The Alpha Dawn rules were written with very much a pulp sci fi / space opera frame of mind, a genre which in many ways links up well with an Age of Sail approach (independent ship captains ranging fairly independently about space) similar to that found in classic Trek. In my Star Frontiers, I approach ships that way from the founding of the Frontier up through Sathar War I and its aftermath. The

Knighthawks rules - especially the boardgame section - were by contrast written very much in a WW II style.. a mix of big gun ships (UPF battleships and Sathar heavy cruisers) mixing it up with carriers, fighters and assault scouts (my take on the scouts being something of a mashup of torpedo bombers and PT boats). In my SF, that state of affairs comes together in the aftermath of the Corporate Wars, in which an underfunded Spacefleet found itself overmatched by pirates and corporate mercenaries; that fiasco led to the UPF waking up and funding a new round of 'next generation' craft to dominate the spaceways (and incidentally ensuring their survival, by the skin of their teeth, when the Sathar invade again in SW II).

Good food for thought article, and I'd be interested in hearing others' takes.

Andy