Note to Self: Trillion Credit Squadron - Clarifications on Origins 1981 and Lenat

Also see previous post:  https://exiledfog.blogspot.com/2025/03/navy-fleet-design-and-lessons-of.html

Question to Self: Am I getting the basics about Eurisko, Lenat and The Trillion Credit Squadron (TCS) Tournament, staged at Origins in 1981 correct? It is forty four years ago and is definitely drifting into the legend and folklore territory.

It seems to have been a messy and emotional thing, like a lot of human endeavours and as above, with the passage of time, some forty four years, it is becoming less and less clearer. From an academic perspective on AI the Origins 1982 TCS event was largely ignored. I don't think it helped get Lenat tenure and may have even harmed him (the toxic nausea academia can have with respect to "games" was perhaps stronger then). The GDW Trillion Credit (TCS) Tournaments were not inundated with AI postdoc research students from respected AI Departments in leading universities trying to be "King" TCS Admiral. That much seems clear (and I think, much to the relief of Origins and GDW staffers).

For the record in 1981 there were three nation TCS competitions: 

• Origins (San Mateo, California, winner Douglas Lenat)
• Gen-Con East (Cherry Hill, New Jersey, winner Martin Misciagna)
• Gen-Con XIV, near Kenosha Wisconsin, winner Mike Moline). 

There was no national play-off, but I think it is safe to say the Lenat/Eurisko would have won, because the other two winners were regarded as "conventional fleets. Lenat/Eurisko's fleet stats for Origins 1981 were:

Winning TCS fleet -  Origins 1981 San Mateo California
Lenat/Eurisko Fleet 
Fleet Parameters: 
Tech level 12. 
Jump-3. 
1-G.
100 pilots. 
All ships, gas giant skimming required    
Fleet Summary: 
96 Space Ships in total
89 Buffered Planetoids so teh fleet looked like an "asteroid belt" 
86 space ships immediately on table [79 of them looking very rock-like]
75 on table in the Main Battle Line (all Buffered Planetoids) 
11 on table in the Reserve Line (7 Wedges and 4 Buffered Planetoids) 
10 tucked away inside their mother ships in the Reserve Line
These 10 fighters are all Buffered Planetoids too 
Note: All human pilots (96 out of a possible 100)
*----- MAIN BATTLE LINE ----- (75 Space Ships - Rocks [Buffered Planetoid]) -----*
Seventy-five Eurisko class (Purpose - Battle Armoured [Buffered Planetoid] Missile Ships): 
BA-Eurisko ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BA-K952563-J41100-34003-0 
Cost MCr 13,030.385 
Tech Level C (12) Tonnage 11,100
Ship Characteristic Breakdown
BA-K952563-J41100-34003-0  : Class - Battle Armoured
Ba-K952563-J41100-34003-0  : Tonnage [10,000 - 19,999 tons] (actually 11,100 tons)
Ba-K952563-J41100-34003-0  : Ship Type - Buffered Planetoid
Ba-K952563-J41100-34003-0  : Jump (5)
Ba-K952563-J41100-34003-0  : Manoeuvre (2) 
Ba-K952563-J41100-34003-0  : Power Plant (5) 
Ba-K952563-J41100-34003-0  : Computer (6) 
Ba-K952563-J41100-34003-0  : Crew (3) Complement of 131 
Ba-K952563-J41100-34003-0  : Hull Strength (J) [Planetoid + Buffered Armour]  (Value 19) 
Ba-K952563-J41100-34003-0  : Sand Casters (4) 
Ba-K952563-J41100-34003-0  : Meson Screen (1) 
Ba-K952563-J41100-34003-0  : Nuclear Dampeners (1) 
 Ba-K952563-J41100-34003-0  : Force Field  - None
Ba-K952563-J41100-34003-0  : Repulsors - None 
Ba-K952563-J41100-34003-0  : Lasers (3) 
Ba-K952563-J41100-34003-0  : Energy Weapons (4) 
Ba-K952563-J41100-34003-0  : Particle Weapons - None  
Ba-K952563-J41100-34003-0  : Meson Gun - None
Ba-K952563-J41100-34003-0  : Missiles (3) 
Ba-K952563-J41100-34003-0  : Fighter Squadrons - None  
Defensive (Blue) and Offensive (Red) Batteries and Batteries Bearing: 
Ba-K952563-J11100-1100V-0  : Batteries Bearing
Ba-K952563-J11100-1100V-0  : Batteries
Ba-K952563-J41100-34003-0  : Sand Casters (4) 
Ba-K952563-J41100-34003-0  : Lasers (3) 
Ba-K952563-J41100-34003-0  : Energy Weapons (4) 
Ba-K952563-J41100-34003-0  : Missiles (3) 
Crew=131; Agility=2; Fuel=555; Passengers=0; Cargo=8; Low=0; Fuel 555; EP 555; Marines=35 
Note: L-hyd drop tanks add 5,550 tons of fuel and mass, change the agility to 1, and cost 5.56. (BA-K931363), change Agility to 1 and cost MCr5.56.  The ship is designed to manoeuvre when carrying up to 16,650 tons of drop tanks.
Design Notes (Exploited TCS Characteristics): 
**-*9*****-*******-*****-*  : The '9' implies it is a planetoid, basically a hollowed out asteroid. The advantage of this is that it is cheap to build.
**-*******-*******-****3-*  : Nuclear Missile Batteries had unlimited ammunition.
*----- RESERVE LINE SPACE SHIPS ----- (11 Space Ships (4 of them looking like rocks and 7 of them looking like  wedges) with another 10 small ships (all looking like rocks) carried in these, 21 in total) -----*
Four Garter class (Purpose Fleet Tender - To Jump the other Space Ships into the battle): 
TB-Garter ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TB-K1567F3-B41106-34009-1
Cost MCr 17,584.104
Tonnage 12,000
Ship Characteristic Breakdown
TB-K1567F3-B41106-34009-1  : Class - Tender/Tanker Battle
TB-K1567F3-B41106-34009-1  : Tonnage [10,000 - 19,9999] 12,000 Tonnes
TB-K1567F3-B41106-34009-1  : Ship Type - Needle/Wedge
TB-K1567F3-B41106-34009-1  : Jump (5)
TB-K1567F3-B41106-34009-1  : Manoeuvre (6) 
TB-K1567F3-B41106-34009-1  : Power Plant (7) 
TB-K1567F3-B41106-34009-1  : Computer (F - 6fib)
TB-K1567F3-B41106-34009-1  : Crew (3) Complement 170
TB-K1567F3-B41106-34009-1  : Hull Strength (B) Metal (Value 11)
TB-K1567F3-B41106-34009-1  : Sand Casters (4)
TB-K1567F3-B41106-34009-1  : Meson Screen (1)
TB-K1567F3-B41106-34009-1  : Nuclear Dampeners (1)
TB-K1567F3-B41106-34009-1  : Force Field - None 
TB-K1567F3-B41106-34009-1  : Repulsors (6) 
TB-K1567F3-B41106-34009-1  : Lasers (3)
TB-K1567F3-B41106-34009-1  : Energy Weapons (4)
TB-K1567F3-B41106-34009-1  : Particle Weapons - None
TB-K1567F3-B41106-34009-1  : Meson Weapons - None 
TB-K1567F3-B41106-34009-1  : Missiles (9)
TB-K1567F3-B41106-34009-1  : Fighters (1)  Wasp Fighter [Lifeboat]
Defensive (Blue) and Offensive (Red) Batteries and Batteries Bearing: 
TB-K1567F3-B41106-34009-1c : Batteries Bearing C 1 EE 7 
TB-K1567F3-B41106-34009-1c : Batteries C 1 EE 7 
Agility=4; Fuel=840; Cargo=4.3 low=170 
Design Notes:
Needle-Wedge shape
Note: L-Hyd drop tanks add 6000 tons of fuel and mass, change the agility to 4, and cost MCr6.01.(TB-K1344F3) The ship is designed to manoeuvre when carrying up to 72,000 tons of drop tanks and one Wasp fighter.
Four Cisor class: BD-Cisor 
BD Cisor ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BD-K9525F3-E41100-340C5-0 
Cost MCr22,291.175 
BD-K9525F3-E41100-340C5-0 
BD-K9525F3-E41100-340C5-0 
BD-K9525F3-E41100-340C5-0 
BD-K9525F3-E41100-340C5-0 
BD-K9525F3-E41100-340C5-0 
BD-K9525F3-E41100-340C5-0 
BD-K9525F3-E41100-340C5-0 
BD-K9525F3-E41100-340C5-0 
BD-K9525F3-E41100-340C5-0 
BD-K9525F3-E41100-340C5-0 
BD-K9525F3-E41100-340C5-0 
BD-K9525F3-E41100-340C5-0
BD-K9525F3-E41100-340C5-0
BD-K9525F3-E41100-340C5-0
BD-K9525F3-E41100-340C5-0
BD-K9525F3-E41100-340C5-0
BD-K9525F3-E41100-340C5-0
BD-K9525F3-E41100-340C5-0
BD-K9525F3-E41100-340C5-0
BD-K9525F3-E41100-340C5-0
Bearing 1 11 1U 19,980 tons Batteries 1 11 1U crew= ? Agility=0; Fuel=999; Cargo=19.1 low=95 Note: L-Hyd drop tanks add 9,990 tons of fuel and mass, and cost MCr10. (BD- L9313F3) The ship is designed to manoeuvre when carrying up to 29,970 tons of drop tanks.
**-*9*****-*******-*****-* the '9' implies it is a planetoid, basically a hollowed out asteroid. The advantage of this is that it is cheap to build.
Three Queller class (Purpose - Life-Boat Killer): BH-Queller 
BH-K1526F3-B41106-34Q02-1 
MCr27,802.392
BH-K1526F3-B41106-34Q02
BH-K1526F3-B41106-34Q02
BH-K1526F3-B41106-34Q02
BH-K1526F3-B41106-34Q02
BH-K1526F3-B41106-34Q02
BH-K1526F3-B41106-34Q02
BH-K1526F3-B41106-34Q02
BH-K1526F3-B41106-34Q02
BH-K1526F3-B41106-34Q02
BH-K1526F3-B41106-34Q02
BH-K1526F3-B41106-34Q02
BH-K1526F3-B41106-34Q02
BH-K1526F3-B41106-34Q02
BH-K1526F3-B41106-34Q02
BH-K1526F3-B41106-34Q02
BH-K1526F3-B41106-34Q02
BH-K1526F3-B41106-34Q02
BH-K1526F3-B41106-34Q02
BH-K1526F3-B41106-34Q02
BH-K1526F3-B41106-34Q02
Bearing Z 1 NN1 N 19,600 tons Batteries Z 1 NN1 N crew=263 Agility=0; Fuel=1,176; Cargo=10.72 low=232; marines=200 Note: L-hyd drop tanks add 9,800 tons of fuel and mass, and cost MCr9.81. (BH-L1314F3) The ship is designed to manoeuvre when carrying up to 29,400 tons of drop tanks and two fighters (one Wasp and one Bee).
Notes: 
Needle-Wedge Shape
**-*******-******-**Q**-* the Q implies a very large particle accelerator weapon, the idea being it can blow up other peoples Lifeboats (or Shield Maiden if you care to call them that).
-- Smaller Ships -- 10 in total, Wasp (7 x 1,000 tons) and Bee (3 x 99 tons) -- 
Note: These are carried on other ships
Seven Wasp class (Purpose - Lifeboat [Almost unhittable ship] creates Shield so other ships can retire and repair damage, then return to fight): IL-Wasp 
Il-A90ZZF2-J00000-00009-0 MCr896.75 Bearing 1 1,000 tons Batteries 1 Crew=19 Agility=6; Fuel=60; Cargo=0 low=0
Notes:
**-*9*****-*******-*****-* the '9' implies it is a planetoid, basically a hollowed out asteroid. The advantage of this is that it is cheap to build.
Agility 6 therefore hard to hit!
Three Bee class: FF-Bee
FF-0906661-A30000-00001-0 MCr127.945 Bearing 1 2 99 tons Batteries 1 2 crew=2 Agility=0; Fuel=5.94; Cargo=0
Notes:
**-*9*****-*******-*****-* the '9' implies it is a planetoid, basically a hollowed out asteroid. The advantage of this is that it is cheap to build.
90 Rocks and 6 Needle Space Ships
- End of Fleet --

Note: I have been unable to locate the 1982 Lenat/Eurisko Fleet. It was almost the polar opposite to the above, being fast and unarmoured, but again numerous. In 1983 he was asked, "not to participate" by the organisers. Credit should also be given to the nameless runner up at Origins 1981 who has a similar (relatively individually small sized 10k+ [when compared to 75,000 tonne Dreadnoughts] but heavily armoured fleet, so numerous space ships - without the "specialist ships" Lenat had) fleet. He/She (but let's face it probably a "he") too would have beaten all the conventional fleets. 

According to the Trillion Credit Traveller booklet the Origins 1981, 1982 and 1983 TCS Tournaments conformed to the following rules (they seem to have been advancing the Tech Level by one each year): 

Douglas Lenat did include the event in his published research papers as an example of a test-case use of Eurisko, alongside other more standard domains (such as helping with Very Large Scale Integrated Circuit Design [VLSI]). It was a supplementary research issue that helped him think about his core interest, that is common-sense logic, that is a form of knowledge representation we have yet to crack. He was in the Symbolic-Ontology camp, even if it became uncool (see below. Lenat on Cyc, in one sense the ongoing evolution of Eurisko): 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjkbmLjwXO8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2rK40bNrrY

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ogbl#search/ontology/QgrcJHrnzwWHQQTPRRXBqPthsMKBxgQvtRV?projector=1

https://www.first.army.mil/Mission/Units/Division-West/videoid/913493/dvpTag/ACT3/igphoto/2003313038/

Citizens of the Imperium - Forum Threads on TCS and Eurisko:

https://www.travellerrpg.com/threads/eurisko-and-tcs.38249/page-2

Send Reinforcements: I need more Adventurers - Female Elf Adventurers

The eldest son is off at university and it comes as no surprise, he is soon to be found running a Dungeons and Dragons campaign with new found friends (and hopefully attending some lectures). The "gaming group" are obviously expanding into new character classes (or perhaps needing replacements for dead characters?) as he wants an urgent "resupply" from his toy cupboard (see below, lead figures were consequently pulled from their retirement sanctuary of the "cupboard cloisters" [after being carefully packed away on his departure] and thrown once more into the frenzied life of adventuring, with new eager young hands waiting to push them around a tabletop, trying to doing unspeakable things [and probably failing ignominiously, as I remember doing]): 

"Please send elves, female elves, I need adventurous female elves!" Dad sighs. "Don't we all son! Try the University Bar on a Friday night." The son is not impressed. "Thanks dad, I need lead figures! "Ok, looking into my side of the figure collection I bring out some old Grenadier classics. These ladies will be some forty five years old, or older. I wonder if they will survive the modern tabletop experience (see below, a female ranger and a female monk [or so I am lead to believe if I recall the listings correctly], they are painted green so they must obviously elves):

A close up of the figures and to my shame the female monk has some "chipped paint" -- gasp -- on her staff, but fear not she should still be able to blend in nicely to the forest backdrop, pity as they are destined for dungeon delving (see below, farewell my lovely ladies. I fear I may never see you again as they have been passed onto another's (un)worthy hands, I hope you get beyond third level (base) with my son and his friends as I never did - too lightly armoured for my dumb ass style of play, I always needed to be wearing chain or plate mail!):  

Final thoughts? He will be after my Orcs next, which means I will have to finish painting them! I mean I have only had them just under twenty years?

"On The Beach" (Nevil Shute)- One That Didn't Make The Shortlist To Jackanory!

I had heard about this one. It was talked about in hushed terms. An old book, published in 1957. A classic, also two films - old and new. So not wanting to be told off for getting "yet another book in the house" I used an Audible subscription token to listen to it, and if anything hearing it as the spoken word was much more traumatic than reading it. At times the dead pan delivery of "the way life went on" was truly chilling, a dystopian reflection of a normality that is not quite normal, against the nightmare world events and its approaching consequences (see below, Neil Shute, a fantastic read/listen. as relevant now as then):  

Bedtime reading for the young ones it is not and remember this was years before Carl Sagan's calculations of a "nuclear winter" hypothesis resulting from a strategic nuclear exchange.   

Overflight: A Solitaire Cold War Game

I can neither confirm or deny the existence of this "book game" to be in my possession, or then again not in my possession. The administration does not offer any comment on rumour or conjecture, nor does it use Signal messaging app for important communications. That said, the U2 spy plane is as an iconic piece of Cold War spy-craft technology and is still being used today (see below, another information packed book game from Historic Wings, to join my growing collection): 

Would readers kindly "not look to the skies" as a large dark object takes to the skies and flies off to mysterious places (or not as the case may be).

Traveller Star Ship Resources

All this talk about Traveller Star Ships has been making me wonder where I could find some ship statistics (see below, look no further and "Thank You" to "Yet Another Traveller Blog"!):

https://travellerrpgblog.blogspot.com/

Star ship plans can be found on this page, check out the "popular posts" or click "deck plan" on teh label listing. 

Navy Fleet Design and the Lessons of (Science Fiction) the Trillion Credit Squadron Talk: 2020 by Phil Pournelle

Note also see future post: https://exiledfog.blogspot.com/2025/03/note-to-self-trillion-credit-squadron.html

I was intrigued with the following talk by former USN Commander Phil Pournelle discussing future fleet design, but drawing also on ideas from Science Fiction, games and literature. In particular work associated with the AI pioneer and Computer Scientist Doug Lenat who used a Science Fiction game (Traveller: The Trillion Credit Squadron) as part of evaluating his research tool, Eurisko. This was way back in the 1980's (see link below, note I have heard Commander Pournelle speak several time at the Connections UK Professional Wargaming Conferences, and he certainly knows his stuff and he is an enlightened professional who welcomed input from the recreational side of the hobby - at under 15 minutes, it is well worth a listen to): 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=7Z4PMcgFIGE&t=12685s

The whole conference had a "what can we learn from Science Fiction" theme to and is available online (see link below, something for me to chew on over time): 

https://cimsec.org/navycon-2020-navies-science-fiction-and-great-power-competition/

Phil confessed to having a long addiction to Science Fiction (his late father Jerry Pournelle is a Science Fiction author as he is himself), an interest which goes back to the 1980's where he played Traveller [and other game sci-fi games systems] but of particular interest to the above conference was Traveller, specifically - Traveller: The Trillion Credit squadron (aka big space fleet battles, using miniatures). Due homage was given to the late Doug Lenat who "computed" a winning TCS Competition Fleet [twice, Origins (San Mateo, California) in 1981 and 1982] using his post-doctoral computerised research engine (a sophisticated logical theorem and problem solving tool called Eurisko, an extension from his PhD work AM [Automated Mathematician], 1977). The Lenat/Eurisko duo produced a novel counterintuitive solution that went for "many smaller [75]" instead of the "few large [20]" space ships. 

Footnote Addendum (see comments from Martin Rapier and my reply): Small is a relative term, Lenat/Eurisko fleet had as its backbone 75 "Eurisko Class" ships each 11,100 tonnes (but no jump drive which saved a lot of "tonnage") so not really small "patrol craft" in the scheme of things (?) discuss, but very much cheaper in cost than say to a Battleship (I must admit I am struggling for an appropriate word to call the "big space ships" so Battleship will do - but I know it is wrong). You can have almost four Euriskos for each bespoke Battleship (there I used the word again) and "Euriskos" carried the equivalence of one big weapon each.

So, instead of the few expensive "all singing, all dancing ships of the line" dreadnought star ships (Battleships?) and some accompanying cruisers/destroyers there was a "mosquito fleet" of heavily armoured, almost immobile bit  gunboats (see below, a rather pristine looking copy of a Traveller book and Doug Lenat with his charismatic trademark smile - Lenat famously said the work was 60% Lenat and 40% Eurisko, he basically kept the machine from "going off the rails" adding additional heuristics as needed [he even showed his work (on Eurisko) to Richard Feynman, who was suitable impressed with its "almost creative power" at problem solving]):   

Lenat's research took him away from TCS and he disappeared to a remote part of the Texas dessert for forty years (which sounds rather Biblical) doing research underwritten for the most part by the USN (emerging with a product called Cyc). Meanwhile, for Phil Pournelle there were other Science Fiction Game Systems of that era to play. they also showed similar "lots of little" beating "the big" meme -  despite this not being the original Games Designer's intent. A game called O.G.R.E. getting a specific callout for the "tons of speedy hovercraft option" that so enraged the "big O.G.R.E. tankers" that the game's designer Steve Jackson created a subsequent errata to "try" and reduce, or rather moderate their "too successful" anti O.G.R.E. capability - which it has to be said, it only partially succeeded at). Where most players borrowed from the genre like Star Trek and focused on "the sexy big Enterprise" ships, Phil saw the ungodly potential of tooling up many small patrol ships with weapons to be able to take out squadrons of Star Ships when they came too "planet side close" (see below, Phil obviously enjoyed endless hours spent  in intergalactic mayhem and destruction with the occasional model-making/painting thrown in - Note: examples include both tabletop and computer games - I suggest you hear it "on tape" through Phil's own words on the YouTube link - see first link in article): 

Was there any "earth-bound" evidence of historical equivalent in "the many beating the few" .. Phil showed a USN WWII ship production data table for all naval construction. There was a trend away from the production of the sexier end [battleships, aircraft carriers and cruisers. even destroyers], to patrol -craft . These categories had a huge increase in numbers (but not necessary greater tonnage) . It was the sheer "amount" of smaller ships and "other" types, with a parallel to the many Shermans tanks beating the few but better Panther tanks on land (see below, hmm, I can see the point Phil is trying to make - but you are excluding aircraft from this assessment and other in the Pacific Theatre of Operations .. and perhaps the European Theatre of Operations working under different dynamics - the land example also has its problem, Eisenhower called the Sherman an "artillery tank" not a "main battle tank", most of the time tanks did not fight tanks but supported infantry who appreciated a nice bit of 75mm HE direct fire support to knock out that German machine gun nest that was being so troublesome):  

Interestingly Phil brings in one of his significant mentors from the USN Naval War College .. Captain Wayne Hughs .. and focuses on his salvo equations ("first effective salvo" winning a battle - ambush style in particular) and the relationship between the potential damage delivered from a small ship, especially in ambush prone littoral settings, where as Phil puts it "most people live" (see below, a footnote being appropriate force composition is essential, you don't want to have the wrong stuff in the wrong place defended by the wrong things .. and by definition leave it vulnerable to "mosquito fleets" .. yikes): 

This chart Phil used still worries me very deeply (see the picture above two and repeated below), because it is conflating all "operations of war" under one banner (akin to just computing the greatest Lanchestrian "fighting power" and saying that is "job done"). It is the interactions between the types of ships that matter too, critically so. Even in Traveller's Trillion Credit Squadron it was not just the Lanchestrian equation of force at play ["fighting power squared"] that won one Lenat/Eurisko its battles and two TCS titles. There is a hidden but very important lesson to be learned in the first Tournament Fleet Battle Final. True Lenat's Eurisko fleet fought and won the final .. but Lenat was worried because .. it faced off against a very different style of opponent. On a superficial examination, it looked like a near identical fleet [one that came from a fertile mind of a teenager without the aid of vast PDP computer time from a university - so true respect to him (who he was and what became of him I know not)]. Yet .. Lenat sighed in relief .. the opponent's fleet was not exactly the same  as his. On the surface in one aspect it actually looked better, its Lanchestrian Fighting Power was higher, as it had more or slightly more powerful little fighting ships - its composition is sadly lost in the deeps of time, we only know of Eurisko's fleet listing). What am I getting at? 

Lenat/Eurisko did not win by a random chance (rolling good dice) despite starting teh battle at a slight disadvantage in Lanchastrian Fighting Power strength. Yes, read that again. My conjecture is that Lenat/Eurisko's fleet actually looked a weaker fleet! We can imply that the other fleet was in fact stronger because, Lenat has spent "points/tonnage" on non-Eurisko class ships. The question is "why"? Wasting points like that would lose battles by reducing your fleet's Lanchestrian Fighting Value? [If this is incorrect it is my bad, but I think it holds water!] But it had teh opposite effect. 

Lenat's Eurisko Fleet won because it had other "minor part" players that critically turned the tide of battle for him. The special ship in the first final was a "life boat" or "defensive shield" which if deployed correctly shielded the fleet from further damage. So, when the fleet was being beaten (yes "when", not "if" - assume during the course of the battle your fleet can be "placed in a losing situation" bu gos play from teh other side). This "shield" allowed the Lenat/Eurisko fleet to retire behind a shield and rebuild a badly damaged fleet in "game-battle time" (not campaign time) and then be ready to "go again". Yes, Lenat/Eurisko had a "repair ship" capability too. The nameless teenager's fleet was based on one good idea and over optimised for it - but Lenat had revised and refined his ideas further, by a proces that was effectively "Red Teaming". Eevry potential fleet solution was tested against "all other potential fleets he could think of" - rigorous and diverse testing. 

He analysed his losses as much as his victories. When Eurisko was fighting Eurisko in a multiple simulation this was a hard thing "not to do" - you see the reason for your loses as well as your wins).

Despite a small loss in the optimal fighting strength, Lenat deliberately incorporated other ships types in the Lenat/Eurisko for special vital roles", for example such as a "lifeboat killer" that were never used in most competition play to my knowledge, but needed to be included for "completeness". That is to say  to be called upon if needed - their role was a  contingency against a certain type of fleet turning up (see below, look again at the chart, the "chart" hides many interactions that run deep about the historical period. Be careful what you wish for based purely on a surface reading of the chart - you need to understand the history (and I know Phil certainly does, he has the sea legs and been tutored in teh ways of the US Naval War College); his "good enough and in sufficient quantity" meme is very valid. In fact it sounds like the USN C-in-C  Admiral King said in 1942,  when he wanted an "offensive spirit" to emerge from teh USN in 1942, now and not next year. True there were plenty of ships destined to come online 43/44 but they could all be lost if they came onto a  chess board set up for failure [to their collective credit Admirals "King-Nimitz-Spruance-Fletcher-Halsey" got the victories of Midway and Guadalcanal under their belt, despite the "Europe First" soldier friendly camp in the Supreme Allied High Command holding sway]):   

Coming back to ship specifics, your ability as a ship to survive damage only slowly increases with size/tonnage, but the ability to inflict damage is not so constrained .. firing more missiles is cheaper. Phil highlighted an interesting dilemma for those living and working in ships in the "missile age" (see below, the bigger the ship the easier you are to be found and hit .. hmm .. what is the optimum size to be, or "how many small but expendable ships is best" - it circles back to Lenat and the question he was trying to answer, what is the best fleet composition to have?): 

What does this mean for shipbuilders and navies? The Death Star dilemma ... which implies a navy must have enough ships as to not get too precious about losing one of them, because if that is not the case and you are too precious about your ships, your follow-on actions, albeit well intended, are naturally going to try and make the ships "better defended". This will actually make them even more precious to you, so paradoxically you cannot risk them where they are needed. They will be a bigger resource grab on your budget and more paradoxically a better target for hostile powers to sink and really hurt you. Care for your ships but they are to be used. Tonnage however is subject to the law of decreasing returns on protection levels (see below, in the end a "Death Star" is created and we all know how this ends, as it becomes something the Empire simply cannot afford to lose - but will. Footnote: "Use the Force Luke" .. but remember Luke has to hit a very small spot and got one shot at it - not easy but not impossible): 

Alternatives? There is the "Shell Game". Can you find the target like finding a pea under a walnut shell, you are never quite sure what is under each shell so to be sure you have to hit everything which is beyond your offensive (first strike) resource capability  This benefits lots of small craft over few of the large (see below, just like the proposed MX ICBM deliver system of the 1980's - it impossible to hit the American ICBM missile with 100% certainty [and therefore stop a retaliatory attack]. All by just adding a few more possible launching sites - the MX ICBM  is listed as a reason why the (First) Cold War ended, as economically the Soviets could not afford the logical counter to it, which was a lot more expensive offensive first strike missiles): 

But are .. you putting a best case scenario forward for the "little guys". I mean a "heavy sea" can swamp them right? But as time goes on they are getting better. You can cram them with missiles and when the conditions are favourable they are devasting, like Landsknecht Doppelsoldners they have "their day", a gad-fly brief summer day, whose life is gone in a flicker of the eye (see below, life would be certainly exciting to say the least on one of these in a combat zone):  

But how can these "little ones" travel and victual? (see below, there is always a larger "mother" to hand", which can cross the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, dropping off their charges and stay around to supply): 

There is also stuff that is just living on the drawing board or virtual reality simulation today (see below, the student projects of today, are by graduation tomorrow's naval craft living and breathing in the water [for example The Minuteman Missile Corvette Concept Ship]): 

Sometime the "little guys" are .. not so little (see below, an Ambassador Class Missile Corvette is not a speedboat or experimental catamaran - it can cruise quite long distances and packs a punch): 

But if needs must [Minuteman Corvettes] can be transported piggy-back style (see below, that is "one heavy ass" lifter of a ship - something of that type of 'thing' brought back a Type 42 Royal Navy Destroyer all the way home (UK) from an embarrassing "holed below the waterline" incident in the southern hemisphere): 

Therefore we are now back to the Trillion Credit Squadron (TCS) situation again, as a Lenat/Eurisko produced a "tug carried fleet". Eurisko Class ships got to places by using drop tanks. Once there in the battle they were immobile gun and missile platforms until the battle finished, rotating and tactical thrusts to position line of sight was all that was needed. See what happens when you tap into the genre of science fiction gaming, played in a way you it "dares you to think in the art of the possible, even if that is highly unconventional" and then see "if it is plausible within the rules of the game". There was an interesting interlude when a man called Doug came into town with an interesting horse called Eurisko that could "run fast". Lenat was prepared to follow the answer to the end with an unconventional answer to the TCS Fleet Problem (risking mockery from his academics peers, by playing games). The fleet problem is there, waiting for more innovative answers. However I think the last word should be left with Mr Jerry Pornelle, Phil's late father who obviously encouraged and inspired his son to be curious and imaginative, an author of works of Science Fiction in there own right (see below, "total respect" and I am going to look forward to reading them!):   

Afterall who does not want to hear a good story, best wishes to you all and thanks to you for reading if you have got this far!

Trillion Credit backlink: 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traveller_Adventure_5:_Trillion_Credit_Squadron

Footnote: 

Legend has it, as written in his own words, Douglas Lenat was asked not to enter the the Origiins TCS Tournament in 1983. If he did organisers said they would just cancel the event. So Eurisko didn't enter, it retired undefeated, with the honorary rank of Admiral. Sadly I think we were all the lesser for that as who knows, Lenat never said a fleet devised by Eurisko could not be defeated, after all in its training - Eurisko was always trying to defeat itself as well as everybody else it knew of.