Scott Martin
SOC-13
Well the TNE assumption is that (Grav Focused) lasers are 20% effective, and that the energy is delivered to a 1 cm² area in "Effective range". I could do the "10 shots/turn" conversion and get the correct number of MJ from that, or we could just go with "Holy crap, 50 MJ/second delivered to a square centimeter area!"
that's going to cause a lot more grief than to "warm up a broad area of a ship's hull"
It also makes me wonder if insanely low density armour would be the way to go: 20m of foamed aluminum would probably be more effective at absorbing a high energy laser than a few cm of hardened steel, both due to diffraction caused by the ejecta plume and the minimal radiative transfer across the material. A "Powder Snow" comet would have similar effects, but with WAY higher beam energy losses due to phase transfers.
One of the things that I find somewhat ironic is that the killer high energy weapons (KKM's, X-Ray Lasers etc) will probably have relatively minor effects on merchant shipping, especially "empty" merchant shipping. An X-Ray laser will have very little interaction with a minimum-thickness hull and "air" or "LHyd" (or even something low-density like grain: popcorn anyone?) while a KKM will probably punch a neat entry hole, a neat exit hole and continue on its way. Heavy armour in both of these cases will probably give effects similar to those in Napoleonic era men of war, with hull splinters causing horrific secondary damage. Heck, even a PAW would probably punch right through a civvie hull with very minor secondary radiation effects.
Of course all bets are off if the beam / projectile path goes through something "sturdy" like the main reactor, but in those cases a warship also tends to be a lot more "dense" than a merchant, with more "sturdy" things in the way...
Scott Martin
that's going to cause a lot more grief than to "warm up a broad area of a ship's hull"
It also makes me wonder if insanely low density armour would be the way to go: 20m of foamed aluminum would probably be more effective at absorbing a high energy laser than a few cm of hardened steel, both due to diffraction caused by the ejecta plume and the minimal radiative transfer across the material. A "Powder Snow" comet would have similar effects, but with WAY higher beam energy losses due to phase transfers.
One of the things that I find somewhat ironic is that the killer high energy weapons (KKM's, X-Ray Lasers etc) will probably have relatively minor effects on merchant shipping, especially "empty" merchant shipping. An X-Ray laser will have very little interaction with a minimum-thickness hull and "air" or "LHyd" (or even something low-density like grain: popcorn anyone?) while a KKM will probably punch a neat entry hole, a neat exit hole and continue on its way. Heavy armour in both of these cases will probably give effects similar to those in Napoleonic era men of war, with hull splinters causing horrific secondary damage. Heck, even a PAW would probably punch right through a civvie hull with very minor secondary radiation effects.
Of course all bets are off if the beam / projectile path goes through something "sturdy" like the main reactor, but in those cases a warship also tends to be a lot more "dense" than a merchant, with more "sturdy" things in the way...
Scott Martin