It's actually in the MT (Mega), not MgT (Mongoose) where that use premiers. In the PM weapon tables for starship weapons.
Explain Sandcasters to me?
- Thread starter Rigel Stardin
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Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
One difference is the time window involved.
When planes and ships start firing off chaff against missiles, this would be effective within seconds, not six or twenty minutes.
Smokescreens tend to be stationary, effected by environmental effects such as wind.
When planes and ships start firing off chaff against missiles, this would be effective within seconds, not six or twenty minutes.
Smokescreens tend to be stationary, effected by environmental effects such as wind.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
No, it first appears in CT Striker.
Converting the Striker scale to real world numbers shows that the sandcaster must have some sort of 'sand' propellent mechanism - this could be chemical, electromagnetic such as in mass drivers or gauss rifles, or even intense artificial gravitic fields of the type that allow ligh second ranges for lasers according to TNE.
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Condottiere
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I'm not sure if it was superheroes or fantasy, but there's the option of coating a target with something sticky and visible, making it easier to hit.
And dive bombing at adjacent range.
And dive bombing at adjacent range.
I've seen this in both for dealing with invisible creatures.
One objection to sand for laser defense is why can't you simply add the same reflective material to the hull to get all the time protection. Similar to the Refec armor for people. T5 and MgT includes this as an option
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
Reflec still relies on the mirror trope for lasers.
Next up would be grains of sand vibrating at the exact frequencies of the lasers, and absorbing energy.
Next up would be grains of sand vibrating at the exact frequencies of the lasers, and absorbing energy.
My mental image of what a sandcaster is is inspired by the Chemring Centurion Countermeasures Launcher.
The carousel launcher can fire each of its canisters individually and directionally (which cuts the amount of maneuvering that the ship has to do. The canisters can be reloaded, and because they are standardised canisters a wide variety of countermeasures can be loaded. The system has even fired the Javelin missile to demonstrate its utility.
For Traveller I'd assume Sand canisters were available in standardised dimensions, and the caster part was a gas mortar or mass driver. New canisters could be reloaded from inside the ship. I think sand in different versions is probably a bit too effective against energy weapons and not effective enough against missiles, but that's a physics versus gameplay issue.
The carousel launcher can fire each of its canisters individually and directionally (which cuts the amount of maneuvering that the ship has to do. The canisters can be reloaded, and because they are standardised canisters a wide variety of countermeasures can be loaded. The system has even fired the Javelin missile to demonstrate its utility.
For Traveller I'd assume Sand canisters were available in standardised dimensions, and the caster part was a gas mortar or mass driver. New canisters could be reloaded from inside the ship. I think sand in different versions is probably a bit too effective against energy weapons and not effective enough against missiles, but that's a physics versus gameplay issue.
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
Assuming that the missile launcher does a cold launch as well, per mass driver, you could use it to chuck out sand canisters from it as well.
Note that, as long as the particles are larger than the wavelength, and dense enough to significantly impair the apparent cross section, the albedo (reflectivity) can be 0 to 1 (none to all).
The goal is to reduce the laser's energy on target. The same is true for sensors - the cloud's a dead giveawy SOMETHING is there, but it can prevent telling exactly what.
Higher albedo clouds are more durable... but not needed to work.
The scale needed is on the order of 400 to 500 nanometers.
Essentially, for defensive purposes, it works analogously to a lace umbrella against sunnlight: doesn't stop it all, but does stop enough to prevent rapid sunburns.
Under the power of a weapon-class laser most materials will go from solid to plasma pretty very rapidly, so the general design of the "sand" is pebbles of a material which has a very high latent heat (as it transitions from a solid to a liquid then to a gas and finally to a plasma. The plasma then re-radiated the energy off in other directions.
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
Spaceship heat sink.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
Not even close...
I don't remember the version, but one edition had ferrous particles that could be dragged magnetically a little while. You still needed one 'shot' per combat round to be of any use. Enough for colour, not enough to muck up play balance.
I think there was a sidebar or TNS article that mentioned a 'mildly unhinged lesser noble' that modified some cannisters to deploy miles-long party streamers, that he would have fired off when reaching port. Sorry for the vagueness, it's later than I thought.
And in the MT Arrival: Vengeance folio, when the A:V's crew was in port on the world they visited in Lucan's Imperium, one navy crew picking a fight would toss a few empty bottles at the target's table and yell "incoming!" The "time honoured tradition" was for the target crew to toss back ashtrays and peanuts and yell "sandcasters!"
I am looking at a sandcasters like the 20th-century version of a smoke missions which was basically oil with a reflective obscurant poured on a hot plate to cover a battlefield. It defeats or degrades enemy electro-optical (EO) systems. In general, use screening smoke to attack enemy target acquisition and guidance systems by placing smoke between the friendly unit and the sensors. FM 3-101-1 provides the guidelines of a smoke platoon in a chemical company.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
This is what a sandcaster does according to Striker.
It fires a conical blast that has the effect of a giant shotgun.
At 500m the shrapnel is 40m wide and has a pen/auto bonus of 20/+8 - that is nearly the equivalent of a VRF gauss gun (21/+8)
Out to 1000m the shrapnel is now 80m wide and is 10/+6 - about twice as effective as a gauss rifle (7/+3)
At 2000m the shrapnel is now 120m wide with 5/+4 - which is a better autofire bonus than a HMG at long range (5/+3)
It fires a conical blast that has the effect of a giant shotgun.
At 500m the shrapnel is 40m wide and has a pen/auto bonus of 20/+8 - that is nearly the equivalent of a VRF gauss gun (21/+8)
Out to 1000m the shrapnel is now 80m wide and is 10/+6 - about twice as effective as a gauss rifle (7/+3)
At 2000m the shrapnel is now 120m wide with 5/+4 - which is a better autofire bonus than a HMG at long range (5/+3)
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
How much shot and gunpowder does that require?
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
None at all.
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
Or the equivalent.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
Depends on how you want to describe it.
Is it a big shotgun shell that fires a cloud of shrapnel, each piece of which can diffuse/reflect/difract the incident laser light, turning into a plasma while doing so which then also hinders the laser
or
is it a multi-barreled vrf gun system that fires exploding rounds that have the effect of the above
Is it a big shotgun shell that fires a cloud of shrapnel, each piece of which can diffuse/reflect/difract the incident laser light, turning into a plasma while doing so which then also hinders the laser
or
is it a multi-barreled vrf gun system that fires exploding rounds that have the effect of the above
