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Title Posted
White Haven's double-transit to Basilisk Jun 2005
Shipkiller missile evasive maneuvers Jun 2005
FTL fire control Jun 2005
Fire control uplink flexibility Dec 2004
Construction time for the first-flight <em>Harringtons</em> Dec 2004
Erewhon's 'betrayal' of the Manticoran Alliance Dec 2004
Fleet strengths as of 1905 PD Dec 2004
Shipbuilding times Dec 2004
Fleet strengths as of 1920 PD Dec 2004
Effective intercept range for counter-missiles Dec 2004

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Pearls of Weber

A collection of posts by David Weber containing background information for his stories, collected and generously made available Joe Buckley.

Asymmetrical broadsides

  • Series: Honorverse
  • Date: October 22, 2002

Why Are Starships Symmetrical? The question of why ships aren't designed with separate broadsides optimized for different types of combat -- that is, missile-range combat as opposed to energy-range combat -- has emerged once again. Do you want to comment on this one at all?

 

Symmetrical Broadsides. No, I don't want to comment on this. I've done it before, and the statements I made then still apply. Indeed, they've become even more relevant in an era in which broadside missile tubes are becoming less and less significant for major combatants and the need for missile defenses has never been greater. Asymmetrical broadsides would be a bad idea.