John--
I look forward to seeing what you come up with.
Also, when it comes to calculating number of hits, remember that BL, given
its turn length, assumed multiple shots from lasers in that period, which
is why outstanding success yielded multiple hits. That's all there in the
rules somewhere, you just have to remember to allow for it.
Dave
> *1. A lot of the reason that missiles and fighters seem so persuasive to
> us*
> *is because of our experience in this world*. But the key difference*
> *between our world and space combat is the lack of atmo. Planes are*
> *effective because aerodynamics allows them to do something that ships*
> *can't, move fast through the air due to aerodynamic lift, and maneuver
> the*
> *same way. In atmo, maneuverability comes from control surfaces which you*
> *use over and over again, and consume (effectively) no power. In space,*
> *maneuvering is only accomplished by expending reaction mass. The more*
> *maneuvering you must do, the more reaction mass you must carry, the
> larger*
> *you get, the bigger a target you become (easier to shoot down), the more*
> *reaction mass you require (the maneuvering mass spiral), the more you*
> *become another spaceship.*
> *
> *
> *2. Closing vectors in space combat are tremendous, and to hit a*
> *maneuvering target would require a tremendous proportion of reaction
> mass*
> *to "bend" your vector in the final milliseconds to hit a maneuvering
> ship.*
> *And that reaction mass makes you larger, easier target, etc, back to
> that*
> *spiral. The only way to spend less reaction mass bending your vector is
> to*
> *have less of a vector to begin with, which makes you slower, takes
> longer*
> *to get to the target, easier to hit on the way there. Even in atmo, when*
> *the target and missile launcher are much closer, closing vectors are so*
> *hard to make up that the standard defence against a SAM or AAM is to*
> *"break" into it so that it can't follow your turn and misses you. Same*
> *would happen in space.*
>
> I am only going to use TL15 for my base line tech (whether its possible at
> lower tech levels would depend on the math involved)
>
> TL15 MFD computers would be able to display for commanders an 'missile
> envelope' based on their own knowledge of their weapons' performance
> parameters.
>
> Missiles would only be fired when target would have a reasonable (or less)
> chance of hitting the target. (I assume performance testing happens during
> prototyping of a weapons system). In this sense the platforms are not
> wastefully used unless a commanders deems a reason to do so. (Having not
> created a TNE missile system so hence not having done the math.) I don't
> know what the effective envelope for such a platform would be.
>
> I do agree if its to small then the weapon is not effective. (I will have
> to work on prototyping something in standard TNE FFS rules and compare it
> to the TNE ship combat rules. Yeah! projects)
>
> *3. As you point out, if even one in 100 or one in 1000 hit, it's*
> *cost-effective. But only in isolation. Compared to other possible
> weapons*
> *systems, it might be less cost effective. If it took 100 or 1000
> missiles*
> *per hit, that would require X or 10X launchers to fire them, plus*
> *magazines and fire control systems, AND you'd have to replenish those*
> *missiles from somewhere after the battle or you're toothless. If you
> could*
> *get that same one hit from a laser turret which takes up less surface*
> *area, less space within the hull, and does not require replenishment,
> but*
> *just waits for the HPG to spool back up, then ship designers will end up*
> *using laser turrets as being more cost-effective for most purposes.*
>
> I agree that warships may very well have additional energy weapons on
> them.
> Also you can't really dodge X-Rays effectively (combat distance here
> matters obviously).
>
> A laser is only more cost effective is combat if it can deal more damage
> than the alternative (missiles). If more than 1 in 1000 missiles hit the
> target in a single round of combat (game terms here) the potentiality for
> damage escalates dramatically on your hit ratio making the missile vastly
> more effective. However If you assume 1 missile per round per launcher and
> 1 shot from the laser turret per round the laser is likely going to be
> more
> efficient. However at TL15 I doubt you can only fire 1 missile in the same
> amount of time your HPG requires to spool for power. But again I haven't
> done the math to know.
>
> Also the rules for TNE may preclude more than 1 typical missile being
> fired
> per round per launcher. I will have to double check. Inherent game rules
> for TNE may make my point invalid from the outset because it doesn't allow
> for rate's of fire on the launchers. I will need to check.
>
> On Mon, Jun 25, 2012 at 10:13 AM, <> wrote:
>
>> **
>> --
>>
> If the world was fair then every bad thing that has ever happened to you
> would have been deserved.
>