Hi Guys,
DED's question about EMP weapons got me to thinking, just what would an anti starship weapon be like? I designed it using FF+S-1 at TL-12. Below are all the components used. Note I used a USL Box with an armor of 10 so it would appear as a piece of debris from a Far Trader and the hull plating is twice what is needed to take into account the "bent and twisted" nature of space debris.
I give this weapon a to hit of 15 (TL-12 +3). If hit the pilot sould have a chance to horse the craft down (Imp: Pilot) skill or the ship will auger in. I read to article on the F18G and it sounded like it was a flying area jammer and to get the EM pulse it fired all that jamming power down a single narrow pulse. I included an area jammer to "make" the EM pulse and the maser to fire it. I used a battery to hold for long term the energy for the pulse and a HPG generator to instantly release the power. The solar power is sufficient to power the robot brain, the P-EMS and half of the controls, which seemed fair as half the systems are not powered until firing. The thermite charge is an anti-tamper/ leave no evidence behind charge.
For a more covert delivery one could use the UCAV found in BARD to do the actual delivery while the mother ship stays at say the nearest gas giant, pretending to refuel while ready to make a fast getaway.
Vol Mass Power Area Price
Area Jammer 1500km 0.27 0.27 0.675 0.54
Maser Comm 3000km 0.02 0.04 0.08 1. 0.021
P-EMS 3000km 0.12 0.22 0.01 0.4 0.22
Robot Brain TL-12a 0.022 0.005 0.001 0.17
0.675mw Btty 3.6 sec 0.0036 0.0072 0.000072
HPG Generator 0.3375 0.675 0.003375
Solar Array 0.012mw 1.2 0.0012 27.5 0.0012
Solar Cell 0.012mw 0.3 0.6 0.03
Controls 0.2 DT 0.0028 0.00028 0.002 0.0003
Hull Plating USL Box 0.1714 2.571 0.00096
Thermite Charge 0.012 0.012 0.000036
The Satellite EMP weapon is designed to be left in in orbit and if spotted it will appear as a piece of space debris torn off from a small freighter. It can be left in a stable orbit for years if necessary but is normally left so the ship dropping it off can make a clean getaway, a few weeks at most. Upon sensing its target, it fires a single EMP pulse designed to fry the electronics on a starship sending it crashing to the ground where upon its thermite charge ignites and turns the weapon into the space junk it was previously mimicking.
This would be a deadly weapon in a trade war, imagine an enemy ship getting hit as it starts to dive into a gas giant to refuel or one hit on takeoff and crashing into startown. An investigation could shut down an opponents merchant fleet with a result of crash by mechanical failure.
As allways, let me know what you think.
Roger