Musings on space combat

[gentleman john]

I've been doing some thinking about writing house rules for space combat to give the players a bit more to do with their characters, as well as making space combat more tactical. In doing so, I've had to do some thinking about the assumptions behind space combat in S&S2e.

So, from the book, there are some things that are set about spacecraft n S&S2e.

Starships have two forms of drive: nuclear drive and hyperdrive. Nuclear drive can push a starship up to the speed of light, but only costs 5 EU per day of use. Hyperdrive, on the other hand, has an unlimited speed (alright, warp 8), but costs 5 EU per warp factor.

Space combat takes place under nuclear drive. Hyperdrive is only used to get to a fight or to disengage from it.

Facing in combat is not important. Nor is position. Distance, however is paramount.

Screens are not perfect, but are capable of deflecting most damage. Their efficiency varies inversely with the size of the vessel mounting them.

Based on this, what assumptions can be made about space combat in S&S2e?

First off, it looks like movement under nuclear space drive is Newtonian; in other words, ships accelerate to a maximum speed, turn round, then decelerate. This explains why facing is unimportant, as a vessel can assume any facing and still move.

Second, based on a vessel being able to close up to 30,000 miles per combat turn, maximum delta-vee looks to be about 1.5% of the speed of light per second. Based on this, space combat should take place (and probably most space encounters) should take place at strategic points where vessels will be relatively stationary to each other - or at least on the same vectors.

Third, vessels entering combat direct from hyperdrive will be a relatively rare occurrence. Given the amount of power a vessel needs to travel in hyperdrive, then manoeuvre in normal space, provide life support and raise shields, the average vessel is going to be going into combat very close to zero power to begin with.

Finally, when in combat, it is difficult to hit a precise target. Most shots hid the energy pods and their associated systems. Thus, damage is rated against the PPB of a vessel, rather than systems or hit points.

Is this how other people see space combat in S&S2e, or do they have different assumptions?