On Thu, Feb 22, 2018 at 7:38 PM, Kurt Feltenberger <xxxxxx@thepaw.org> wrote:

On 2/22/2018 7:01 PM, Richard Aiken wrote:

Have you read any of David Weber's Honorverse books, particularly the middle ones? Missile pods were a literal game changer for the fleets in that universe. In Traveller, they might be even more of one, because it would only be starships that would need all the extra bits. For system defense use, you just need the pods themselves and a framework to hold them, as they're towed into action behind SDBs. Slew the framework's broadside toward the enemy, then let loose! :)

It's an interesting idea, but one that would need development to be integrated into the various designs.  Nothing happens within a vacuum, and while the offensive capability is substantial, I can't see it being utilized without a similarly effective defense being developed to counter it.

IIRC, the "similarly effective defense" was for the attacking force to *also* tow large numbers of missile pods into battle, where the heaviest initial broadside usually carred the day. In the Honorverse, this returned the sides to relative parity in effectiveness, since starships could achieve FTL speeds while in real space (thus making towing a long chain of pods practical).

In Traveller - due to the restrictions imposed by the jump drive - arriving in-system with a large number of towed missile pods is impossible for an attacking force. This would leave them with the more traditional option of layered countermeasures. Unfortunately, these rely upon sensitive sensors, especially of the passive variety. If the first wave of the incoming massive missile salvo is composed of high-yield nukes intended to scrag the opposing sensors with EMP, those sensors aren't going to be very effective as the salvo closes in. Add protective shrouds over the sensor heads of the remaining missiles in the salvo - timed to fall away after said EMP has gone by and also after the missiles have flown through the worst of the defender's point defense particle beams - and the defender's are looking at quite a lot of damage.

Better bring black glodes along!   

--

Richard Aiken

"Never insult anyone by accident."  Robert A. Heinlein

"I studied the Koran a great deal. I came away from that study with the conviction there have been few religions in the world as deadly to men as Muhammed." Alexis de Tocqueville

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