Why No Sandcasters?

[SpaceBadger]

One standard Traveller ship's weapon missing from 2300AD is the sandcaster. Did it not pass the "reality test" or was it considered too much of a Traveller icon, or what? It should be easily within the grasp of 2300AD tech, and seems like it would be something useful to have when your ship is attacked by lasers or by missiles firing detonation lasers.

 

[mike wightman]

2300 ships have screens which provide much the same type of defence.

Sandcasters are a bit stupid when you try to analyse how they are supposed to work.

 

[dragonhawk]

Also note how stutterwarp works. By the time it would be deployed, the ship would have moved away from the cloud.

 

[HG_B]

Also note how stutterwarp works. By the time it would be deployed, the ship would have moved away from the cloud.

Even a Trav ship using M-drive (considering the length of a combat round) will have moved away from the cloud. 1G is ~10meters/sec/sec

 

[mike wightman]

Shushhh - the first rule of space fight club is...

we don't talk about sand casters

The 23000 screen would be a better port to Traveller and ditch the sandcaster.

 

[Khan Trav]

Better to hit the target with the sand caster intact, like maybe through the windshield...

 

[Darkwing]

As long as the "sand" is metallic, you can keep the cloud around you with a magnetic field even as you maneuver. I'd expect it to be metallic, because then it could also act as chaff, not just as laser-absorption. But then, I'd also expect it to be laid out like a sprinkler system on the outer hull, not like a turret-mounted weapon, maybe combined with mortar-style dispensers just like chaff launchers to thicken certain parts of the cloud or to enlarge the cloud briefly and throw off a chaff bloom.

 

[mike wightman]

You've just described how the screens work in 2300