[Space] Fighter-to-ship ratio: what is it and why?

[Andreas]

Originally Posted by Lord Azagthoth

Unmanned craft, missiles, etc. are nice as long as the opponent is technologically lagging behind your tech (not necessarily a complete TL).

I don't want to be in the commanders seat when launching a full nuclear strike at a silly enemy with his carrier and silly manned aerospace fighters to see the missles have been hacked and turned around or get captured

That is pretty much only a concern with cinematic hacking. Even at our current TL, it is pretty trivial to implement a perfectly secure one-time pad communication protocol which makes it impossible for anyone without the correct key to successfully send commands to your missiles like that, even if they are several TLs higher than you.

Also modern manned fighter aircraft to some extent share such vulnerabilities anyway due to computer controlled fly-by-wire systems.

[Daigoro]

Originally Posted by Lord Azagthoth

Very careless of me.

I've put in under spoiler alert for future readers.

A spoiler block that you have to open to know what it's spoiling still spoils the thing you were trying to avoid spoiling.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Daigoro

A spoiler block that you have to open to know what it's spoiling still spoils the thing you were trying to avoid spoiling.

It's damned if you do and damned if you don't.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

It's damned if you do and damned if you don't.

Just label it.

Spoiler for spoiled thing:

Spoiler:  

Spoilers

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Just label it.

Spoiler for spoiled thing:

Spoiler:  

Spoilers

To clarify: if you place the topic of what the spoiler is about on the outside, you already spoil the series; if you put it on the inside, the viewer has no way to find out whether the spoiler in the closed box is going to spoil any series the viewer is following.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by Andreas

That is pretty much only a concern with cinematic hacking. Even at our current TL, it is pretty trivial to implement a perfectly secure one-time pad communication protocol which makes it impossible for anyone without the correct key to successfully send commands to your missiles like that, even if they are several TLs higher than you.

I was thinking of complications around losing messages (one time pad decryption breaks down if you've got unknown-length holes in the cyphertext), but they look mostly resolvable with the right sort of headers.

You would be limited to missiles only being able to take commands from their launch platform - no telemetry handoffs. Worth it if getting your missiles hacked is a serious concern, but probably not something you'd do if it's believed sufficiently unlikely.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

You would be limited to missiles only being able to take commands from their launch platform - no telemetry handoffs.

Nah, you can register multiple possible command authorities each with their own OTP (or more likely, you just use some sort of encryption that is theoretically breakable but not on the time scale needed to jam missiles).

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Andreas

That is pretty much only a concern with cinematic hacking. Even at our current TL, it is pretty trivial to implement a perfectly secure one-time pad communication protocol which makes it impossible for anyone without the correct key to successfully send commands to your missiles like that, even if they are several TLs higher than you.
.

It's even simpler than that. Just use directional receivers. Only commands from astern are even received. Ones from the target get nowhere.

There's still other ways too. For examples do not send your missile "commands". Give it an objective when you launch and directional-beam it the sensors updates from the mother ship's nice big sensors. There is very easily enough space in a missile warhead for an autopilot that can steer the missile into its' target. There's no need to send it detailed "Zig now!" commands.

This also gets by the "one laser comm per missile" requirement seen in Traveller.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

To clarify: if you place the topic of what the spoiler is about on the outside, you already spoil the series; if you put it on the inside, the viewer has no way to find out whether the spoiler in the closed box is going to spoil any series the viewer is following.

It's possible to get carried away with spoilerphobia. For example in a murder mystery you already know that that there's a killer and a victim. Labeling a spoiler with "identity of the killer" doesn't reveal anything the reader shouldn't know in advance anyway.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Nah, you can register multiple possible command authorities each with their own OTP (or more likely, you just use some sort of encryption that is theoretically breakable but not on the time scale needed to jam missiles).

The parenthetical more likely is, of course, more likely, but I don't see how you're proposing the first case. To provision the missile with separate one time pads from each possible command authority requires you first transport those between the various platforms. I suppose you could have each ship with a 'bunker' full of indexed pre-exchanged OTP keys to use...