From: tsbrueni@dcn.davis.ca.us   
      
   On Monday, February 2, 2015 at 6:39:51 AM UTC-8, jack wrote:   
   > 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.   
      
   I saw a lot of plasma shots, and they destroyed a lot of ships, without the   
   ships even trying to dodge!  (I did hear evasive manuvers ordered on Carmen's   
   ship, but those manuvers were unsuccessful.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)