From: nuny@bid.nes   
      
   On Sunday, March 12, 2017 at 3:18:44 PM UTC-7, MrAnderson wrote:   
   > I like the blinding with lasers idea.   
      
     Lasers can be defeated by reflective surfaces (like the solid layers of   
   Whipple armor) and rolling the ship to limit beam-time-on-target. Of course   
   pulsed is the way to go, but the more pulses on a given spot the better. Blind   
   the sensors first, then    
   use them to burn away the synthetic filling behind the holes the coilgun makes   
   in the armor plates.   
      
     By the way; lasers will be a target for coilgun rounds and missiles IMO.I'd   
   mount the laser director in the middle of a thick block of armor and emplace a   
   couple of smaller-caliber coilguns as point defense for the laser. Anything   
   that gets within say    
   a couple kilometers of the laser on a collision course gets slapped just   
   slightly off course by say one or two 10 kg coilgun slugs- the armor is there   
   to catch it.   
      
     Speaking of the main coilguns- a 100 kg slug will punch a hell of a deep   
   hole but it'll only be about 10 cm diameter.   
      
     Would shotgun rounds, say 10 10kg-each balls (~10 cm dia) per shot be better?   
      
     Or maybe split the projectile lengthwise into ten 2m long 1 cm wide pieces   
   kinda like flechettes that spread open in flight to make shallower but   
   4-meter-wide holes per shot? 1 cm may not sound like much but at a few tens of   
   km/sec they'll cut through    
   that 25-inch (~60 cm) thick armor plate like butter, exposing the fluffy   
   synthetic to the lasers.   
      
     A single hit by something like that would put a missile launcher, laser, or   
   coilgun out of action too, I bet.   
      
   > The ships used for warfare are fusion powered,   
      
     Hydrogen tanks will need bigger holes to really interfere with ship   
   operations. Lots of them too since they'll probably be partitioned off into   
   smaller tanks inside the main tankage volume. 4 meter flechette holes sound   
   like a good start. But for    
   fusion powered-ship battles they'll be secondary targets- engines and weapons   
   first.   
      
     What kinds of missiles were you thinking, standard "smart" rockets with nuke   
   warheads? For a few hundred km they might be usable, but there's that pesky   
   wasting-the-blast-in-vacuum problem. Give them titanium or tungsten nose   
   spikes so they penetrate    
   the first couple layers of armor and then detonate? Assuming they get past the   
   defensive (that's a third caliber) coilguns of course.   
      
     So the main guns (for shooting at other ships broadside-style) will be   
   centered one each in the five faces of the ship (not the tail) to put their   
   recoil through the center of mass. Thickest armor there too. Defensive guns in   
   turrets to shoot at    
   incoming missiles spaced around them, sensors sprinkled over each face, and   
   lasers at the corners to blind enemy ships from any angle as "invitation" to   
   engage. All emplacements have dedicated point defense guns in smaller turrets,   
   maybe one gun covering    
   multiple emplacements.   
      
     Shuttle and other combat craft bay doors will need protection too.   
      
     The bridge I'd bury deep inside the ship; none of this "windows on space"   
   bullshit you see on Star Trek or Star Wars.   
      
     For aft quarter defense I'm thinking a pair or quad of the big coilguns at   
   the face edges firing solid penetrator rounds (they fire together to prevent   
   their recoil slewing the ship around). They only need shallow traverse angles   
   to protect against a    
   stern approach or chase. Also some defensive-caliber guns for missile defense.   
   Sensors that can see through the exhaust plume will be a challenge though.   
      
     Sound about right so far?   
      
   > the tugs have antimatter on board, so no antimatter tank punctures.   
      
     They'd be much more valuable captured than destroyed, even if the capturers   
   couldn't replace the antimatter.   
      
      
     Mark L. Fergerson   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
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