[General Battuta]

Beggining to think that BP uses Nagari like ME uses biotics, i.e. a scifi excuse for any kind of strange experience.

I don't that's true and I don't think that you can substantiate it. 'Every time someone in contact with Vishnans/Shivans has a weird hallucinatory experience, perhaps it was Nagari ****' is pretty reasonable. It's not like Iain MacDuff and the third Knossos are suddenly Nagari sensitives.

[-Norbert-]

They spent almost 50 years looking for it with failing equipment and medics that were probably not the best specialists humanity used to have.

On the other hand not even knowing about the existance of nagari would make it all that much harder to spot it as the deciding factor, while they did know about all kind of phsychosis and other neural or psychologilcal problems, but never could tie one of them to the affected people.

Also we don't know anything about the crew. While it's possible that they just grabbed anyone who was in range and shoved them onto the Sanctuary in a hurry, it's also possible they gathered the brightest and best people of Sol (including the relevant experts) together and gave them prefferential access and average people were only let on board to fill up the last few empty places. Actually considering the big S was an Arche Noah, it would make a lot of sense to get the best medical personel you can get within the deadline on board to aid in the continued survival of the species. to come in contact or hear about almst every Nagari occurance that ever happened to our species

[Aesaar]

Every time some strange thing happens, a writer from BP team comes up and leaves a comment "perhaps it was Nagari ****". Yeah, thanks for that.

It's almost as though comments on the forums aren't meant to be anything approaching definitive and are just meant to get you thinking...

[MatthTheGeek]

A Nagari Wizard Did It.

[-Sara-]

Just thought of this in the morning, having seen a documentary recently. So, both sides are quite dependable on their convoys, with both sides suffering hit-and-run attacks by both smaller and larger vessels. Yet, neither side has utilized Q-ships, how come? Wouldn't it be a huge tactical advantage to have a seemingly innocent looking train of 5 freighters, of which 2 are refitted with concealed weaponry to give the attacker a nasty surprise? Even if only to force the enemy to commit more of their ships to the attack, in case Q-ships are part of a convoy, reducing their ability to utilize these attacking ships elsewhere. That way you either attack enemy convoys less frequently, or you take a gambit that you cannot respond to a counter-attack because your reserve ships are now needed to strike a convoy, to cut your losses to a minimum if a Q-ship is present. Besides, imagine the horror when one of those cargo modules on an enemy freighter is actually a concealed torpedo release chamber, throwing two dozen torpedoes at your frigate or corvette from a mere 1500 metres.

[Aesaar]

We've seen precisely one convoy so far.  That convoy didn't have the time to request some Q-ships.  Maybe they have been used and we haven't seen them.

[NGTM-1R]

Yet, neither side has utilized Q-ships, how come?

Q-ships are the least efficient and least effective (related but not the same concepts) method of escorting convoys. There is literally nothing they do a purpose-designed warship doesn't do better.

[Raptor831]

Yet, neither side has utilized Q-ships, how come?

Q-ships are the least efficient and least effective (related but not the same concepts) method of escorting convoys. There is literally nothing they do a purpose-designed warship doesn't do better.

That's true, but they are better than no escort at all. They would become viable if they were cheap and you had no available warships to escort a convoy. Probably would be used with low-value cargo on out-of-the-way routes to keep the actual warships where the enemy is likely to attack. But yeah, if I could have a cruiser over a souped-up transport, I'd take the cruiser!

[Drogoth]

Q ships would work much better for pirate (GEF) suppression then convoy defense.

[Qent]

Yet, neither side has utilized Q-ships, how come?

Q-ships are the least efficient and least effective (related but not the same concepts) method of escorting convoys. There is literally nothing they do a purpose-designed warship doesn't do better.

The job of the Q-ships wouldn't be escort per se, but the destruction of convoy raiders, which I don't believe you could do. First, the convoy would have to be big and well-armed enough to lure in a cruiser or a corvette; then, it would have to conceal enough weaponry to destroy the attacker reliably, which I'm not convinced you could do with a crate full of bombs.

[Klaustrophobia]

in order to get warship-level firepower, you are going to have to spend warship-level money.  and then you might as well build a proper warship.  if a freighter can take out a cruiser/corvette, guess what it's not a freighter anymore.

[niffiwan]

Q-ships worked because you could easily hide a 4 inch gun on a trawler, and that gave you the same firepower as a WW1 U-boat on the surface, suckered into surfacing because the trawler didn't look like a target worth expending a torpedo on.  And the trawler could take more damage than the U-boat, preventing the U-boat from submerging was as good as a "kill".

[The E]

That's true, but they are better than no escort at all. They would become viable if they were cheap and you had no available warships to escort a convoy. Probably would be used with low-value cargo on out-of-the-way routes to keep the actual warships where the enemy is likely to attack. But yeah, if I could have a cruiser over a souped-up transport, I'd take the cruiser!

Remember rule 1 of intrasystem subspace travel: All points are equidistant. It is completely feasible to have a few fighter wings or corvettes on standby to quickly jump to any convoy's location, just as it is feasible to send sufficient escorts with the freighters and recall them if their services are needed elsewhere.

[NGTM-1R]

Q ships would work much better for pirate (GEF) suppression then convoy defense.

They really don't. The Q-ship is a dumb idea the Royal Navy had back when they were resisting going to convoys in WW1. Rather than have convoys like sane people they instead built Q-ships to go around pretending to be helpless and get attacked and sink the attacking U-boat in the hopes that would put a significant dent in merchant losses.

It did not. Because it was a dumb idea in comparison to actual escort. Q-ships deliberately invite an attack on themselves, and  when used as convoy escorts on their charges, when at least part of the point of escort is to discourage attack.

[niffiwan]

yep, even the RN thought it war a dumb idea after WW1 - didn't stop them trying it in WW2!!!

There may have been 366 Q-ships, of which 61 were lost.[2] After the war, it was concluded that Q-ships were greatly overrated, diverting skilled seamen from other duties without sinking enough U-boats to justify the strategy.[3] In a total of 150 engagements, British Q-ships destroyed 14 U-boats and damaged 60, at a cost of 27 Q-ships lost out of 200. Q-ships were responsible for about 10% of all U-boats sunk, ranking them well below the use of ordinary minefields in effectiveness.

[qwadtep]

I'd also point out that disguising military vessels as civilian freighters would endanger real civilians by forcing the GTVA to treat all traffic as potentially military. At best it would put GTVA pilots on edge, at worst the assumption of escorts would void what little BETAC protection civilians have left. The same thing happened in Iraq and Afghanistan, where the risk of oncoming vehicles carrying gunmen or bombs led to panicked innocents being gunned down at checkpoints.

Ubuntu would never allow it, and even if it did, it would just further the GTVA's claim that Ubuntu is a radical religious sect and cement GTVA public opinion against the UEF.

[MatthTheGeek]

Note that the UEF is basically doing it the other way around. Instead of equipping civilian crafts with military-grade weaponry, they use military crafts for civilian logistic duties, aka the Sanctus.

[Raptor831]

Remember rule 1 of intrasystem subspace travel: All points are equidistant. It is completely feasible to have a few fighter wings or corvettes on standby to quickly jump to any convoy's location, just as it is feasible to send sufficient escorts with the freighters and recall them if their services are needed elsewhere.

Well, this is a game about space fighters. Gives us a good reason to fight!

But, yeah, that makes more logistical sense to send actual warships into the battle instead of tansports with some guns. Especially at very low opportunity cost.

[-Sara-]

I simply remember that they worked in one of the Trek games. You'd attack a convoy, thinking it was easy game while your wingman attacked the escorting cruiser or so, then all of a sudden half of those freighters would be Q-modded, firing a volley of torpedoes you'd not expect, with the escort turning to you max speed, attacking you while you were unshielded and recovering. You'd sometimes die if you did not prepare a counter for the chance of a Q-freighter and your wingman would retreat as it could not handle both the escort and the freighters anyway. Seemed possible there, different than actual Q-ships maybe though.

[Qent]

Star Trek... so are you flying a big ship? That combined with the difference in FTL physics between the two universes would be enough to make Q-ships work, IMHO.