Fighter and attack Craft weapons

[Mikey]

I'm a bit foggy here, I'm afraid. How exactly does picking up a static charge from somewhere near the ship help alter the velocity of the bomb in space? For that matter, how could one have a limited range - or need greater range - in a frictionless environment?

[Graham Kennedy]

These weapons are midspace weaponry, rather than normal space (though some can be used in both).

Midspace works in a similar manner to B5s Hyperspace - it's another realm that the ship enters and flies through, separate from our own. A ship in Midspace is surrounded by a drivefield. The fins on a bomb are designed to pick up an energy charge from that field as they pass through it, and use that energy to steer the bomb as it travels.

Almost all of the fighting that happens is done in midspace. In normal space lightspeed is just too much of a limiting factor; like trying to have a gunfight with bullets that take weeks to get anywhere. Even when you have two ships that are in normal space, they would typically fire weapons at one another through midspace, aimed to re-enter normal space right on top of their targets. The capability to send weapons through normal space does still exist, but it's not often called upon.

[Graham Kennedy]

The SIlver Rattler is the Coalition's standard heavy subship-subship torpedo, designed to allow one subship to attack another. The torpedo can be used in normal or midspace; at the rear are four sublight propulsor engines, with the ZPEX and power converter forward of this, flanked by a pair of midspace shunts. A total conversion core is ahead of the ZPEX, with a fuel tank ahead of that. The warhead is next, comprised of two 20 cm M/AM tanks, carrying 65 kg of reactants for a 1x10^19 Joule focused energy release. The nose is filled with electronics and sensor systems.

The Rattler is fast, moving at a sustained 2,200,000 x c for a flight or around ten seconds and then decelerating over another 5 - giving a maximum range of 7,640 light hours. The missile is quite agile, though its high speed and short flight time mean that it is far closer to a straight line weapon than non-experts often believe.

Like most SSTs the Rattler has a reputation for being somewhat less than reliable, and is typically judged to have a maximum 50% probability of striking a target. Typically two or four are carried of torpedo fighters.

[Mikey]

Midspace isn't a frictionless environement, then? It all becomes clear now.

[Graham Kennedy]

Midspace isn't a frictionless environement, then? It all becomes clear now.

Indeed it isn't.

[kostmayer]

You can get ointments for that.

[Graham Kennedy]

Friction can be fun

[Mikey]

This conversation is beginning to give new meaning to the term "drift bomb."

[Graham Kennedy]

The SIlver Mauler is the Coalition's standard lightweight subship-subship torpedo, designed to engage fast, agile targets at short ranges. It is essentially a scaled down version of the Rattler, with almost identical layout. The main distinguishing feature is that the Mauler has two sublight propulsors at the rear instead of four. The internal layout is identical, though with components suitably scaled for the narrower body. The warhead is a single 20 cm M/AM tanks, carrying 28 kg of reactants for a 2.2x10^18 Joule focused energy release.

The Rattler is fast, moving at a sustained 2,500,000 x c for a flight of four seconds and then decelerating over another 4 - giving a maximum range of 4,150 light hours.

[Graham Kennedy]

The XMC cannon pod is designed to give additional gun firepower to craft which are already equipped with AMP cannon weaponry. It cannot be used as an effective standalone weapon because the pod lacks sensor and firecontrol systems; only if the carrying fighter already has these systems can the cannon pod be used with any hope of actually hitting anything at significant range.

The XMC carries the TS-181 AMP cannon, as fitted to the bloodlust class fighter craft.

[Captain Seafort]

More cool stuff.

Do any of these fighters carry anti-surface weapons to support ground forces, or are they strictly ship-to-ship craft?

[Graham Kennedy]

You can use drift bombs against planets, though they would have to be planets you really didn't like at all! Anti ship weapons are extremely powerful.

[Captain Seafort]

So they don't have any weapons that would be effective against enemy troop concentrations without removing a good chunk of the planet they were standing on?

[Graham Kennedy]

Didn't say that; I said the ones I've posted so far would have that limitation

[Captain Seafort]

Right ho. So how long before we start seeing close support fighters/munitions?