Hi all, I am back again and caught up with reading all the comics
I missed. A lot has happened in TGW since my last post here.
A broken leg and a couple of nasty infections (not Covid) have
kept me in hospital
for most of the time since my last post with no more than a week
at home between them.
Still on the list are a gall bladder removal operation and a total
left knee replacement.
I also have two faulty heart valves, but they are not planning on
doing anything
unless the situation deteriorates further.
Slinom is a very thinly disguised abbreviation of Sly One or Slimy
One so unless he is playing a much more devious game than his
previous actions indicate I shall consider him the Slimy One.
The fat captain may not be such a bigot after all; just doing his
job in a bigoted society.
Maybe he will change his attitude after perusing the content of the
package at the base of the fire escape.
President Elect Toxic Deplorable Racist SAH Neanderthal B Woodman Domestic Violent Extremist SuperStraight
Yes. The package at the foot of the fire escape ladder.
I wonder what it could be?
My guess?
The head(s) of the CSA president (and/or others) that
made the decision to keep the Wolf Imperium Catian
pilot’s head as a trophy.
Scarsdale;
I am not being forced into anything.
Removing the gall bladder is the best option to prevent a possible recurrence of the blood infection I had.
The total knee replacement is long overdue and I had been trying to get my local DR to put me down for one
for several years, but because I could normally walk into his surgery without any walking aids or an obvious limp
he didn’t seem to think it was a real problem.
Replacing the heart valve(s) is a much higher risk operation,
particularly if they can’t use the latest endoscope type operation to do it,
so they are not planning any action unless my situation deteriorates significantly.
Yep, I just hope for the people of CSA decide to make a change,
because the next time there won’t be a gentle conversation.
Taritha makes a very good point and the core is discovering they
have not only gone too far, but the Empire is going to be the ones
ringing the last call bell.
I truely wonder how many of the ships’ crew will be willing to return
to the core to explain how a single ship was able to capture so
many crews unharmed. Sure they destroyed several ships, but only
one crew was lost and not all of them, the families and a few of
the crew than managed to get into EVA suits. SS ships would of at
best blew them out of the sky, at worst tortured the crew and steal
the tech from the ship. All the while claiming it was justified!
Elias, Maintain yourself. you’re going to give it all away! I must admit,
I’d be stifling a snicker or two myself Just wait till they find out
there’s more than just one fleet! Man it’ll rival any cheesy anime
space battle scene. (Quiet son, I watched that stuff while you were
still in training pants…) Jeez 33 yrs old and still defends that stuff…
heheh…
Don’t forget the different fighting styles: http://thegentlewolf.net/comic/tgw-887/
Speed, stealth and striking power. After all, German submarines had
a record of destruction all out of proportion to their mass as a group.
Until the Allies figured out how to compensate for their advantages.
And Allied subs pretty much starved the Japanese war machine.
Stealth in Space will probably only get you that far.
Once they start moving (as in: changing speed in contrast to
just orbiting around the next gravity center) they should be
easy enough to track.
In an open battle that’s bound to work only once.
And if the Core Worlds have enough in raw numbers, they always
can enforce an open battle, can’t they?
Just commit an all-in assault on – say – Catia, and the Empire
will *have* to respond in pretty predictable way.
Their main advantage would be “speed” – or rather acceleration
and independence from having to carry around massive amounts of
propellant. (That’s what I mean with dancing around the enemy).
Any space-worthy vessel can reach speeds of a few dozen miles
per second. But as long as you have to rely on ejecting some
sort of matter, the good ol’ rocket equation will bite your
arse. Pretty hard so.
As for firepower: we haven’t actually seen a real Core combat
vessel yet, or have we?
All I recall are rumors/friendly warnings about them having many
many things in the back hand … (and something about they might
be able to not having to use known portals?)
Not to forget: as I recall the grav tech can be used to “dampen the g-forces”
experienced by crew and material.
In other words: where any normal craft would have to limit itself to something like 5 gees
Imperial grav ships could easily survive 20 or even 50 gees.
High grav travel has risks, inertia comes into play when making turns
and anyone that’s made a hard turn at speed knows that you feel it
more the faster you go. Gravity and inertia are separate forces and
don’t effect the other. “Inertia dampeners” in scifi are based on that.
I know there’s a huge argument there but https://academic.oup.com/mnrasl/article/395/1/L25/979755
covers much of the math. Basically inertia wants to keep an object
moving in a straight line while gravity pulls that object away from that
line. The reason many space bodies are tore apart is because of those
forces conflicting and a big rock is a lot stronger than a living body.
The same “technology” that’s used for the grav drive is also used to
provide artificial gravity and for mitigating g-forces in this comic here.
About the inertia: the others do have the same problem.
Only that they have to “waste” propellant for speeding up, slowing down
or changing course, while Imperial forces just switch from one celestial
body as “counterweight” to another.
They don’t even have to use some kind of energy source!
The worst problem they can run into is having to dump excess energy into
something (didn’t somebody – wink wink – say beam weapons just a few hours
ago?)
The tearing apart stuff is a bit more complicated like what you describe.
If two bodies are close to each other, the gravitational pull from one of the bodies
onto the other isn’t constant over that body.
Like, take Earth and Moon. The side of the Earth facing the Moon feels a slightly
stronger pull than the center and the other side a slightly lesser one.
The difference is strong enough to cause the Earth’s tides.
If the distance is smaller, this effect becomes stronger because gravity
goes down with the square of the distance (twice as far away means four
times less pull).
[Uncanny side node, if somebody here’s getting the in-joke – I just today made
a quip about Roche also being the name of an Astronomer …]
Oh I know, I was keeping it simple. I traded in my slide rule for a 3/4 inch
wrench long before I met my wife lol! There’s tidal forces, rock composition,
other gravity wells, a laundry list…
http://thegentlewolf.net/comic/tgw-866/
The Imperial Navy has a pretty good idea of the Core warship
capabilities, at least the units in current use. Whether they
have more modern/powerful units stashed away somewhere is
another question.
But until now, has the Core had any reason to upgrade their
fleet? R&D and making upgrades are expensive.
I vaguely recall that there once was some talk about the Core
having access to either additional portals or even technology
that’d allow them to create them at will.
The later would be a massive game changer.
I have also some vague memories about the Ptero warning
their new friends not to underestimate the resources of
the core worlds (in terms of ready to deploy ships)
core world ships.. just a reminder. are severely undermanned,
under supplied, and under maintained.. have been just a “show
of force” for about a hundred years.. they only have a few
ships ready to go,. (to bring waywards back in line..)
(probably why Slinom wants fleet ships back so bad..).
and,, with the core “mindset”, any new tech would be kept to
1 maybe 2 prototypes.! to keep very close tabs on it.!!
Lord knows (and PC) how many ships the core
worlds have in mothballs and how long it would
take to man and train full crews for them. It’s going
to take a major battle to take out the current fleets
the core has before they have a chance to react
with any specialized ships. I’m sure the core has
their most experienced captains in semi retirement
(flying desks or attending parties etc..) they could
reactivate.
There is also an advantage that the Empire has that the Core could easily
have, but doesn’t make much use of… Space fighters.
Imperial frigates carry eight on external docking points. http://thegentlewolf.net/characters/ (scroll down)
Destroyers carry twenty-four in two rows, 12 facing forwards, 12 facing aft.
The Imperial Navy practices combined tactics a lot, the Core doesn’t
practice at all. They have no experience countering fighter swarms, and no
conception of the maneuvering abilities of small craft with grav drives.
The Imperial Navy understands that the Core will learn, and so are planning
for a fast and brutal war, not revealing their full capabilities if they don’t have to.
That doesn’t mean that they aren’t planning for other scenarios, as well.
At the moment, the destroyer is the largest warship they have, fitting their
concept of the fast strike in battles of speed and maneuver. They are building
two larger dedicated carriers, but they won’t be finished for a while.
The “Enterprise” and the “Hornet”, of course.
Again, there’s the problem of having to use a propellant.
If your fighter has to use up like half their mass just get up to
speed they pretty much turn into fire and forget missiles.
(You might say “hey just make them twice as heavy, then they
can stop and return” – no. Accelerating to 10 km/s, then turning around,
fly back at 10 km/s and eventually stop would be exactly the same as
accelerating to a total of 40 km/s, that’s four times as fast, and since
that damn rocket equation is exponential …
I you do the math you’ll find out that you’d have to use up over 99% of
your ships mass as propellant)
Since a picture says more than a thousand words:
Here’s a comparison of what you’d need with today’s tech to launch
a capsule like Voyager 1 and get it up to speed compared to what
would be needed if were to send the same capsule out there and then
have it turn around, come back and return safely: https://what-if.xkcd.com/imgs/a/38/voyager_comparison.png
Even if you’re using much much more efficient propellants, you will still
run into the same problem. It’s simply based on the fact that conservation
of impulse (aka Newtons first law) requires you to kick some mass off
your ship to change the speed or course of your vessel – and that you have
carry all the propellant you might have to use around until you need it.
For the distances and speeds involved with space flight, rocket propelled
fighters are just too impractical.
(Rocket in this sense is anything that is subject to Newton’s laws. Your
grav drive is kinda cheating since it’s directly exchanging impulse with far
away bodies.)
Good example, I got stuck trying to explain that to my
father after he watched a test launch of ship 5? I can’t
remember…
Anyway it took 3 hrs and he still doesn’t get it….
I’d doubt they’d have many on hand, fighters would cost to
build and maintain and it seems to me they like going big
for long range ops. They’ve been hiding behind that treaty
for so long the need for them would seem pointless.
Petercat;
My thoughts exactly. Given the hit and run tactics preferred by the Catians
their ships are pretty well invincible as they out range the opposition and
even shields don’t stop the grav weapons.
But get in close where the grave weapons are ineffective
(as they don’t have the distance to reach C-fractional speeds)
and they have to use other weapons. The ‘Pride’ is still a formidable opponent
but the encounter with the security ship showed it can be hurt.
Imagine if the security ship had fired a half dozen missiles at the ‘Pride’
instead of two warning shots close by!
advantage, limits..? just a reminder these are terrans we are talking
about… people who through out history fought hopeless battles,,
and won, or in some held the line to make a difference,,.
(one comes to mind,, 1,000 to 1…)(or 50,000 to 1,. soldier captures
entire town.!)
these people also have a few force multipliers,
besides training an equipment ..
My wife is doing well, she is eating sitting up and is almost ready
to start using a walker. She’s still having swelling in her leg but
it’s minor. Mostly complaining that her butt hurts… well yeah!
President Elect Toxic Deplorable Racist SAH Neanderthal B Woodman Domestic Violent Extremist SuperStraight
They push those who get joint replacements pretty hard
because they are more likely to dislocated the artificial
joint if they don’t build up the surrounding tissues. A
dislocation now means another surgery so yeah.
“Cheesy anime”?! How dare you!
“Space Battleship Yamato” (mid 70s) was not cheesy!
It was very good for its time.
Especially for a young adult who was just discovering
the world of anime.
It wasn’t as available at that time as it is now.
PC, look up “Legend Of The Galactic Heroes”. Long time ago, watched a few episodes of the
original version i n Japanese, subtitled by fans. There is nothing like watching an immense
Fleet Battle with ‘The Bolero’ playing in the background, while the number of capital ships
destroyed, rapidly scrolls into the five digit range on each side, as you watch. And we’re talking
ships that have aircraft carrier size crews or larger.
I wasn’t talking about a good one Like that, just the cookie-cutter ones
that followed it in the 90’s and so on. Space Battleship Yamato was good
I’m talking about the one’s that used sexy teenage girls for crews.
Can you guess what kind he watches?
cookie cutter..? you mean like ,, project a-ko,,
cat girl nuku nuku,, air bats..
i can go on an on. with the hundreds i have,
or the hundreds i’ve seen, or the hundreds
i know about..
i have about 150 vhs,, 100 dvd,, 50 ld,, 20 beta..
Sorry but I lost interest in it long ago. I guess what did it
for me is how they like to depict young teenaged girls as
being long legged, large breasted and all secretly in need of
“urges” satisfied. I understand it’s how the Japanese artists
see American females but I found it unsettling. Sailor Moon was
a good example. That and my wife catching our 10 year old
reading hentai on my computer at 1am… just got the thing and
he had it so infected with viruses I had to do a full deep
reformat and reload everything from disks.
There are still a lot of stories in the anime world that
are worth watching for the story itself. I’m not going to
give any examples, as taste vary, but I have quite a few
in the “watch again” folder on my saved videos hard drive.
I’m not saying there isn’t any good ones, just there’s a lot
that appeals to preteen and teen boys, no real story just
pantie shots and “transformation” poses that had to be edited
for the USA to play.
The one thing I find of most interest? With the Wolf Empire’s gravity
drive missiles, conventional Electronic Countermeasures, flares, chaff
and radar decoys are completely useless. Once one of their missiles
are locked on a ship’s gravity signature, the only way to break that
lock on is to Either wormhole away, out accelerate the missile or to
somehow go FTL away from the battlezone.
All in all, not a very good chance of survival on the target’s part..
The problem with the gravity drive missiles is that they don’t discriminate.
So if you fire a spread at a group of warships, they will all attack the one
that’s closest, or has the most mass. Or the planet behind them.
The Empire might add guidance packages to some, but that would make
them larger and more expensive. Plus, they need time and space to
accelerate to destructive velocity, so they are distance weapons. Close in
are beam weapons and railguns.
Haven’t decided on nukes yet, they have advantages and disadvantages.
President Elect Toxic Deplorable Racist SAH Neanderthal B Woodman Domestic Violent Extremist SuperStraight
“…gravity drive missiles is that they don’t discriminate.
So if you fire a spread at a group of warships, they will
all attack the one that’s closest, or has the most mass.
Or the planet behind them.”
Research “God Rods”. (edit: Jerry Pournelle, 1950’s “Project Thor.”)
Supposedly new thinking of dropping (just dropping, no rockets, no
guidance) telephone pole sized metal rods from a satellite in high
orbit onto the intended target below. “X” mass times terminal
velocity times “Y” distance = “Z” energy.
Supposed to be able to make a nuke sized hole without the
radioactivity.
I watched a YouTube video on that same story a few days ago,
pretty scary stuff! I guess China had started testing shortly
after we looked into the tech, which could mean they got their
hands on the files from the project somehow…
The video said China took several up in a weather balloon and
then dropped the payload, even at several thousands of
feet the result was impressive!
They could build the missiles to self-destruct. Just before launching them they could add
a distance after launch so they will self-destruct after passing the enemy ships, but before
hitting another target like a nearby planet.
An IFF signal would keep friendly ships safe.
pC, remember those multiple rocket launchers that they put onto UH-1’s and Cobra helicopthers?
They developed guidance packages for THEM. Yep they now have rocket pods with guided rockets!
Worse, they even developed guided bullets! Yes, they’d roughly the size of .50 caliber rounds,
but they lock onto heat signaures, and guide themselves to their targets, but they are VERY
expensive
Petercat;
Simple solution, fire the grav missiles in pairs spaced a few minutes apart.
The first pair will impact the largest gravity signature ahead of it.
If that gravity signature is not fragmented the second missile pair will also
target it and so on until either the gravity signal is fragmented
or the missiles launched run out.
Any missiles remaining when the gravity signature is fragmented then targets
the new strongest gravity signature.
Adding guidance would allow a simultaneous launch but require an operator
to guide each one, thus increasing the number of crew needed.
errr, no thoughts on the above material save I hope Captain Mike
doesn’t blow up the package out of safety concerns!
Not sure if you will see this comment at all but: Our computer
Died Christmas Eve, during the blizzard we endured here in
Southern Ontario. We only got back online last Friday.
I have to say at this point, I am not sure if I am coming back
to DA, and going to be VERY little active on FB. I’ve become
rather jaded on some issues since the Republicans A) flubbed
the Mid-Terms and B) a bunch of them have proven to be RINOs
beyond the ones we already knew about. And I’ve dropped any
and ALL reading on politics, the climate-change FARCE, etc.
I fear for the future of the US. I’ve been thinking lately, we
would have been better off if biden had been in the car with
Teddy at Chappaquidic, all those years ago.
Anyway. If I do return to DA it will be with several short
stories in hand. Which means, it is going to be later this year.
Good to see you back. Sorry to hear about your computer issues.
I totally agree with your assessment on U.S. politics although
I do think having a lapdog press and multiple weaponized alphabet
agencies carrying water for the Ds didn’t help. I also suspect
that Kari Lake wasn’t the only R who lost due to election
chicanery. You folks in the People’s Republic of Canukistan
have your own issues.
I used to read “American Thinker”, ” Taki’s Mag” and “Flopping
Aces” daily but had to quit for the sake of my blood pressure. All
I watch on youtube is 2A updates, Thomas Sowell, Jordan Peterson,
and science/space related. I also watch Dr Robson on CDN. Of late
I have discovered a couple of series I used to watch before
Hollywierd got so work available through my Roku. Been watching
“Grimm” for over a week now. Six seasons of 22 episodes is going
to take a while. I don’t bother with FB or Twitter. Not worth the
aggravation. As bad as my ears are movies would be out of the
question EVEN IF they weren’t so woke – AND SO EXPENSIVE!
I watch movies and TV to be entertained. If I want to be preached
at I can go to church.
We’re already thinking TrueDumb will get a third turn in office from
the idiots. But the ‘conservatives’ are not doing us much better. The
PM of Ontario, Doug Ford, is doing his best to give developers the
green light anywhere he can, in the Greenbelt – which I think should
have been tripled in size, but apparently he wants it paved over.
Mine were American Thinker, The Federalist, Front Page and a couple
others. Being out in somewhat deep country and having limited internet,
I don’t watch many videos / youtube. As to movies, i would go to the
theatre to see them if I thought it was worth it, just to see it on
full-screen. Marvel’s ‘End Game’ was the last one I saw… and Marvel
has gone down the toilet since then, so if I watch any of those which
came out in the last 2-3 years, it will be from the library collection.
As with many others.
I have now, thanks for the link!
I shall have to re-save his blog to the new comp.
Hard to believe there are still entire nations
freaking out over covid.
Glad to see someone else from Ontario as well.
I love the People’s Republic of Canukistan. Too bad it’s true.
Politics bah humbug is the only publishable comment I can make.
Wonder what Captain Mike will think when he finds out who/why they
do have a beef with? Casualties in war are one thing, but abuse
& trophies are across a different line :{ Was the trophy kept
private to the group, or broadcast to the nation?
Meanwhile, Taritha seems to be enjoying a verbal hunt,
judging by that twitchy tail :}
President Elect Toxic Deplorable Racist SAH Neanderthal B Woodman Domestic Violent Extremist SuperStraight
“oh isn’t he cute! What’s his name?”
“Bear, careful he doesn’t like new people”
“Look he’s wagging his tail! He likes me!”
“No NO NOOO don’t touch him! (screams)
Honey, call 911… he did it again.”
Hey Petercat.
Not gone – just lurking till I have something to offer . . .
FYI – I check into every page and run thru past ones fairly often.
Like, good to see Babydoll again – recognized her hair . . .
Always good to see more of her.
Any chance the mouthy s-bag will get totally trounced . . .
One can but hope.
Bad idea to poke bears . . and Kitties.
The expressions on their faces tell so much.
Taritha using all that she observed and learned getting to this
time and position on the planet and being a true representative
of the interests, morals, values and desires of the Emperor.
This planet’s sovereign is enjoying the game, as is the other.
A few questions about space combat in your “universe”:
Where would you expect it to happen? Close to the portals? In orbit around a planet?
What scale (in miles/km across) would you think the battle field would be like?
You were talking about “close range” weapons – what range should these cover?
And at what range would long range missiles be fired?
Have grav rockets a higher range, compared to other missiles?
What’s the maximum acceleration of a grav missile – and how long can it sustain it?
How about non-grav missiles (max. accel and burn times)?
(sorry if I nerd-sniped myself – I just want to get a grasp of it)
It’s just: if combat takes place in orbit it’ll be quite something
different from “free space” (= no large mass close by)
And if we’re talking about a battle field spread over several
light seconds it’s something entirely different from enemy fleets
who almost collide with one another.
I’m sure the Catians are going to hate me for this:
But my guess is that the best tactic for Imperial vessels
would be to stay as far away from the enemy as they can.
Any conventional missile would have to carry a limited
amount of fuel (in relation to the payload) which limits
it’s top speed as well as it’s maneuverability.
A ship like the Pride should be able to dodge quite well,
at least if they’re able to spot the incoming missiles.
On the other hand, grav missiles should be pretty much undogeable
at any distance.
This is all speculation.
By what we know right now, the best way to deal with an invader is just as they
come out of a jump. A ‘short-range’ missile barrage will be extremely deadly with
the disorientation after a jump.
That’s why the rumor of an alternate FTL drive is a problem. This puts their entire
defense strategy into question.
However, the limits on space facilities in the Fringe Worlds and the Core World’s
reliance on ships might limit their strategic thinking. To cover a Jump Point you
don’t need ships. Unmanned launchers will do the trick.
But even the alternate FTL drive is easily compensated with enough time. You
just need more missile launchers around the defending system and the planet’s
orbit.
That’s the current knowledge. Though the Core Worlds might have stashed away
some surprises and the Empire is probably hard working on coming up a few
of their own.
But one factor might become the most important, one so often overlooked in warfare.
Morale.
The Core World fleet is not used to fighting an even war. How the crews react to
losses will have to be seen. At the same time, the Empire is highly motivated,
especially the Catians followed by their Fringe World allies that have been living
under the thumb of the core worlds for too long. And the Terrans? well, they are
still rebuilding their world. I doubt they will let anyone mess what they just got
back up. They also have too many ruthless Dictators on Terra, the last thing they
want are more from space.
Crew Member. “What are we dying here for again?”
Commander: “For the profit of rich people.”
Crew Member:”I don’t think so.”
President Elect Toxic Deplorable Racist SAH Neanderthal B Woodman Domestic Violent Extremist SuperStraight
And it’s one…two….three, what are we fighting for?
Don’t ask me I don’t give a damn
Next stop is Vietnam.
And it’s five..six..seven..open up the pearly gates
Well, don’t have time to wonder why,
WHOOPEE we’re all gonna die.
My thought was a simple drone, programed to see a known hostile,
if it’s shielded to wait it out, then fire grav drive missiles once it’s
crew is is awake and drops the shields. 50 single-use drones with
a couple of missiles each keeping station near to the portal would
limit the actions of anyone that’s not allowed in the planets space.
President Elect Toxic Deplorable Racist SAH Neanderthal B Woodman Domestic Violent Extremist SuperStraight
I love Elias’ grin/snicker. I bet he is really laughing inside.
I was thinking the same.
It’s a wonder he’s not ROFLOL!
Game. Set. And match!
BOOYAH!
Hi all, I am back again and caught up with reading all the comics
I missed. A lot has happened in TGW since my last post here.
A broken leg and a couple of nasty infections (not Covid) have
kept me in hospital
for most of the time since my last post with no more than a week
at home between them.
Still on the list are a gall bladder removal operation and a total
left knee replacement.
I also have two faulty heart valves, but they are not planning on
doing anything
unless the situation deteriorates further.
Slinom is a very thinly disguised abbreviation of Sly One or Slimy
One so unless he is playing a much more devious game than his
previous actions indicate I shall consider him the Slimy One.
The fat captain may not be such a bigot after all; just doing his
job in a bigoted society.
Maybe he will change his attitude after perusing the content of the
package at the base of the fire escape.
Yes. The package at the foot of the fire escape ladder.
I wonder what it could be?
My guess?
The head(s) of the CSA president (and/or others) that
made the decision to keep the Wolf Imperium Catian
pilot’s head as a trophy.
The confrontation with the President hasn’t happened yet.
That’s coming up next, stay tuned.
Hang in there Stripe, it’s rough I know, just stay strong
and don’t let them talk you into anything you don’t want.
Scarsdale;
I am not being forced into anything.
Removing the gall bladder is the best option to prevent a possible recurrence of the blood infection I had.
The total knee replacement is long overdue and I had been trying to get my local DR to put me down for one
for several years, but because I could normally walk into his surgery without any walking aids or an obvious limp
he didn’t seem to think it was a real problem.
Replacing the heart valve(s) is a much higher risk operation,
particularly if they can’t use the latest endoscope type operation to do it,
so they are not planning any action unless my situation deteriorates significantly.
Thank you. There are too many readers who no longer comment here.
It’s depressing, I miss their input.
Yep, I just hope for the people of CSA decide to make a change,
because the next time there won’t be a gentle conversation.
Taritha makes a very good point and the core is discovering they
have not only gone too far, but the Empire is going to be the ones
ringing the last call bell.
I truely wonder how many of the ships’ crew will be willing to return
to the core to explain how a single ship was able to capture so
many crews unharmed. Sure they destroyed several ships, but only
one crew was lost and not all of them, the families and a few of
the crew than managed to get into EVA suits. SS ships would of at
best blew them out of the sky, at worst tortured the crew and steal
the tech from the ship. All the while claiming it was justified!
Elias, Maintain yourself. you’re going to give it all away! I must admit,
Just wait till they find out
I’d be stifling a snicker or two myself
there’s more than just one fleet! Man it’ll rival any cheesy anime
space battle scene. (Quiet son, I watched that stuff while you were
still in training pants…) Jeez 33 yrs old and still defends that stuff…
heheh…
It still remains to be seen just how many ships the Core Systems
would be able to commit to a battle with the Empire.
Individually the grav-ships should be able to dance around in
circles around anything with “normal physics propulsion”.
But if they’re outnumbered like one hundred to one or worse?
Even that advantage has it’s limits.
Don’t forget the different fighting styles:
http://thegentlewolf.net/comic/tgw-887/
Speed, stealth and striking power. After all, German submarines had
a record of destruction all out of proportion to their mass as a group.
Until the Allies figured out how to compensate for their advantages.
And Allied subs pretty much starved the Japanese war machine.
Stealth in Space will probably only get you that far.
Once they start moving (as in: changing speed in contrast to
just orbiting around the next gravity center) they should be
easy enough to track.
In an open battle that’s bound to work only once.
And if the Core Worlds have enough in raw numbers, they always
can enforce an open battle, can’t they?
Just commit an all-in assault on – say – Catia, and the Empire
will *have* to respond in pretty predictable way.
Their main advantage would be “speed” – or rather acceleration
and independence from having to carry around massive amounts of
propellant. (That’s what I mean with dancing around the enemy).
Any space-worthy vessel can reach speeds of a few dozen miles
per second. But as long as you have to rely on ejecting some
sort of matter, the good ol’ rocket equation will bite your
arse. Pretty hard so.
As for firepower: we haven’t actually seen a real Core combat
vessel yet, or have we?
All I recall are rumors/friendly warnings about them having many
many things in the back hand … (and something about they might
be able to not having to use known portals?)
Not to forget: as I recall the grav tech can be used to “dampen the g-forces”
experienced by crew and material.
In other words: where any normal craft would have to limit itself to something like 5 gees
Imperial grav ships could easily survive 20 or even 50 gees.
High grav travel has risks, inertia comes into play when making turns
and anyone that’s made a hard turn at speed knows that you feel it
more the faster you go. Gravity and inertia are separate forces and
don’t effect the other. “Inertia dampeners” in scifi are based on that.
I know there’s a huge argument there but
https://academic.oup.com/mnrasl/article/395/1/L25/979755
covers much of the math. Basically inertia wants to keep an object
moving in a straight line while gravity pulls that object away from that
line. The reason many space bodies are tore apart is because of those
forces conflicting and a big rock is a lot stronger than a living body.
I’m not talking about real life physics here.
The same “technology” that’s used for the grav drive is also used to
provide artificial gravity and for mitigating g-forces in this comic here.
About the inertia: the others do have the same problem.
Only that they have to “waste” propellant for speeding up, slowing down
or changing course, while Imperial forces just switch from one celestial
body as “counterweight” to another.
They don’t even have to use some kind of energy source!
The worst problem they can run into is having to dump excess energy into
something (didn’t somebody – wink wink – say beam weapons just a few hours
ago?)
The tearing apart stuff is a bit more complicated like what you describe.
If two bodies are close to each other, the gravitational pull from one of the bodies
onto the other isn’t constant over that body.
Like, take Earth and Moon. The side of the Earth facing the Moon feels a slightly
stronger pull than the center and the other side a slightly lesser one.
The difference is strong enough to cause the Earth’s tides.
If the distance is smaller, this effect becomes stronger because gravity
goes down with the square of the distance (twice as far away means four
times less pull).
[Uncanny side node, if somebody here’s getting the in-joke – I just today made
a quip about Roche also being the name of an Astronomer …]
Oh I know, I was keeping it simple. I traded in my slide rule for a 3/4 inch
wrench long before I met my wife lol! There’s tidal forces, rock composition,
other gravity wells, a laundry list…
http://thegentlewolf.net/comic/tgw-866/
The Imperial Navy has a pretty good idea of the Core warship
capabilities, at least the units in current use. Whether they
have more modern/powerful units stashed away somewhere is
another question.
But until now, has the Core had any reason to upgrade their
fleet? R&D and making upgrades are expensive.
I vaguely recall that there once was some talk about the Core
having access to either additional portals or even technology
that’d allow them to create them at will.
The later would be a massive game changer.
I have also some vague memories about the Ptero warning
their new friends not to underestimate the resources of
the core worlds (in terms of ready to deploy ships)
core world ships.. just a reminder. are severely undermanned,
under supplied, and under maintained.. have been just a “show
of force” for about a hundred years.. they only have a few
ships ready to go,. (to bring waywards back in line..)
(probably why Slinom wants fleet ships back so bad..).
and,, with the core “mindset”, any new tech would be kept to
1 maybe 2 prototypes.! to keep very close tabs on it.!!
Lord knows (and PC) how many ships the core
worlds have in mothballs and how long it would
take to man and train full crews for them. It’s going
to take a major battle to take out the current fleets
the core has before they have a chance to react
with any specialized ships. I’m sure the core has
their most experienced captains in semi retirement
(flying desks or attending parties etc..) they could
reactivate.
There is also an advantage that the Empire has that the Core could easily
have, but doesn’t make much use of… Space fighters.
Imperial frigates carry eight on external docking points.
http://thegentlewolf.net/characters/ (scroll down)
Destroyers carry twenty-four in two rows, 12 facing forwards, 12 facing aft.
The Imperial Navy practices combined tactics a lot, the Core doesn’t
practice at all. They have no experience countering fighter swarms, and no
conception of the maneuvering abilities of small craft with grav drives.
The Imperial Navy understands that the Core will learn, and so are planning
for a fast and brutal war, not revealing their full capabilities if they don’t have to.
That doesn’t mean that they aren’t planning for other scenarios, as well.
At the moment, the destroyer is the largest warship they have, fitting their
concept of the fast strike in battles of speed and maneuver. They are building
two larger dedicated carriers, but they won’t be finished for a while.
The “Enterprise” and the “Hornet”, of course.
Again, there’s the problem of having to use a propellant.
If your fighter has to use up like half their mass just get up to
speed they pretty much turn into fire and forget missiles.
(You might say “hey just make them twice as heavy, then they
can stop and return” – no. Accelerating to 10 km/s, then turning around,
fly back at 10 km/s and eventually stop would be exactly the same as
accelerating to a total of 40 km/s, that’s four times as fast, and since
that damn rocket equation is exponential …
I you do the math you’ll find out that you’d have to use up over 99% of
your ships mass as propellant)
Since a picture says more than a thousand words:
Here’s a comparison of what you’d need with today’s tech to launch
a capsule like Voyager 1 and get it up to speed compared to what
would be needed if were to send the same capsule out there and then
have it turn around, come back and return safely:
https://what-if.xkcd.com/imgs/a/38/voyager_comparison.png
Even if you’re using much much more efficient propellants, you will still
run into the same problem. It’s simply based on the fact that conservation
of impulse (aka Newtons first law) requires you to kick some mass off
your ship to change the speed or course of your vessel – and that you have
carry all the propellant you might have to use around until you need it.
For the distances and speeds involved with space flight, rocket propelled
fighters are just too impractical.
(Rocket in this sense is anything that is subject to Newton’s laws. Your
grav drive is kinda cheating since it’s directly exchanging impulse with far
away bodies.)
Good example, I got stuck trying to explain that to my
father after he watched a test launch of ship 5? I can’t
remember…
Anyway it took 3 hrs and he still doesn’t get it….
I’d doubt they’d have many on hand, fighters would cost to
build and maintain and it seems to me they like going big
for long range ops. They’ve been hiding behind that treaty
for so long the need for them would seem pointless.
Petercat;
My thoughts exactly. Given the hit and run tactics preferred by the Catians
their ships are pretty well invincible as they out range the opposition and
even shields don’t stop the grav weapons.
But get in close where the grave weapons are ineffective
(as they don’t have the distance to reach C-fractional speeds)
and they have to use other weapons. The ‘Pride’ is still a formidable opponent
but the encounter with the security ship showed it can be hurt.
Imagine if the security ship had fired a half dozen missiles at the ‘Pride’
instead of two warning shots close by!
advantage, limits..? just a reminder these are terrans we are talking
about… people who through out history fought hopeless battles,,
and won, or in some held the line to make a difference,,.
(one comes to mind,, 1,000 to 1…)(or 50,000 to 1,. soldier captures
entire town.!)
these people also have a few force multipliers,
besides training an equipment ..
And here I’m starting to push 63 and been watching since I was in my early 20’s with Robotech.
I got my start with Ranma 1/2. Found the entire box set in a pawn shop.
My wife is doing well, she is eating sitting up and is almost ready
to start using a walker. She’s still having swelling in her leg but
it’s minor. Mostly complaining that her butt hurts… well yeah!
Congratulations and a quick recovery to your wife.
And strength and patience to you to take care of her.
In relation to what she just went through
that sounds like she’s recovering nicely.
They push those who get joint replacements pretty hard
because they are more likely to dislocated the artificial
joint if they don’t build up the surrounding tissues. A
dislocation now means another surgery so yeah.
I think mobilizing patients fast is usually the better way to go.
30 years back they used to “let them rest” for as long as
possible (at least over here) – which tended to lead to all
kinds of nasty problems.
So it seems to me she’s in good hands and on a good way.
“Cheesy anime”?! How dare you!
“Space Battleship Yamato” (mid 70s) was not cheesy!
It was very good for its time.
Especially for a young adult who was just discovering
the world of anime.
It wasn’t as available at that time as it is now.
https://9anime.vc/search?keyword=yamato
PC, look up “Legend Of The Galactic Heroes”. Long time ago, watched a few episodes of the
original version i n Japanese, subtitled by fans. There is nothing like watching an immense
Fleet Battle with ‘The Bolero’ playing in the background, while the number of capital ships
destroyed, rapidly scrolls into the five digit range on each side, as you watch. And we’re talking
ships that have aircraft carrier size crews or larger.
growing up i had, Kimba the White Lion,
Shogun Warriors, and Manzinger…
but,, what really sold me was..
Macross the Movie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uY4fme_AvW4
I wasn’t talking about a good one Like that, just the cookie-cutter ones
that followed it in the 90’s and so on. Space Battleship Yamato was good
I’m talking about the one’s that used sexy teenage girls for crews.
Can you guess what kind he watches?
cookie cutter..? you mean like ,, project a-ko,,
cat girl nuku nuku,, air bats..
i can go on an on. with the hundreds i have,
or the hundreds i’ve seen, or the hundreds
i know about..
i have about 150 vhs,, 100 dvd,, 50 ld,, 20 beta..
Sorry but I lost interest in it long ago. I guess what did it
for me is how they like to depict young teenaged girls as
being long legged, large breasted and all secretly in need of
“urges” satisfied. I understand it’s how the Japanese artists
see American females but I found it unsettling. Sailor Moon was
a good example. That and my wife catching our 10 year old
reading hentai on my computer at 1am… just got the thing and
he had it so infected with viruses I had to do a full deep
reformat and reload everything from disks.
There are still a lot of stories in the anime world that
are worth watching for the story itself. I’m not going to
give any examples, as taste vary, but I have quite a few
in the “watch again” folder on my saved videos hard drive.
I’m not saying there isn’t any good ones, just there’s a lot
that appeals to preteen and teen boys, no real story just
pantie shots and “transformation” poses that had to be edited
for the USA to play.
The one thing I find of most interest? With the Wolf Empire’s gravity
drive missiles, conventional Electronic Countermeasures, flares, chaff
and radar decoys are completely useless. Once one of their missiles
are locked on a ship’s gravity signature, the only way to break that
lock on is to Either wormhole away, out accelerate the missile or to
somehow go FTL away from the battlezone.
All in all, not a very good chance of survival on the target’s part..
The problem with the gravity drive missiles is that they don’t discriminate.
So if you fire a spread at a group of warships, they will all attack the one
that’s closest, or has the most mass. Or the planet behind them.
The Empire might add guidance packages to some, but that would make
them larger and more expensive. Plus, they need time and space to
accelerate to destructive velocity, so they are distance weapons. Close in
are beam weapons and railguns.
Haven’t decided on nukes yet, they have advantages and disadvantages.
“…gravity drive missiles is that they don’t discriminate.
So if you fire a spread at a group of warships, they will
all attack the one that’s closest, or has the most mass.
Or the planet behind them.”
Research “God Rods”. (edit: Jerry Pournelle, 1950’s “Project Thor.”)
Supposedly new thinking of dropping (just dropping, no rockets, no
guidance) telephone pole sized metal rods from a satellite in high
orbit onto the intended target below. “X” mass times terminal
velocity times “Y” distance = “Z” energy.
Supposed to be able to make a nuke sized hole without the
radioactivity.
I watched a YouTube video on that same story a few days ago,
pretty scary stuff! I guess China had started testing shortly
after we looked into the tech, which could mean they got their
hands on the files from the project somehow…
The video said China took several up in a weather balloon and
then dropped the payload, even at several thousands of
feet the result was impressive!
They could build the missiles to self-destruct. Just before launching them they could add
a distance after launch so they will self-destruct after passing the enemy ships, but before
hitting another target like a nearby planet.
An IFF signal would keep friendly ships safe.
pC, remember those multiple rocket launchers that they put onto UH-1’s and Cobra helicopthers?
They developed guidance packages for THEM. Yep they now have rocket pods with guided rockets!
Worse, they even developed guided bullets! Yes, they’d roughly the size of .50 caliber rounds,
but they lock onto heat signaures, and guide themselves to their targets, but they are VERY
expensive
Petercat;
Simple solution, fire the grav missiles in pairs spaced a few minutes apart.
The first pair will impact the largest gravity signature ahead of it.
If that gravity signature is not fragmented the second missile pair will also
target it and so on until either the gravity signal is fragmented
or the missiles launched run out.
Any missiles remaining when the gravity signature is fragmented then targets
the new strongest gravity signature.
Adding guidance would allow a simultaneous launch but require an operator
to guide each one, thus increasing the number of crew needed.
PC was concerned about missile targeting a friendly or a planet.
Your firing plan wouldn’t help with either problem.
Morning, Cat-Man!
errr, no thoughts on the above material save I hope Captain Mike
doesn’t blow up the package out of safety concerns!
Not sure if you will see this comment at all but: Our computer
Died Christmas Eve, during the blizzard we endured here in
Southern Ontario. We only got back online last Friday.
I have to say at this point, I am not sure if I am coming back
to DA, and going to be VERY little active on FB. I’ve become
rather jaded on some issues since the Republicans A) flubbed
the Mid-Terms and B) a bunch of them have proven to be RINOs
beyond the ones we already knew about. And I’ve dropped any
and ALL reading on politics, the climate-change FARCE, etc.
I fear for the future of the US. I’ve been thinking lately, we
would have been better off if biden had been in the car with
Teddy at Chappaquidic, all those years ago.
Anyway. If I do return to DA it will be with several short
stories in hand. Which means, it is going to be later this year.
Good to see you back. Sorry to hear about your computer issues.
I totally agree with your assessment on U.S. politics although
I do think having a lapdog press and multiple weaponized alphabet
agencies carrying water for the Ds didn’t help. I also suspect
that Kari Lake wasn’t the only R who lost due to election
chicanery. You folks in the People’s Republic of Canukistan
have your own issues.
I used to read “American Thinker”, ” Taki’s Mag” and “Flopping
Aces” daily but had to quit for the sake of my blood pressure. All
I watch on youtube is 2A updates, Thomas Sowell, Jordan Peterson,
and science/space related. I also watch Dr Robson on CDN. Of late
I have discovered a couple of series I used to watch before
Hollywierd got so work available through my Roku. Been watching
“Grimm” for over a week now. Six seasons of 22 episodes is going
to take a while. I don’t bother with FB or Twitter. Not worth the
aggravation. As bad as my ears are movies would be out of the
question EVEN IF they weren’t so woke – AND SO EXPENSIVE!
I watch movies and TV to be entertained. If I want to be preached
at I can go to church.
We’re already thinking TrueDumb will get a third turn in office from
the idiots. But the ‘conservatives’ are not doing us much better. The
PM of Ontario, Doug Ford, is doing his best to give developers the
green light anywhere he can, in the Greenbelt – which I think should
have been tripled in size, but apparently he wants it paved over.
Mine were American Thinker, The Federalist, Front Page and a couple
others. Being out in somewhat deep country and having limited internet,
I don’t watch many videos / youtube. As to movies, i would go to the
theatre to see them if I thought it was worth it, just to see it on
full-screen. Marvel’s ‘End Game’ was the last one I saw… and Marvel
has gone down the toilet since then, so if I watch any of those which
came out in the last 2-3 years, it will be from the library collection.
As with many others.
Did you get the latest blog from OnlyTheGhostsRemain?
View from the ground in Japan, scary stuff:
https://onlytheghostsremain.home.blog/2023/01/17/safe-and-effective-sudden-unexpected-death/comment-page-1/#comment-2406
I have now, thanks for the link!
I shall have to re-save his blog to the new comp.
Hard to believe there are still entire nations
freaking out over covid.
I blame the media for much of that, they keep up
“the shocking report on blah blah” when it’s the
same news over and over.
Glad to see someone else from Ontario as well.
I love the People’s Republic of Canukistan. Too bad it’s true.
Politics bah humbug is the only publishable comment I can make.
Morning! Whereabouts are you? We’re on the shore of Lake Erie.
London. I used to go fishing at Port Glasgow.
Great Pickerel fishing there. About 11 miles out.
>no beef with you
Wonder what Captain Mike will think when he finds out who/why they
do have a beef with? Casualties in war are one thing, but abuse
& trophies are across a different line :{ Was the trophy kept
private to the group, or broadcast to the nation?
Meanwhile, Taritha seems to be enjoying a verbal hunt,
judging by that twitchy tail :}
Yep. Want to judge a cat’s mood?
Watch the tail.
“oh isn’t he cute! What’s his name?”
“Bear, careful he doesn’t like new people”
“Look he’s wagging his tail! He likes me!”
“No NO NOOO don’t touch him! (screams)
Honey, call 911… he did it again.”
True story…. (face-palm)
Hey Petercat.
Not gone – just lurking till I have something to offer . . .
FYI – I check into every page and run thru past ones fairly often.
Like, good to see Babydoll again – recognized her hair . . .
Always good to see more of her.
Any chance the mouthy s-bag will get totally trounced . . .
One can but hope.
Bad idea to poke bears . . and Kitties.
The expressions on their faces tell so much.
Taritha using all that she observed and learned getting to this
time and position on the planet and being a true representative
of the interests, morals, values and desires of the Emperor.
This planet’s sovereign is enjoying the game, as is the other.
Empress,, Teresa is in charge now…
A few questions about space combat in your “universe”:
Where would you expect it to happen? Close to the portals? In orbit around a planet?
What scale (in miles/km across) would you think the battle field would be like?
You were talking about “close range” weapons – what range should these cover?
And at what range would long range missiles be fired?
Have grav rockets a higher range, compared to other missiles?
What’s the maximum acceleration of a grav missile – and how long can it sustain it?
How about non-grav missiles (max. accel and burn times)?
(sorry if I nerd-sniped myself – I just want to get a grasp of it)
Ummm… I’ll let my other readers speculate. You are asking
for an advanced look at the storyline, I’m afraid.
Yeah, that’s a point of course.
It’s just: if combat takes place in orbit it’ll be quite something
different from “free space” (= no large mass close by)
And if we’re talking about a battle field spread over several
light seconds it’s something entirely different from enemy fleets
who almost collide with one another.
I’m sure the Catians are going to hate me for this:
But my guess is that the best tactic for Imperial vessels
would be to stay as far away from the enemy as they can.
Any conventional missile would have to carry a limited
amount of fuel (in relation to the payload) which limits
it’s top speed as well as it’s maneuverability.
A ship like the Pride should be able to dodge quite well,
at least if they’re able to spot the incoming missiles.
On the other hand, grav missiles should be pretty much undogeable
at any distance.
This is all speculation.
By what we know right now, the best way to deal with an invader is just as they
come out of a jump. A ‘short-range’ missile barrage will be extremely deadly with
the disorientation after a jump.
That’s why the rumor of an alternate FTL drive is a problem. This puts their entire
defense strategy into question.
However, the limits on space facilities in the Fringe Worlds and the Core World’s
reliance on ships might limit their strategic thinking. To cover a Jump Point you
don’t need ships. Unmanned launchers will do the trick.
But even the alternate FTL drive is easily compensated with enough time. You
just need more missile launchers around the defending system and the planet’s
orbit.
That’s the current knowledge. Though the Core Worlds might have stashed away
some surprises and the Empire is probably hard working on coming up a few
of their own.
But one factor might become the most important, one so often overlooked in warfare.
Morale.
The Core World fleet is not used to fighting an even war. How the crews react to
losses will have to be seen. At the same time, the Empire is highly motivated,
especially the Catians followed by their Fringe World allies that have been living
under the thumb of the core worlds for too long. And the Terrans? well, they are
still rebuilding their world. I doubt they will let anyone mess what they just got
back up. They also have too many ruthless Dictators on Terra, the last thing they
want are more from space.
Crew Member. “What are we dying here for again?”
Commander: “For the profit of rich people.”
Crew Member:”I don’t think so.”
And it’s one…two….three, what are we fighting for?
Don’t ask me I don’t give a damn
Next stop is Vietnam.
And it’s five..six..seven..open up the pearly gates
Well, don’t have time to wonder why,
WHOOPEE we’re all gonna die.
My thought was a simple drone, programed to see a known hostile,
if it’s shielded to wait it out, then fire grav drive missiles once it’s
crew is is awake and drops the shields. 50 single-use drones with
a couple of missiles each keeping station near to the portal would
limit the actions of anyone that’s not allowed in the planets space.
(Skipper): “Just smile and wave, boys, smile and wave”.
69 comments. A new record.
Okay, 70 now, but still…