 25, 2002, 04:08: Message edited by: pathfinder ]

[oleg]

I think it would be better to leave WP as it is now. True, there are no WP in Babylon5 (or ST) but this is babylon5 mod for SEIV, not a separate game. There are not many ways to defend planet, getting rid of WP will only make game poor, IMHO.

[pathfinder]

Just shows ya what I know about B5.

Works for me. But final AI depends on what the chiefs say..

[oleg]

Recycling B5 episodes in memory - I do not have them all in video/DvD - I vaguely remember that in "fall of centaury prime", regent said that he "turned planetary defences off". It is entirely possible that more adavanced civ., like Minbary and Centaury, did invent WP. It is just backward EA that can not figure it out !! Just think of it - Vorlons left formidable defences arond the Homeworld, and Zha'dum was not without at least some devises when Shadows run away !

[Suicide Junkie]

"IF: I always, if available, put heaviest armor that will fit on them; so that sounds good to me"

Question: The heavy armor for ships is not the strongest armor: light armor has more hp/kT. If your WPs are using the same components, then many layers of light armor would be better.

[pathfinder]

Hmmm...200 light armor on a wp.....plus X number wp with PD....

[Nomor]

Lighthorse..

Originally posted by Lighthorse:
Hey Pathfinder,

There a collection of B5 books for SF gamers. I have see them at a local hobby shop. There one that cover the whole all the B5 races and technology, but the down side it cost about 35.00 dollars. Not sure if this what you're looking for. Let me check into some B5 other websites for you.

Lighthorse

This book looks interesting. Do you know its title and/or ISBN number?

"Christopher Russo maintains a very complete guide to B5's aliens, Encyclopedia Xenobiologica." Not anymore. Does anyone have a backup of his info. There are major gaps in alien bio info?

[ August 26, 2002, 14:53: Message edited by: Nomor ]

[Nomor]

Here is the link to the only episode guide that gives detail of ground based weapons systems.

Link: http://www.visi.com/~wildfoto/synopsis/420.html

See ACT TWO Second reference to Mars, 2nd and 3rd paragraphs. Reproduced here:

" Marcus and Lennier's White Star enters Mars' atmosphere creating a great disruption. It soars over the planet's surface taking out several laser sentries that would have hit Sheridan and Delenn's fleet otherwise.

In the bunker, they all hit the deck, and the White Star zooms in and destroys some fighters on the ground. Inside the bunker, Garibaldi spots a defense tower that has detected and targeted the White Star, and Number One orders that the bunkers guns destroy the tower, which they do."

That being said ground based weapons systems may not have featured in B5 simply because the plot didn't require them to. We know that they had missiles .

Please keep the weapon platforms just make them less damaging.



[ August 25, 2002, 13:12: Message edited by: Nomor ]

[Lighthorse]

Pathfinder

I saw the book in a local hobby shop downtown in Portland, Or. It cost about $35.00. I can't remember its name or number coding, sorry. It did go with the B5 wargame rules, as it combined information together. It listed some, maybe all the different type races, ships, race history, and technologys. Check that website for its listing of books, it should be in there. I can tried to drop by the hobby shop again for you, if you have no luck.

Lighthorse