OSG-27: Lumbering Rocks

[RefSteel]

Thanks for the kind words, everybody! I did find a solution that actually looks pretty decent, and if the Affordable Care Act or any replacement resembling it survives the firestorm of the new US government, the new arrangements could actually be quite good for me. I still have some bureaucratic hoops to jump through to make sure everything works out and I stay consistently covered, but there's light at the end of the tunnel - and more importantly (errrr, for this thread's purposes) I may be able to finish the turns tonight!

(And yeah, in spite of the things I like about my actual job, I'm starting to look around for a better employer.)

Thanks for the thoughts on the save too, Thrawn! I played the first few turns before you posted them, but some of our thoughts are exactly in alignment, and you'll have to wait and see the reasons behind a couple where I went a different way! Either way, I'll definitely keep them in mind as I finish my set.

[RefSteel]

Okay! I've played, and don't want to hold up the game until I can get the images up, so I'll just post the save and some general notes:

I made some decent progress but still feel like I could have played these turns a lot better. Some of it is still rust, some of it is hindsight, some of it is real-life distraction, but some of it is self-compounding: I should have traded for Nuclear Engines, heavily prioritized Prop research, or both, realizing how difficult it is to run a far-flung empire with warp-1 ships and transports, especially as the rocks. Just trading nuclear engines for R6 on the inherited turn (which I considered and foolishly rejected) would have made this a much nicer set, but by the time I realized this mid-way through my set, the price for nuclear engines had gone up to IT+30. No idea what they're charging now.

Notes for the next emperor:

- Apart from some minor leftovers from last turn (mainly at Paranar) I haven't spent any reserves yet this turn, even at Paranar! - as I'd like to leave irrevocable decisions like that for you. We have 668 BC in reserves for you to use. Were it still my turn, I'd spend most or all of this, starting with Paranar, Stalaz, and Imra.

- We have a Longrock 1 (LR colship) due at UR Drakka in "9 turns" (could be more or less due to nebula interference). I suggest sending transports to Stalaz to ensure it has max pop by the time the colship arrives, and additional transports behind them to restock Stalaz after it immediately sends 20+ transports to Drakka, followed by more in anticipation of terraforming.

- I haven't spoken to any of the AIs in several turns, so they should be as willing as they're likely to ever be to chat if you want to try to swing any deals.

- There's a standard colship sitting in orbit at Stalaz, waiting longingly to see if we manage to steal R7 from somebody so it can go to Drakka. I guess it could try to colonize something else past Drakka after the LR ship gets there, but at this point, it's probably worth more to us as scrap.

- Orion is at the purple star in the far north.

- All our spy reports are current, but I have Espionage turned on for the Humans only. Might be worth spying on the Sakkra too, but not on the brains or the 'chines, both of whom have much higher computer tech than we do.

- All our planets are fully terraformed except for Imra in the far north, which hasn't yet gotten started.

- There's only one missile base in the entire empire (at Tyr). I've set Stalaz to start one too, but it has nothing invested yet (to my knowledge). I'm not sure this is a problem (yet at least) - just a fact.

- Most of our techs are coming along, but only F-Bombs are in the percentages. We have only a tiny token investment in Planetology, with research set to Bio Toxin Antidote in case we run up against a lot of sporers. Note our computer research was set to BC2 prior to my turns. I wasn't sure what to do with that, and should probably have spent more on it to clear it out of the way and go for something better, but it's close to maturing now at least.

- Paranar and Artemis are fully maxed, but no other colony is really close to maxing except maybe Tyr.

- The Psilons and Sakkra (and no one else we know) have Controlled Dead, but we're still the only ones who can land on infernos or worse so far. The Humans and Meklar are still on Controlled Minimal for now. There are plenty of spores, bombs, and shields around the galaxy, but the only real beams belong to the Humans (Ion Cannons) and Sakkra (Neutron Blasters), and no one has decent missiles yet except the Meklar (Scatters). The best engines extant that we know of are the Humans' nuclears, on which they have a monopoly for now.

- Paranar has put a couple of boosted turns into the placeholder huge in its build queue. I don't like any of the ships we can build right now though, which is why I left it on reserves for the time being, but it can still pour a couple more turns into the placeholder for future use (or build a fleet for an early conquest gambit) if desired.

The save is attached.

[Ianus]

Sounds great! I'll play this tomorrow.

[RefSteel]

Cool! In case it wasn't clear, I do intend to post a full report (both an in-character one with pictures and an out-of-character with more dry detail) tomorrow; I just didn't want you to have to wait, as I've finally come to recognize just how long it always takes me to get the images up and working.

Also left out a couple small notes, though you can see them from the diplo screen: We currently have a NAP with the Sakkra, and I left a few clicks of spying on everybody in hopes of keeping our reports up to date. I didn't list the current alliances since those can change rapidly, but last I checked there were no wars current in the galaxy.

[RefSteel]

Orrrrrrr I'll stay up way too late again and post 'em tonight instead!

Full in-character report:

2369: Rising slowly through the mantle, its heat sustaining me, firing the stone of my being like a little human kiln fires a feeble, brittle little thing of clay, I hear the songs of the Mountain King and of the great leaders appointed for my people, the Silicoids, and so learn of these humans, these Meklar, these Sakkra, these Psilon brains, all small and soft and squishy things driven by their fear of death, for they are not born of the fiery mantle as am I - as are we. I hear even the distant rumors of Alkari birdlings so frail that the very air can bear them through the sky - but such rumors as these do not concern me. It is my place to make my people a mighty force among the stars - as mighty as we are here at our ancient home of Cryslon - for now there is a change in the song of the Mountain King, and the song now calls to me.

I emerge from a lava pool to the surface of Cryslon, ready to share the heat of the mantle that moves me with all my people across the galaxy. Millions set out across space to our newest, most-vulnerable colonies, like the lava flows that bring the outer surface our world's inner heat. I cast my inner vision across our worlds and our fleets and redeploy them on the tasks to which I think them best suited, where I see the greatest needs and the greatest opportunities. And then I look to more-distant worlds, and I speak on behalf of Old Subterranean Granite XXVII, our Mountain King.



There have been many intimations of danger from Hissa and the Sakkra people, whose homeworld stands so near to our Tyr colony, but those intimations have come from our own people and not from theirs. They acceded to the claim Ianus made when Tyr was founded and their colony fleet was en route, and we have had only good relations since on either side. Certainly I have heard of no desire for our own part to carry a war to their worlds and to claim by conquest what they acquired peacefully. So I speak to Hissa and forge a promise between us that we shall have no cold wars, nor test one another's defenses with probing fleets, nor battle each other in the skies of still-unclaimed worlds where there can be no need. One day no doubt Hissa will reconsider in the fashion of flighty short-lived beings, and choose to send an attack fleet, but hopefully now if it happens, they at least will give us some warning. If they do, they may perhaps be able to travel deeper into our core since I elected to trade them the secrets of irridium crystal construction - but I think not; they are likely to have more advanced fuel of their own by the time of such an event, and the protection afforded our bases by the jammer they taught us to build may help should that transpire, especially because of the insight into alien computer security designs it provides our intelligence agents!

I am told that for the present, we have no intelligence agents. This seems like an oversight that needs correcting.

2370: Among the stars, we find yet more signs of the Ancients - the Precursors of whom legend speaks.



At the neutron star way out beyond Paranar and Imra, we encounter one of their still-extant machines: A Guardian whose firepower - and hostility to interlopers - is every bit as fearsome as our legends would suggest of such an entity. The Scout we sent into the system, not knowing what lay in wait, will scout no more in this or any other galaxy.

Yet there is other and better news, from what perhaps to the Ancients was merely a dump for scrap and industrial waste: Orbiting Drakka, the blazing white star that lies between the galaxy's central nebula and Meklar space, is a little world toxic to all forms of life apart from our own, with all the incalculable mineral and energy riches of our own Paranar, but more than twice its natural living space! Though it cannot happen in the time allotted for my reign, before I must return to the mantle to recharge my in its burning heat, I intend to make every possible effort to see that our people can establish a Drakka colony!

That may be possible with the help of our rapidly-progressing research in planetology, as the means of fitting more of our rocky people on even the smallest of worlds can be used to fit two million in a smaller colony pod aboard a ship, leaving more room for additional fuel cells, and I have every intention of pursuing this course as I can - but I am reminded that Paranar itself is being neglected. Even last year, when I intended to dispatch twenty million transports there from Tauri, a clerical error canceled all but two. In frustration, I sent another twenty million now!



If they risk over-crowding the colony, I can send others away, but it is my intent on the contrary to see our new terraforming project-to-be complete before ever these transports arrive to fill the space it will provide!

2371: My plans are steadily developing, with no greater speed than a lava flow, but with the same inevitability. My spies work tirelessly on our enemies-to-be even as my scientists press forward, already reporting a chance of a breakthrough in planetology. For now there is nothing to report, but the mountains are patient, and the fiery lava flows.

2372: The chances of a breakthrough continue to grow steadily, and with Paranar still far from ready in spite of its continuous subsidies from the imperial treasury, Artemis must go to work in its place, from its little corner of the galaxy, having even now completed the last of its planetary factories, on the parts that may one day be assembled into a new type of colony ship that can reach all the way to Drakka and claim it for me.

2373: I was beginning to wonder if this would pay off. It is well that it has indeed: My agents in human space have penetrated their security grid, and are prepared to slip away with a sample of their proprietary force field or propulsion technology. Dreaming of their nuclear engines, I make my choice, and find...



...that even when they succeed, my agents are entirely capable of disappointing me. Just the same, though deuterium fuel cells are long-obsolete, there is hope that with those out of the way, our agents' next success - may it come soon! - will bring exactly what we need.

... or a portion of our needs, at least. Our work in planetology still needs to complete, and though our scientists claim one chance in five of finishing their work this year, their estimates of how long it is most likely to ultimately take are a little too complicated for me.

2374: The new, updated estimates are much easier to understand: The new, updated estimates are "100%, today!" We're going to start more terraforming almost everywhere as soon as we can get word of the techniques out to the far colonies, and the scientists here in the planetology lab are rumbling about how pleased they are to be able to extend our terraforming abilities still more eventually, but I notice one scientist at the back of the room making curious little thrumming noises, and I silence the others to ask what it has to say. Hesitantly, slowly, as one unused to public speech, it says, "More terraforming is always good, but ... it did occur to me ... there might be something a little bit simpler that these new techniques suggest."

Several of the others drown it out with loudly dismissive noises, but I silence them again; I know we won't have much time in the near future for further work in their labs, and something simpler, if useful, might be just the thing for them to tackle with such limited budget as I'll be able to spare for them. I encourage the rock in the back to go on, and it bashfully suggests, "Er, we've heard that certain aliens may be deploying something called a death spore on their fleets - a kind of ... anti-terraforming device, as I understand it to be."

I can feel the magma heating up in my core. Would it actually consider the study of such atrocities? "I am aware of them," I tell it warningly. "They would kill millions of people even as they deform and twist the very rocks of the planets against which they were used."

More nervous than ever, the silicoid in the back shifts uncomfortably. In a very small voice, it says, "It would be horrifying. It would be. If they were permitted to deploy successfully."

I focus my vision on it narrowly, carefully. "What are you suggesting?"

"Errr..." the scientist settles inward in shame, trying to take up less space on my floor. "It's only ... if we build from our new terraforming techniques, we might be able to counter any spores they fire against us. It ... you see, they appear to rely on some kind of biotoxins secreted by carbon-based beings, and if we built this theoretical, er, bio-toxin antidote..."



The heat in my magma core has eased into a sudden warmth. I try to understand what I'm hearing. "If we want to stop their death spores ... how effective would this antidote be?"

"Um," it shifts again, its outer crystals grinding against each other uncomfortably. "Against death spores like they're using now? Um. Com...completely. Um, theoretically. It would obviate them completely."

I stare at it in the silence pervading the laboratory. When I speak at last, it is to say, "The rest of you are dismissed." Still staring at the bashful scientist, I inform it quietly. "You won't have much of a budget, but I'd like to congratulate you on your promotion. You're the new head of our department of planetology."

I am pleased, but it will be many long years before the fruits of this work arrive, and in the meantime I must return to my seat of power. There are only asteroids to greet our Scout at the second and further white star beyond the galaxy's central nebula, so I order it back to Drakka, there to watch over the glories of our colony-to-be. By this time next year, a long-range colony ship will already be en route to Stalaz, thence to set forth again and claim the dream-world of Drakka for our people. Yet I mustn't forget the glories we already have attained! Two million of our rocky people shall set forth from little Imra to ensure that Paranar is fully populated as soon as it can be! If only it were already a more-mature colony, so it could build the Drakka colony ship from closer by!

2375: Our Scouts have reached yet two more stars, but there is little at either of them to please me: The green star at the galactic rim, far out beyond Imra, harbors the beautiful ice world of Jinga VI, its rolling plains covered in pristine snow, but with Psilon and Sakkra colony fleets due to arrive there next year, the best we can hope for is to help our lizard friends to claim it if we can - and with only our single scout in the system and the Psilon-Sakkra alliance in place, there is precious little hope even of that. As for Nyarl, the blue star not far beyond Drakka, it harbors only vast, silent, tumbling asteroid fields.

With my latest scouting reports in hand, I hurry to my next appointment: My first opportunity of meeting with the High Council of the Galaxy! INT-986 opens with a stirring speech, showing us how all the powers of the galaxy are so nearly equal in so many different ways. Even our people - we whom he calls, "My honored Silicoid opponents," with the most numerous colonies and greatest population in the galaxy, are so far behind in the likes of production capacity, fleet strength, and technological advancement that we might be regarded in a real sense as the least-powerful people of the galaxy. Yet the machine-being warns of a darker future: How the balance of power is fragile, and the likes of Psilon expansion and technology may catapult them ere long into an overwhelming lead unless we all learn to share our knowledge and maintain equality in a New Republic to span the galaxy! It urges one and all to vote for it - not for me, representing the most numerous or least powerful empire, but for one who best represents true equality. I am deeply pleased to hear such wisdom from our neighbors, and the Alkari leader joins his votes to those of the machine. I too shall vote for this true peace, for this glorious idea of a New Republic!



After all, it honors that beautiful speech, and otherwise doesn't make the slightest difference to anybody. The Psilons voted immediately after the Alkari, and did not perhaps perceive the same problems that we and the Meklar do in the potential explosion of their galactic power - and the Humans and the Sakkra are both allied to the brains. All three races abstained from the vote, leaving no chance for anyone to achieve the two-thirds supermajority needed to ratify INT-986's dream.

Back at home, looking over our jewel worlds of Artemis and Paranar, I suddenly come to realize the errors I made last year - and even before! I knew that building up Paranar would be my chief priority, but I failed to fully grasp just how quickly it could contribute and just how much it can, even before most of its future colonists can arrive, even before its infrastructure is complete. It's so much closer to Drakka than is Artemis - and our ships move so slowly - that even now, the best thing I can do to claim that world as quickly as I can is to scrap the ship already en route from Artemis and build a new one from Paranar - which will finish by the end of next year while still keeping its factories ahead of its population figures! Paranar is amazing.

Correcting another mistake from last year, I at last remember to send transports to Artemis from Cryslon, carrying some seven million of our people eager to work among the riches of its surface in the comfort and safety of our little corner of the galaxy.

2376: Our hope of holding off the Psilons at Jinga proves vain, as their colony ship arrives fully armed, apparently with beams. Our retreating scout and the powerful colony fleet belonging to their Sakkra allies likewise permit the little snowball to become a Psilon colony.

2377: The new LongRock colony ship sets forth at last for Drakka. May all that is deep and stony speed it upon its journey!

2378: I can feel my magma core warming and my crystal surface thrumming with pleasure: Paranar is ready to complete its final factories already. I love that little world so much! Still thrumming, I create a list of starship parts for it to produce in preparation for future fleets. Since they will form the firm and powerful basis of a future fleet, I have code-named the parts list Rock Bottom.

2379: The galactic news droid has returned to remind us of the galaxy's ongoing struggles with piracy.



Were there anything we could do about it - had we indeed even the faintest idea of which star Keeta might be - perhaps I would pay it a little more mind. As things stand, I can only prepare for the change I know is coming: My time to return to the mantle is coming upon me quickly, and another shall take my place to lead our people through the galaxy.

2380: As I return to the mantle of Cryslon, leaving to others the mantle of rule, I can take a little pride in the shape of the galaxy.



Our many colonies are mostly the work of my predecessors, to be sure, but the colony ship just visible passing Sol en route to Drakka, our scouting reports of Jinga in the north and the white and blue stars across the galaxy, as well as the discovery of the Guardian - shown in orbit around the neutron star where it makes its home - are all my responsibility. It is true that the Psilons colonized Jinga on my watch - indeed, a raft of Psilon transports can be seen crawling across space in its direction, just now passing by the Guardian's star - but I am content in the knowledge that there was nothing I could have done about it, with no fleet that could have reached it before the Psilon colony ship except for a couple of Scouts, one of which I sent immediately upon taking office, so that it arrived a single year before the Psilons did. I am pleased with what we have ... which is not to say that we shouldn't push as hard as we can to gain even more as quickly as may be!

Report that's in character for some guy playing an old strategy game:

2369: Send a bunch of transports to the front, including ... 2 ... to Paranar. This was meant to be 20, and I even took a screenshot, but then was messing with the transport numbers to check on something and somehow forgot to change it back. NAP with Sakkra since the only reason we'd be fighting any time soon would be if they attack us, and this way we'll get a little warning before they do. After some consideration, also trade them R6 for ECM 1 both to help our spies a little and to give our bases better defenses. I doubt if R6 will be their state-of-the-art range tech for long, but this may have been a mistake. (Should probably have given them DSS even though it would improve their spying a little.) Humans are willing to trade nuclear engines and will take R6 (or IT20) for them; they must therefore have Stabilizers or Sublights. If Paranar were closer to readiness, I might have done this trade for IT20 with the intention of letting them terraform for us and attacking them ASAP, but under the circumstances, I feel like ASAP is still too far away. (In hindsight, I should have done it for R6, as they would in fact soon get R7 themselves.)

I also notice we've got a hundred or so laser popguns crawling around the empire, 40 holding orbit at Tyr, and 40 just sitting around at Artemis, waiting for orders. I send the latter forward (they'll eventually wind up at Stalaz in case someone finds a way to use them in support of an eventual attack) as Artemis is the very last place in the empire that needs any kind of active fleet. Honestly I should have decided on a more specific plan for where and how to concentrate our fleet, but I felt kind of caught in between: They're too slow to reposition tactically, we're at peace everywhere right now, the world (Tyr) that's most likely to be threatened while popguns have a chance to make a difference is many parsecs and a nebula away from our planned attack front, we don't have anything much better with which to replace them yet so I don't feel comfortable just scrapping the things, and but they're pretty rapidly going obsolete.

2370: Met the Guardian at the neutron star in the north. Discovered Drakka at the white star southeast of the central nebula: A UR Toxic 25! We're just 1 parsec shy of being able to sending a colship - and IT+30 should give us enough miniaturization to build one with Reserve Fuel Tanks! I send 20 'sports to Paranar from Tauri now, hoping to get IT+30 soon enough to have it terrafomed and ready before they arrive!

2371: Planetology is at 1%!

2372: Plan at 12%. Artemis maxes factories and I start a pre-build for an LR colship there.

2373: Spies connect against Strader! I go for Propulsion over Force Fields hoping for nuclear engines, but am not surprised to find only R5. Plan now at 20%

2374: Terra +30 HITS! Next rung has IT+40 and Bio Toxin Antidote. I take the latter because Humans have spores, it's a cheaper way up the ladder, and +40 isn't a huge upgrade over +30 in spite of worlds like Paranar. The northern white star in the central nebula holds only the Neptunus asteroid field. Start terraforming nearly everywhere. 2 'sports to Paranar from Imra, hoping to top it off after it maxes with +30.

2375: Discover Jinga, a Tundra 40, at the green star north of Sakkra space, and Nyarl asteroids at the blue star near Drakka. Vote pits us against the INT-986. It gets its own 4 votes, plus 4 from its Alkari allies. The Psilons, Humans, and Sakkra abstain with 4 votes apiece. We cast our 5 for the robot as a meaningless show of friendship, and play on. Our LR colship completes and is off on its lonnnnng journey to Stalaz, en route to Drakka. 7M sent to Artemis from Cryslon. I also belated realize how quickly Paranar can do basically everything: Building the LR colship from Artemis was a waste since it's so far away. I start on another at Paranar while still keeping its factories ahead of current population.

2376: Psilon colship meets our Scout at Jinga. It's armed, not apparently with missiles, so our Scout retreats. The planet is now a Psilon colony, and though a largish Sakkra fleet was due to arrive at the same time, the two are allies, so nothing will come of that (at least not immediately). I design a new LR colship and set Paranar to complete one (so I can scrap the extant one from Artemis if I'm right that Paranar's will arrive first). Also of note: Meks have really good tech, and they're allied to the Humans right now.

2377: Longrock colship complete at Paranar, sent to Drakka with an ETA of 12. This only shaves 2t off the Artemis ship's ETA, but probably still worth it. (In fact, delaying Paranar's factories to get it finished ASAP while not building one at Artemis at all would probably have been the best move). I scrap the ship from Artemis.

2378: Design a huge placeholder junk ship for Paranar to build as it's about to finish its factories. Ignore the in-character excuse. The placeholder is called RockBottom because that's what we'll have hit if we feel we actually need to build one of the things.

2379: GNN reports on the Keeta pirate situation again. Still no idea where that is. Paranar maxes factories. Psilon tech is ridiculous, but weirdly distributed. Nobody has engines except (Human) nukes or colbases better than (Psilon) Dead. Fusion Bomb is now at 2%. Swap Paranar to reserves for a turn to ensure my successor will have some resources with which to play.

2380: No news; time to hand off the save!

[Ianus]

I've got the save, but I won't be able to play until tomorrow. anyone have some advice? The Humans have Class 4 shields so nuke bombers should be enough. I also count four visible large ships but I obviously don't know what's on them. I'd LOVE to take their two scouted planets, or at least set us up to take them asap. How should I go about that? Phyco had 24 bases and Ukko had 13, all currently firing nuclear missiles. I'm thinking of building a Huge bomber and trying my luck with that. Thoughts?

[RefSteel]

With our current shield tech and titanium armor, unless you get lucky with asteroids and use them effectively, 24 nuke bases will destroy a huge before it can drop a single bomb. Things like ECM1 and Titanium II might buy a little more time but reduce the number of bombs you can deploy. If they tech better missiles or even a battle computer while the ship is being built or en route, even 13 missile bases could be a problem, even if they don't build any more bases in the meantime.

We would lose about 8 or 9 small bombers (with nukes; we won't be able to build small F-bombers for some time - not sure if we can even build small nukers yet) per nuclear missile base before a fleet of them could drop any bombs.

As you observed in our previous succesion game (in a very different situation) this is arguably a matter of bringing sufficient numbers, not of getting sufficient technology, and as Thrawn has noted, if there are asteroids in a helpful layout, that can change the equation significantly. Also it may not be a mistake to build a huge bomber in spite of the notes above. If one can carry enough bombs (I haven't checked) then it might be worth sending one to Ukko while building another in a different design slot and coordinating their arrival at Phyco so if the bases focus fire on one, it can retreat before it gets slagged, and either way at least one of the two should be able to get some bombing in.

Unless they tech Scatters while our ships are en route. That would pretty much be certain defeat. [EDIT: In that battle, meaning we'd have to retreat and probably scrap the ship(s). Obviously it wouldn't end our chances to win the game!]

[TheArchduke]

I think going with a small design with bombs is the way to go with that many missile bases. We should try and if we get unlucky with their tech progress retreat and scrap.

[Reformations]

Maybe noob question but what are advantages of huge (or non-small, for that matter) bombers? Small seems superior in every way?

[RefSteel]

Maybe noob question but what are advantages of huge (or non-small, for that matter) bombers? Small seems superior in every way?

1) We can build non-small bombers right now! Even nukes won't fit on a small until we get more tech (though the needed tech is in percentages, and we can build a placeholder for another couple turns at least). Sometimes, the equation looks like, "real bombers now >>> better bombers too late."

2) We have no maneuverability, so we're going to be taking a lot of hits. If a huge bomber can reach its target and destroy the bases without being destroyed, it can then move on (possibly with another to support it) and attack the next target with no attrition. This is generally the reason huge ships (with larges standing in for them when possible/necessary) are commonly used in general, apart from big Special systems: Taking no losses means you can focus back on economy while your fleet does its thing, or snowball your fleet to take on bigger, harder targets as you go along.

3) Bombs on larger ships can be stronger than on smalls: A small hull that's basically a nuclear bomb strapped to a retro rocket will hit only 40% of the time (or worse if the humans get ECM). All the bombs on a large or huge hull will benefit from MkI computer (MkII if we wait) and a battle scanner, for a 60-70% hit chance that would be reduced less severely by enemy ECM. Of course, if there's room for a MkI computer on the small along with the bomb, that changes the equation some, and the small may (instead?) be able to equip ECM1 itself (not sure) which would cut down on attrition by about 25%.

So it's not clear-cut, but there are reasons to consider dreads here.

---

Note for Ianus: I didn't look at the actual ship design possibilities for any of my analysis above, and none of it really addresses the human fleets! If I were planning to attack them, the first thing I'd do would be to build a scanner out of Stalaz and send it up for a look at whatever they're fielding that I can see.