I generally agree. My variance would be 6x NL-55s and using some of the freed mass for more AMS and fighter defense.
Warships were extinct in the IS at one time so it doesn't seem like a crazy lift to make a new line of oversized DS? As far s I can tell, it's just easier than the Fox---a yard is smaller, the engine is smaller, no KF, no LF, no warship weapons etc.... As far as bankrupting the ASF assets of a navy, of course using some of the savings of not producing a new warship in quantity could produce quite a few ASF. It would take a timescale of years to expand piloting schools, but that also seems doable. Also, of course, some of those dropcollars could be used for regimental scale mech carriers making orbital drops (with smallcraft ground support rather than dropship ground support).
There are two reasons why I like a small quantity of raiders in a fleet.
(1) What's your apex predator in naval combat? Is it other warships or ASF? If it's warships, then 3/5 is hard to beat. If it's ASF, then you might consider 5/8 pretty desirable as it means 5/8 ASF can't close, 6/9 ASF may run out of fuel before closing, 7/11 or 8/12 ASF may take structural damage before closing, and 9/14 or 10/15 ASF may run out of fuel before closing, leaving 11/17 the first ASF profile to be able to consistently close without structural damage or running out of fuel. That's a much lighter ASF than a 5/8 which can close on 4/6 warship readily.
(2) If you are using individual ranges LNG+5/8 can achieve faster + longer range enabling the possibility of lopsided victories vs. opponents without the speed or range. A prepared opponent might of course mount more LNGs on a 3/5, but forcing your opponent to mount an inefficient weapon in quantity so the smallest deployed fleet element has sufficient LNGs to ward off a raider has a quite significant value. Thus the suggestion for a small quantity of raider profiles---either opponents respond by significantly weakening their overall direct fire weaponry or they don't respond and are subject to lopsided sniping.
Both of the above are tactical combat considerations, so they seem like legitimate use of a 5/8 move taking into account the limits of human physiology.
I"ll give you a better argument. It's one thing to measure your gee tolerance sitting in a customized acceleration couch, with a gee-suit like they issue fighter pilots.
It's something else entirely to measure it while walking, climbing stairs or ladders, carrying heavy things, moving heavy things, taking a crap, eating breakfast...
or running down a corridor with a fire extinguisher and a halligan tool, bracing, and maybe a repair patch to keep your air in.
guess which one's going to be a lot harder to do, at 2 to 2.5 gees (each MP is .5 gees) never mind 4.
And these are absolutely things your crew needs to be able to do, see, Warships don't have a handy carrier deck to land on if something breaks. If something breaks (and things will break) They have to do it
in situ-that is, inside the ship, without letting too much of the life giving oxygen out. (OR water).
OR they have to do them in hard vacuum because the life giving oxygen's already gotten out.
They ARE the carrier deck, that means the crew has to be able to move around, but it doesn't
stop there. Battletech does not include gravity or inertia control. That means your passengers, off-duty crew, hospital cases, etc. are all subjected to the forces of brutal acceleration, and the fact is, high gees don't make you superman.
High Gees, especially over distance and time, make you a hospital patient or an invalid if they last more than a few seconds to a few minutes, especially if you're not wearing a full-on acceleration suit, and reclined in a nice, padded, supportive, acceleration couch.
It's very hard to effect repairs or reloads while reclining in a nice acceleration couch.
This means that while there's a high
theoretical thrust involved, on the practical scale, aside from dedicated smallcraft, dropships or fighters whose crews get to recline in comfy couches in full bladder suits, your practical acceleration curve tops out at 2/3, (1 to 1.5 gees) for any distance over about five minutes.
Longer than that, and you can start looking into investments in arthritis medicines, blood pressure medication, and splints for broken bones (because someone is gonna trip coming down the corridor, especially in something as wild as combat.)
these things are built to accelerate for
days (because at one gee, it takes seven days to get from zenith or Nadir to the orbital plane of most inhabitable planets).
Guess what most of 'em are going to be doing? 2 MP, one gee for that distance, because it's
safer and healthier for crew and passengers (such as the ground troops you're hauling.)
This makes armor and point defenses more important than thrust curve, because having a high thrust curve is just one more thing you can't afford to use for 99% of the time you're in operation.
That means that your crew aren't doing battle damage mitigation at those higher accelerations, they're buckled in their couch with the funky bladders keeping the blood going to their brains instead. They're not switching feeds for the ship's guns or anything, but buckled in securely, and with plenty of advance warning that it's about to happen.
Otherwise you're damaging your crew, and the ship, since loose objects become kinetic projectiles pretty easily, and hit a lot harder, at higher gee.
mabye even hard enough to break sensitive equipment and create MORE dangerous FOD.
so most of your fleet? are going to be cruising at one gee, even in combat conditions, because THAT way, they can do damage mitigation, damage control, activate and maintain auxiliary systems, and keep your ship, which is the 'whole world' for its crew, functional enough to keep the crew (and passengers)
alive.
Thus, most ships
aren't going to use that huge thrust curve. Not without extensive pre-preparation. It's not like dogfighting a fighter.
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