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Adrast Type Tactical Missile

Zakalwe

Zakalwe

Inactive Member
https://wiki.stararmy.com/doku.php?...unitions:installation:adrast_tactical_missile

For the Adrast Automated Defence Station which I'll be putting up once/if this is approved. I realise that the speed is on the high side, although significantly below other missiles - the reason is that since it's a stationary object if it fires a missile that is significantly slower than what it's firing at unless the ship flies straight into it it won't hit.

Willing to take advice :)
 
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Well, say I have a plotship that has to get past an installation firing such ordonance. What do I have to do to get past it and survive?

I have a personal belief that most of the technology in SARP is supposed to enrich the experience player characters have aboard plotships, rather than make faction nigh-invulnerable. I'm wondering how you believe this could contribute in such a fashion, because if this tactical missile is allowed to reach high speed (and the sensors on the installation tell me it probably will be) it's not going to be something that can be dodged or countered against by the target playerbase.
 
See I'm not sure that's true - I have never seen much to stop a ship either launching a counter-missile or simply blasting a missile away using a beam weapon - or indeed just evading it untill either measures work. Indeed the fact that the missile is relatively slow for the majority of the time means that shooting it down shouldn't be much of a problem - just the sort of challenge which I understood made space combat quite interesting.

Anyway, going full pelt the missile goes at 3,000c; the Himiko goes close to 13,000c; the Plumeria close to 19,000c; the Vampire 67,000c; the Zahl 10,000c; Ayana 16,500c; Raptor 15,000c; Hray 17,500. As such the missile is less than a third the speed of any plotship I could fine - and normally a missile is meant to be faster than its target. For example the Starstreak Missle (surface to air) goes at Mach 3.5, and yet its targets are unlikely to be going at Mach 11. Incidentally the experemental NASA X-43 (the fastest plane in the world) goes at Mach 9.8.

A missile is meant to be a threat which needs to at least be taken into account by the ship it is being fired at, and it can't do that if it is lagging too slowly behind. That being said - Fred, I don't want to make the system nigh-invulnerable - I just want to make it challenging, if you could recommend a speed which you think would do that I'd be happy to lower it.
 
I think I remember a conversation about this a long while ago... when there were debates over how to implement cruise missiles without making them overpowering in close starship-to-starship combat.

You could go and paint this view of "allowing the players to make a difference" and "making sure that stuff around the site promotes roleplay for the players" as Fred's Doctrine. Keheh. XD

I'm contented by your explanation. Thank you.
 
I actually think this works admirably to the close combat argument for missiles.

It starts of slow but the further it goes the faster it travels - this means in close combat it is counterable because it is still slow moving. (And, of course, it goes at about 1/3 the speed of your slowest plotships, which makes it hard to believe they couldn't counter it anyway. Maybe not easily, but then weapons aren't made to be easily defended against.)
 
Interdiction Field

The Adrast is capable of projection a powerful artificial gravitic field which serves to disrupt the operations of all FTL drives within a specific aera of effect, which serves an obviously great strategic role in the protection of the system. The maximum size of the area of effect is 0.5 AU cubed, and the minimum is 500 meters cubed, although the actuall size is controlled in reference to the Elysian tactical movement and is usually controlled by a higher power. It can also serve to reverse an enemies interdiction effect in up to a 0.25 AU region of space.
Click to expand...
How does this alter the equation?
 
It was my understanding that CDD's (and the SDG) continued to operate, albeit at great reduced rates, in the presence of the Interdiction field - thus the very slow rates to begin with as it leaves the field. If this is not the case then I will have to provide it with alternative STL engines or a rail-launching system.

Just how do CDD's work in an interdiction field?
 
Hold on.

So, in an interdiction field, the warhead is launched and goes at 0.75c as long as its fuel reserves last?
 
In an interdiction field the missile is launched using a rail-gun style device within the Station; once it leaves the field the SDG begins to propel it.
 
So, when the projectile leaves the roughly 1 AU big interdiction field (most are that big), it starts accelerating like the chart says.

...that's a pretty long wait, but, that's how it is with most other things in an anti-ftl zone. The range is 0.5 ly too, so, I suppose there's still some use in having it travel on after the ~12 minute wait.
 
Ah, as it says in the article - when firing the missile (and in a situation where this will not give a serious tactical advantage to the enemy) the station shrinks is Interdiction field to its smallest possible level which is 500m2 - the field then is expanded behind the missile as it moves away.

Make sense/seem reasonable?
 
It's not an issue of the submission being wrong so much as clarification.

Launching the guided projectile and expanding the interdiction field behind it works, but what if the target has an interdiction field of its own? What if the tactical missile leaves the launcher only to be in an interdiction field from another entity? What if it does leave the proximity of the launch point and accelerate to super-luminal speeds only to come into another interdiction field later on its flight path?
 
Well methinks that most missiles come into these same problems don't they? Well, I suppose I can equip it with a gravitic drive which is well within the capabilities. I'll do that then.
 
Please submit the new version when ready.
 
So... if the missile hits a interdiction field at FTL speeds, it immediately drops out of super-luminal speed to go at 0.8c, if I understand Zakalwe's interpretation correctly.

0.8c makes it a rather decent STL warhead and it's a cruise missile to boot! It makes me wonder if the missile might not be a little small compared to the other FTL warheads around, such as the AS-7. Not very significant, but it could affect launcher size and how many can be in storage.
 
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