[Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding

[Prince Charon]

OK, here is the revised version. Is this better?

On fighters, missiles, and probes

A 'fighter,' in this context, is any small space or aerospace vehicle which is, compared to other vehicles of its size, heavily armed, well-shielded, highly manoeuverable, and lightly crewed. They are normally organized in something like traditional 'air force' fashion, and frequently are not intended for long journeys without some sort of tender or carrier. Fighters and fighter-like vessels are a niche technology in the Authority Space Forces and most other space militaries, rarely seen outside of training, wartime, and a few police actions. There are a range of missions that they are more useful for than other designs (enough that they exist and have pilots and crews trained for them), and a wider range that they are not good for, and thus are not used for outside of emergencies. Far more 'carrier' or 'tender' vessels in Authority service carry and tend to shuttlecraft and small scientific, medical, and police vessels, than have fighters at all.

Most aerospace fighters are around the size that someone from late twentieth or early twenty-first century Earth might expect, while most starfighters are larger than that, and mostly have more crewmembers. Smaller fighters often have the control room and most or all of the other habitable sections (if any) in an ejectable cockpit-style escape pod (potentially an Upper Stage, if it has significant manoeuvering capability), with the vehicle saving space by having little or no room for people in the other sections, just big reactors, big engines, weapons, et cetra. In particular, the fighter would need to have storage room and launch systems for missiles, because most space fighters in this setting are basically manned, reusable missile buses.

The main reason for this is that a lot of psychotronic technology works best (or at all) in the environment of the psionic fields created by sapient or nearly sapient life, and responds to same. While it is possible to create more robust psychotronics that will continue operating for hours or even days outside of such a psionic field, this does require something of a balancing act. In many cases, this has lead to star nations deciding to build fighters for missions where a larger vessel is not required, or where multiple smaller targets to split the enemy's fire would be beneficial. An alternative is to build missiles with few or no psychotronic components, which leaves the question of what you leave out: a missile with no shields and no defences against direct psionic attack is far easier to defend against, one with no inertial control is limited by g-forces and is less manoeuverable, one without a warp drive is nearly useless against a target that has a working warp drive, et cetra. Generally, the decision has been to design the missile components to 'run hot,' burning themselves out on the (usually correct) assumption they they will hit something and explode before they enter any other failure mode, and not plan on having them in flight for long periods. Using a fighter or shuttlecraft as a missile-delivery system also has the advantage that smaller objects are more easily concealed by sensor countermeasures.

Probes hit this problem in a different way, as they are most useful if they last a long time, but do not generally need to move fast or defend themselves. Probes with no psychotronic components at all are far more common than missiles without such components. For probes that need or would especially benefit from psychtronic components, but also are intended to be stationed away from inhabited planets, two strategies have evolved: Firstly, designing the probe with the most robust psi-tech possible, able to be outside of any psionic field for long periods, and then regularly sending warp-shuttles or warp-fighters to maintain them. Secondly, building the probe's components so that they can handle a weak psionic field, and adding a life-support system and a small life-form or group of life-forms (such as the more psychically-active guinea pig or rabbit breeds) - this greatly increases the size of the probe, however, and is nearly pointless for missiles. Civilizations that do not have animal rights laws (or have very different ones) sometimes solve the problem by removing the animal's brain and keeping it alive in a jar (see also 'Psiborgs,' GURPS Psi-Tech pp39-40), though this still requires a good life-support system, and does create a small risk of the animal finding a way to rebel, or entering a vegetative state that weakens the psionic field below viability. Adding something like either of these to a missile is certainly possible, but most USA members consider it even less ethical than doing it for a probe, and it requires a stronger inertial dampening field than that used for missiles without organic components.

Note that exactly how common and important fighters are, and how exactly carriers and tenders are used, is a setting switch that GMs can adjust as necessary for their specific campaigns.

(The following links are not directly canon to Psi Trek, but can be taken as inspiration for fighters and carriers in this setting: To use Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as an example, the Federation attack fighters are around the size of a typical aerospace fighter, the Danube-class runabouts are roughly the size of the smallest dedicated space fighters, and the Defiant-class 'escort vessels' are somewhat bigger than the largest. Further inspiration: The Yorktown-class carrier and Minotaur fighter (the equivalent of Minotaur fighters in this setting would be among the vehicles with ejectable cockpits); Archer & Curran classes (primarily system-patrol vessels, but in many cases effectively large fighters; see also Discarded variant deck plans 1 and 2 in the Yorktown page); 23rd century carriers and fighters. Missiles and probes that look like coffins may or may not exist in-setting.)