Re: FT: Thought on Orbital Bombardment...

A couple of thoughts on Orbital Bombardment:

If and how you can is REALLY dependent on one's background used. Really
what 
you come up with for YOUR background, as long as it works and is
balanced, is 
fine. But reality and background don't always have to 'meet' and since
FT is 
a very generic game to begin with, what works or makes sense to you,
probably 
won't be the same for others :o)
(Having said that, you probably don't need to read on folks, but if your

interested in MY take on the subject :o)

For example, can you do orbital bombardment in Star Trek? Why sure! And
quite 
accurately too! You can stun ONLY a single city block from 'standard'
(Note 
they never gave a good idea how high this was :o) and you can take out a

single building with the full force of the ships weapons and even carpet
bomb 
and small area with fire without endangering your landing party!
(Extra points for naming the episodes :o)

Can you bombard in the Babylon 5 universe? Yep. Though accuracy suffers
due 
to the use of the ships larger plasma guns, or drag a ships beam cannon
along 
the ground. Then there is 'projectile' bombardment. Everything from
standard 
missiles to "mass driver' rocks.

As I understand the 'background,' GZG 'standard' ships weapons are a
type of 
particle beam. Can you bombard a planet with them? Actually no. Why?
Having 
gotten an opportunity to attend a class on proposed "High Energy
Weapons" for 
the Air Force, I found that particle beams come in two types: Neutral
and 
Charged.

As I recall, Charged work wonderful out in the vacuum of space. And they
are 
highly ineffective inside a planetary magnetosphere. Neutrals are just
the 
opposite.
So if your ships are 'optimized' to fight in a vacuum, then they would
be 
equipped with Charged particle beam cannon. While any ground bombardment

would require a VERY low orbit and a dedicated Neutral particle beam
cannon.

For another example, I'm planning my 'game' around the Star Frontiers
game 
universe. Standard ship weapons are lasers, 3 types of particle beams, 
(Proton, Electron, and a 'Disrupter' beam which alternates between the
two) 
missiles, 'torpedoes', and rockets.
So how am I going to run orbital bombardment? Well, if they develop and
use a 
'neutral' particle beam. The attacking ship would have to come down to a
VERY 
low, (atmosphere skimming) orbit and fire. Leaving it highly vulnerable
to 
response from surface based laser, or missile weapons. Laser weapons,
(the 
ships 'main' cannon or fixed forward mounted) could be used. But lasers
are 
very susceptible to atmospheric interference, and again the ship would
have 
to come very close to the planet to be accurate and effective. So
likely, in 
my game, orbital bombardment would consist of missiles, rockets, or
torpedoes 
adapted to making surface attacks. While not 'standard' systems,
standard 
models of each could be adapted to the job. But they would 'lose' some
of 
their ability in order to do the job they are not optimized for.
For the main part, any 'surface' attacks done will probably be by small,

atmosphere capable ships, and fighters doing attack runs. (Of course
leaving 
them open to attack by ground targets in return)

I plan on 'upgrading' the standard SF: Knight Hawks background with some
of 
the other FT weapons, such as the Pulse Torpedo, Plasma guns, Salvo
Missile 
launchers, as well as the Kinetic weapons. But other than (again) the 
missile, and possible some of the larger K weapons, I'd rate the Plasma 
weapons as minimally effective against any planet with an atmosphere.
And 
anything that's in a vacuum can mount shield generators for protection
and 
can bury themselves into the surface so might not be that effected by
them 
either :o)

The 'idea' of comparing the Pacific Island campaign to a space campaign
only 
goes as far as general operations and logistics. If your going to think
of 
shore bombardment as comparable to surface bombardment from orbit, then
you 
should really look at the success rate of United States and Japanese 
submarines in shore bombardment. From UNDER WATER!
(Needless to say it never happened :o)

The environments and weapons used are different and the two, without
special 
adaptation such as sub-roc, sub launched cruise missiles, and land
attack 
missiles, rarely meet.

Randy