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Title Posted
Warshaski sail missiles Oct 2002
<em>Wayfarer</em>'s cargo doors Oct 2002
"Weaknesses" of the SD(P) classes Oct 2002
Wedge geometry Oct 2002
The Grendelsbane yards vulnerability Oct 2002
Source of the Grayson starship reserves Oct 2002
System defense ships Oct 2002
Ground warfare Oct 2002
Hyperspace near a Wormhole Junction Oct 2002
Kinetic infrastructure attacks Oct 2002

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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.