I'd be interested in talking with anybody who might be interested in cranking things up to another level, or beyond - not limited to tech; no area off-limits. Rather than mucking up this forum, I'd like to start discussions offline. Please e-mail me & use "SHIPFIGHT" in the Subject, to pass filters. JM
Why not bash the concept around here? You are going to need some sort of limits. Otherwise some things can get out of control in a hurry. Velocity of projectiles and ships needs some limit. Ever see a "rip gun" cannon in action?
It sounds like fun, but I think hes right, it will get out of control pretty fast. Soon they would be firing 22's at each other. Sink the ship, and if you take out the captain along with it, you get extra points, :~)
What would be involved in "next gen" combat? More open ship designs (not based on history)? Less restrictions on weapons (faster rate of fire, etc)? New technology (gun directors)?
Gun directors are already legal for Battlestations I don't think anyone's stepped up to the plate, tho. YET.
No, I said if you build it "wave motion gun" I'll let it battle. Get out your books on particle beam construction
wow you guys got off-topic real quick. Just to get things back to somewhere near the actual future of RC naval combat, I'd like to see a "professional league" formed. The basic idea behind the "professional league" is that each competing club puts forward a small team (say, 4 members) to participate in a small-team ladder competition, kinda like basketball, baseball, or football, except with ships. The actual competition could be team-elimination, or scenario based. I'd also like to see an individual competition, either another ladder competition or a Last Man Standing. What do you guys think?
Actually that sounds like a good and very workable scheme. Would it need a specialized rules set? A hybrid of fast and big gun rules? Or one or the other.
I don't think that the Big Gun and Fast Gun ships can compete in the same events, on an even footing. They are based upon very different technologies, which cannot be compensated for without significant modifications to participating ships. I think that the Fast Gun clubs have some pretty solid rules already, they just need to hammer out organization and rules of engagement for the ladder in order to play. The Big Gun clubs will take a little more organizing, since they each have their own unique version of the Big Gun rules. I think it would be best implemented at big events like Nats or NABGO. The most important part about it is you can videotape it and produce an interesting show, with only a few cameras, a good editor, and an announcer. And THAT means you can make a TV show, which means... NEW RECRUITS!!!! Nothing says "mainstream" like a TV show and lots of new members.
Im not sure I see why having a ladder type competition would be good, i guess i dont understand the draw of it personally. I think a good old 20 v 20 fleet battle is pretty awesome as is and it helps to encourage more variety in the ships people build since pretty much any ship has a role in a fleet battle. If there were a bunch of smaller teams I could see fewer people building some of the less competitive ships that you see fairly often in fleet battles. Taking a week of vacation and traveling 1000+ miles to go to NATS just to fight a bunch of small battles doesnt really seem worth it, thats what local battles are for.
Kotori: I would have to agree. I could not see anyway to make the two different schools battle successfully. It would add a layer of complexity to have special boats for ladder competitions. Snipehunter: There is no reason why a big event like NATS or NABGO not having both sort of events. Every one may not combat in every event so the people in the ladder competitons could be fighting between the main events. We could even envision a massive event with two battling areas...
I think you'd have to segregate ships into classes, kind of like what NHRA does with Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock, Sportsman, etc. Classes could be organized by scale, armament limitations, etc. to keep everybody within a class competitive. These could include more variations than exist now, even (such as missles, sailing ships, or whatever somebody can dream up & make work). OTOH, it might be fun to allow individual or team "challenge" matches, that pit pretty much anything against anything else. JM
Ladders by ship type would be interesting. I like the concept of the unrestricted "duels" too. I think that missle armed ships would have too big a risk of spectator injury but an all predreadnought ladder would be great! [] Cruiser knife fights! Yamato Sumo Matches! All WW1 ships! (No refitted versions allowed) Many good options.