Brandon Cope:
>500,000 km range? That would explain things. I will note that I
>don't use such atrociously long ranges, at least not for energy
>weapons (think more like 1000 km). I have no problems with
>missiles used at that range, but remember that by the time that
>they get there (flight time will be on the order of several minutes),
>the ship being targeted, assuming that they pick up the missiles,
>will be in jump-space by the time the things arrive. 500,000 km may
>be technically possible for energy weapons in vaccum (I'm talking
>about accurate, not maximum, range), but from a game point I find it
>rather undesirable.
I'd like to point out that we have demonstrated greater than 1000Km
accurate range on Earth. We have, in fact, demonstrated that we can
hit a stationary target on the moon with a laser. We did not show we
could make a weapon against ships then, but if you can do it at TL7,
doing it at TL12+ should be geedunk.
I personally doubt a missile accurate at that range. 6Gs for 500,000Km
requires a deltaV of 245Km/s. Which I suggest is impossible for a non-
grav powered missile. Using W.G. Herbert's solid fuel guidelines from
this weekend, a missile with a twenty Kilogram warhead would mass about
160,000,000,000 solar masses. Using grav the missile would mass 3333Kg,
and cost MCr1.3525. At higher TLs, the missile could be brought in under
100Kg (as long as guidance masses 0), but at a cost of KCr50 or so. At
still higher TLs, you can finally build the generic Traveller missile:
It only masses 50Kg (INCLUDING guidance package), but costs KCr185+.
In the above calculations, I rounded in favour of the consumer: these
missiles would actually be larger and more expensive than indicated (by
10-30%, depending on which missile you look at). Notice also that the
proper mass for a MT missile warhead is 30Kg, not 20Kg. If you want
to actually produce an MT missile, increase all of the above by 50%.
And don't forget the guidance package on all but the last.
I personally believe in missiles having a relatively short range, with
a lot of bang (nuclear). I prefer lasers and particle beams for long
range work. It's easier to build a laser that can reach that far than
a missile that does so within MT's specs.
PS. flight time to 500,000Km for a missile is closer to an hour plus.
Later...
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I have learned to use the word "impossible" with the greatest caution.
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