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Old 02-12-2019, 01:15 PM   #71
Fred Brackin
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Default Re: [Spaceships] How does large-scale space warfare play out (without superscience)?

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Originally Posted by Andreas View Post
If such impactors are a major danger, why wouldn't the observer have seen them before? In such senarios it should be an important part of training.
The first one will certainly be unfamiliar but its' targets will be just as dead if it works.
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Old 02-12-2019, 01:48 PM   #72
Ulzgoroth
 
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Default Re: [Spaceships] How does large-scale space warfare play out (without superscience)?

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Originally Posted by Fred Brackin View Post
The first one will certainly be unfamiliar but its' targets will be just as dead if it works.
Why? It's easy for us to think of now, it's weird to assume that nobody except the attacker will have thought about it when it's actually feasible to use.
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Old 02-12-2019, 09:07 PM   #73
Michael Thayne
 
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Default Re: [Spaceships] How does large-scale space warfare play out (without superscience)?

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Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth View Post
It looks like I did at that particular point. I don't especially at the moment, but I haven't pored over Spaceships that hard in a long time now. Reading my OP, I suspect that I'd received that understanding from a prior Spaceships thread. You might be able to find where that came from and see whether you agree.
Curious to know the reasons for your current thinking? As I've thought about it more requiring simultaneous point-defense seems kind of odd. Like, if a GM actually ran things that way at the gaming table, some players might understandably feel he was making it needlessly hard for them.
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Old 02-13-2019, 12:41 AM   #74
Ulzgoroth
 
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Default Re: [Spaceships] How does large-scale space warfare play out (without superscience)?

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Originally Posted by Michael Thayne View Post
Curious to know the reasons for your current thinking? As I've thought about it more requiring simultaneous point-defense seems kind of odd. Like, if a GM actually ran things that way at the gaming table, some players might understandably feel he was making it needlessly hard for them.
Because in 'actual' time, those attacks have to be performed simultaneously. There's no time to do them in sequence.

You could, certainly, have multiple point defense fire 'layers' to allow winnowing in depth and final fires focusing on survivors, but that would require the first rounds of fire to be taken at longer range.
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Old 02-13-2019, 05:23 AM   #75
AlexanderHowl
 
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Default Re: [Spaceships] How does large-scale space warfare play out (without superscience)?

During a 20-second turn, a point-defense gunner could engage five separate targets (assuming three seconds of aiming per target). Since point-defense range is 100 miles, that means that as long as the targets do not move more than 5 mps, a point-defense gunner could realistically target the same object up to five times without difficulty (though RoF bonuses would be reduced). In the case of faster targets, individual targets could not be engaged as often as slow targets, but the point defense gunner could go after multiple targets. Of course, some of this is already reflected in the point-defense rules, as every successful hit on rapid fire gdts rid of one target.

Of course, point-defense is less efficient versus guns and bombs, as the ammunition is much less expensive than missiles. In particular, bombs mass (and cost) 1/30 as much as comparable missiles, so one would expect them to be used without hesitation. Dedicated orbital bombers that would engage surface targets from short range or dedicated space bombers designed to engage capital ships at close range could be a worthwhile investment (especially if relative velocities are high). A 16cm bomb from a SM+4 bomber would do 6d×40 damage with a relative velocity of 10 mps, which is not bad for a round that costs around $3,000 (and it would have a decent chance of hitting targets of SM 12+).
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Old 02-13-2019, 10:27 AM   #76
Fred Brackin
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Default Re: [Spaceships] How does large-scale space warfare play out (without superscience)?

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Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl View Post
During a 20-second turn, a point-defense gunner could engage five separate targets (assuming three seconds of aiming per target). .
He might get better odds if he used a 1 second Aim and then fired. The first second of Aim is +18 (Basic scale). The second and third Turns are only +1 each.

Even if it's only 2 shots at 50% rather than one at 75% the 2 50% shots give you a chance at taking the second shot at another target if the first one hits.
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