greenmm wrote:OK, I wasn't aware of exactly where the HTL's were located. However, they're still not on the spine. They're on the dorsal hull, but they're on either side of the "island" superstructure. Not only does it prohibit them from being used to fire in both broadside directions (only 4 of the 8 turrets can fire in a given broadside), and not only are their directly forward and aft arcs somewhat limited (too shallow of an angle means only 2 turrets can fire at forward or rear targets), but the Tantive IV scene from ANH showed that a target forward and under the bow can't be hit with them either. Plus, you still have the problem of your HTL's being located in 8 turrets, meaning that your enemy only has 8 targets to go for.
Its a design consideration that plays to competent battle manueverings. So long as your opponent is more than a few degrees above the midplane ALL of your weapons can hit him in the forward AND rear arcs. In other words don't think of broadsides for an ISD in classic terms, a broadside is really a forward shot or a rear shot in the same way that a modern battleship is to the port and starbaord. Again the weaker arcs (port and starbaord for the ISD and fore and aft for a battleship) are analogous and reversed. Basically the ISD has exactly the same gun alignment as a modern battleship which is very good when you can manuever well.
Furthermore with the ISD Mk II those 8 turrets have 8 individual guns each, most of whcih ought to eb enough to compeltely gobble up lesser vessels, this way and ISD MK II could probably decisively engage 8 seperate Neb-B sized targets and WIN, that's almost an inversion of the N^2 law if you have the capacity to eliminate so many opponents so quickly.
So...
Why not first split the HTL's up into more numerous turrets (say, 16 quads instead of 8 octuple), leave the original 8 turrets where they are, put 4 of the new turrets along the dorsal spine in front of the superstructure (i.e. along the ridge line parallel to the ship's length, one in front of the other), and put the last 4 on the ventral spine (2 forward of the hanger deck, 2 aft)? You now have 16 HTL barrels covering any targets coming towards the ISD's belly, versus the 0 you had before. You also have 40 HTL barrels that can always hit the forward arc (versus the guaranteed 16 from before). Your available broadside for either arc is now 48 barrels, versus the 32 you had before. The rear arc is unchanged (16 guaranteed available barrels). The only penalty you pay is the coverage for any ships diving from "above" the ISD (48 available barrels versus the original 64)... but it's debatable as to how often that would occur, and if there truly had been 64 HTL barrels available in that arc, Ackbar wouldn't have sent the MonCal ships in so that they were "above" the ISD's, would they?
Here's my problem with that idea:
1) Splitting the turrets up makes them MORE vulnerable. Your only real defense against the weapons being eliinated is the shields, the more locaitons your shields must cover to keep the HTLs active the tougher it is to keep them going in an extended fight.
2) Your belley is expsosed territory, you DON'T want to fight an enemy down there and adding HTLs means that you want to engage enemies down there (you divert a significant amount of your combat firepower down there). In other words if your heavy weapons are lower side then you intend to fight ships there...that's stupid because your underside, in an ISD, is horribly exposed because of the neccessities of the size of your reactor (the hanger bay can be dealt with seperately). Once again you DON'T want to put combat firepower down there because it alters your ability to conduct attacking warfare (placing those weaposn is a DEFENSIVE placement with heavy weaponry)
3) Despite your claims you aren't really cahnging the arcs all that much. At 1 or 2 degrees above the midplane all 64 turrets will bear on a vessel. With your plan the forward arc becomse divided into a ventral and dorsal zoen because each of them has LOS problems after more than a few degrees. Yes your portr starboard firepower is a bit better but your aft firepower above the midplane is decreased. In other words you sacrifice above the midplane firepower almost entirely for below the midplane power and a small increase in port/starboard firepower...that's a defensive change and it only hurts the ISD in an offensive role.
4) Once again spreaing your turrets produces two additional challenges: They are MORE vulnerable to being taken out due to the neccessity of shield coverage AND you must supply high wattage power to several new locations which increases the possible damage from hull breaching attacks as your heavy power lines offer a much bigger target profile.
