Dragoon wrote:
Or where you mount the thrusters.
Or you move smaller thrusters further away from the center of gravity on projections or wings. smaller thrusters with more leverage work as well as really big thrusters
That was part of what I mean, yes. Big thrusters far from the center of gravity would make a very maneuverable ship. Don't forget the third dimension, and also reverse thrust.
daelyte wrote:
That would tend to favor missiles (and smart rocks) over other weapons. Atmosphere (and dust) would scatter lasers and particle projectors, and could significantly reduce the accuracy of mass drivers. Missiles can more easily correct for it, especially if they're not also fighting a gravity well like here on Earth.
Dragoon wrote:
your right on all counts. one of the reasons lasers are usually reserved for point defense and real space combat. mobile weapons platforms( like warships) have to mount weapons that can punch through the clutter of hyperspace.
Even in real space lasers lose intensity pretty fast, and have poor armor penetration, so they seem to be mostly useful for point defense or to damage external systems.
Dragoon wrote:
the relationship of distance between an adjoining point in real space is greatly compressed. A few hundred kilometers in Hyperspace may bring you to a point trillions of miles in real space... you don't go any faster, and in most cases much slower through hyperspace but you don;t have to travel nearly as far...a few hundred thousand kilometers ( a trip that might take a week or more on a clear traffic lane) can take you to a neighboring star system.
Alpha centauri is 25.6 trillion miles away.
If 100 km in hyperspace equals 1 trillion miles, alpha centauri is 2560 hyperspace km away.
2560 kilometers in hyperspace in 7 days would be 4.23 m / s.
Is hyperspace filled with dense muck?
Dragoon wrote:
Good ideas all. but having a ships shield require some time to warm up and fade makes more sense in a game than a story. it forces players to thin of tactics, and when to drop, or maintain their shields.
So, instant EM shields are inconveniently realistic. Ok, let's see how we can fix that.
First, the effect could linger for a whole turn after it's activated, so you can't use magnetic weapons that turn.
Second, if the plasma bubble has a good amount of mass and velocity, it may take a strong field to deflect it, which could draw a lot of power. You might have to charge up your capacitors before you're able to do that again, so do you waste it this turn or wait for a heavier volley?
Third, every action has an energy cost. The same capacitors are shared between propulsion, weapons, shields, life support, and various minor systems. So if you're shooting or maneuvering, those capacitors are slower to charge up or even depleting, and you may not be able to use that energy for shields when you need it.
Fourth, producing and using power creates heat which must be disposed of. Getting hit by some weapons would add some more heat as well. Once your heat sinks are near capacity, you might have to reduce power production to give your radiators a chance to cool them down before various systems melting down.
See Mechwarrior for details on how energy and heat management can make realistic tactics interesting.
Dragoon wrote:
The only time that firing off a mass driver in real space would get you hands slapped would be if you did it A LOT or were firing in the direction of a neutral planet or station...otherwise the enforcers just scowl a lot and slap the responsible government with some penalties.
In reality the odds of a stray round actually hitting anything in the next million years or so are pretty slim the rule would be there for safety of people currently in a system but not part of the battle.
There's plenty of stuff moving around out there at scary velocities, debris from supernovas and whatnot. It's not so hard to evade or deflect so long as it's not guided, and you can see it from hours or days away unless it's fired from within orbit of your planet or something. Rigging a guidance system to simply shut off after its past the intended target(s) wouldn't be too much to ask.
Firing anything in the direction of a neutral planet or station would risk a diplomatic incident, so that would be a bad idea anyhow.