Bombardment

[jayouzts]

What kind of penalty would you impose on a ship firing missiles from space at a fixed target (i.e. building, bridge, etc.) on a planet?

I am think -8, possibly higher if there is severe cloud cover.

 

[ljsteele]

Cloud cover should not be any problem for a starship. It's unlikely that an optical fix is needed. Radar, thermal, etc., should do just fine.

High winds and severe weather might be a different problem as they might make it harder for the missle to stay on course. (Severe weather could have very, very different meanings on alien worlds.) Depends on how good its guidance tech is.

 

[Liam Devlin]

ANother consideration: target size, its protection (is under a mountain? under water, or not very deeply buried?), is it a surface target?

What kinda of enemy defenses are there (radar/ jamming/ SAM's to PAD missiles? deep site meson guns? FTRS (interface/ atmosphereic/ orbital, etc).

Last, EW ship sensor TL vs defenders jamming TL modifiers (if any).

--ADM Eshraa bint Reine, SOleean "Imperial" Fleet, 1200, TNE

 

[Jame]

Another consideration is how fast you can accelerate the missiles to.

 

[womble]

The missiles would have to be configured to survive re-entry; don't imagine most starship-to-starship missiles have much mass dedicated to heat shielding.

Maybe they don't need as much as an aerobraking object, since they're trying to be stramlined... But for orbital bombardment, the explosive yield of a warhead is generally trivial compared to the k.e. of the object itself. Lumps of metal or rock with a good ballistic computer controlling their release trajctory are as effective as any turret-launched missile could hope to be, I reckon. Harder to counter, too.

 

[Liam Devlin]

Originally posted by womble:
The missiles would have to be configured to survive re-entry; don't imagine most starship-to-starship missiles have much mass dedicated to heat shielding.

Correct Mr Womble(eh? are you back? <Old heretic wanders back across room littered by a strata of hardcopy data>)! The same methods to drop capsule troops into orbit, are used for Planetary aslt missiles.(along with chaff filled decoys, or heat producing ones, of course).

Once they re-entry heat has been passed, the drogue chute deploys, and then missile is directed for final ignition to target.

Maybe they don't need as much as an aerobraking object, since they're trying to be stramlined... But for orbital bombardment, the explosive yield of a warhead is generally trivial compared to the k.e. of the object itself. Lumps of metal or rock with a good ballistic computer controlling their release trajctory are as effective as any turret-launched missile could hope to be, I reckon. Harder to counter, too.

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Several threads on these pages have dealt with the inexpensiveness of kinetic bombardment using asteroids, or even mass produced kinetic payloads wrapped in a thin ablative shielding( melts off/ releases the payload to final target). Maybe not as pinpoint as missile bombardment, but no less effective in blast/ damage effects!

 

[womble]

>...Correct Mr Womble(eh? are you back?...
I never went away, old chap... just not seen anything to post about for a bit.

>...Maybe not as pinpoint as missile bombardment...
It'd be possible to have a tail-mounted refractory-shielded compartment that has a limited G-drive and sensor packeage for terminal guidance, I reckon. Adds to the cost, though.

 

[Ben W Bell]

Also a missile designed for use in space will use thrusters for maneouvering, whereas one designed for use in an atmosphere will use fins. A space missile won't guide properly in an atmosphere.

 

[Liam Devlin]

Originally posted by womble:
>...Correct Mr Womble(eh? are you back?...
I never went away, old chap... just not seen anything to post about for a bit.

Most excellent! And not a bad policy methinks.

>...Maybe not as pinpoint as missile bombardment...
It'd be possible to have a tail-mounted refractory-shielded compartment that has a limited G-drive and sensor packeage for terminal guidance, I reckon. Adds to the cost, though.

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Aye. depends on the budget of the opponent usin em. Or, limited guidance(if kinetic package delivery) with overrides from the bombarding ship