As said by myself and PN you can build a wolrdbeater but when that is so expensive and so complex that you can only build them in minute numbers, the advantage is lost.
Using the Ship as an example, it may well have the capability of 10 or more previous models, but 10 boats sitting on the pond will not be taken out with one missile or torpedo, 10 boats sitting on a pond will be able to react quicker to anything happening in their part of the pond and 10 boats sitting on a pond can be at different places on that pond doing different things.
Look at the falklands War, if you were dependant on one or two of a class as opposed to the multitude they had you wouldn't want to put that asset in harms way, simply because you have nothing to replace it with unless you build another, so it in effect becomes another Carrier kept back well out of harms way and not in there covering the landings in San Carlos bay etc.
Hitler never learnt that lesson, in the Panther and Tiger he had two of the worlds best built, best gunned and over complex tanks the world had ever seen, and even if they had a kill ratio of 10-1 (Tiger), low production runs due to over engineered complexity and hence unreliability on a battlefield was its achillies heel, that reduced the rate to 3.9-1, but then swamp the battlefield with cheap and quick to build Shermans and T34's and the die was cast.
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Last edited by NutLoose; 3rd Sep 2013 at 15:02.