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Offensively, Sultan mounted a broadside of nine lasers, six grasers, and twenty missile tubes to Nike's eight lasers, ten grasers, two energy torpedoes, and twenty-five missile tubes. In terms of chase armament, Sultan mounted two lasers and five missile tubes ahead and the same astern, while Nike mounted four missile tubes, two grasers, and a laser in the same positions.
Part of the Manticoran ship's superior armament was bought at the expense of magazine space, but though Sultan actually carried twenty-five percent more missiles, despite her lower number of tubes, this was offset by the RMN's superior electronics and penetration aides, which made Nike's missiles almost thirty percent more accurate (and harder to stop), and a higher rate of fire per launcher.
The two ships also reflected differences in doctrine and design philosophy. The RMN built battlecruisers as screening elements for its battle squadrons, but it also regarded them as raiders and designed them for independent operations, as well. PN doctrine, on the other hand, tied its BCs much more tightly to the wall of battle, regarding them as scaled down, faster elements of the main battle fleet with a sustained combat role in fleet engagements. The RMN believed that any BCs life expectancy against ships of the wall would be brief and that battlecruiser-versus-battlecruiser actions would be short and sharp. As a result, BuShips believed it was better to be able to throw more missiles—especially better missiles—faster and incorporate an energy armament heavy enough to make close-range action decisive than to try to outlast an opponent. It is also worth noting that the smaller Manticoran fleet contained well over twice as many BCs as the PN.
Clearly, in any engagement with her opposite number the Manticoran ship's heavier armament, superior electronic warfare capabilities, and generally more efficient point defense gave her a powerful advantage. Indeed, a single Nike could engage two Sultans with a fair chance of victory.
The perso
There was, in addition, a tremendous difference between the enlisted and noncommissioned ranks in the two fleets, for over seventy percent of the Peoples Navy's lower deck perso
The education levels of the two sides also differed markedly. The progressive "democratization" of the PRH's educational system had emasculated it, while Manticore boasted one of the toughest merit-based systems, especially for university and post-graduate programs, in human space (two facts which largely explain the RMN's pronounced technological superiority). It was sad but true that the best educated enlisted perso
There was, however, one major offsetting imponderable which neither navy was able to quantify prior to the actual outbreak of war. While the Peoples Navy might rely on ill-educated (comparatively speaking) conscripts for the bulk of its perso