(Spoilers) Future technological developments.

What do think will be the new tech in the upcoming books?

We know that the grand alliance is looking at ripping the grasers out of those sollie ships they have and making static defenses out of them, and that they took the entirety of the solarian tech development so their going to work on that.

But one idea I just came up with was a play off of the blocking ships used at beowulf. If they are already stripping the ships why not yank out the hyper generators and enough power generators to make smaller stations whose sole purpose was to be an interdicting shield? Make what is basically a giant drone with massive hyper and power generators and some basic thrusters. Use them instead of freighters.

ThisName1 wrote:What do think will be the new tech in the upcoming books?

We know that the grand alliance is looking at ripping the grasers out of those sollie ships they have and making static defenses out of them, and that they took the entirety of the solarian tech development so their going to work on that.

But one idea I just came up with was a play off of the blocking ships used at beowulf. If they are already stripping the ships why not yank out the hyper generators and enough power generators to make smaller stations whose sole purpose was to be an interdicting shield? Make what is basically a giant drone with massive hyper and power generators and some basic thrusters. Use them instead of freighters.

The thing about the grazers is that they're a single unit: you give them power, pull the trigger, and they fire. The same would be true of hyper generators, except that hyper generators are irrelevant - what you're probably thinking of is impellers. And impellers need a significant amount of infrastructure - that's called impeller rooms. In the same sense, the power supply for warships (and freighters) comes from fusion bottles that have a strict lower limit: the smallest possible fusion bottle can power an old-style destroyer. It also requires a significant amount of infrastructure in the ship.

I think it's a good idea, but I'd want to design and build something specific. That would let you create an impeller wedge that's designed for the function, and possibly use the new mini-fusion plants.

The other thing is: why do you want it? Beowulf was in a special situation. Nobody intelligent could have seen Buccaneer coming.

JohnRoth wrote:

ThisName1 wrote:What do think will be the new tech in the upcoming books?

We know that the grand alliance is looking at ripping the grasers out of those sollie ships they have and making static defenses out of them, and that they took the entirety of the solarian tech development so their going to work on that.

But one idea I just came up with was a play off of the blocking ships used at beowulf. If they are already stripping the ships why not yank out the hyper generators and enough power generators to make smaller stations whose sole purpose was to be an interdicting shield? Make what is basically a giant drone with massive hyper and power generators and some basic thrusters. Use them instead of freighters.

The thing about the grazers is that they're a single unit: you give them power, pull the trigger, and they fire. The same would be true of hyper generators, except that hyper generators are irrelevant - what you're probably thinking of is impellers. And impellers need a significant amount of infrastructure - that's called impeller rooms. In the same sense, the power supply for warships (and freighters) comes from fusion bottles that have a strict lower limit: the smallest possible fusion bottle can power an old-style destroyer. It also requires a significant amount of infrastructure in the ship.

I think it's a good idea, but I'd want to design and build something specific. That would let you create an impeller wedge that's designed for the function, and possibly use the new mini-fusion plants.

The other thing is: why do you want it? Beowulf was in a special situation. Nobody intelligent could have seen Buccaneer coming.

such systems already exist

http://infodump.thefifthimperium.com/entry/Harrington/120/1

...In addition to their own "bubble" the generators, the
[Manticorian] space stations are accompanied at all times by specially built "ships" which are basically simply impeller rings, power plants, and the life support required for their very tiny crews. Their sole function is to remain on station, with at least a few nodes in each ring "hot." Admittedly, it would take them at least several minutes -- these nodes are not at "standby" but at permanent readiness -- to bring their wedges up.

The concept was a very old idea - we just never got to see it in action.

ThisName1 wrote:...giant drone with massive hyper and power generators and some basic thrusters. ...

Why would "blocking drones" require Hyper capability?

Weird Harold wrote:

ThisName1 wrote:...giant drone with massive hyper and power generators and some basic thrusters. ...

Why would "blocking drones" require Hyper capability?

Really all you would need would be beta nodes. The wedge wouldn't be as strong... but 1/8 of infinity will suffice for this application.

Weird Harold wrote:

ThisName1 wrote:...giant drone with massive hyper and power generators and some basic thrusters. ...

Why would "blocking drones" require Hyper capability?

I said hyper generators when I bent impellors. Don't know how I mixed them up.

It was because you bent the impellers.

After that, nothing was going to fly straight.

ThisName1 wrote:

Weird Harold wrote:
Why would "blocking drones" require Hyper capability?

I said hyper generators when I bent impellors. Don't know how I mixed them up.

Just remember Gene Roddenbury's rule: Whatever weapon you have, there has to be a defense or there is no story.

Chances are there won't be THAT many new tech items...missiles will go longer, will be more accurate. And there will be whole group of new toys.

ldwechsler wrote:Just remember Gene Roddenbury's rule: Whatever weapon you have, there has to be a defense or there is no story.

Chances are there won't be THAT many new tech items...missiles will go longer, will be more accurate. And there will be whole group of new toys.

I prefer the Kzinti Lesson from Larry Niven's Known Space:

"a reaction drive's efficiency as a weapon is in direct proportion to its efficiency as a drive."

In terms of soft kills, a fusion drive capable of accelerating an 8 million ton warship at 50 g's or more would fry the sensors of any number of missiles coming at the ship in question. It would be the equivalent of launching missiles into the cornona of the sun and expecting them to hit anything. Think the equivalent of Zitza but lasting as long as the ships have reaction mass.

I understand why such a thing would never be used in canon for story purposes but it's certainly theoretically possible.

A technology I hope to see a lot less of in the future: orbital habitats. They've been shown to be indefensible death traps in the event of hostilities and there's basically no justification for having them the size they are in story. Industrial nodes make perfect sense and having a resident population for that purpose is reasonable, but having platforms like Beowulf Alpha solely as residential platforms makes sense solely as a plot device.