Re: Real Space Combat Help:

Mark A. Siefert wrote:

>	  1.  Which would be better suited for space combat: lasers or
particle
> beam weapons?

Laser for destroying Fire Control: Neutral Particle Beam (ie non
de-focussing) for
inducing radiation. Charged particle beams are low-tech, easy to do, but
short range.

>	  2.  How does a directed energy beam weapon damage a target?
By heat, by direct blast (photons even) or by inducing a radiation
shower.

Please note that Space is a hi-Rad environment anyway. A good solid
solar flare can really make life difficult unless your ship has a lot of
radiation hardening. Enemy action would have to be Very Intense Indeed
to match a class 1 flare from a slightly variable star. Like ours.

>	  3.  Which sort of missile warhead would be better suited for
space
> combat?  Nuke or kinetic kill?

Good question. A contact blast with a Nuke would be nasty. A Nuke-pumped
X-ray laser (looks like a sea urchin) would be probably the most
practical. But a KE projectile, IF you can hit, would be the most
devastating, short of a Nuke in the very close vicinity.

>	  4.  I've heard that it would be a good idea to depressurize a
warship
> before going into combat (the crew would be in space suits).	Why
would
> that help?

Stops decompression, but more importantly, reduces fire hazard and stops
random course changes and such, due to outgassing. See 'Apollo 13' for a
very realistic picture of how this can screw you up. Also, a cloud of
gas around you would completely bollix your sensors.

>	  5.  How would one target a enemy ship in space (realistically
that is)?

With Great Difficulty. And not a little effort.

A realsitic next-century combat ship might have a StarLite Plastic
exterior (for protection against lasers) facetted to be stealthy, then
an inner layer of neutron-absorbent material - Ice is good - to keep the
occupants healthy due to
Solar Weather (and nearby nukes or particle beams). But the main defence
would be by expendable decoys. Baloons mainly. The thing would be
'black' to most wavelengths in the EM spectrum, and the chance of
occluding a star is minute.
Sensors - Coherent radiation Radars/Lidars for active, Infra-Red and
longer wavelengths for passive. The idea is to find the propulsion
trail, and the heat exchanger(s), which would be black-body radiators.
Anti-Radiation missiles would be a must.
 
>	  6.  There would happen to be a "Theoretical Space Combat FAQ"
somewhere
> on the net?  If there isn't there should be.

Not that I know of...
 
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