[quote=mdk]It seems to all add up to a very aggressive kind of warfare, and it seems (to me) like the kind of environment that only really supports one top-dog. Less like WW2-era dogfighting, more like modern BVR.[/quote]

Oh definitely. If you can get a fleet into an enemy system you could do some very serious damage and they couldn't stop you generally, because the amount of force necessary to counter-attack would be far greater than to attack.

On the flip side, you could see an enemy fleet approaching from many years away. As well, the faster the assault fleet travels, the slower you can fire counter-measures in comparison before the counter-measures would be impossible to see coming. (If the attack fleet was moving in at 0.8 light speed and counter-measures came at them at 0.2 light speed, the ships would be hit before they could see the counter-measures coming.)

Also, until we get past the light speed barrier, empire is a bit out of the question still. You can't hold an empire together if by the time your communications reach someone, you'd be talking to their grand children.

That aside, yeah, an aggressor in an otherwise equal conflict would probably win. Hard.

[quote=ASTA]Huh, well I guess swords, maces and war hammers became useless when suits of plate mail fashioned from the same materials these weapons were created from started appearing on the field, right?[/quote] 

Swords, maces, and war hammers are physical materials that, when used with applied force ([i]energy[/i]) can cause damage to other materials made of similar or same materials. A laser is [b]pure energy[/b]. Whatever material you have that can contain and fire the laser can also stop that very same laser, by virtue of the fact that your space gun has to be able to contain and then fire that energy. Whereas, say, a mace, does not have to contain any energy. It merely has to transfer it from point A to point B.

Also, the vast majority of medieval soldiers did [i]not[/i] have plate mail. They had, at best, chain mail. If it was a plate mail dominated battlefield, you would have seen a hell of a lot more spears and crossbows than there already were, rather than maces and swords.

[quote=ASTA]I'm going to let you figure out the tactical flaws in fielding a spinal-mounted DEW in a three-dimensional environment.[/quote]

I think that was the point...

[quote=Kadaeux]A: No, a ship mounting lasers for ANYTHING [b]except point defence[/b] is NOT going to mount them in fully traversable turrets. It's going to mount it as a spinal weapon where they can get the most surface-area for the laser (Necessary, as your [b]laser gets more powerful the size of the laser PROJECTOR increases with it[/b].)[/quote]

He was arguing about the impracticality of laser weapons as offensive weapons. I think the fact that you would have to spinal mount it to get the most power out of it only really goes to support that argument.

[quote=ASTA]The irony is crushing.[/quote]

Like Russian space tech? :lol

[quote=mdk]
spaceweapon threads get inexplicably abrasive on RPG. It's almost a social phenomenon.
[/quote]

Sci-fi fans are some of the most hardcore on the planet. Just look at the Star Wars and Star Trek fan bases and how utterly rabid and obsessive they can be. Why is this? I honestly have no clue.

[quote=ASTA]
Ha!But it sure does make for good entertainment! :3
[/quote]

That it does.