From: btd@iastate.edu (Benjamin T Dehner)
Subject: Re: DD's need improvement!
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames IA
Distribution: rec
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 18:14:08 GMT

In <JWEST.93Jan22122227@weevil.frc.ri.cmu.edu> jwest@weevil.frc.ri.cmu.edu (Jay West) writes:

>Just one more opinion about DD's and ship types in general (skip to
>end if you just want to hear my suggestion).

>In a straight out dogfight with equally skilled opponents, I would
>expect:

>BB's beats CA's beats DD's beats SC's.  The lighter ship must always
>give ground to the heavier ships.  AS's are something of an anomoly -
>not very many people dogfight in these.  I would put it somewhere
>just below a CA.

>This has been expressed before, and I have found this to be generally
>true.  I usually play CA's, and can kill DD's and SC's or force them
>to retreat, but I must give ground to a good BB player.  Don't know
>about a DD-SC dogfight.  When in a scout, I have another task in
>mind and avoid dogfights.  I rarely play DD's.

>Increasing the firepower of a DD in order to put it on equal footing
>with CA's in a dogfight is a mistake - all ships are not created
>equal.

>So why play ships other than the best dogfighter?  Because netrek is
>not about dogfighting.

>BB - last planet defense, where you are just sitting by the planet
>waiting for takers.  Its tremendous firepower is very useful.
>Sometimes used for ogging.  For other purposes, it's too slow to be
>effective.

	Yes, but then you're screwed.  Unless you are very accurate, after
the first opponent you are out of gas, usueally don't have the time to
refuel, and shit out of luck.

>CA - my favorite ship.  Good general purpose ship, has DD's and SC's
>to pick on for easy kills.  It can ogg, bomb nearby planets, scum kills,
>and take planets effectively.

	Agreed.

>SC - very effective at scout bombing.  It can quickly getting past a
>defense, fake and drop 2 armies.  SC's can also be effective at ogging
>- no one can run from you.

	A SC is not very good at ogging a clueful player.  (I found this
out the hard way.)  If you stay cloaked for too long trying to find him,
you won't have any fuel when you catch him.  

>AS - ship of choice for that all important initial bombing run.  Good
>at taking heavily defended planets, but you had better have escorts.

	An AS can be used as last resort ogging, since it's heavy hull will
give you a good chance to get close.  The tricky part is that missing is not
an option, since you do not have the fuel for a second volley of torps.

>DD - I don't play these very much - haven't found a good role for
>them.  Tried ogging, taking planets, and bombing with DD's, but there
>better ships.  Speed advantage over CA's is not significant.

	I occaisionally find DD's useful for taking.  They are a bit quicker
than CA's, so can run from oggers easier.  

>So what can be done about DD's?  I like ZZ's idea of reducing max
>armies DD's can carry to 2 and give it warp 11.  This would turn it
>into a fast penetrator.  It might also become a good ogger (perhaps
>too good?).

	I agree with another posters suggestion of increasing there maneuver-
ability a bit.

>West
>HARM

Cthulhu

-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Benjamin T. Dehner    Dept. of Physics and Astronomy 
btd@iastate.edu       Iowa State University 
                      Ames, IA 50011