BattleTech - The Board Game of Armored Combat
BattleTech Game Systems => Aerospace Combat => Topic started by: monbvol on 16 October 2017, 01:12:08
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I've found myself contemplating a battle tactic that one way or the other is best described as pure madness.
Part of why I'm not so sure if it'll work the way I want is most of the rules seem predicated on the idea of a world with an atmosphere.
So I turn to my fellow forumites. Just how close can you get to an airless rock with a warship?
I'm hoping the answer is close enough to worry about scratching the paint...
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As long as there is no atmosphere to worry about (which would brake the WarShip down, and depending on its relative velocity can cause friction heat and even direct damage), the only important thing to keep in mind is the planet's gravity well. You need to either plot a slingshot course that will carry you past the surface, or otherwise you need enough thrust from your maneuvering drive to counter the planet's gravity. One BattleTech movement point for WarShips equals 0.5g thrust.
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Planck distance?
As I recall, the Manassas was described as landing on an asteroid for repairs.
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Planck distance?
As I recall, the Manassas was described as landing on an asteroid for repairs.
But an asteroid doesn´t have all that much gravity. Ceres is the biggest in the solar system, and it has a surface gravity of only 0.03g.
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The Manassas reportedly landed on a planet to affect repairs - which is impossible given that WarShips aren't built for landing and don't have landing gear. The preferred interpretation is that the DropShips carried on the Manassas brought the crew planetside for comfort and for effecting repairs to what we must assume were individual parts that had been removed from the WarShip and carried to the surface on the DropShips for repairs.
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https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/16/16481136/wpa2-wi-fi-krack-vulnerability
so, how many of us are drinking Irish coffee this morning?
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Q: "Just how close can a Warship get to an airless world?"
A: A few tens of meters below the surface, depending on speed at impact.
In theory, one could come close enough to an airless world to scratch the paint, but the amount of structural stress that the maneuver puts on the ship may create a practical limit, depending on the strength of the gravitational field. For a small moonlet, not a problem, and you can probably come close enough to reach out and touch the surface (if the pilot is REALLY good and you don't mind having your hand sheared off), but a higher gravity planet might break your ship apart, between the gravitational pull and inertia.
Then again, to pull the kinds of maneuvers that a warship does, the structural integrity has to be absurd, with anyone near the ends of the ship being crushed by the centrifugal forces as it spins in place. The ship might survive the maneuver, even if the crew doesn't.
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Hmmm well now that is interesting.
I was just planning slingshot tactics at first but the idea of actually using a low gravity airless rock to "bottom out" just might be useful in surprising a foe.
https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/16/16481136/wpa2-wi-fi-krack-vulnerability
so, how many of us are drinking Irish coffee this morning?
Think you have the wrong thread. ;D
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A: A few tens of meters below the surface, depending on speed at impact.
:) I like that one.
I was just planning slingshot tactics at first but the idea of actually using a low gravity airless rock to "bottom out" just might be useful in surprising a foe.
WarShips can easily hover tail-first over a planet. Even a 2/3 WarShip can hover against 1.5Gs. Atmospheric entry does bad things to WarShips, but without an atmosphere there shouldn't be an issue until the drive plume starts to interact with the surface. You could try to model that on the drive plume damage that DropShips can do while on the ground.
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(http://cfw.sarna.net/wiki/images/8/85/Dante_Class_Frigate.jpg?timestamp=20100130005633)
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I think that's supposed to be coming out of a nebula although I don't really understand why the sails are deployed considering how delicate they are supposed to be any WarShip should "stow the sails" before engaging the main drive
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Hmmm well now that is interesting.
I was just planning slingshot tactics at first but the idea of actually using a low gravity airless rock to "bottom out" just might be useful in surprising a foe.
Think you have the wrong thread. ;D
Yes. Yes I do.
Damn it.
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I was just planning slingshot tactics at first but the idea of actually using a low gravity airless rock to "bottom out" just might be useful in surprising a foe.
Using a low gravity airless rock to "bottom out" your opponent would be a bigger surprise.
There's a novel, I believe by Larry Niven (and possibly another author), where a ship with an impenetrable hull makes a close pass by a black hole for research purposes. The ship survives the encounter, but the crew and interior components are reduced to crushed debris at the extreme ends of the ship by some unknown "weapon" that does no damage to the hull. Ultimately, the cause is gravity: the ends of the ship have enough of a gravitational difference from the center, due to distance to the singularity, to create several hundred "Gs" of difference. Anything not in the exact center of the ship will fall to the ends and be crushed.
The gradient won't be even remotely as severe with a planet as in close proximity to the singularity at the center of a black hole, but in close proximity to a high-gravity planet, the difference between centrifugal force and inertia might still be enough to cause problems for the crew (lateral G forces, rather than along the axis as expected and designed for).