Is spaceship armor useless?

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Well, you can probably say that some vehicles have a higher effective acceleration for purposes of turning in a gas/liquid. Not strictly RAW.

Might work.

Basically, for typical cinematic space fighting what you need is a decent air combat maneuver system, with altitude-based elements stripped out.

(Interestingly, while B5 has some fighters that look more like reasonable spacecraft, the ludicrously low speeds that you pointed out that they move at arguably makes them make less sense than airplanes-in-space.)

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Well, they do perform evasive manoeuvres (on small craft, mostly); GURPS sees all anti-ranged dodges as mostly similar (with some modifiers). But it doesn't take an asteroid thicket to make a dodge of some sort.
Really, why are we even assuming that thickets are required for evasive actions?

I'm not, sorry. That was a strictly non-rhetorical question.

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Ah, so you're assuming one gunner per missile. Fair enough. That's still a requirement.

It is, though it's also a requirement for point defense.

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Well, if you're launching them in a single attack (RoF), sure. You seem to want the best of both worlds, though.

I do, because I can't see any good reason for multiple missiles with a single operator to be basically worthless, but multiple missiles with one operator each be awesome. It's not like a handheld firearm where there's actually a good reason for the effectiveness to drop. (I'm pretty sure we've discussed that before.)

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Possible, but puts extra demands on timing and acceleration.

Pretty trivial ones. You just puff out one missile per turn, keep the existing missiles stacked with your ship if it's under thrust, and once you've launched them all fly them as one big shoal.

(I forget, do nukes clear all missiles in a hex? If they do, it'd be worth spreading the shoal out a bit.)