About Fighters

[tim_manley]

sweetness and light....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Kinetic_Energy_Missile

 

[sabredog]

From the guidelines in Special Supplement 3 and/or extrapolating from Striker, standard missiles are only fitted with fractional-kiloton "tactical" nuclear warheads which -- especially since they are proximity-detonated, not contact-detonated -- are too low-yield to vaporize most targets.

To knock big ships out with one hit, you need multi-megaton "strategic" warheads, which will be too large and heavy to fit on regular old "standard" missiles.

The intention is to "contact" or penetrate the target before detonation. Vaporization isn't required. A soft kill that neutralizes the target is all that is required.

That's why the fighter or drone is used to carry the weapon past the screens and anti-missile defenses.

Just think outside the box. It's not like this stuff hasn't been done before...Pearl Harbor...bunker-busters made of gun barrels...etc... You just gotta get the imagination lubed up and stroking away. I recommend liberal applications of Coca-Cola and coffee Hagen Daz (with chocolate syrup on top).

 

[sabredog]

sweetness and light....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Kinetic_Energy_Missile

Purrrrfect...now just imagine what the tech level 12 version would do, let alone tech 15.

 

[mike wightman]

As a ship to ship missile?

Nothing, wouldn't have the range

 

[boomslang]

The intention is to "contact" or penetrate the target before detonation.

In space, with no atmo to tack against (and therefore with significantly-reduced maneuverability in the terminal guidance phase), that is a much harder task than you think... in practical terms, "contact fusing" = "dud" in any application other than scuttling an already-drifting target...

 

[robject]

Once the tide is turned away from small ships for weapon density, then I think you'll see designs creep up in size. Not necessarily to everything becoming 1,000,000 Dreadnoughts, but I can see a bounty of destroyers and what not filling out the fleets.

And thus we come to the real reason for discussing fighters in Traveller: it's the Big Ship / Small Ship debate in disguise.

To knock big ships out with one hit, you need multi-megaton "strategic" warheads, which will be too large and heavy to fit on regular old "standard" missiles.

And unless they detonate pretty close most ships would be proof against their effects...

So for ship killers, we're talking about large, contact nuclear "torpedos", not those sissy missile cans. A single bay missile, perhaps, as sabredog mentions. Which means fighters have one shot, then have to return to base to fit on another torpedo or something.

...And thus we come full circle to the High Guard, First Edition rule about massed missile attacks.