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Post by EshaNas on Feb 3, 2020 4:58:33 GMT
Is it as simple as 'I have armed ships coming your way and you can't stop them'? I mean, any interplanetary capable body is also capable of having a full sensor net and computing power to note, log, and track every satellite, spaceship, base, launch, receipt, and even tonnage of everything floating and flying out in space. And attempting to mess with, or destroy, those nets would be an automatic declaration of war, yes?
And even then, any populated planet can just chuck missiles, railguns, coilguns, or lasers (on subs) against any orbiting fleet, there is a massive home advantage unless the attacker is focused on genocide or environmental destruction.
Would war be something much more...'coded'/'honorable'/'gentlemanly' then, sort of like the Flower Wars or the European Westphalian system? "Underhanded" tactics sometimes popped up but it was still more or less regulated.
And even then, there's still the issue of detection; would that just boil down to 'we can bring more mobile assets to bear'? - and then ultimately becomes an issue of production? Especially if reaction mass/fuel for speedy/convienent interplanetary travel is expensive. After all, there's little to nothing stopping one from just picking off a fleet as it cruises through space to your planet, even with antimatter beam cores, 1g acceleration and Brachistochrone trajectories, it's still a trip in the realm of days and weeks.
I don't know, I keep prodding my head about this, and I can't find a sufficient answer. Even chucking in some 'hyperspace/warp' mumble jumble doesn't work well.
Is it analogous to modern naval warfare in a way as well - I mean, every great power or even middling power has radar and sat nets tracking every mobile asset of their adversaries - the Russians and Chinese probably have a damn good inkling of where every American or Euro surface ship is, and vice versa, and modern naval combat among peers is...well, more exists in the realm of books than anything else.
What do ya think?
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Post by doctorsquared on Feb 5, 2020 4:13:08 GMT
Current scanning of the entire visible sphere of the universe around us takes ~4 hours with current observatories. If you had a network of space-based telescopes monitoring everything in multiple spectrums you'd be able to pick out the radiator heat signatures and drive plumes of any ships currently out in space and compare them to emission spectra for known ship classes and propellants. As for intercepting an incoming enemy fleet, the main risk you have striking inside the gulf between planets/asteroids/outposts is that if you lose enough fuel tanks or power, the ship and crew are as good as dead and both are expensive to replace. Drones and missiles are possible alternatives but fly-by-wire would be subject to time delay at extreme distances, you'd either need to give them computers with machine intelligence that could adapt to changes in enemy behavior or adjust trajectories automatically might be required.
As for terrestrial defenses the RFP's case in the campaign, their goal is maximum war crimes so you have vehicles like the Siloship which is more built for irradiating ground targets. There's also the issue of time it takes to get to orbit if you're leaving an atmosphere and the threat of being taken out while you're launching. Vehicles like the Orbital Defense Craft and Orbital Attack Craft, or possibly craft like old pre-WWI Coastal Defense Battleships which had heavy armor and weapons but the limited range would be another option. Either way invading a planet or asteroid would be incredibly costly in terms of dV and you wouldn't be getting reinforcements or resupply anytime soon.
"Interplanetary War" might just be gunboat diplomacy where you park a heavily armed ship or an equivalent to a WW1/WW2 armored cruiser around your colony or near a rock you want to annex to show that you mean business. You probably wouldn't wind up with Space Jutland or any real slugfests since a swarm of drones firing small arms caliber cartridges at a high enough intercept speed and rate of fire will kill even the heaviest craft created in the game through sheer volume of fire.
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Post by EshaNas on Feb 16, 2020 18:48:01 GMT
Current scanning of the entire visible sphere of the universe around us takes ~4 hours with current observatories. If you had a network of space-based telescopes monitoring everything in multiple spectrums you'd be able to pick out the radiator heat signatures and drive plumes of any ships currently out in space and compare them to emission spectra for known ship classes and propellants. As for intercepting an incoming enemy fleet, the main risk you have striking inside the gulf between planets/asteroids/outposts is that if you lose enough fuel tanks or power, the ship and crew are as good as dead and both are expensive to replace. Drones and missiles are possible alternatives but fly-by-wire would be subject to time delay at extreme distances, you'd either need to give them computers with machine intelligence that could adapt to changes in enemy behavior or adjust trajectories automatically might be required. As for terrestrial defenses the RFP's case in the campaign, their goal is maximum war crimes so you have vehicles like the Siloship which is more built for irradiating ground targets. There's also the issue of time it takes to get to orbit if you're leaving an atmosphere and the threat of being taken out while you're launching. Vehicles like the Orbital Defense Craft and Orbital Attack Craft, or possibly craft like old pre-WWI Coastal Defense Battleships which had heavy armor and weapons but the limited range would be another option. Either way invading a planet or asteroid would be incredibly costly in terms of dV and you wouldn't be getting reinforcements or resupply anytime soon. "Interplanetary War" might just be gunboat diplomacy where you park a heavily armed ship or an equivalent to a WW1/WW2 armored cruiser around your colony or near a rock you want to annex to show that you mean business. You probably wouldn't wind up with Space Jutland or any real slugfests since a swarm of drones firing small arms caliber cartridges at a high enough intercept speed and rate of fire will kill even the heaviest craft created in the game through sheer volume of fire. Exactly, this is basically the conclusion I've come to. Just chuck sand and dust and metal ball bearings at ships you know are coming in a day/week/month, and the threat of them arriving approaches null. Ironically the faster the ship is going, as well, means that they take more damage from incoming particles, and have to waste time and d/v just jinking around - which can be negated by leading the target or just using a lot of scattershot. Interplanetary vessels going toe to toe require one or both sides to basically allow it to happen, and that brings up the question of 'why'. If you see the enemy coming with overwhelming force, just blast them while they're cruising. Of course they can shoot back, but then both sides can just 'stay home' and plink at each other.
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Post by doctorsquared on Feb 27, 2020 18:48:08 GMT
Given how easy it’d be to wipe out a target just by accelerating a mass (asteroid, tanker, flak, etc.) space warfare could become similar to Battletech where pitched battles are a side-effect of most of humanity’s technological and industrial base getting wiped out due to unrestricted total war. Capital ship combat could result from that since the loss of life and resources would be reduced.
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Post by AtomHeartDragon on Feb 27, 2020 20:05:30 GMT
Actually when setting up interplanetary invasion I would sling an asteroid on a more eccentric orbit intersecting target body's orbit twice on close fly-by. It would first and foremost serve as armor against long range interdiction, might allow manufacturing while already under way, shortening staging phase and could be used as source of kinetic impactors to soften the defenders. It could also house supplies and accommodations allowing for much more efficiently laid out ships.
Defense might largely end up being game of keeping the attackers off until their departure window starts closing, threatening to cut them off from logistics and possibility of retreat.
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