But is it usefull for you?
Zhodani Strike Frigate Build (WIP) - I need some help ! (Calling all Science Guys)
- Thread starter Meteoric Assault
- Start date
It’s good to get another’s opinion
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
Yes you neutralise the charged particles as they leave the accelerator so they are neutral for space based combat. For firing through an atmosphere then a charged beam - you don't neutralise the particles - will follow a path of ionised atmosphere - hence the pilot laser. The pilot laser isn't actually necessary as the charged particles will ionise the atmosphere on the way down and make their own channel but the laser pilot would likely be more efficient.
And now for what we have found out. A charged particle beam can carry an electric currrent, an electric current generates a magnetic field, the magnetic field can prevent particle dispersion.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
Meson.
Every thirty seconds you can totally obliterate anything within a 50m radius circle (sphere in 3D)
"6. Effects: All personnel within the burst area of a meson accelerator are killed;
all vehicles and weapons are destroyed; all buildings collapse and any smooth
ground surface becomes broken ground."
AnotherDilbert
SOC-14 1K
None that matters. A 100 Dt PA bay can hit (barely) an Agility-6 Imperial warship, a 50 Dt bay can't.
You can effectively use Missile, Meson, or PA bays. None of them will do much to Imperial warships with screens and armour.
All of them will wreck civilian targets in short order.
CT Striker, B2, p42 only says:
I'd go with Striker meson artillery (B3, p38) mounted in assault fighters (or ship's boats). It would easily wreck anything not protected by screens, and would allow you to keep the ship outside the range of planetary defences.
Perhaps something like:
Code:
AS-0106D01-E00000-05002-0 MCr 66,1 40 Dton
bearing 1 1 Crew=8
batteries 1 1 TL=14
Cargo=1 Fuel=1 EP=5,4 Agility=6
Dual Occupancy 1,3 66,1
USP # Dton Cost
Hull, Streamlined Custom 0 40
Configuration Needle/Wedge 1 4,8
Armour 14 E 6 10,2
Manoeuvre D 6 1 6,8 3,4
Power Plant 13 1 10,8 32,4
Fuel, #J, #weeks J-0, 0,7 weeks 1
Bridge
Computer m/1 0 1 1 2
Couch 20 10 0,5
Cargo 1,3
Mixed Turret Full 1 2
Weapon Missile 2 1 0,8
Weapon Fusion 5 1 2
Meson Artillery 1 1,1 10
Nominal Cost MCr 66,05 Sum: 1,3 66,1
Class Cost MCr 13,87 Valid ≥0 ≥0
Ship Cost MCr 52,84Can take a squad (12) of troops and a meson artillery with crew to the ground and provide fire support.
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Don’t forget the larger bursts predicated on higher weapon values- the spinals end up being rather largish thousands tons chunks.
Spinward Flow
SOC-14 1K
The advantage of "mobilizing" a meson artillery unit is the fact that the "hulking behemoth" of the meson artillery unit will be that much harder to pin down. However, it will only be "useful" at terrestrial battlefield ranges ... NOT starship combat ranges.
The thing with meson weapons (artillery, bays or spinal mounts) is that they're, more or less, "surgical strike" type weapons. Yes, they "destroy everything" within a limited radius of the target decay point, but they have a limited volume of effect (carpet bombing they are not). Given enough TIME meson weapons can "moonscape" a region, but it's going to TAKE A WHILE to achieve that due to a low rate of fire and a limited danger space per shot. At infantry scales (for example), the infantry can MOVE AROUND between each meson shot (see: low rate of fire), can disperse, if radiation protected can move into locations that have already been blasted by meson fire(!) so they're less likely to be hit by follow up attacks ... all kinds of tactical maneuvering which can "foil" the effectiveness of a meson weapon being used in an anti-personnel role.
Meson weapons are exceptionally good at being anti-materiel and anti-infrastructure weapons. They're great for blasting "stuff" that doesn't move much, like stationary installations. Vehicles that get caught in the blast radius are "toast" and a complete write off, but the vehicles have to be INSIDE that limited radius and low rate of fire (2 shots per combat round for a 60 metric ton "hunk o' machinery" that requires a crew of 12 to operate it). Great for surgical strikes against high value targets ("make it go away") ... not so wonderful for reducing entire swaths of urban areas into rubble. A 1km x 1km area to be "carpet bombed" would require in excess of 100 shots from a meson artillery (50m blast radius per shot). You can "do it" ... but it's going to "take a while" to complete the destruction using a single meson artillery piece.
Also, meson artillery appears in LBB4.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
Every thirty seconds a 50m radius circle disappears...
A five minute bombardment is 10 such circles
A five minute bombardment is 10 such circles
Spinward Flow
SOC-14 1K
Can a human move 100m in 30 seconds?
Can a combat loaded infantryman move 100m in 30 seconds?
Can a vehicle?
If you're "carpet bombing" a grid sector using a meson artillery unit, you'll be able to catch stuff that isn't moving ... no problem.
Catch a formation of opposition capable of "scattering" and remain mobile ... that's harder. Not impossible, but harder than hitting stationary stuff.
Neutralization sounds like fighting your own generated beam, losing power delivery for target flexibility.
The magfield PA beam is right in line with PG/FGMP tech, arguably miniaturized versions of the PA for bottling munroe effect plasma without the metal bits. That is consistent with postulated tech.
I’m pretty good with keeping them separate types IMTU especially since I have a similar dynamic for bombardment mass drivers vs space railguns. There the idea is that reentry survival rounds are different from smaller frac-C rounds.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
He says it is for hitting stationary stuff.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
No, all you are doing is returning the electrons.
It's real world physics.
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AnotherDilbert
SOC-14 1K
CT Striker meson artillery (15 tonnes) has a burst size (radius) of 100 m and a RoF of 1 per 30 s.
LBB4 meson artillery (60 tonnes) has a burst size of 50 m and a RoF of 2 per 15 s.
Got articles on the latter?
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
Neither of which is the factor 5 bay on a TL14 Zho ship... technically it could fire every second since 200 EP is 50GJ per second
An athletically inclined person can cover 100m in about 18-21sec… Combat loaded infantry in about 22-30.
I went with the factor 6 100dt PA
AnotherDilbert
SOC-14 1K
Yes, 50 GW is 50 GJ/s (by definition), but what does that have to do with the rate of fire of long ranged space combat weapons vs. planetary weapons?
AnotherDilbert
SOC-14 1K
And I of course forgot about the tiny detail of TL...
Meson artillery is TL-15, and the Zho are generally limited to TL-14. So no meson artillery for the Zho...
AnotherDilbert
SOC-14 1K
A TL-14 100 Dt PA bay is factor 9?