One of the guys on the TML back in the day.
But I found a reference that provides context... https://www.einstein-online.info/en/spotlight/light_deflection/
Solar A = 247m/s² (21.178 gee)
Solar deflection @ surface is roughly 5e-3 Å (0.005Å)
General Weapons of the future.
- Thread starter Rigel Stardin
- Start date
But I found a reference that provides context... https://www.einstein-online.info/en/spotlight/light_deflection/
Solar A = 247m/s² (21.178 gee)
Solar deflection @ surface is roughly 5e-3 Å (0.005Å)
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
So not a lot then...
BackworldTraveller
SOC-13
Also, the diameter of the sun means that the light gets that pull for longer. A 4cm 30G field is going to be much less than a field that is effective over 600,000km of surface
I have that baked into my HG version.To properly model a laser with the sort of energy input a Traveller laser has there should be several range bands for it. As you get closer it goes from being a search light, to a heat lamp, to cutting torch, to a... laser cutter
Worse it gets more accurate as you get closer so if you have a 40% chance to hit at a few tens of kilometres, by the time you are only a thousand kilometers away you are automatically hit.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
Two things to add based on previous posts:
smart projectiles - limited self guidance for every projectile fired from a projectile weapon (yes even body pistols)
there is no such thing as a dumb bomb these days, you slap on a relatively cheap guidance package and control surfaces and you have a guided gravity bomb (it starts with the velocity of the aircraft and then gets faster as it falls).
smart projectiles - limited self guidance for every projectile fired from a projectile weapon (yes even body pistols)
there is no such thing as a dumb bomb these days, you slap on a relatively cheap guidance package and control surfaces and you have a guided gravity bomb (it starts with the velocity of the aircraft and then gets faster as it falls).
Deadfall ordnance is cheap, and has its uses.
We (the West in general and the US in particular) have had the luxury in recent years of engagements that didn't outstrip our supply/production of guidance kits.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
It is not accurate enough on the modern battlefield - useful for terrorist states to cause indiscriminate destruction but not so useful if you want to hit an actual target.
Guided dumb bombs have three advantages
1 - they can be dropped from greater range thus the bomber is in less danger of being shot at
2 - they are much more accurate
3 - the bomb gains more kinetic energy on the way down and can penetrate hardened structures
Guided dumb bombs have three advantages
1 - they can be dropped from greater range thus the bomber is in less danger of being shot at
2 - they are much more accurate
3 - the bomb gains more kinetic energy on the way down and can penetrate hardened structures
Actually, they slow down. Terminal velocity and all that.
But, that said, the guidance packages enabled planners to put things like B-1 bombers up on a kind of Combat Air Patrol, on standby for ad hoc missions, rather than a pre-plotted sortie. With the guidance packages, a Forward Observer can treat the B-1s more as on call airborne artillery, only rather than a 105mm HE explosive, it's a 500 or 2000lb bomb.
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
The last three years should have cleared up any lingering misconceptions of what the modern battlefield is like.
Smart weapons may be expensive, but you need less of them, and in terms of interstellar travel, less space.
Unpowered guided seems harder to conceptualize in Traveller design.
Smart weapons may be expensive, but you need less of them, and in terms of interstellar travel, less space.
Unpowered guided seems harder to conceptualize in Traveller design.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
The guidance package for a dumb bomb cost ~ $10,000
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
Those were a cheap solution for a dumb issue.
Use stealth materials, and point defence will have a difficult time to detect them.
Use stealth materials, and point defence will have a difficult time to detect them.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
Stealth is not as difficult to detect as you think.
Getting the target lock is the hard part.
But I agree that high TL point defence is several orders of magnitude above what we can do today.
Getting the target lock is the hard part.
But I agree that high TL point defence is several orders of magnitude above what we can do today.
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
You know what I just thought of?
Intelligent depth charges.
You can drop them into gravity wells, like gas giants.
Intelligent depth charges.
You can drop them into gravity wells, like gas giants.
Could or is it possible to have your depth charges set to distortions of a certain magnitude of change when a ship either enters the gravity wells or when a ship pops out of hyperspace?
If you are looking at something flying yes, but a stationary object with a dedicated FO with a target designator no.
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
1. That seems more a missile or torpedo modified as a mine: command, remote or autonomous.
2. Since it's unpowered, but guided towards signature returns, it's more of a cone, which either does a proximity explosion, or a contact one.
BackworldTraveller
SOC-13
Team Comms become an interesting issue when you have loitering, radiation homing rounds for your auto-GL...
...Every time you talk, interrogate a sensor, etc, they plot your transmitter's position and hey-ho!
Those cyber-comms in your head are suddenly not so good. Nor are those radio-switched failsafes on your guns, or the gun-sight's links to your team commander's video feeds. Indeed even the back-scatter of LOS-only laser comms becomes nothing more than a targeting mechanism for the dratted things!
Until you get to TL-15 and meson-communicators, element comms in a unit are it's biggest downside. And those aren't man-portable so individual TL-15 marines can operate in a comms heavy environment or not...and not means that their doctrine leaves them very spread out and unable to coordinate.
Integrated battle comms systems at TL-9 are potential suicide at TL-14+ because the physics remains constant.
...Every time you talk, interrogate a sensor, etc, they plot your transmitter's position and hey-ho!
Those cyber-comms in your head are suddenly not so good. Nor are those radio-switched failsafes on your guns, or the gun-sight's links to your team commander's video feeds. Indeed even the back-scatter of LOS-only laser comms becomes nothing more than a targeting mechanism for the dratted things!
Until you get to TL-15 and meson-communicators, element comms in a unit are it's biggest downside. And those aren't man-portable so individual TL-15 marines can operate in a comms heavy environment or not...and not means that their doctrine leaves them very spread out and unable to coordinate.
Integrated battle comms systems at TL-9 are potential suicide at TL-14+ because the physics remains constant.
