From: chakatfirepaw@gmail.com   
      
   On Sun, 10 Jul 2016 05:16:48 -0700, emmett.obrian wrote:   
      
   > I strongly agree with Mikkel's point that these observation posts are   
   > going to be the first targets in a military engagement. It's standard   
   > procedure to take out the enemy's intelligence gathering methods as fast   
   > as you possibly can. Since these observation posts are not spaceships   
   > moving around the star system (orbiting various bodies, yes, they're not   
   > under power) all I have to do is fire kinetic kill vehicles at them.   
   > They can even be cold for the vast majority of the time. Poof! No more   
   > sensor net!   
      
   Assuming you can hit them.  Even if the locations and orbits of the   
   platforms are 100% known, all they have to do is have a solar sail and   
   tweak their orbit every couple months and you don't know where it's going   
   to be in a year when your KKV arrives.   
      
   It's not like they're all going to be sitting right next to you to plink   
   at.  Many are going to be in things like highly inclined 2 AU solar   
   orbits.   
      
      
   It also wouldn't be that strange for such platforms to have one or more   
   "oh shit" rockets that allow them to make a rapid manoeuvre once or twice   
   during their service life.  (To react to things like, say, something that   
   appears to be a KKV adjusting course to counter a solar sail 'jink'.)   
      
      
   Another problem with a 'kill the sensor net' plan is that making it   
   useful for hiding your fleet movements means giving up any pretence of   
   strategic surprise.  The first reaction to large parts of the sensor net   
   going down is going to be shifting to a state of high alert.   
      
   --   
   Chakat Firepaw - Inventor and Scientist (mad)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)