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PICAs and military manpower needs Feb 2008
Climax to the Battle of Manticore Jan 2008
Baron High Ridge's fate Dec 2007
<em>Saganami-C</em> vs a pre-war superdreadnought Dec 2007
Safeholdian ship design Mar 2007
Pre-war alliance strategy Feb 2007
Deep-penetration & commerce raiding strategy Feb 2007
Deep-penetration strategy Feb 2007
Strategic attrition Feb 2007
<em>Nike </em>(big BC) clarification Nov 2006

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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.