Not only was it doomed by EI's lack of foresight into the implications for... *ahem* logistical costs *ahem*, but also because...
Lasers sucked back then. More-so than now.
Atarlost and I were discussing on IRC about the hornet project (after I made a comparison between the Collective Project and the Hornet project, it led directly to this discussion)
Why? well even back then, a 1d4 laser... was pretty miserable - we decided to compare a bolide (the best laser [turbos are a recent development, as is the x-ray laser] they had 80 years ago during the war) shooting a level 5 primitive tharsis plate vs. a turbolaser (run of the mill laser in the modern transcendence world) shooting a modern level 6 light tharsis plate. Turbolaser scores an average of 1.04, while the bolide clocks in at an inferior .75
Assuming the best CW weapon at the time was a TeV9 [and only on their capships] (disregarding the nukes back on earth from way back when), it should have been a pretty good curbstomp on the side of the Ares - in fact, the only reason the CW survived (At least based on my math) is the fact that earth had nukes, and mars did not, thus allowing the CW to simply blast the living daylights out of the syrtians on mars. Why they didn't resort to nukes BEFORE a plan as silly as the hornet one is rather... astonishing. We can only assume it was the political and socialogical resistance to using 'nuclear weapons'.
Of course this is all just wild mass guessing on my part at the moment, but it's mostly just interesting food for thought.
[as to why the Collective project would work while the hornet one failed:
1) the collective is made of self-replicating robotic drone factories cranking out hundreds of little drone ships - no need to rely on pilots (who also need training, to boot)
2) the collective has no cost other than the initial R&D and first drone factory
3) the weapons the drones have can actually put a dent in tharsis plate - they can even [on paper] kill a phobos! (in the high tens of thousands of shots, up to a maximum of 100801 shots, not including the shots needed to kill the shield)]
The Hornet plan & the syrtian war
It looks like the Bushido thermocannon is syrtis war era, which is a big advantage to the CW. It puts out damage similar to the lightning cannon which is the top Syrtis weapon. The Fusionfire is described as venerable and could possibly be of similar vintage.
The R series deflectors are definitely post-war and Ceralloy is said to be "innovative", implying newness. Ceralloy is also said to be easier to come by than Hexphase, implying that the latter is not something Syrtis War era or it would be common in war surplus.
Orthosteel may have been the CW armor of the Syrtis War era, but I think it was adopted after the war because no other confirmed Syrtis War stuff is above level 7. I'm thinking plasteel and blast plate were it.
The R series deflectors are definitely post-war and Ceralloy is said to be "innovative", implying newness. Ceralloy is also said to be easier to come by than Hexphase, implying that the latter is not something Syrtis War era or it would be common in war surplus.
Orthosteel may have been the CW armor of the Syrtis War era, but I think it was adopted after the war because no other confirmed Syrtis War stuff is above level 7. I'm thinking plasteel and blast plate were it.
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Arisaya
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would make sense, with all the troves of blastplate in existence (mostly being put to not-so-good use by the charon XD)
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<New tutorials, modding resources, and official extension stuff coming to this space soon!>
<New tutorials, modding resources, and official extension stuff coming to this space soon!>
I actually was wondering about all this myself... I've brainstormed a few ideas for a few modded ships to represent the old CW and Ares in the Syrtis War... that would be a fun mod.
My first mod, mostly done, still balance testing.
http://xelerus.de/index.php?s=mod&id=789
http://xelerus.de/index.php?s=mod&id=789
Looking through it.....probably early on we're talking mass-drivers and lasers. After the CW fleet was wiped out, they went in two ways. First was the Hornet program, as a last-ditch or interim means. There was also a flurry of activity to modify the vast stocks of nukes for spacial use.....that produced the Thermo Cannon (which was fielded towards the end of the war) and the Fusionfire. Also the nukes that were droped from orbit onto mars. Developments also allowed the production of the R1 shortly after the war ended.
At the end..there'd probably be large ships, with what back then would have been decent armor....and thermo cannons.
At the beginning...slightly worse armor, and REALLY worse weapons
Heh. The closest thing we've got currently that approximates the old warships that got wiped out over Mars is the Mikeno. And looking at it, you can see why. Take away the dragonfly, and the NAMI launcher (missile tracking would NOT have been good back then)....and it's even worse than it normally is.
At the end..there'd probably be large ships, with what back then would have been decent armor....and thermo cannons.
At the beginning...slightly worse armor, and REALLY worse weapons
Heh. The closest thing we've got currently that approximates the old warships that got wiped out over Mars is the Mikeno. And looking at it, you can see why. Take away the dragonfly, and the NAMI launcher (missile tracking would NOT have been good back then)....and it's even worse than it normally is.
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