Re: Some questions on Spaceships
 

Yes, you're right, I forgot about the need to go through the core system of the central hull.

I'm not talking about deviating from the 20-systems rule. By the rules you can take, for instance, four habitat systems and consider them as a single habitat space, even while it game-mechanically functions as four systems. So you could take four major battery systems and consider them as a single weapon battery, even though game-mechanically it functions as four systems. With this most minor of modifications in the name of replicating the ship you have in mind, as the book encourages you to do, you end up with the desired effect.

Re: Some questions on Spaceships
 

I think you're right, though using the 'larger systems' rule from SS7, p.5, you could use three systems to mount an oversized fixed medium battery of three guns the size of a normal major battery gun, which would then allow you to fire them all together quite legally. Given that this is the case, there's no reason other than the text in SS to not allow it for any number of guns as long as they are fixed and bear in the same direction.

As I said, I allow guns to be mounted more than one to a turret, and to fire as a single attack, subject to the other limitations (identical, etc.), so I'm a heretic anyway.

Re: Some questions on Spaceships
 

Well, I allow multiple turrets to be fired as a single attack. This was routine on ships in the 1930s, so I see no reason to assume it would be impossible at TL10.

Re: Some questions on Spaceships
 

I'm pretty sure that's the intent behind the Starhawk design since it's the only way it could work.

Re: Some questions on Spaceships
 

Actually, it was routine before WWI for battleships.

Re: Some questions on Spaceships
 

Oh, I agree that there's no good reason for the restriction. As has been noted, a single operator firing multiple turrets, spread out across the hull even, is perfectly realistic at tech levels lower than Spaceships usually goes to.

It's just that it is, as you say, the text in Spaceships.

Re: Some questions on Spaceships
 

Knew the firing solutions were calculated and the guns triggered centrally, buy couldn't quickly find any explicit reference to guns being automatically laid from central control that early. I knew for sure the Mk. 33 did this.

Re: Some questions on Spaceships
 

They weren't fully automatic, but I don't see having humans work controls to line up the gun's azimuth marker with the marker controlled by the director is any different from having a machine do it, aside from one of tech level.

Re: Some questions on Spaceships
 

There SHOULD be variety of missiles. For instance countermissiles should cost about a fraction per salvo of a shipkiller (or why didn't they throw them at the other formation in the first place). Missiles for delicate stuff like gunboat diplomacy, policework, and piracy should be more surgical. Conversely shipkillers should have better armor penetration capability than either countermissiles, or missiles made for light units or for skirmishing (the latter two can often be the same model). There should be different warheads like EMPers, Nukes, Laserheads, recon (and possibly conterrecon) drones, different attack plans and so forth. Some of these can be several apps put in the same guidance computer as options. But at the least there are reasons to have different sizes to make an expense worth the target.

Re: Some questions on Spaceships
 

It's fairly hard to justify countermissiles rather than point defense beams or cannon. (Except for countermissile nuking.) You could have 16cm countermissiles used to shoot down larger 'shipkiller' missiles, but it's difficult to make larger shipkillers useful.

A 'short ramge' missile that cut off half the mass and probably 2/3s to 3/4s of the delta-V would be a helpful option, if you do want to use missiles for defensive fire.
How do you do 'surgical' a gigantic hypervelocity impactor?
No Spaceships kinetic weapons have useful penetration factors, assuming warship armor is hardened.

The text has nukes and laser heads (though it doesn't really give instructions on how to play out the laser heads), and EMP missiles seem like a dubious proposition. Nobody's stopping you having drones, but drones aren't really missiles. SS5 does have sensor drones that are stated as missile replacements, though they're intended for exploratory/scientific use, not tactical recon.