Making EM Guns Viable in Space Combat (3e)

[Polydamas]

Originally Posted by Rupert

Absolutely. But I do think it bears some thought, rather than just saying "there are fighters and carriers and..." without making sure that makes sense within the rules you're using.

Another factor is that GURPS Vehicles is based on research and speculations from 1997 and earlier. So its fine to take it as a baseline and work out the implications, but its not on the cutting edge of speculations about how combat between spacecraft could work.

[Witchking]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Not really. If you already had a BB you might as well keep using it, but you didn't build new ones.

Certainly after Midway the focus of naval construction shifted even more heavily towards carriers.

But there were needs and roles for BB's. Fire support for invasions, countering enemy BB's, defense at night when CV's were not combat effective, massive AA platforms.

In 1943 Montana class BB's were still under design (last US battleship design). They were cancelled in that year also, however the USN started throttling back all construction well before the end of the war in 1945.

WW2 was a transitional period as carriers proved themselves and it was found that battleships could not operate without carrier support. However (other than raiding) operating carriers without fast battleship support was also unwise.

[GURPS Fox]

So, from what I'm getting, it's 1) very setting-centric and 2) a lot of GM/Setting Creator lawyering?

That puts some work on other GM/Setting Creators and me.

So, if I want to have a setting where EM guns aren't completely useless in space, should I utilize a mass, range, and damage multiplier to allow them to have the required velocities?

Like, say, sim a Mass Effect dreadnought's spinal as 2000x times the mass and damage due to its .01c round velocity?

Or would it be simpler to use a back-engineered EM equation and go from there?

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by GURPS Fox

So, from what I'm getting, it's 1) very setting-centric and 2) a lot of GM/Setting Creator lawyering?

That puts some work on other GM/Setting Creators and me.

So, if I want to have a setting where EM guns aren't completely useless in space, should I utilize a mass, range, and damage multiplier to allow them to have the required velocities?

Like, say, sim a Mass Effect dreadnought's spinal as 2000x times the mass and damage due to its .01c round velocity?

?

You're confusing me with this talk of a "mass" multiplier. Literal range is irrelevant for a space KE weapon too.

If you modify damage by 2000x to represent 2000x higher velocity you'll kill anything you hit which ought to simplify your math at least. Yes, this does mean that KE damage in Gurps increases directly with velocity.

At .01 c your round is travelling 3000 km per second and 3000 km might be the maximum "effective" range. Give a targeted ship more than a second's warning and it'll probably be able to Dodge.

[GURPS Fox]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

You're confusing me with this talk of a "mass" multiplier. Literal range is irrelevant for a space KE weapon too.

If you modify damage by 2000x to represent 2000x higher velocity you'll kill anything you hit which ought to simplify your math at least. Yes, this does mean that KE damage in Gurps increases directly with velocity.

At .01 c your round is travelling 3000 km per second and 3000 km might be the maximum "effective" range. Give a targeted ship more than a second's warning and it'll probably be able to Dodge.

Largely due to the increased velocity requires increased infrastructure. Recoil absorbers, capacitors, EM systems, and whatnot.

So, only have half-range/have half-range be the max range for kinetics in this case?

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by GURPS Fox

Largely due to the increased velocity requires increased infrastructure. Recoil absorbers, capacitors, EM systems, and whatnot.

So, only have half-range/have half-range be the max range for kinetics in this case?

If you increase the size of the installation to match the increased velocity in Spaceships this will amount to leaving the damage the same but reducing the ammo size/weight.

Again, literal range for kinetic weapons in space is infinite. The projectiles will travel until they hit something. How far the projectiles will travel before they become too easy to dodge is different but that's what will be important in combat.

[GURPS Fox]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

If you increase the size of the installation to match the increased velocity in Spaceships this will amount to leaving the damage the same but reducing the ammo size/weight.

That makes for some interesting thoughts. Funnily enough, I've been a fan of the webcomic Outsider and have been hooked on Nebulous Fleet Command for a while... while looking up Traveller and Transhuman Space and enjoying both settings.

Again, literal range for kinetic weapons in space is infinite. The projectiles will travel until they hit something. How far the projectiles will travel before they become too easy to dodge is different but that's what will be important in combat.

So, you could use a sort of 'max range is combat turn length times velocity' rule?

I'm just thinking of things to make it easier for me and other players to play a game in some of my settings in addition to making them somewhat competitive with DEWs.