Advanced Aerospace Technologies

[Vehrec]

Let's start off big with something inspired by Terra Invicta.

Antimatter Transit Drives:

While no polity in the history of the Inner Sphere or the clans has ever moved to adopt this technology, it has, in theory, been within reach of all parties for centuries.  Only the cost of adoption, and the shackles of specialized, expensive fuel, keep it from being investigated as more than a paper exercise.  However, the use cases are obvious, as it is estimated that mature antimatter drives would be only 2/3rds the mass of the normal fusion powerplant. (.04 instead of .06 is used as a multiplier for the size of the drives.)

Antimatter fuel is also not easy to handle, so an additional 10% of the weight of the fuel (which is still mostly hydrogen, but the actual antimatter needs lots of protection and safe handling equipment) is added in pumps and tanks instead of the normal 2%.  However, due to the higher energy density, antimatter fuel provides 2x the fuel points that normal bulk hydrogen does.  On the other hand, any hit on an antimatter fuel system risks immediate, catastrophic, and total destruction of the unit in question.

Additionally, there's the costs.  These are considerable-antimatter fuel-handling systems start at 50,000 C-bills per ton, and increase to 100,000 C-bills per ton for anything over a quarter-million tons.  And the engine itself is over 25x as expensive as a base model, which will drive up costs, especially for large, high acceleration engines.  Which leads into the paradox of antimatter-who needs to accelerate that hard?  Nobody builds warships that hit five G, because no human body can take it for sustained periods.  And you're now shackled to ANTIMATTER, which can't be easily refined and you also have to deal with handling it and...at this point, the white paper detailing the costs associated with adopting this technology is normally taken out back and shot twice before being buried in a shallow grave.

But if cost is genuinely no object, and you don't object to tying your ships to a dangerous, rare fuel source that can only be obtained in the smallest trickle with the largest orbital farms, then you could do it.  If you were willing to shell out 1 trillion C-bills or Star League Dollars to actually research the fundamentals of the technology.


Phased-Array Lasers:  Sometimes called 'Naval Pulse Lasers' or Phasers, these weapons were theoretically designed during the Star League, but were never actually realized, remaining in pre-prototype form for the entire Star League.  The Clans might have been able to push them to maturity, but the Phased-Array Laser technology required an advanced AI to aim it's weapons, nobody in the warrior caste actually wanted to train that machine to do the shooting for them.  All Phased-Array lasers have -2 to hit automatically, no bracketing required-or possible.  These weapons are effectively 'pre-bracketed' and consist of dozens of laser emitters all firing in harmony to create a single pulse of laser light without any of the normal mirror-geometry that lasers normally require.

The smallest of the Phasers is the Light Phased Array Laser, which masses 375 tons and generates 75 heat per shot, with range brackets of 10/20/30/40 hexes, and damage potential of 2.5 capital damage.  The Light Phased Array laser can also be used in anti-missile mode, or in anti-aircraft mode.  This means that it can fire on craft of less than 500 tons at only +1 to hit in Anti-Aerospace mode, while in anti-missile mode, it counts as five laser AMS, but can only fire once per turn.  Each unit costs 2 million C-bills.

The Medium Phased Array Laser, which masses 675 tons and generates 135 heat per shot, with range brackets of 14/28/42/56, and a damage potential of 4.5, is similar in many respects to the NL45, but is somewhat smaller yet more heat intensive.  It has it's Anti-aircraft mode, but lacks the antimissile mode of the Light Phased Array Laser. It costs 4 million C-bills to install.

The Large Phased Array Laser is designed solely for anti-capital use, and dwarfs all other laser weapons.  Massing an immense 1700 tons, and generating 260 heat per shot, it deals a staggering 8.5 capital damage at ranges of 15/30/45/60 hexes.  This weapon is unique among capital lasers for lacking an AA fire mode, and is only designed to attack dropships and capital ships.  At a whopping 10 million C-bills per, it is one of the most expensive capital weapons.

[namar13766]

If you're doing stuff from Terra Invicta...

How about the Coilguns, since they can fire multiple rounds per shot? (Like 3 for Mk. 1, 4 for Mk. 2, and 5 for Mk. 3) Or Spinal Coilers to replace the Mass Driver?

Or Missile Bays which can shoot multiple shots per salvo?

Or Spinal Particle Cannons?

Or Naval Plasma Batteries or Cannons?

Or better Naval Heat Sinks?

[I am Belch II]

Love hearing about new tech for Aerospace.

[Vehrec]

If you're doing stuff from Terra Invicta...

How about the Coilguns, since they can fire multiple rounds per shot? (Like 3 for Mk. 1, 4 for Mk. 2, and 5 for Mk. 3) Or Spinal Coilers to replace the Mass Driver?

Or Missile Bays which can shoot multiple shots per salvo?

Or Spinal Particle Cannons?

Or Naval Plasma Batteries or Cannons?

Or better Naval Heat Sinks?

Obviously, a 1-1 conversion isn't practical here.  AeroTech turns are such that I don't thing multi-fire weapons are neccessary or wise.  Just abstract them to appropriate damage numbers. 

The one thing I think has a place is spinal particle cannons/coilguns, since those (especially the beamy guns) is more different than just 'shoot more' guns.  I would probably give them the straight-line limits of mass drivers, but not the accuracy debuff.

[Daryk]

An interesting idea, but not one I think is compatible with BT.

[idea weenie]

One idea I had was a waist particle accelerator.  Its diameter is based on the mass of the mounting ship, but can only fire into (and be mounted in) the port or starboard broadside arcs.  Essentially the ship has a particle accelerator going around its wait, and when a target is at the right angle it opens a port for the particles to exit, and there are various EM aiming systems to fine-tune the beam's direction.

The min and max size (damage) would be based on the firing ship's mass, since the accelerators have to fit inside the armor, but outside the KF core.  The fun part is that a ship 8* larger can only mount a 4* stronger emitter, since emitter strength is based on circumference along with power.  Of course the larger ship could just mount 2 of them.

Aiming it would require the ship's Captain to spend an extra thrust point to reflect the careful maneuvering to bring the weapon to bear, and these maneuvers would cause targeting penalties to other direct-fire weapons on board the ship.  (Similar to an old bomb vessel, but with the bomb pointing sideways instead of dead ahead.)  So it is a powerful weapon, it just penalizes other weapons on board and needs more access to the ship's maneuvering thrusters.

[Vehrec]

I have shoved aside particle guns for now for something more...well, I don't know anything about

Ashura-class pilot upgrades
Developed as a spin off of the Manei Domini's enhancements, the Ashura-class upgrades are a set of seven cybernetic enhancements that would transform a human into an ASF piloting machine, incapable of many traditional human frailties.

The first upgrade is the most conventional of the seven, and that's saying something when that upgrade is a Buffered VDNI.  The Manei Domini used this for all the normal reasons, and because when you see what the other six upgrades are, you might say 'yeah that seems reasonable.'  The next upgrade is essentially a set of brain armor, replacing much of the skull and brain-wrapping tissues with new 'improved' metallo-ceramic and myomer based containment for the precious brain-meats.  They even inject the brain itself with a fixitive to increase it's structural strength and allow for very high G and Jerk manuvers (Jerk is the technical term for 'change in accleration').  This implant, the Concussion Elimination System, does what it says on the tin-it hardens the brain so it can't be bashed around.  Next, they rip the legs off-or rather, they rip the muscles and a bunch of other stuff off the legs and install the G-strain myomers.  You know how blood pools in the legs under high-g manuver and pilots have to breathe and squeeze their leg muscles and all that?  Yeah, this just lets you tell the blood it can't go down into the legs no more.  That's what G-Strain Myomers do.

The next two implants kinda make that absurdly obsolete.  Respirocytes are artificial blood cells.  Bet you didn't think you could have cyborg blood, but it's a tissue type technically, so here we are.  Obviously, Respirocytes have a short lifespan, so anyone with them needs to get the tank refilled, right?  Well, wrong, they take cues from real blood and install 'stem respirocytes' inside the bones.  These are able to produce for up to 4 years without a check-up though refreshing them is a real intense procedure.  So some Ashuras just leave them be, top their supply up from a doctor every couple of weeks..  Anyways, Respirocytes carry lots of oxygen, do it very efficiently, et cetera.  But that's not good enough!  Meet the Blood Oxygenation Shunts, installed in the pilot's back to connect into their machine.  You know what a heart-lung machine is, yeah?  Well this doesn't do the heart stuff, except it totally does if it has to.  Turn off your lungs and let the machine breath for you-you can probably guess what kind of people we are getting when we're done here.  Net effect of these two, an Ashura pilot doesn't need to breathe and has a circulatory so efficient that they can think just fine on 1/3rd the normal bloodflow to the brain.

By comparison, the last two implants are relatively modest.  One was functionally a set of multi-moadal cyborg eyes, but adapted specifically for space combat-spot an ASF at 200 km, able to tell brands of PPC by spectral analysis, you get the idea.  The last implant was a fairly standard drug reservoir and injector, paired with a larger unit that worked with the blood oxygenation shunts from outside the body.  The non-standard bits were the drugs themselves, a bunch of nasty stimulants and nootropics, we're not talking your standard combat drugs here sonny boy.  Each pilot supposedly had their exact dose custom tailored to their own brain chemistry.  Add that to the enhanced senses and proprioception of the VDNI, the heavy anti-G force modifications, and the various physical enhancements, you get a pilot who can basically ignore g-forces all day, who is more quick reacting and perceptive, and who doesn't much care about serious risk to bodily harm.  After all, they already let someone tear the back of their skull off, weld some plates over it, then staple their skin back over it.

Aesthetically, the Ashura tended to go for a porcelain doll look, very pale or very dark, occasionally grey and almost clockwork, even if they didn't need the artifical skin and other limb replacements.