Re: SG-Ortillary

John Atkinson wrote:
> 
> --- Jon Davis <davisje@nycap.rr.com> wrote:
> 
> > I think you want the formula for kinetic energy.
> >
> > e = 1/2 m v^2
> 
> Oh, darn.  So instead of a 11mT energy release we have
> a 5.5 mT energy release.
> 
> You've still sunk Okinawa to take out a bunker on the
> beach.  The equivelant in Dirtside terms would be to
> place a grenade on your gaming table and pull the pin.
>  Any mini which survives, survives the impact.
> 
> > Even so, a K-gun round fired at a planet will make
> > a big hole in something, or a lot of things.  For
> > killing vehicles and infantry, a K-1 gun would be
> > sufficient.
> 
> How much mass is a K-gun throwing around?  I mean,
> there's a world of difference between 100g and 100kg
> when it comes to this sort of thing.	Well, not that
> much since the energy mostly comes from velocity, but
> if we're trying to quantify it in game terms it would
> be nice to know.

If you were targeting an asteroid or airless moon, you'd
have no atmospheric dissipation of energy.  A planetary
atmosphere will generate an immense amount of frictional
heat that would vaporize the incoming slug at 0.1c.  I'm
sure the Ks could "tune down" their guns to still be 
effective against ground targets.