Arioch wrote: ↑Thu Jun 17, 2021 3:22 am
Bamax wrote: ↑Thu Jun 17, 2021 1:22 am
Given newtonian drift, ships only have a finite amount of directions to dodge in, because going backward quickly is not happening when you have a lot of excess forward momentum in whatever direction you have been going.
Velocity is largely irrelevant when targeting objects in space; what matters is acceleration. An object going 10,000 m/s is exactly as easy to hit as one that is stationary relative to you, because both are equally predictable if neither is accelerating. If a target is accelerating, then what a targeting program has to worry about is how much the target can change its current velocity, or in other words, how far can it move from the path that you predict based on its current velocity. At 30
g and a distance of 1 light second, that uncertainly is more than a ship-length.
You may get your rest and reply whenever you like if it is late for you.
Please pardon my language because I really mean you no harm, but what *seed head* fires a missile at a whole lightsecond away?! That's for beams!
I recommend doing what the Umiak do. Get close. Really close. Firing beams all the way in, since Loroi can actually do that. If the Loroi can survive (maybe they cannot which is why they do not do the following) then once they get within a within a tile, (10,000 kilometers) get closer still, but not by much.
I have not done the calculations, but I am reasonably certain that if if a target is engaged by ultra-fast missiles at 10,000 kilometers or less, a hit can be fairly certain if the attack is overwhelming enough.
From the numbers, it's safe to say that the Loroi can spare at least 30 seconds at 200-300g or whatever max acceleration is. Plug that in and how long does it take to cover 10,000 kilometers? 8,000? 5,000? 3,000?
Space combat is math. Pure math. It's all very predictable, you will know ahead of time if your missile should hit or if it's chances are slim to none.
And this is also ignoring that in theory, the Loroi could make a 1000g Orion style pusher plate missile. Just explode sufficient type A fuel surrounded by a sufficient mass to create a shaped plasma blast at a specific distance directed at the plate connected via pistons and that missile will accelerate at speeds that will be shocking. Orion has thrust that punches above rockets because it's an external blast reaction engine. Type A fuel only amplifies this manifold.
With AM, you can make much smaller, powerful nukes. Type A fuel just makes it all easier.
I won't tell you what to do, but the physics say they COULD do it unless you know something about Type A fuel that precludes using it in an oriom style pusher plate missile.
It need not be huge, and no living thing is inside so it can handle the g-force.
It is entirely possible and it would even seem that Loroi and Umiak have done things like so for so long that they have not considered....better. ways. Or peace, which would be preferable to war anyway.
Unless they can't do the Orion missile because it's not viable, but you would know that better than I.
How long would a 1000g orion missile take to cross 10,000 kilometers? Pulsing every two seconds with bombs the size of basketballs, 60 bombs per orion missile. That's 60 1000g pulses of acceleration.
I am thinking not long,a minute or less. Something will get hit.
Good news is that the tech is fairly straightforward, so long Type A does not have issues that preclude using it this way.
Perhaps it does, and if that is so yeah, the Loroi are doomed until heroics by brave heroes and unexpected events save them.
Really I am not sure a Loroi or a Umiak victory is ideal since they are both genocidal. Some type of peace is the only way the story ends without one side utterly wiping out the other, because that is the intent on both sides. And war will never end either, since the Loroi won't be the only ones to not want to put up with scary bugs.
Peace or war.
It has been said that war is just another type of politics, which is all.about getting what one wants. When talking fails to get what you want, then comes the sword. Once it is no longer necessary, then people start talking again.
Perhaps the real problem is when what you want is an entire race wiped out of existence. That kind of thing cannot be talked over. Only fought until someone ceases to exist.
