Federation Commander

[terryoc]

It's been ruled that an ESG can reveal a Defense Satellite that has not revealed itself yet, which might seem to make ESGs a good anti-Defsat weapon.

Personally, I'm not so sure. To use the ESG on a DefSat, you need to be at range 1 or zero, which is a very good range for the DefSat's weapons (which are phaser-2s and 3s, mostly, with a couple of heavy weapons or drones). The DefSat can "me-too" fire its weapons and you can't "me-too" fire your other weapons at it until the following impulse. They also have 25 damage boxes, so unless you have more than one ESG, you won't be able to take it out on the impulse you fire. I would not try this trick on a Hydran DefSat, with those fusion beams (ouch). Kzinti planets which expect action against Lyrans should probably get disruptors rather than drones, although it can be argued that a big enough drone wave can buy time for the defenders.
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"Captain" Terry O'Carroll, fourteen papers published including six best of issue
"Man, Terry, you are like a loophole seeking missle!" - Mike West