Or why I want space fighters and awesome space mechas!
For once, I got free time to burn (and evilly plan) towards Freespace and building a small commercial web-based venture.
So, rather than be a wank, watch me pitifully justify space fighters, mechas, and why many Hard Sci-Fi nuts are idiots (myself included).
So some quick IRL mess:
Long story short, I tried to run a game/universe project that featured Magical Girls riding on jets - stupid story short I ran it into the ground and pissed people in my team off who then stole the idea and ran with it. The result is several years of flawed ideas wasted and a bitter lesson about rules, limits and passion. So, this will be my new brainchild and going back to my roots as a sci-fi fan.
So on to the actual "stuff"
Creating a universe where giant mechas, space fighters, and good old fashioned dog fights exist.
As much as I love hard Sci-Fi and it's science goodness, a lot of self-proclaimed aficionados exist solely to denounce Space Fighters and Mechas on scientific grounds (or as I put it, the here and now crowd) and while they have completely sane reasons and rationales to do it, lack imagination and are often revealed to be hacks who cling to "realism" because they don't understand that good fiction needs good drama. Henceforth with giant robots and flying space cans exist. Let's face it, reading about drones, nuclear missiles, and long wait times is just plain boring. Some authors can pull it off, but many fans fail to understand that a general audience doesn't care **** about scientific accuracy when it comes to booms and explosions.
And despite my own reservations about the validity of "fighters" in space, many of the reasons for and against them are really matters of opinion - not just cold, hard science.
So away from the little rant? Why space fighters and robotic mechas?
Let's face it drama and rule of cool.
That issue aside, how to justify their existence.
My first stabs: Rule of Cool, Mass, and Power Projection/Realities of Economy.
Rule of Cool: Let's just face it, giant robots and fancy space fighters are just awesome and garner more attention than a rockets with turrets.
Mass: Often flouted reasons against space fighters is Delta-V, horizons, g-forces, etc. But hey, smaller mass equals quicker reaction times.
Power Projection/Realities of Economy: Despite all the reasons against smaller craft, a smaller craft is more often cheaper (despite arguments of economy against it) and less a loss than a bigger ship, plus, it depends on the setting and role. Smaller ships can cover power projection and numbers than a single larger tub. I don't hesitate to re-label space fighters as gunships, because in most situations, more than 1 set of eyeballs is a good thing.
Other reasons? This is also my way of flipping the bird to hard-core super-realistic sci-fi nuts after reading countless threads of "scientific accuracy" vs awesome. Awesome, drama, and attention beats our blatant scientific head-banging. The best fiction are settings and ideas that not only respect the science of their established settings, but also "show" rather than tell it.