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09-06-2017, 10:35 AM | #1 |
Join Date: May 2010
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[Ultra-Tech] [Spaceships] Weapons that are hard or impossible to miniaturize
In Transhuman Space, particle beams have a minimum size that allows them to be installed on SDVs but not smaller ships. (SDVs are typically SM +10 or +11, though Spaceships 8 mentions particle beams can be installed on ships as small as SM +8.) Spaceships 7 has an optional rule to put similar limits on X-ray lasers, antiparticle beams, and grasers. Some questions about this:
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09-06-2017, 10:52 AM | #2 | ||
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: [Ultra-Tech] [Spaceships] Weapons that are hard or impossible to miniaturize
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No, except maybe by coincidence. |
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09-06-2017, 02:18 PM | #3 | |
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Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Southeast NC
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Re: [Ultra-Tech] [Spaceships] Weapons that are hard or impossible to miniaturize
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RyanW - Actually one normal sized guy in three tiny trenchcoats. |
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09-06-2017, 02:41 PM | #4 | ||||
Join Date: May 2010
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Re: [Ultra-Tech] [Spaceships] Weapons that are hard or impossible to miniaturize
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09-06-2017, 02:47 PM | #5 | ||
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: [Ultra-Tech] [Spaceships] Weapons that are hard or impossible to miniaturize
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I'd probably go with -2 per TL. |
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09-06-2017, 05:01 PM | #6 |
Join Date: May 2010
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Re: [Ultra-Tech] [Spaceships] Weapons that are hard or impossible to miniaturize
Reading up on FELs, it looks like wavelength is inversely proportional to particle energy. Therefore would 1/10x wavelength require 10x the length? That would make FEL grasers limited to truly massive installations, even moreso than x-ray lasers, right?
Last edited by Michael Thayne; 09-06-2017 at 08:32 PM. Reason: said "10x" when I meant "1/10x" |
09-06-2017, 05:07 PM | #7 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: [Ultra-Tech] [Spaceships] Weapons that are hard or impossible to miniaturize
Presumably there's tech improvements if they're making them as weapons at all, but yes, you'd expect a FEL at gamma wavelengths to be larger than an X-ray installation.
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09-06-2017, 05:11 PM | #8 |
Wielder of Smart Pants
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ventura CA
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Re: [Ultra-Tech] [Spaceships] Weapons that are hard or impossible to miniaturize
Battleship spinal mounts probably count as "massive installations".
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09-06-2017, 05:31 PM | #9 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: [Ultra-Tech] [Spaceships] Weapons that are hard or impossible to miniaturize
For comparison, a current-day X-ray free electron laser, the Linac Coherent Light Source, is two miles long.
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09-06-2017, 06:48 PM | #10 |
Wielder of Smart Pants
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ventura CA
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Re: [Ultra-Tech] [Spaceships] Weapons that are hard or impossible to miniaturize
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