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Post by srbrant on Oct 24, 2017 17:43:21 GMT
Here's some fridge horror I've noticed: what happens to the cannon rounds that miss their targets and what does that mean for the people living on the planet below?! Space debris hauls ass already on an average of seven meters per second, but those puppies could do some extreme damage at that speed! So does this mean that a few colonies have been lost after a major space battle?
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Post by Kerr on Oct 24, 2017 17:52:48 GMT
Here's some fridge horror I've noticed: what happens to the cannon rounds that miss their targets and what does that mean for the people living on the planet below?! Space debris hauls ass already on an average of seven meters per second, but those puppies could do some extreme damage at that speed! So does this mean that a few colonies have been lost after a major space battle? Depends on their velocity and target direction, a rail/coilgun projectile would just leave the solar system and will someday ruin an alien the day. Many chem gun projectiles would just orbit the planet where the fight takes place. If directed at something without a atmosphere and also has a dense population then you might damage the habitats. But if you have a nuke cannon which shoots nukes that detonate when anything comes into its engagement range, then yea..
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Post by bigbombr on Oct 24, 2017 18:01:08 GMT
Here's some fridge horror I've noticed: what happens to the cannon rounds that miss their targets and what does that mean for the people living on the planet below?! Space debris hauls ass already on an average of seven meters per second, but those puppies could do some extreme damage at that speed! So does this mean that a few colonies have been lost after a major space battle? Depends on their velocity and target direction, a rail/coilgun projectile would just leave the solar system and will someday ruin an alien the day. Many chem gun projectiles would just orbit the planet where the fight takes place. If directed at something without a atmosphere and also has a dense population then you might damage the habitats. But if you have a nuke cannon which shoots nukes that detonate when anything comes into its engagement range, then yea.. Though if there is an atmosphere, our 1 gram projectiles vaporise before reaching the surface. If there isn't, you can expect habitats to be underground (or have enough armour to tank a hit).
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Post by Kerr on Oct 24, 2017 18:11:15 GMT
Depends on their velocity and target direction, a rail/coilgun projectile would just leave the solar system and will someday ruin an alien the day. Many chem gun projectiles would just orbit the planet where the fight takes place. If directed at something without a atmosphere and also has a dense population then you might damage the habitats. But if you have a nuke cannon which shoots nukes that detonate when anything comes into its engagement range, then yea.. Though if there is an atmosphere, our 1 gram projectiles vaporise before reaching the surface. If there isn't, you can expect habitats to be underground (or have enough armour to tank a hit). And what if the habitats are already established? Most habitats would be build to be lightweight. Digging out caves is expensive. And the majority of the population lives apparently on the surface in CDE. But they would most likely have some kind of whipple shield against micrometeorites.
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Post by bigbombr on Oct 24, 2017 18:29:24 GMT
Though if there is an atmosphere, our 1 gram projectiles vaporise before reaching the surface. If there isn't, you can expect habitats to be underground (or have enough armour to tank a hit). And what if the habitats are already established? Most habitats would be build to be lightweight. Digging out caves is expensive. And the majority of the population lives apparently on the surface in CDE. But they would most likely have some kind of whipple shield against micrometeorites. You indeed need some kind of protection against meteorites. You use lasers to deflect or vaporise the big ones, and armour to tank the small ones. Where the transition lies depends on how expensive digging and/or armour is versus how potent your detection and laser systems are. What applies to pieces of rock/ice also applies to chunks of metal.
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Post by srbrant on Oct 24, 2017 18:32:07 GMT
And what if the habitats are already established? Most habitats would be build to be lightweight. Digging out caves is expensive. And the majority of the population lives apparently on the surface in CDE. But they would most likely have some kind of whipple shield against micrometeorites. You indeed need some kind of protection against meteorites. You use lasers to deflect or vaporise the big ones, and armour to tank the small ones. Where the transition lies depends on how expensive digging and/or armour is versus how potent your detection and laser systems are. What applies to pieces of rock/ice also applies to chunks of metal. Or if you have debris collection infrastructure that can somehow recycle those fast little buggers.
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Post by Kerr on Oct 24, 2017 18:33:58 GMT
You indeed need some kind of protection against meteorites. You use lasers to deflect or vaporise the big ones, and armour to tank the small ones. Where the transition lies depends on how expensive digging and/or armour is versus how potent your detection and laser systems are. What applies to pieces of rock/ice also applies to chunks of metal. Or if you have debris collection infrastructure that can somehow recycle those fast little buggers. I doubt it is worth the costs. Just mine a big one.
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Post by The Astronomer on Oct 25, 2017 2:18:59 GMT
Just swat them out with laser. In rare case if the projectiles is somehow too cold because the sunlight won't do because you're fighting around a rogue planet? Heat them with Thermal FlashlightTM then shoot everything that is small and glows in IR. Bullet too small to reliably shot down? Oh, I don't know what to do if it's that case...
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Post by RiftandRend on Oct 25, 2017 3:45:45 GMT
Just swat them out with laser. In rare case if the projectiles is somehow too cold because the sunlight won't do because you're fighting around a rogue planet? Heat them with Thermal FlashlightTM then shoot everything that is small and glows in IR. Bullet too small to reliably shot down? Oh, I don't know what to do if it's that case... If you can see it, I'm pretty sure it can be shot down. Just defocus a laser and bathe the entire region of sky.
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Post by n2maniac on Oct 25, 2017 4:39:09 GMT
Here's some fridge horror I've noticed: what happens to the cannon rounds that miss their targets and what does that mean for the people living on the planet below?! Space debris hauls ass already on an average of seven meters per second, but those puppies could do some extreme damage at that speed! So does this mean that a few colonies have been lost after a major space battle? Wasn't there a note in the campaign about nuking one of the moons to the point it was uninhabitable?
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Post by The Astronomer on Oct 25, 2017 5:14:54 GMT
Here's some fridge horror I've noticed: what happens to the cannon rounds that miss their targets and what does that mean for the people living on the planet below?! Space debris hauls ass already on an average of seven meters per second, but those puppies could do some extreme damage at that speed! So does this mean that a few colonies have been lost after a major space battle? Wasn't there a note in the campaign about nuking one of the moons to the point it was uninhabitable? Ganymede massacre thingy?
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Post by Enderminion on Oct 25, 2017 11:07:47 GMT
there was ground combat on Ganymede which rapidly turned the moon from the food farm to a radioactive rubble filled war zone
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Post by matterbeam on Oct 25, 2017 12:25:56 GMT
If you've got surface habitats exposed to space, then you've got to be protecting them against micrometeorites all year round. This can take the form of mass shielding plus whipple plates made out whatever leftover metal is available. This is a necessary requirement, just like you don't go out to sea in tinfoil hulls or try to live on the ice without any thick clothing. Sure, you can survive for quite some time, but any hiccup will kill you. In space, its the same reasoning, but with the delay between 'accident' and 'death' being much smaller and sharply defined.
Long term habitations will go underground for the simple benefit of not having to worry about everyone getting cancer after a year.
What remains vulnerable is therefore the orbital habitats. It adds to the number of reasons why I don't think orbital habitats will ever represent a significant portion of human settlements in the future. They go around predictable orbits and space warfare usually happens in those same orbits. The only redeeming feature is that even the fastest kinetic projectiles take some time to cross large distances, so if you see nuclear flashes and waves of missiles, you either run to your meteorite shelter, get off the station or extend the whipple shields. I don't think any civilian station will have the active defenses necessary to ward off a stream of projectiles.
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Post by Enderminion on Oct 25, 2017 12:35:08 GMT
a stream of gram sized slugs moving 50,000m/s reletive to the orbit will not be stopped by active means
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Post by The Astronomer on Oct 25, 2017 12:37:28 GMT
a stream of gram sized slugs moving 50,000m/s reletive to the orbit will not be stopped by active means Those projectiles, if not aiming at any object in the Solar System, will simply fly out into interstellar space, unlikely to hit anything.
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