From: pjanecke@gmail.com   
      
   I am of two minds on the situation.  First, I am glad that Ken Burnside threw   
   down the gauntlet as it requires us to be very careful about some   
   preposterously silly ideas of stealth.  Second, yes, there are indeed gaping   
   holes in Burnside's assessment,    
   holes that may be exploited in the next great hard science-fiction story.     
      
   In the end, there are lots of variables for the author to consider:   
      
   - Does FTL exist?  If not, an inter-stellar aggressor would need massive   
   resources in the way of Δv, redundant systems, fabrication, and material   
   storage just to complete a journey of, say, one parsec.  Such a ship would be   
   massive, and therefore its    
   propellant stores would have to be yet even more massive.  How fast is the   
   enemy willing to travel?  Even running cold, an invasion fleet moving at a   
   decent fraction of light-speed would light up every particle it hits as if it   
   were made of anti-matter.     
   Unless the mission is that of a suicide kinetic strike or a drive-by, the   
   invader would need to initiate quite a substantial retro-burn before arriving   
   at the target.     
      
   - FTL through gates or predictable coordinates?  Good luck, as the other side   
   is bound to be the most heavily defended position in the system.  Also, while   
   the no-stealth rule is hard to swallow at 1 AU or more, a firing squad 10 km   
   away, trained at the    
   gate is going to see everything that comes through.   
      
   - FTL with a flash?  Does the energy put into ripping the space-time continuum   
   make you flare up like a nova?  If so, you had better have some pretty neat   
   methods of dumping your heat and changing your position and bearing quickly.   
      
   - Intra-Stellar combat?  The Jovians may rule the Belt, but that's a whole lot   
   of space to control.  On the flip side, every kind of stealth that can be   
   employed offensively is generally better employed defensively.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)