Re: [GZG] Invading Mars (was FTverse colinies)

[Nyrath the nearly wise <nyrath@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Peter Thoenen wrote:
>> accelerated to relativistic velocity (see _The Killing Star_, but only 
> 
> Who wrote this .... bn.com ain't helping

Charles Pellegrino and George Zebrowski
Alas, it appears to be out of print.

You can find many of the relevant quotes here:
http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/rocket3aa.html#killingstar

The basic problem is Burnsides's Advice.

Burnside's Advice is that Friends Don't Let Friends Use Reactionless Drives In 
Their Universes. The trick is making a reactionless drive that doesn't give 
you the ability to shatter planets with the Naval equivalent of a rowboat 
(which would throw a big monkey wrench into the author's carefully crafted 
arrangement of combat spacecraft).

Reactionless drives, with no fuel/propellant constraints, will give you Dirt 
Cheap Planet Crackers. If you have a reactionless drive, and stellar economics 
where most of the common tropes exist (privately owned tramp freighters), you 
also have gravitic drive missiles.

_______________________________________________
Gzg-l mailing list
Gzg-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://vermouth.csua.berkeley.edu:1337/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gzg-l