1/1/2300: "Black January" [Sci-fi, Cyberpunk NRP set in the Solar System]

[Willy Vereb]

The conventional railgun does normally fire solid ultra-dense slugs. If there are correctable railguns slugs, then the possibility of a knife fight is essentially null. Who ever has the best railgun wins, hands down every time. Your plasma arc will do nothing to the slug other than turn it into a cloud of molten hot metal still traveling as fast as it was before, if the arc even has enough time to act upon it. CIWS will not be able to intercept something so fast and a missile would face the same interception problem. A ship could not out run a self correcting round, at least not larger ships. I find the idea to be a bit OP.

@FrostedCaramel

Alright, since Keyguy haven't returned yet I think I can address this worry in better detail.
A missile has propulsion and overall it's kind of like a small automated spacecraft in capability. Now compare this with a guided projectile. Unlike missile which has on-board propulsion the projectile would only have some maneuvering thrusters for small course corrections and terminal guidance. They would not be as maneuverable as ships and their velocity would be realistically around 20-60 km/s plus the velocity of the launching ship. Even if we assume some fictional boost and call it 200km/s it'd be about the same velocity as the enemy spaceship going at average. It'd take about 1.5 hours to reach the target from 3 lightseconds while if you are lucky you can detect the projectile within 3-6 seconds. You have over an hour to react. Of course the projectile has sensors and can correct its path but it'd be a long chase. Said projectile has limited fuel and subpar maneuvering units compared to a full sized ship. The advantage over missiles would rather be cheapness, lightness and the fact it reaches the target from distance about twice as fast without less obvious signs of its arrival. Yes, this might make them better than missiles in a certain aspect but the latter has warheads and can use proximity detonation with a nuke or use even more standoff methods like nuke-pumped lasers or nuclear shaped charges. They also have more room for gadgets thus electronic warfare or even owning a CIWS is not out of question for these. So yeah, there's a benefit in both.

As for interception, aside from electronic warfare which is obviously plausible you can also shoot it down. CIWS can be of anything and if it's close enough then it cannot maneuver much so even coilguns with inferior speed can work. Plasma arc method is a bit iffy when it'd likely intercept from meters or perhaps just centimeters. But depending on intensity it works. Basically as the projectile is vaporized it'd turn on itself as an improvised ERA so the damage would be indeed less albeit not zero. Lasers would be a rather obvious choice and probably combat would involve finding means to overwhelm such defenses. And again, there is more than a hour of time before the projectile closes in. It's possible to launch your own guided projectiles or smaller missiles to intercept the target from long range.
Overall battles could be much more complex and exciting than just one side shooting their uber projectiles first and the enemy having no response against it. Much more.
This is also the part where submarine warfare comes in. Because anything but DEWs would be taking so long they're better compared to torpedoes.

[Polymorpheus]

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[ClocktowerEchos]

Not sure if I can dedicate all of my time, but in the case I can, here's a WIP.
As it stands right now, I'm mostly based on Mars with a few holdings in the form of stations elsewhere in the system.
There's probably some things I missed in the course of the this thread's life so do tell me if I have made such mistakes.
In case its not abundantly clear from what I've said in the sheet, I DO NOT OWN ALL OF MARS.

The Mechanicus

Faction Name:
The Mechanicus (Most Common)
The Holy Mechanical Technocracy of Mars (Official)
Machine Kingdom Kingdom
The Cult Collective
The Cult Mechanicus

Faction Government:
Theocratic-Oligarchical-Monarchy (its complicated)

Ruled by the Archmagos from the Fortress-Forge of Rediron Prime, the Archmagos has complete control over the military, spiritual and economic aspects of the entire Mechanicus. The title is technically non-hereditary and supposidly a meirtocracy but given the politicking that goes on, more often then not "dynasties" are established from the ruling elite. Supporting the position of Archmagos is the Fabricator Counsel which contains advisers, representatives and general underlings who help in the administration of the Omnissiah's hollowed lands.

The Current Archmagos is one Alwyne Sydonia, third of his line.

Territory/Claims:
The Mechanicus holds considerable claims of land on Mars, although not all. Their territory is easily marked by massive manufactory-temples and hive cities that cram millions into their lands with thick pollution and rivers of molten metals and a network of pipes and wires going everywhere.

Beyond Mars, the also have claims to a handful mining and research stations in the astroid belt as well as on an undisclosed moon of Jupiter as well as at least one gas mining station on Venus.

Culture:
It's been a long time, and a lot of people from a lot of different places have given birth to a lot of descendants. Do you hold an old culture from Earth dear? Have you naturally developed one over the years? Did you purge the old and invent a new culture in some kind of space nationalist revolt? Give us an idea of how your people think, act, and even greet each other if you like.

The Mechanicus put the "cult" in "culture"; their way of life is something never seen on Earth although one could make connections to cultures such as German and Japanese, even if only in the most superficial of industrial work ethics. Many non-believers see it as a cult of machine worship although that is only partly true.

Knowledge and enlightenment are key components for the Cult Mechanicus; the object of worship is the Machine God is an immanent and omnipotent spirit that governs all technology, machinery and knowledge in Creation. The Machine God is believed to be friendly to humanity, and to be the originator of all human technological and scientific knowledge. According to the teachings of the Cult Mechanicus, knowledge is the supreme manifestation of divinity, and all creatures and artifacts that embody knowledge are sacred because of it.

This deity is not a person, but rather a force immanent in the universe. For unspecified reasons, it has appointed humans as its chosen people, and reveals its true designs and machines to them through selected prophets. In order to interact with the physical world it was also prophesied to create a physical avatar, called the Omnissiah.

Machines are seen holy and much stronger than that of flesh for to the Cult, the flesh is weak and iron is strong. A near fetishization of implants, prosthetics and bionics are wide spread amongst the the people, becoming increasingly common and complex the higher up the social ladder you go. Some of the highest members of society are said to be more machine than man at this point. The lower classes try to emulate this in the vain hope of mimicking the upper social echelons to one day become them through cruder, simpler attachments to their bodies or even just tattoos.

The AI who have both converted and created by the Mechanicus share a similar zeal and have proven to be loyal allies and followers, perhaps out of the fact that their existence is treated as a semi-mythic thing in of itself. Many wealthy nobles have their children "bonded" to an AI in which the natural brain of man is combined with the logic subroutines of an AI, creating something new entirely. While the Mechanius see such a perfect hybrid of man and machine as sacred and beautiful, to the rest of the system it varies from curious to horror.


History:
A summary of the faction’s history, pretty straightforward. Start around the colonial era depending on when it was involved (a lunar nation's history would begin with the founding of the first colony in its territory, while an Earth nation's would start from when it became involved in space colonization). Remember that most of early colonization (up until the deeper parts of the asteroid belt) was done by corporations here.

Technology:
An overview of the faction’s technological capabilities. Keep in mind the general scale I outlined. If there are any questions, PM me.

Military:
The military/policing arm of the Mechanicus, the Skitarii, is long seen as a merciless machine by many. Unflinching and robotic in their movements, with no remorse or compassion to an inhuman extent. This is partially due to the intesive implants many of the soldiers have and the fact they are often literally controlled by their commanding officer in a manner akin to remote controlled toys. While the grunts see themselves as the holy weapons of the Omnissiah's brilliance, the commanders just see them as assists and machines to be used in any manner they deem fit.

[LokiLeo789]

@ClocktowerEchos

While I haven't posted my CS, I also lay claims to a 'specified' regions of Mars that take up considerable space also.

[ClocktowerEchos]

@LokiLeo789 Ye, I saw that which is why I made sure to clear up that I didn't have all of Mars. Would you be willing to split it 50/50 or whatever else if there's someone else who decides they want a chunk o' Mars?

Also, nice to see you again Loki :>

[LokiLeo789]

@LokiLeo789 Ye, I saw that which is why I made sure to clear up that I didn't have all of Mars. Would you be willing to split it 50/50 or whatever else if there's someone else who decides they want a chunk o' Mars?

Also, nice to see you again Loki :>

@ClocktowerEchos

Likewise. Splitting Mars in half seems unfair in general. How about 25/25 to better offset possible interest?

[ClocktowerEchos]

<Snipped quote by ClocktowerEchos>

Likewise. Splitting Mars in half seems unfair in general. How about 25/25 to better offset possible interest?

@LokiLeo789

Fine by me mate.

[LokiLeo789]

<Snipped quote by LokiLeo789>

Fine by me mate.

@ClocktowerEchos

Great! Fair word of warning though mate, The Mechanicus will receive no mercy its Martian neighbor.

[Willy Vereb]

@Willy Vereb Assuming a rocket with Lunar gravity acceleration, you can reach 200 km/s in 1 day and 10 hours over ~41 light seconds. Assuming Earth gravity acceleration, you can reach that in 5 hours and 40 minutes over ~7 light seconds. Given the inner system is ~46 light minutes across, repositioning units at these velocities isn't much of a tactical issue.

Combine this with modern railguns firing ~11 kg rounds at ~2 km/s for a mere 32 megajoules, packing dozens of tungsten rods in dispersal units, radiator vulnerability to lasers, rotating spacecraft minimizing direct laser strikes, having inactive stealthed missiles available to strike incoming targets, turning missiles into portable laser platforms, limiting military channels to quantum entanglement transceivers, and using enveloped fragments of comets as hulls and heat sinks, I'd say space warfare falls somewhere between a clusterfuck and a game of "who can make the most officers betray their superiors?".

@catchamber

I feel you haven't directly responded to my post here.
Yes, you don't need to accelerate for the whole trip to reach 200km/s. The problem is rather that no matter what you'd have limited fuel and propellant to use. That and even if the ship has enough fuel for multiple times of this delta-v it wouldn't use that for more speed in caution for maneuvers and eventually to decelerate when reaching its destination.

As for you citing railguns, unfortunately the formula for velocity within such system is roughly v^2 = 2*a*s which means if you raise the acceleration or armature length the velocity won't raise in proportion but rather by its square root. So when I raise the length of the acceleration from 10m (navy railgun) to 1000m (spinal gun) its velocity would only raise by 10 times. So to around 20-35km/s. Granted, the navy railgun is far from the fastest you can achieve. Taking other experiments as an example solid projectiles can withstand maybe even hundred times of this. Albeit realistically it's questionable you can put any complexity into such systems. But again, fiction. We can afford to err to the side of fun. Also the projectiles won't be absolutely cold, either. Railgun rounds are heated to 1000+ Kelvins during launch. Even if we assume less waste heat due to efficiency the weapon has much more power here to begin with. So the projectile would be almost glowing hot. Still, that's just a twinkle in the dark compared to the blaze that is a space rocket on active burn. The projectile will cool and would only provide heat signatures when performing maneuvers. So yes, it'd be relatively stealthy. But not quite that much. Also yes, space battles would be long and complex. Albeit I am sure we'll find a way to roleplay them in a more accessible manner.

As for quantum entanglement comms, they'd still need radio/laser comms to even work. You see the reason why quantum entanglement doesn't allow superluminal communication is because you can't transmit information with them. Or more like you only can if you know the measurements both sides made. Which means in order to confirm the information you need that data be sent via conventional measures. Same for quantum comms if they'd ever work. Chances are high that we'd only use such system at specific times while radio or laser communication would dominate. Especially when you consider the devices needed for quantum comms would be sensitive so you wouldn't fire them out as part of a projectile.

[Polymorpheus]

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[Willy Vereb]

<Snipped quote by Willy Vereb>
Just stating my observations.

@catchamber

Confused you with FrostedCaramel for the moment so pardon me on that.

<Snipped quote by Willy Vereb>
Considering fusion's unrealistically powerful in this roleplay, we could provide lots of hydrogen from Earth, Mars, Ceres, asteroids, outer system planetoids, and comets. We could also provide lots of helium from Mercury, Luna, gas giants, and Kuiper belt objects. If we add in all the statites, orbital tethers, other reactionless drives, aluminium oxide fuel from Earth and Luna, and methane fuel from wherever organic people live, we end up with most spacecraft almost always having enough fuel for constant acceleration, deceleration, course corrections, and spin gravity.

Not even close. Just because you can replenish your fuel that doesn't mean you can freely waste it on full throttle. That and depending on fusion mechanism you can't even naturally replenish your reactor fuel. Similarly your propellant is cheap but not something you can ignore.
But this is almost irrelevant. What isn't is that if such were plausible then it'd invalidate almost anything but laser weapons from combat because there's no way a projectile or even a missile could catch up to them.
200km/s is a nice average value which is fast enough to be "interesting" thus viable for cool space battles and feasible space travel yet it isn't too much to invalidate much of the nuances and fun of the hard sci-fi.

If the rounds are torpedoes, preferably multistage rockets that have their own railguns, they can reach higher speeds without needing excessively long cannons.

@catchamber

And that's the torpedo. We talk about the "coilguns" or spinal guns here. I think you missed my list from the previous page.
Torpedoes could have railgun or coilgun mechanism giving them an initial boost but that's not our topic. It's about a gun launching a guided projectile with only the bare minimum of maneuvering capability. Adding a propulsion unit to this would be counterintuitive. Not to mention the ship is unlikely to have enough energy to launch such a projectile. I think you could at least try to make a few basic calculations on this why. Even the pure KE required to accelerate a 20kg slug to 200km/s is 400GJ and with waste it would approach the terajoule range. If you try to get an at least 2-10 ton missile to reach the same velocity you'd need more energy than the first atomic bomb.
That and again, these spinal guns fire relatively simple projectiles. They're far less sensitive to acceleration than a missile would.

That being said there are still some inventive methods which might make this weapon a bit more interesting. I am just saying you have a bit of misconception here.

Are you sure they're only hot because of magnetic acceleration, and not also due to the friction from hypersonic motion through air? Even if they're still scalding when launched through vacuum tubes, I'm sure you could find a way to exploit that heat to generate extra thrust.

@catchamber

Absolutely.
Look, firearms push the projectile with the expansion of gases at extreme temperatures and hypersonic velocities. Do the copper and lead bullets melt in the process? No. During the operation of the railgun you focus the magnetic fields on the projectile for repulsive force. You directly use energy to move it and this has certain inefficiencies which shows in heat buildup.

As for using that heat for extra thrust...it's plausible but you would lose much more in the possess. You'd have to add complexity which reduces the max acceleration the projectile can bear. You'd also need to add some kind of propellant because few hundred degrees won't provide enough radiation pressure for this to matter. Propellant which is a dead weight in the overall scheme of things.

Normally, I'd agree, but

... quantum entanglement can transmit data instantaneously from one side of the solar system to the other.

@Keyguyperson

@catchamber

Wow, I think @Keyguyperson might need to nerf that since the potential for abusing this is huge and besides I think he only wants this for convenient "real time convos" between the governments of faraway factions.
As things are there's absolutely no reason why people wouldn't exploit this for interstellar conquest and to establish empires beyond the solar system.
... Or create super drones that can be controlled from any corner of the solar system. Equally problematic.
I know neither of these are Keyguy's intentions so this is why I tell you.

[LokiLeo789]

Star Aramas

Faction Name:

Star Aramas

Faction Government:

Stratocracy: The ruling political organization of Aramas is the 'Star Aramas', and it acts as the head of the military. In Aramas, the military controls every aspect of the political landscape; there is no separation between the warfare and politics. In fact, Generals stand as both the Board of Directors and the ruling body of 'Star Aramas', and is led by the 'Star General', whom in which is voted in by the his or her contemporaries.

Territory/Claims:

Martian Territories

Aramas Prime

The crown jewel of the Aramian Empire is carved deep into the base of Mars' Mount Sharp and sprawled across the Gale Crater, centermost of the Aeolis quadrangle. Founded as the military contractor firm's colony in the early 22nd Century, the once tiny settlement is now the focus point of an ever-growing empire.

Aeolis Quadrangle

A popular landing sight in the early colonization era, is now the center point of the Aramian Empire. Expanding outwards, the armies of Aramas conquered its close neighbors in the region with relative ease in the early 23rd Century. Since then, a large number of smaller cities have dotted the region, most of which are military training facilities and barracks used to house the civilians of conquered regions.

Eridania Quadrangle

Sought after in the years following the Aeolis Campaign, the Eridania Quadrangle stands as one of the richest and largest campaign in the empires history. Despite heavy opposition from opposing Mars based institutions, Aramas managed to rip cites out of corporatocratic control, destabilizing dozens of enterprises that established headquartered there. The Eridania Campaign is marked by the hostile takeover of dozens of companies in the region, earning Aramas subsidiaries in various industries. With the wealth gained from the campaign, the Eridania Quadrangle houses the vast majority of Aramas' mining complexes, military equipment forges and military ground transportation factories.

Elysium Quadrangle

The sight of Aramas' most recent successful campaign on Mars, the Elysium Quadrangle lies southwest of the capital. The vast flat landscape is home to heavily populated metropolises and Aramas' brand new energy sector, marked by a vast sea of solar panels used to power the energy guzzling nation.

Interstellar Territories

Olympus

A subsidiary acquired during the Eridania Campaign, Olympus is a massive complex of orbital shipyards, refineries, construction facilities and space-docks in low areostationary orbit above the Eridania Quadrangle that churns out the bulk of the Aramian Empires various Fleet ships. It also doubles as Aramas' main interstellar base, training pilots and directing the Aramian Fleet.

Phobos

Once a mining outpost, the largest and closest moon of Mars now serves as a military surveillance outpost, taking in vast amounts of information on the nations neighbors and doubling as a slingshot for Fleet ships into deep space.

Culture:

The citizenry of Aramas generally stands behind the principle that "only the strong survive", regarding the qualities of benevolence and compassion as signs of weakness. Strength begets strength, at least as far as the people of Aramas are concerned. This seeming cruelty, however, is not an indicator of chaos. As is naturally and necessarily the case with humankind, Aramas is an orderly nation, where rules protect the citizenry from harm... at least from their peers. In Aramas, however, those with power are clearly protected by the law more than those without it.

A nation of brutal expansionists, military service in Aramas is compulsory for a period of eight years, with all of its citizens retained as active reservists until their golden years. Active Aramian military personnel are afforded a higher level of citizenship in Aramian society; offering them Stewardship opportunities and familial acclaim, so it is not uncommon for most citizens to remain active in the military for fifteen or more years.

Once one completes his or her service, citizenship is normalized and freedom to pursue personal agendas are granted. Citizens can open businesses under the Star Aramas name, trading with the nations allies or selling within his or her community. Employment in infrastructure is also looked upon highly, especially in the militaries regard.

Children on the other hand, are prepared for future basking in the legacy of their nation at a tender age. From seven, children are sent to agoge, a rigorous education and training program mandated for all Aramain citizens. Training involves mastering stealth, cultivating loyalty to the Star Aramas, extensive military training, social (communicating) preparation, business management and advanced levels of math, reading, and language. At eighteen, the just turned adult is thus ready to begin his or mandated eight years of service.

As Aramas expands and defeats neighboring cultures and cities, it offers the conquered people a choice; swear loyalty to Aramas, and be judged solely on your worth, or be destroyed. This is not subterfuge or any kind of ruse; the Aramian are as good as their word, and many who have embraced their conquerors' way of life find their prospects greatly improved. But those who refuse to bend the knee are crushed without mercy and made nigh-slaves. Whether a city and company is taken by force or willingly swears fealty to Aramas, its warmasons immediately set to work in stamping the empire's authority upon the newly acquired territory. Flags are ripped of their masts and replaced, traditional garb is burned to ash and Aramian colors soaked into its peoples hearts.

Conquered peoples that swear loyalty to Aramas become part of its armies and add their unique strengths to the empire's war efforts. Thus, regimentation and uniformity are anathema to the Aramian way of life. Nevertheless, conquered peoples aren't offered a full-citizenship with regards to military enlistment; only a pseudo-citizenship that allows one to work until a required fifteen years of military service is completed, then full-citizenship is granted.

Those who refuse Aramas' generous offer are forcibly taken slaves and refused the right to earn a pseudo-citizenship unless one willingly joins the military and completes a full fifteen years of service, then full-citizenship is granted.

History:

Technology:

Military:

[ClocktowerEchos]

Territory/Claims:

Martian Territories

Aramas Prime

The crown jewel of the Aramian Empire is carved deep into the base of Mars' Mount Sharp and sprawled across the Gale Crater, centermost of the Aeolis quadrangle. Founded as the military contractor firm's colony in the early 22nd Century, the once tiny settlement is now the focus point of an ever-growing empire.

Aeolis Quadrangle

A popular landing sight in the early colonization era, is now the center point of the Aramian Empire. Expanding outwards, the armies of Aramas conquered its close neighbors in the region with relative ease in the early 23rd Century. Since then, a large number of smaller cities have dotted the region, most of which are military training facilities and barracks used to house the civilians of conquered regions.

Eridania Quadrangle

Sought after in the years following the Aeolis Campaign, the Eridania Quadrangle stands as one of the richest and largest campaign in the empires history. Despite heavy opposition from opposing Mars based institutions, Aramas managed to rip cites out of corporatocratic control, destabilizing dozens of enterprises that established headquartered there. The Eridania Campaign is marked by the hostile takeover of dozens of companies in the region, earning Aramas subsidiaries in various industries. With the wealth gained from the campaign, the Eridania Quadrangle houses the vast majority of Aramas' mining complexes, military equipment forges and military ground transportation factories.

Elysium Quadrangle

The sight of Aramas' most recent successful campaign on Mars, the Elysium Quadrangle lies southwest of the capital. The vast flat landscape is home to heavily populated metropolises and Aramas' brand new energy sector, marked by a vast sea of solar panels used to power the energy guzzling nation.

@LokiLeo789

>Aramas Prime
>Aeolis Quadrangle
>Eridania Quadrangle
>Elysium Quadrangle

Part of me thinks you should just rename your people to "Star Polygons" or "Square Aramas" at this rate =p

[LokiLeo789]

<Snipped quote by LokiLeo789>

>Aramas Prime
>Aeolis Quadrangle
>Eridania Quadrangle
>Elysium Quadrangle

Part of me thinks you should just rename your people to "Star Polygons" or "Square Aramas" at this rate =p

@ClocktowerEchos

That's it! Your on the hit list.

[Willy Vereb]

So what astral bodies are are not taken yet?
I am considering to have holdings at various parts of the solar system but nowhere being an absolute figure.
Moon colonies in the Von Neuman Crater, floating cities on Venus, Jupiter colonies and industrial plants, etc.
I might take the moon Europa if nobody did that yet, though.

[Polymorpheus]

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[Willy Vereb]

<Snipped quote by Willy Vereb>
If you were driving down the Autobahn with a nigh endless supply of gasoline, you could punch the accelerator all day. Every celestial body I listed has vast amounts of easily accessible fuel. I already calculated how little mass a statite network would have, relative to a typical comet. Since they balance the solar wind and gravity, they can move to any spot in the system that isn't in another gravity well. This makes refueling trivial for anything but incredibly fast and faraway vehicles, which could still sacrifice total received fuel for shorter refueling times. This doesn't invalidated other forms of combat, because you can provide tons of fuel for mines and missiles. Even with 1g acceleration, defenders will still need space and time to avoid an incoming barrage. Given enough processing and projectiles, you can overwhelm your target's maneuverability and defenses.

@catchamber

Are we even talk about the same thing?
Our topic was infinitely accelerating warships, not satellites using the minimal amount of delta-V to get from point A to B.
The idea of a ship accelerating non-stop would destroy any semblance of fun in space battles because then speed is relative to just who started accelerating first and exchange of DEWs.
The problem is that when the battle starts the said ship would have accelerated for days if not weeks while your missile would have at best hours to catch up. That and with this creating RKKVs would be almost trivially easy. I really start to think we hit a language barrier and you're talking about something completely different than what your words imply.

If the torpedo doesn't activate its rocket, then it's a kinetic projectile, which still makes the launcher a coilgun. If a torpedo is too massive, just split it into an impactor and rocket, and have the rocket catch and redirect the impactor. If missile sensitivity to acceleration is a serious problem, you can make its parts lightweight and flexible.

Making the projectile lighter or have in-build shock absorbers (that's what you mean by flexible, right?) would not help much in this issue. We talk about up to a million G acceleration. Even with 60000G ading such system is challenging. You're far better off just forgetting complexities in general. And again, you confuse torpedoes and guided projectiles here. The whole point is that they both have different uses.

Would it help if you put a superconductive cryogenic envelope around the payload?

Supposedly you already do in order to not overheat the weapon. Also like I said it isn't really that the projectile would be easy to detect. Certainly less obvious than any kin of propulsion. Also it'd still need to use something to change course. I just say they aren't completely invisible.
I suppose it's possible to cool it in the process to make it less obvious but most of the time I think this would be pointless.

You could also combine the instant communication with time dilation, and end up violating causality by sending messages from the future back to the solar system. But, @Keyguyperson said that nobody has left the solar system yet, and I'm one to think that relativistic interstellar probes with stable ansibles have yet to be created by the setting's engineers.

Like I said my impression is that Keyguy really doesn't want us to abuse quantum comms and use it for everything. It's likely a plot device to have our leaders/diplomats talk in real time from astronomical distances away.

[Polymorpheus]

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[Willy Vereb]

I'm talking about spacecraft constantly firing their thrusters, regardless of whether they're populated.

My opinion is that it'd make battles more entertaining, given units can constantly course correct. If they're just slowly drifting, conflict resolution takes much longer. Not saying vehicles will always fire their thrusters, but that doing so isn't necessarily a big deal in areas with relatively nearby fuel depots.

@catchamber

Not firing their thrusters through the whole trip is not being slow, it's about not being wasteful with fuel. 200km/s is a pretty decent velocity.
Also having a few times the equivalent of their travel speed in terms of delta-V is more than enough to do fancy maneuvers during battles.

The problem is again that you cannot catch up to a ship that accelerated for a week with a missile which has only a few hours to do that. Without that the idea of hitting the enemy is very minimal. Nigh-unlimited fuel would be again very nasty in terms of exploits.

Spinning missiles that randomly change direction and release submunitions can overwhelm a target's limited defenses.

???
This is one weird idea which might work in a truly hard sci-fi setting where any impact is catastrophic but not here.
spinning and spraying submunitions is not a very good idea since you need spinal gun kind of velocities and mass to considerably hurt a ship here.
That and space is vast so randomly spraying submunitions would have a surprisingly poor chance to hit anything you'd think of as a target.

If you want a standoff range warhead using bomb-pumped lasers or nuclear shaped charges are both a better idea.You can try using a KE torpedo which splits into multiple penetrators to reduce the chance of evasion near the end of its terminal phase. It might work but only at very close ranges and it'd still be a bit up to luck.

Fair enough. I'm no material engineer, so I can't refute your claims about resistance to acceleration stresses.

Let me put it this way. The kind of methods you suggest are generally utilized for far slower events with perhaps not even thousandth of the G strain.
Also using lighter projectile just doesn't work unless the material has higher structural strength per unit weight than the previous one. Otherwise it's not relevant.

As far as I know, torpedoes are self-propelled missiles launched by vehicle-based systems, and guided projectiles are weapons that hone in on their targets. These aren't mutually exclusive, and space torpedoes would do well to have guidance systems.

That's just schemantics. Yes, torpedoes can be guided and preferably are. Not the point.
The important part is that torpedoes and spinal guns are different. They use different steps and own different strengths/drawbacks. Making a spinal gun's projectile self-propelled is a redundant effort which might compromise its ability to do well in its primary role.

The "cryoshell" wouldn't necessarily be for stealth, but to prevent the heated rounds from causing the launcher to fail, and to provide the round with simple propulsion and defense systems.

Care to elaborate on this part?

If leaders and diplomats are using it, I'd expect officers and businesses to do the same. I guess strapping them onto inactive stealthed units that are remote controlled does seem a bit excessive, from a roleplaying perspective.

I feel any usage other than the plot contrived one would be way too abusable for FTL comms.
It's better if all players agree on a few things where quantum entanglement communication can be used and maybe even mention the most definite taboo uses.

[Keyguyperson]

@Keyguyperson

How densely populated is Mars? Is it at Luna level or a bit sparse?

@LokiLeo789

It's sparser than Luna, think Earth in the present day.

<Snipped quote by Keyguyperson>
Each of Mercury's orbital bands would have 607 statites, each of Venus's orbital bands would 1134 statites, each of Earth's orbital bands would have 1568 statites, and each of Mars's orbital bands would have 2383 statites.

(607 + 1134 + 1568 + 2383) * 3 = 17076 statites.

If each statite houses 1000 people, and this network is the entire faction's living space, they'd have a combined population comparable to the modern day Netherlands. Compared to the solar system's total population of 200 trillion, there's 1 citizen of Momentum for every ~11.7 million noncitizens. If each station has a mass of 1 teragram, or 2383 times the mass of the International Space Station, the entire network's total mass would be 7.7% that of Halley's Comet. You ask, "Why would Momentum build such a large network?" To the average citizen, the answers are obvious:

Living Space: If people don't stop reproducing so much, every asteroid and planetoid in the solar system is going to get overcrowded. Why live on these worlds, when you can live on one of many stations that generate thrust and rotation with sunlight, and can remain stationary at any distance relative to the Sun?

Infrastructure: People will want to travel, but direct transit can be dangerous and unreliable. Momentum has a relatively safe and reliable network close to each of the inner planets, and each station is an internet router. Why ride a rocket to Mars, when you can move to a statite and wait for Mars to come to you?

@catchamber

It certainly isn't overpowered, and it would make sense as you describe it (with each statite having 1000 inhabitants). Defense could be a problem, but I don't think there's a reason you shouldn't do this from an RP standpoint.

<Snipped quote by catchamber>Confused you with FrostedCaramel for the moment so pardon me on that.

<Snipped quote>Not even close. Just because you can replenish your fuel that doesn't mean you can freely waste it on full throttle. That and depending on fusion mechanism you can't even naturally replenish your reactor fuel. Similarly your propellant is cheap but not something you can ignore.
But this is almost irrelevant. What isn't is that if such were plausible then it'd invalidate almost anything but laser weapons from combat because there's no way a projectile or even a missile could catch up to them.
200km/s is a nice average value which is fast enough to be "interesting" thus viable for cool space battles and feasible space travel yet it isn't too much to invalidate much of the nuances and fun of the hard sci-fi.

<Snipped quote by catchamber>
And that's the torpedo. We talk about the "coilguns" or spinal guns here. I think you missed my list from the previous page.
Torpedoes could have railgun or coilgun mechanism giving them an initial boost but that's not our topic. It's about a gun launching a guided projectile with only the bare minimum of maneuvering capability. Adding a propulsion unit to this would be counterintuitive. Not to mention the ship is unlikely to have enough energy to launch such a projectile. I think you could at least try to make a few basic calculations on this why. Even the pure KE required to accelerate a 20kg slug to 200km/s is 400GJ and with waste it would approach the terajoule range. If you try to get an at least 2-10 ton missile to reach the same velocity you'd need more energy than the first atomic bomb.
That and again, these spinal guns fire relatively simple projectiles. They're far less sensitive to acceleration than a missile would.

That being said there are still some inventive methods which might make this weapon a bit more interesting. I am just saying you have a bit of misconception here.

<Snipped quote by catchamber>
Absolutely.
Look, firearms push the projectile with the expansion of gases at extreme temperatures and hypersonic velocities. Do the copper and lead bullets melt in the process? No. During the operation of the railgun you focus the magnetic fields on the projectile for repulsive force. You directly use energy to move it and this has certain inefficiencies which shows in heat buildup.

As for using that heat for extra thrust...it's plausible but you would lose much more in the possess. You'd have to add complexity which reduces the max acceleration the projectile can bear. You'd also need to add some kind of propellant because few hundred degrees won't provide enough radiation pressure for this to matter. Propellant which is a dead weight in the overall scheme of things.

<Snipped quote by catchamber>Wow, I think @Keyguyperson might need to nerf that since the potential for abusing this is huge and besides I think he only wants this for convenient "real time convos" between the governments of faraway factions.
As things are there's absolutely no reason why people wouldn't exploit this for interstellar conquest and to establish empires beyond the solar system.
... Or create super drones that can be controlled from any corner of the solar system. Equally problematic.
I know neither of these are Keyguy's intentions so this is why I tell you.

@Willy Vereb

@catchamber

You're correct about the quantum comms. They're not dime-a-dozen things, and would only really be used in things like political hotlines. So yes, they are just for convenient conversations. Besides the creation of a comm unit allowing smooth transmission using quantum entanglement being massively expensive and restricted to CEOs and Presidents, anything less than that kind of insanely expensive device would have a data transfer rate so low that the message would get there quicker if you just sent it by radio.

So what astral bodies are are not taken yet?
I am considering to have holdings at various parts of the solar system but nowhere being an absolute figure.
Moon colonies in the Von Neuman Crater, floating cities on Venus, Jupiter colonies and industrial plants, etc.
I might take the moon Europa if nobody did that yet, though.

@Willy Vereb

Parts of the asteroid belt are still unclaimed. Europa is good, so far nobody has gone beyond the Belt IIRC.

Star Aramas

Faction Name:

Star Aramas

Faction Government:

Stratocracy: The ruling political organization of Aramas is the 'Star Aramas', and it acts as the head of the military. In Aramas, the military controls every aspect of the political landscape; there is no separation between the warfare and politics. In fact, Generals stand as both the Board of Directors and the ruling body of 'Star Aramas', and is led by the 'Star General', whom in which is voted in by the his or her contemporaries.

Territory/Claims:

Martian Territories

Aramas Prime

The crown jewel of the Aramian Empire is carved deep into the base of Mars' Mount Sharp and sprawled across the Gale Crater, centermost of the Aeolis quadrangle. Founded as the military contractor firm's colony in the early 22nd Century, the once tiny settlement is now the focus point of an ever-growing empire.

Aeolis Quadrangle

A popular landing sight in the early colonization era, is now the center point of the Aramian Empire. Expanding outwards, the armies of Aramas conquered its close neighbors in the region with relative ease in the early 23rd Century. Since then, a large number of smaller cities have dotted the region, most of which are military training facilities and barracks used to house the civilians of conquered regions.

Eridania Quadrangle

Sought after in the years following the Aeolis Campaign, the Eridania Quadrangle stands as one of the richest and largest campaign in the empires history. Despite heavy opposition from opposing Mars based institutions, Aramas managed to rip cites out of corporatocratic control, destabilizing dozens of enterprises that established headquartered there. The Eridania Campaign is marked by the hostile takeover of dozens of companies in the region, earning Aramas subsidiaries in various industries. With the wealth gained from the campaign, the Eridania Quadrangle houses the vast majority of Aramas' mining complexes, military equipment forges and military ground transportation factories.

Elysium Quadrangle

The sight of Aramas' most recent successful campaign on Mars, the Elysium Quadrangle lies southwest of the capital. The vast flat landscape is home to heavily populated metropolises and Aramas' brand new energy sector, marked by a vast sea of solar panels used to power the energy guzzling nation.

Interstellar Territories

Olympus

A subsidiary acquired during the Eridania Campaign, Olympus is a massive complex of orbital shipyards, refineries, construction facilities and space-docks in low areostationary orbit above the Eridania Quadrangle that churns out the bulk of the Aramian Empires various Fleet ships. It also doubles as Aramas' main interstellar base, training pilots and directing the Aramian Fleet.

Phobos

Once a mining outpost, the largest and closest moon of Mars now serves as a military surveillance outpost, taking in vast amounts of information on the nations neighbors and doubling as a slingshot for Fleet ships into deep space.

Culture:

The citizenry of Aramas generally stands behind the principle that "only the strong survive", regarding the qualities of benevolence and compassion as signs of weakness. Strength begets strength, at least as far as the people of Aramas are concerned. This seeming cruelty, however, is not an indicator of chaos. As is naturally and necessarily the case with humankind, Aramas is an orderly nation, where rules protect the citizenry from harm... at least from their peers. In Aramas, however, those with power are clearly protected by the law more than those without it.

A nation of brutal expansionists, military service in Aramas is compulsory for a period of eight years, with all of its citizens retained as active reservists until their golden years. Active Aramian military personnel are afforded a higher level of citizenship in Aramian society; offering them Stewardship opportunities and familial acclaim, so it is not uncommon for most citizens to remain active in the military for fifteen or more years.

Once one completes his or her service, citizenship is normalized and freedom to pursue personal agendas are granted. Citizens can open businesses under the Star Aramas name, trading with the nations allies or selling within his or her community. Employment in infrastructure is also looked upon highly, especially in the militaries regard.

Children on the other hand, are prepared for future basking in the legacy of their nation at a tender age. From seven, children are sent to agoge, a rigorous education and training program mandated for all Aramain citizens. Training involves mastering stealth, cultivating loyalty to the Star Aramas, extensive military training, social (communicating) preparation, business management and advanced levels of math, reading, and language. At eighteen, the just turned adult is thus ready to begin his or mandated eight years of service.

As Aramas expands and defeats neighboring cultures and cities, it offers the conquered people a choice; swear loyalty to Aramas, and be judged solely on your worth, or be destroyed. This is not subterfuge or any kind of ruse; the Aramian are as good as their word, and many who have embraced their conquerors' way of life find their prospects greatly improved. But those who refuse to bend the knee are crushed without mercy and made nigh-slaves. Whether a city and company is taken by force or willingly swears fealty to Aramas, its warmasons immediately set to work in stamping the empire's authority upon the newly acquired territory. Flags are ripped of their masts and replaced, traditional garb is burned to ash and Aramian colors soaked into its peoples hearts.

Conquered peoples that swear loyalty to Aramas become part of its armies and add their unique strengths to the empire's war efforts. Thus, regimentation and uniformity are anathema to the Aramian way of life. Nevertheless, conquered peoples aren't offered a full-citizenship with regards to military enlistment; only a pseudo-citizenship that allows one to work until a required fifteen years of military service is completed, then full-citizenship is granted.

Those who refuse Aramas' generous offer are forcibly taken slaves and refused the right to earn a pseudo-citizenship unless one willingly joins the military and completes a full fifteen years of service, then full-citizenship is granted.

History:

Technology:

Military:

@LokiLeo789

Did someone say "Space Spartans"?

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Can somebody give me a rundown on the whole weapons debate? Because I missed like 90% of it and it's really confusing to figure out just who is talking about what.

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I'd like to point out that y'all can give Earth some more love, because stuff there that doesn't get claimed is going to be given to NPC nations and if you let me do that then you're letting me create Earth's geopolitical balance. Which isn't something you want me to do.