Questions tagged [space-combat]
For questions regarding the physics/mechanics/dynamics of space combat.
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How much of an advantage is it to have high acceleration in space combat
I was thinking, How much of an advantage is it to have engines capable of very high acceleration in space combat with an opponent who cannot accelerate so quickly? Specifically, if you have a ...
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Someone just nuked your very expensive ship. What is keeping your ship intact?
So, in my setting, the (space) warships can get pretty big and tough. Some of the big ones can take hundreds of hits and still keep going. However, the problem I've run into is Nukes. Even if your ...
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How to fight effectively on a space station [duplicate]
So the question here is fairly simple. What kind of weapons can you use on a space station that can kill someone in advanced body armor, and even the occasional person in powered armor, without too ...
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Rock as a heat sink
I was thinking of having large ships made from asteroids in my setting, and I was wondering: How effective of a heat sink would the (very thick) shell of an asteroid be? Would it be significant(...
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What are advantages of plasma based weaponry in ship-to-ship combat
I want to know what are some general advantages(and disadvantages) of using plasma-based weaponry over kinetics. I know containment is generally the killer, but in my setting that is a non-issue ...
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How could a spacecraft defend against a train of small hypervelocity impactors?
Hypervelocity (30 km/s) impactors tend not to penetrate that deep, even though they can have an enormous amount of kinetic energy. The penetration depth can be approximated by $l_i \sqrt{\rho_i/\rho_a}...
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Realistic protection for spaceships against kinetic projectiles
With relatively current technology (i.e. no force shields, etc) what are ways to protect a spaceship (or at least mitigate the amount of damage) against hypervelocity kinetic projectiles? I'm a ...
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Missile Heavy space combat: Do you want fire and forget, or SEAD and destroy?
Missile combat can be immediate and intimate, requiring EW support and even escort, or distant and very impersonal, where you're lobbing yours immediately before running away from your enemies, ...
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Would a laser resistant (heavily heat resistant?) armour for space ships have unfortunate consequences and would it still have to deal with heat?
Basically, I want to decisively put an end to any idea that lasers could be used in my space combat in any large degree. One of the solutions I've thought of is a world having advanced armour (either ...
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Would a ferro fluid cloud work as a "force" field for space combat?
Bit of a weird question, but lemme explain. I want to make shields that block lasers but don't block projectiles, As lasers in my world are very powerful.
I heard that military grade lasers can be ...
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How would a multipurpose railgun work
In my game, spaceships need to have weapons with more than one purpose, due to the cost of hauling extra weight across interplanetary/interstellar space. My railgun needs to be able to fire plasma ...
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What would be the most effective shape for interlocking starfighters? [closed]
This is a question relating to my Safespace sci-fi setting, in which the Unified Intergalactic League attempts to keep peace between the litany of sapiods (a classification for intelligent creatures ...
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Relativistic Droplet Accelerator
In this blogpost, Matter Beam discuss a potential weapon that based of a concept meant for interstellar travel. The concept is that the particles in a particle beam are allowed to cool and condense, ...
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Ideal materials for the outer layer of a whipple shield
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whipple_shield
What I'm looking for is the best possible materials for the outer layer of a whipple shield. From what I understand, the outer layer turns a hypervelocity ...
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Why are my combat spacecraft crewed?
In my universe, humans are pretty good with AI and have some experience in space combat, as nations fought for resources.
Regarding the world, humanity remains in the solar system and is in space ...
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