From: jrs9jrs9@gmail.com   
      
   On Tuesday, January 27, 2015 at 5:33:52 PM UTC-5, Tim Bruening wrote:   
   > On Tuesday, January 27, 2015 at 9:52:49 AM UTC-8, jack wrote:   
   > > On Tuesday, January 20, 2015 at 5:57:10 PM UTC-5, Tim Bruening wrote:   
   > > > On Tuesday, January 20, 2015 at 12:38:45 PM UTC-8, Your Name wrote:   
   > > > > In article <54beb1d2$0$19658$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net>, Dimensional   
   > > > > Traveler  wrote:   
   > > > > > On 1/20/2015 9:26 AM, John Reiher wrote:   
   > > > > > > On 2015-01-20 00:52:44 +0000, Tim Bruening said:   
   > > > > > >>    
   > > > > > >> Major Nit: Near the end of Starship Troopers, a large number of   
   troop   
   > > > > > >> ships approach bug infested Planet P to land troops in order to   
   > > > > > >> capture a "brain bug".  The bugs are firing some sort of plasma   
   weapon   
   > > > > > >> up at the troop ships.  The troop ships make absolutely no effort   
   to   
   > > > > > >> defend themselves!  They don't take any evasive action, or fire   
   > > > > > >> defensive missiles at the bug plasma balls, or raise any shields!   
   > > > > > >   
   > > > > > > It's worse than that. The orbital velocity of the ships would be   
   around   
   > > > > > > 2 km/s and those plasma farts are barely doing 100 mph! They   
   wouldn't be   
   > > > > > > over the danger zone for more than a few seconds and they can   
   easily   
   > > > > > > outrun the farts. It's Hollyweird science!   
   > > > > >    
   > > > > > It was recreating WWII amphibious assaults IN SPACE!!!  (Those last   
   two    
   > > > > > words should be said in an echo chamber.)   
   > > > >    
   > > > > Sounds like typical military strategy. The Generals and Majors aren't   
   > > > > there, so why bother wasting money on things like shields, evavsive   
   > > > > movement fuel, defenseive missiles, etc.?? Simply send in a pile of   
   > > > > cannon fodder as always and hope that some will get through - that   
   > > > > leaves more money to pay for the tea and choccy biscuits in the air   
   > > > > conditioned offices back at HQ for the higher-ups to sit in comfy   
   > > > > chairs congratulating themselves on a "job welll done".   :-\   
   > > >    
   > > > But wouldn't the Generals want as many troops as possible to make it to   
   the surface to maximize the chances of capturing that brain bug they wanted?   
   > >    
   > >    
   > >    
   > > Picture it a lot like the US tanks in Europe in WWII.  The Shermans   
   individually were no match for the Tigers, but if you could build them at a   
   50-to-1 rate over that of Tiger production, you can afford the higher loss   
   rate.   
   >    
   > There seemed to be an awful lot of bugs.  I think I heard during the movie   
   that there were more bugs than humans.  Humans can't afford a high loss rate.    
   Therefore, the generals should see to it that the troop ships have the ability   
   to defend    
   themselves from the bug anti-spaceship weapons!  It seems a waste to allow the   
   troops to be slaughtered before they even reach the planet!   
      
      
      
   Was talking about the number of attack ships versus the number of bugs able to   
   fire plasma shots up against them.     
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)