Dirt Cheap Planet Crackers

[Condottiere]

High technology, high population planets probably have automated detection equipment that flags anything travelling above a certain velocity, and automated defences that will shoot it down.

In order to travel within the Imperium, and probably the Confederation, commercial and private spaceships have speed governors.

 

[creativehum]

At TL8 air/rafts are available - the CT explanation being null grav modules.

The maneuver drive appears at TL9, so why would it not involve some air/raft jiggery pokery handwavium?

My tiny brain has made the link to reducing inertial mass or put another way manipulation of the Higgs field. This allows the reaction drive to achieve the performance CT gives.

Works for me.

Without thinking about it too much (not as much as everyone else here!) that's pretty much what I settled on a while back when reading the rules. The grav tech is helpful, but limited, and doesn't perform with the power many would dream for it. (The PCs might encounter worlds far more advanced grav tech, however.)

 

[kilemall]

High technology, high population planets probably have automated detection equipment that flags anything travelling above a certain velocity, and automated defences that will shoot it down.

In order to travel within the Imperium, and probably the Confederation, commercial and private spaceships have speed governors.

I would argue most ships would have speed governors just for the space hazard issue of being able to dodge uncharted rocks ice and debris in time.

Big ones no problem, it's the little ones near ambient absolute zero and 1kg that will get you.

But the governors would need an override button, or switch, for outrunning flares.

 

[Condottiere]

Perhaps if the ship is moving outsystem, but if the pilot starts making a curve back insystem, the governor re engages.

 

[Spenser TR]

sort-of on topic: I read an interesting riff on this kind of attack recently, in Kim Stanley Robinson's 2312.

Spoilers to that novel to follow...

"Someone" developed a method of attacking targets in predictable orbits by using seriously precise calculations, orbital mechanics, and high-precision kinetics. Certainly most targets worth hitting had early-warning systems focused on incoming size/mass; this method was circumvented by using a multitude of very small kinetics launched from a wide variety of origins and sent along very precise paths. Each object by itself would be innocuous and escape detection but when they all came together close to the target to deliver their destructive energy, all the objects were inside the envelope of detection.

 

[kilemall]

That allows a run at say Earth starting from Mercury, right where you NEED to be able to move out of the way.

More like a Maneuver program that does not allow a matching course to a planet past X speed.

Of cours, militaries and terrorists would write their own programs.....

 

[nobby-w]

High technology, high population planets probably have automated detection equipment that flags anything travelling above a certain velocity, and automated defences that will shoot it down.

In order to travel within the Imperium, and probably the Confederation, commercial and private spaceships have speed governors.

What might be more plausible is velocity restrictions within certain controlled space regions around high-population worlds. Flying through a controlled region too quickly will attract the attention of the Navy, C.O.A.C.C. or some similar body, and will carry quite stiff penalties.

Come in too fast and expect folks to scramble interceptors and challenge you on the radio, opening fire if you don't respond in time. At speeds of 10's of km/sec a few depleted uranium golf balls will make a big splotty mess of most starships.

Also, one could expect any reasonably populated system to have an asteroid tracking network and take steps to investigate anything in an untoward orbit.

 

[nobby-w]

sort-of on topic: I read an interesting riff on this kind of attack recently, in Kim Stanley Robinson's 2312.

Spoilers to that novel to follow...

"Someone" developed a method of attacking targets in predictable orbits by using seriously precise calculations, orbital mechanics, and high-precision kinetics. [ . . . ]

Hell, once I managed to wipe out a rather expensive space station from the other side of Kerbin by being a little too accurate in a bi-elliptic rendezvous manoeuvre.

It's not rocket science. Oh, wait ...