Zan replied to me:
Not sure about the GURPS rules, but if "short range" is not much
closer than a half light-second, high acceleration drives should be
able to generate a miss against beam weapons. If the fighters can jink
hard enough the larger ships will have a very hard time hitting them.
All the fighter has to do is be able to change vector by its own
length in the time between radar return and beam weapon arrival. If it
is 40 m long and the range is 150 Mm that means it needs accel of 40
m/s^2
One limiting factor will be beam weapon range. In vacuum, perhaps 10k to
100k miles. The fighter will be at the lower end of the scale, so it has
to close in if it wants a beam engagement, unable to reply for some time.
The probable detection range against stealth is another limiting factor.
You can argue that there is no stealth in space, but we're talking about
TLs with forcefield technology ... I want to explore the Vehicles
Expansions. This might negate the range benefit of the larger craft, or
not. A high-TL neural net computer with Electronics Operation (Sensors)
has scary skill levels. The FTL radar could be another game changer if
it is employed at weapons ranges.
And as mentioned the FTL rules might allow a ship to jump into close
range. First turn emergence, second turn sensor rolls, third turn gunner
rolls, end of third turn mutual destruction. The smaller, cheaper
starfighter wins because it has a surviving wingman.
Regards,
Onno
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