Horrible thought - I can't believe I'm going to mention this

dscott8 wrote:I'm going to suggest grav-lance mines for system defence. Mix them with laser head mines. The grav lance mine goes off first, strips the target's defences, and the laser head finishes it off.

dscott8 wrote:I'm going to suggest grav-lance mines for system defence. Mix them with laser head mines. The grav lance mine goes off first, strips the target's defences, and the laser head finishes it off.

Theemile wrote:

dscott8 wrote:I'm going to suggest grav-lance mines for system defence. Mix them with laser head mines. The grav lance mine goes off first, strips the target's defences, and the laser head finishes it off.

Mines the size of a light cruiser (with the stealth features so they aren't easily spotted) with a full fusion plant and wedge are very expensive mines.

Jonathan_S wrote:

Theemile wrote:
Mines the size of a light cruiser (with the stealth features so they aren't easily spotted) with a full fusion plant and wedge are very expensive mines.

Then there's the wild unlikelihood of someone randomly coming within the tiny, what 100,000 km?, range of the GL. And even then I think they have to be oriented where the GL can see sidewall for it to function. You'd need millions of them to have reasonable hope of an enemy coming within their ranges.

JeffEngel wrote:I wonder if the SLN prizes were thrown in just to give us something to chew on other than the grav lance.

Ya know - as capital ships of their era, the SLN prizes probably have grav lances and energy torpedoes themselves.... Surely something can be done with them using the grav lances.... *hides*

zuluwiz wrote:If somebody held a gun to my head and told me I just HAD to use That Damn Weapon in a story, my way would be to finagle a message into Sollie Intelligence (Warning: Oxymoron Detected!) that the Manties were planning to recommission all the captured Sollie SDs, equipping them with very long-range Grav Lances. This must be done subtly, (without any visible smirking), maybe through the auspices of some Beowulfan "League faithful". Then sit back and watch the ISLN jump through flaming hoops to try and figure out a countermeasure for a weapon that does not exist. THAT is the way I would use That Damn Weapon in a story (with a gun to my head). And yes, we do want the Sollies thinking that there are people on Beowulf who want to remain in the League, and are willing to pass information to the League secretly. That's how you deceive the opposition in a war.

Tenshinai wrote:

zuluwiz wrote:If somebody held a gun to my head and told me I just HAD to use That Damn Weapon in a story, my way would be to finagle a message into Sollie Intelligence (Warning: Oxymoron Detected!) that the Manties were planning to recommission all the captured Sollie SDs, equipping them with very long-range Grav Lances. This must be done subtly, (without any visible smirking), maybe through the auspices of some Beowulfan "League faithful". Then sit back and watch the ISLN jump through flaming hoops to try and figure out a countermeasure for a weapon that does not exist. THAT is the way I would use That Damn Weapon in a story (with a gun to my head). And yes, we do want the Sollies thinking that there are people on Beowulf who want to remain in the League, and are willing to pass information to the League secretly. That's how you deceive the opposition in a war.

Best and most realistic suggestion so far for both GL and Sollie SDs.


Of course, with the evil scheeming that RFC personifies, doing this would result in Sollies accidentally stumbling on a way to actually make a longranged, effective GL functional.

JeffEngel wrote:

Tenshinai wrote:
Best and most realistic suggestion so far for both GL and Sollie SDs.


Of course, with the evil scheeming that RFC personifies, doing this would result in Sollies accidentally stumbling on a way to actually make a longranged, effective GL functional.

And hey, he WAS supposed to have some sneaky long-ranged plan in mind for them! Maybe that's it! Grav-ram torpedoes! The signature weapon of the coming age of war.

Jonathan_S wrote:Then there's the wild unlikelihood of someone randomly coming within the tiny, what 100,000 km?, range of the GL.

exiledtoIA wrote:

jchilds wrote:Grav-lance armed frigate forts?

Crewed by treecats and stilties.

Theemile wrote:I know, and I obliquely mentioned that. I never said it was a good plan...

We also have been told that the spider is the derivative of a cast off branch of drive technology - what if it was related to the Grav lance?