So far, all of Brunhilde's contact with the torpedo boats had been limited to reports on paper. She hadn't commanded them, and she hadn't even seen one in person. And yet, as always, when other people said such things, it was just bragging. When King Sulwka said them, they sounded like objective fact.
"Ostana, arsenal ships like these are obsolete. From now on, the firepower required of capital ships will only grow more fearsome. But in a head-on fleet engagement, if both sides' capital ships are trading fire, torpedo boats could punch through a weak point in the enemy formation at a critical moment and tip the balance of a decisive battle. I mean a battle where both sides commit their entire forces, one that can decide the fate of a nation and its people."
Well, before the Common Era, at the end of the Age of Galactic Exploration, when civilization was developing in a barbaric fashion, the intensity of warfare really was beyond anything seen today.
Massive engagements in which both sides committed two or three thousand warships and tens of millions of soldiers, turning an entire star system into a meat grinder, had erupted as often as once every five years.
After the Common Era began, the spheres of influence of most civilizations and political powers had more or less stabilized. Battles on that scale had broken out fewer than ten times in total.
"If we'd had torpedo boats sooner, I wouldn't have needed to use Titan ships and gravity bombs to break through the center at the Battle of the Ring of Miracles. Honestly, gravity bombs are terribly expensive, and the unrestricted boarding tactics were a bit reckless."
"You know how reckless that was?" Ostana looked surprised. "That kind of self-awareness really doesn't suit your style."
Brunhilde