Recent content by Meanderer

I stand corrected on the size. Alien Module 4 makes the repeated error of referring to the 35,000 ton piece of rock as just the Erdriap (which I see is shortened from Erdriad Erdriap, not a shortened version of Erdriap Chensh. This still works with the idea I had. The Zhodani wouldn't launch...

There is a fair amount of financial risk with such holdings. The US used threats of dumping its UK bond holdings at a time the UK was in need of further credit to force the UK to pull out of Egypt in 1956. At the very least such a move would have driven up the UK's cost of borrowing. At worst...

There are some additional versatility with missiles. And multiple salvoes are possible. The missiles have a limited number of turns of burn before they are no longer able to accelerate to match vectors with the target, but in space they don't need to be burning continuously. It's not like...

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I think the concept of area denial has been primarily addressed here as a tactical issue. It has a strategic role. Having a horrendous number of surface to surface missiles along the shore means the carrier task force won't want to hang around that close to shore - particularly if tensions run...

Dragoner wrote Precisely. Do the political leadership want to be associated with something like this? Does the Admiral in command want to go down in history as a mass murderer of tens of billions? Would the captain(s) of the ship(s) be willing to go along with it?

In response to sideranautae So, you have a particle accelerator that causes fighter craft that you hit with it to accelerate sideways at 50G acceleration? I guess if you don't destroy the craft outright the pilot will be killed by the G force alone. Um, but particle accelerators don't do...

Yes. Biological warfare is also a threat. Biological weapons have problems of their own. You can get a virus that quickly kills virtually everyone who contracts it, a super-Ebola, but if it kills its victims before they can transmit it to others then it may not spread well. Flu viruses are so...

The numbers I crunched show that projectiles going 5,000 km/second will hit with the force of nuclear weapons. A velocity of 5,000 km/s can be achieved from a stationary position in about 1 day at 6G (not many days). (If the attacking vessel has weak maneuver drives like the Lightning Class...

I think this is the nature of improving technology. We've seen this in the continued development of aircraft and missiles in both an offensive and defensive role - and the fortunes spent on trying to develop a defense against ballistic missiles (and still failing to develop a workable ABM...

Sensors will become more sensitive as tech level increases. This will allow smaller targets to be detected. Variables will be: size of object, distance from the star (objects closer to the star will be harder to detect than those further away), and how narrow the scan is. I think scanners...

Thinking about the whole automatic hitting of non-maneuvering targets. If that is the big issue, it can be resolved simply by building a high-thrust/maneuverability ship's boat under robot control around the torpedo. Just need sensors, a computer, power plant, maneuver drives and a maximum of...

Cool comments. We are getting somewhere. Exactly. A compact missile capable of delivering massive energy. Divert its course far enough out and it will miss. Is this confusing eventual detection (as in every once in a while a new significant item is spotted and logged)? We get people...

So, now we are detecting ships trillions of km away? I guess there really is no such thing as stealth. Jump out far enough and you can finish your acceleration before any enemy ship has time to accelerate out to meet you. Carry enough fuel for two jumps and you will jump out before you can...