Making EM Guns Viable in Space Combat (3e)

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Rupert

Note that a 'fighter' in space is effectively a missile 1st stage that returns to the firer (hopefully). Thus if a fighter is viable, a missile is more viable - it doesn't need it's 1st stage to return home, saving on fuel, weight, etc.

This is where you mess about with the superscience.

If you can't build a reactionless thruster smaller than a fighter engine you can't build small cheap missiles with equal endurance but your reactionless first stage/fighter can provide unlimited Delta-V and act as a bus for a lot of small cheap missiles.