Laser battles in space.
POSTED BY: Hjermsted
UPDATED: Monday, March 22, 2004 21:20
VIEWED: 21470
PAGE 8 of 9
Quote:
Originally posted by AnthonyT:
I don't know that a laser creates more waste heat than a railgun of equivelant capability. Do you have data on this? I don't. I wouldn't even know where to go to find it. Railgun technology seems a bit more secret than laser technology.
I recall reading that heat build-up is more of a problem for Lasers than mass-drivers but I cannot for the life of me remember where I got it from
It's been a long time since I studied Physics at College so I'll put my hands up and say no data available here I'm afraid
I do know people who work in military R&D but I bet they won't tell me if I ask (but I'll try) if I go missing it was very secret
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Hurrah, hurrah, when things are at their worst
With cries of “Death or Glory” comes the mighty Twenty-First
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Quote:
Originally posted by Kugelblitz:
That right there is a terrific weapon- a directed gravity beam that creates a steep gravity gradient could wreak havoc on a ship, or cause projectiles or lasers to warp in space and become deflected. The tech is there, we just haven't seen the weapon version of it yet.
Directed Gravity Beams. Now there's a high-tech weapon and no mistake. I've seen them called "Grasers" and "Gravy Guns" in different sci-fi
The only problem is that it would likely be easier to generate a Gravity Field than a coherent Gravity Beam. You could have the former a darn long time before mastering the latter I would think?
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Hurrah, hurrah, when things are at their worst
With cries of “Death or Glory” comes the mighty Twenty-First
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I would, postulating that the grav generator is not dependent on the main engine working (see OoG) then if it IS a machine then it can be amplified somehow. I also noted that the grav worked when the airlock closed up. Interesting. So there is some kind of coils or gizmo that does that, AND it doesn't worj through the hull. Yet the physics on the flight deck and living spaces are normal, usually. Some kind of local gradient there. Could that be pumped up really high before the grid burned out? Perhaps it would be spherical maybe?
Could be an expensive tech, but then again AIM-54 air to air missiles are expensive too-like 50 mil plus. The Alliance could afford it, or the Independents for that matter. So there could be a gravitic mine type object, or there could be planet based grasers too. They would just be rarely used. Those are shipkillers and probably either a whopping big weapon (e.g. on a cruiser) or some kind of big pulse warhead (a big missile). Not to be wasted on freighters.
All suppositional of course, but this doesn't leave the canon of defined tech for the show.
"We are exporting democracy because we have all of this unused democracy lying around at home. Why not make some money doing it?"
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As usual, I come late to good threads....
Reviewing most of the posts, there seems to be an assumption that lasers would be powerful weapons at extreme range. This seems to me to be a fallacious assumption. Lasers beams, no matter how powerful, are going to spread over distance. Over several light-seconds, we could be talking an area equal to one hemisphere of the Moon. Unless the FF universe has seen some major advances in the degree of coherence you can achieve with a beam of light, and major power increases, so that a laser beam retains sufficient power to do damage. More likely to my mind is the possibility that lasers would be short-range weapons, esp. useful in point defense.
Someone up-thread mentioned that Joss probably didn't use lasers in the show for ship weapons because they've been "done to death" in scifi. I agree, but even more than that, they're traditional-- movie and TV scifi latched on to them because they came the closest to the old Buck Roger's/Star Wars "blaster" or "energy beam", and could be easily rendered by pre-CGI special effects.
I agree that a gravitic weapon would be the most logical ship-killer in the FF 'verse; in the future as now, almost any technology can be weaponized and will be if it provides good kill-to-power expended ratios. A graser or a "gravitic imploder lance" (see Lois McMaster Bujolds "Miles" series) would be a fearsome weapon, ripping enemy ships (and personnel) apart in horrifying ways. Again, as noted, this would be a big-ticket item not to be wasted on small fry like Firefly.
And just because I'm a contrarian (but generally nice about it) I want to put in a friendly word for guided or smart missiles. Properly stealthed and fabricated to absorb or resist existing sensor technology, a smart missile could lie in wait for a target, or attack with a full range of its own drones, counter-measures and point-defenses. For a cruiser the size of those in FF, when you talk missile, you don't necessarily need to be thinking of something you can fit in a Volkswagen. Try school-bus sized or larger.
The real problem is that we saw too little of the FF 'verse to make really sound judgments on the tech and its capabilities. At least, so far.
Just my two cents....
Oh, bugger! Now I have to wait for someone to wake up!
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The weapon the Alliance cruiser used to destroy the transport in "Bushwhacked" to me looked like a plasma weapon. If you look it was 2 round green orbs that left a "smokey" green trail on the way to the ship and they had a definitive travel time meaning they would be effective against large slow or unmoving objects as opposed to small fighter craft. Once these orbs impacted with the transport, they reacted violently with the O2 in the ship causing the explosions and subsequent buckeling of the ships hull. A plasma weapon in ship based engagements makes sense to me since even if they missed the plasma would in a relativly short time frame, be exhausted.
The Alliance fighter in "The Message" used missles and EMP bombs as stated eariler in the thread. I believe this to be their only weapon system or perhaps they have lasers of sorts but we have not seen lasers used in any engagements outside of atmo.
In "Heart of Gold" the hand held laser was selectable between a short burst duration and a sustained beam type of fire. As to the visibility of laser fire we all know that the frequency necessary to cause any damage is out of our visible range.
My supposition on visibility of laser fire is that at the same time the weapon is fired, it "projects" a pulse or beam of visable light just prior to the release of the actual damage inducing beam. This would aid the operator of the weapon in sighting just as tracers do for machine gunners today. I realize the "visibility issue is still a problem to an extent depending on dust in the air etc. Perhaps its an issue of ionizing the air that causes the look.
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Quote:
Therefore any sufficiently lethal weapon carried by a fighter obviates that type of ship in existence. So the Alliance cruisers are probably carriers.
We only see one kind of Alliance capital ship, the city-like cruiser. We know they can launch gunships, from Serenity, and we know they have laser/plasma cannons, from Bushwhacked.
Quote:
I want to put in a friendly word for guided or smart missiles.
As I said before, the weapon of choice for destroying a derelict would be the cheapest possible. So guided missiles/torpedos could be in wide use, for all we know. I imagine that they would at least have some uses, like chasing down agile fighters.
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I would assume that the best defence technology for any ship would be the artificial gravity they produce.
Firefly has artificial gravity so I'd have to assume its pretty common.
This artifical gravity could project outwards to varying degrees to deflect incoming objects and particles. It would work as an exellent deflector shield for basic space junk. Other larger objects would probably require more energy to deflect, but that would show the balance of power.
Of course we've never seen a space battle in the firefly 'verse, so we don't know.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Hotpoint:
Never understood why people would use Lasers in space anyway? If you've got the power use it to run a Railgun/Mass Driver.
Yeah, but railguns/mass drivers require you to throw away mass of some description, mass that it cost you reaction mass/fuel to loft into space in the first place. Not to mention adding random thrust to your vehicle whenever you fire (Newton's third, remember.)
Lasers have drawbacks, but at least you don't get recoil from a flashlight.
RocketJock
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Quote:
Lasers have drawbacks, but at least you don't get recoil from a flashlight.
RocketJock
Actually, come to think of it, you would get recoil from a laser-- photon pressure is as real as any mechanical impulse. There have been proposals to use high powered lasers as propulsion devices (tech is a bit out of our reach at the moment, though). If a laser is ground based its not very noticeable-- the laser's pushing against the whole mass of the planet. In a microgravity environment, though, this might be a serious consideration. There's a math assignment for somebody-- figure out the light pressure/recoil exerted by a one-terawatt laser (my physics texts are buried in my attic, I think).
Oh, bugger! Now I have to wait for someone to wake up!
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Quote:
Originally posted by Static:
In reference to the AI issue
THIS is why I have such a problem with the whole "Love-bot" thing in the 'leaked' audition list. . .
If there's sufficient technology in the FF universe to come up with "Love bots". . .then why the hell do they use SLAVES? And I mean on the ADVANCED worlds, like Persephone. . .not the rim worlds.
Think about it. We're at the year 2004, and we only JUST NOW have a gorram automated VACCUM cleaner. A robot capable of taking the place of a human lover. . .that's WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY beyond the 'tech standard' that Joss has already given us.
Laser weapons? We've seen ONE laser weapon in the show. . .it was bulky, awkward and the battery died after three or four good shots. I sit in the cutting edge of combat technology for hours every day and I can tell you. . .the more you over-think the plumbing, the easier it is to clog the drain. Nothing beats a good ol' slugthrower for doin' damage. More efficient, more effective.
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"Wash. . .we got some local color happening. A grand entrance would not go amiss."
So, what're you saying Static, no Love-Bots??
They can have my "Firefly" DVDs when they pry them from my cold, dead fingers....
Oh yeah,
you, FOX TV!!
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