One question about TDX
- Thread starter McPerth
- Start date
There will be micro gravity - from the sun, nearby planets, etc. so it will probably align with those. Given these are very weak, the explosion will probably expand in all directions as per normal explosive with slight flattening to align with the micro-gravity fields - which may be in directions that the user is not expecting
I wonder ...
A. if it responds to acceleration the way it responds to gravity,
and
B. if one set up two artificial gravity fields with one perpendicular to the other, would it effectively explode along the "edge" created by those fields?
If both A and B, it has potential as a weapon. Set up a field perpendicular to the axis of thrust, have the missile do a flyby, the explosion hits like a pickaxe.
A. if it responds to acceleration the way it responds to gravity,
and
B. if one set up two artificial gravity fields with one perpendicular to the other, would it effectively explode along the "edge" created by those fields?
If both A and B, it has potential as a weapon. Set up a field perpendicular to the axis of thrust, have the missile do a flyby, the explosion hits like a pickaxe.
far-trader
SOC-14 10K
A. if it responds to acceleration the way it responds to gravity
Seems like it should, gravity being an acceleration force after all.
B. if one set up two artificial gravity fields with one perpendicular to the other, would it effectively explode along the "edge" created by those fields
On this I'm going to go with mtu definition of artificial gravity where only the strongest field applies. No Escher floorplans in mtu thank you very much
So, nope, no focused TDX (by gravity*). There are of course regular shaped charges for slicing and dicing and making Juliennefries of MBTs.* I suppose one might use the usual gravity plane focus of TDX and a conventional focused/shaped effect in concert, come to think on it a second
That goes for in a normal gravity field as well btw, again for mtu. So a ship (or building) with an internal 1G field will have that in effect inside the ship (or building) on a world with a natural gravity of up to 1G. If over 1G then the ship (or building) is subject to the local gravity and may as well not have it's artificial gravity active (or even installed).
If both A and B, it has potential as a weapon. Set up a field perpendicular to the axis of thrust, have the missile do a flyby, the explosion hits like a pickaxe.
It still has excellent weapon potential though, just not quite so fancy. Makes for great Bouncing Betty mines for one. Primarily though I see it as demolition charges and a host of other selected shaped charge applications where you don't need, want, or have the time or luxury of the usual shaped charge forming packaging. As long as the gravity is in concert with the desired effect of course. I seem to recall one of the players in our group years ago (the laser-chainsaw sculptor performance artist I think I've mentioned) engaging in terrain art using TDX
...probably without a permit :devil:...yes, in CT we had Laser-Chainsaws and Artists as player characters, though none of that was in our LBBs, we made it up
Good times 
Funny thing.
But that just might be me. Though I swear I read a bit about how they worked somewhere....maybe it was here, not sure.
I seem to recall that Question B is actually how the charge worked. That two grav fields squish the explosion into a flat disk. Basically, a grav focused Daisy Cutter.
But that just might be me. Though I swear I read a bit about how they worked somewhere....maybe it was here, not sure.
Last edited:
far-trader
SOC-14 10K
Sounds like you're thinking of one of the ways postulated artificial grav works.
Basically a 'positive' and 'negative' plate set up a flow of gravitons (or some such handwave) between them creating a field of equal gravity between with a down and up.
So in the case of that applying to TDX it wouldn't be magic* explosives, just regular explosives sandwiched between very tightly spaced grav plates, perhaps powered by the explosive itself, or a primer charge. Batteries wouldn't likely be enough.
However I seem to recall that TDX is of itself not such, and mainly is meant to work in natural gravity without any added tech. Maybe employing something like specially graviton polarized molecules (or some such handwavium)
* 'magic' of the "sufficiently advanced technology indistinguishable from" sort
Basically a 'positive' and 'negative' plate set up a flow of gravitons (or some such handwave) between them creating a field of equal gravity between with a down and up.
So in the case of that applying to TDX it wouldn't be magic* explosives, just regular explosives sandwiched between very tightly spaced grav plates, perhaps powered by the explosive itself, or a primer charge. Batteries wouldn't likely be enough.
However I seem to recall that TDX is of itself not such, and mainly is meant to work in natural gravity without any added tech. Maybe employing something like specially graviton polarized molecules (or some such handwavium)
* 'magic' of the "sufficiently advanced technology indistinguishable from" sort
far-trader
SOC-14 10K
Right you are, at least on its origins...
From JTAS:
I haven't read the stories (that I can recall anyway) so I can't say if they have a more explicit description, only that the Traveller version doesn't seem to. Maybe someone with the books could check for specifics?
From JTAS:
No mention of it being focused by grav plates in the article, and probably where I got the idea of it being an effect on the material (the gravitationally polarized above and lack of mention of any special materials).
I haven't read the stories (that I can recall anyway) so I can't say if they have a more explicit description, only that the Traveller version doesn't seem to. Maybe someone with the books could check for specifics?
Rigel Stardin
SOC-13
Going out on a limb here...
I've always consider TDX explosions to occur when a gravtronic engine has a critical manfunction.
This might open a can a worms for some people since Grav vehicles are everywhere in Traveller but I've always maintained that High Tech Levels have implemented safeguards to stop this from happening. It only at the lower TL where this can happen. Tech 13 is were I usually say that it won't happen if the grav engine suffers a critical hit.
I've always consider TDX explosions to occur when a gravtronic engine has a critical manfunction.
This might open a can a worms for some people since Grav vehicles are everywhere in Traveller but I've always maintained that High Tech Levels have implemented safeguards to stop this from happening. It only at the lower TL where this can happen. Tech 13 is were I usually say that it won't happen if the grav engine suffers a critical hit.
Read them a few times, the chief of police is killed by a TDX, Blish chalks it all up to anti-grav tech, same as how the cities fly.
l_c_jackson
SOC-9
"Escher floorplans"
"No Escher floorplans in mtu thank you very much"
"Escher floorplans" are such a cool idea that they should be the latest trend in interstellar yacht customisation, whether that requires grav plates, or zero-G and velcro.
"No Escher floorplans in mtu thank you very much
""Escher floorplans" are such a cool idea that they should be the latest trend in interstellar yacht customisation, whether that requires grav plates, or zero-G and velcro.
A. Assuming it follows Relativity, there is no local way to distinguish acceleration and gravity--so it should. Unless it's from a snooty part of quantum mechanics that refuses to acknowledge how things are all relative.
B. On the other hand, combining two acceleration vectors gives one resultant, so you're out of luck. Unless it's a 4-D space plenum, and you can spin it in two perpendicular directions simultaneously . . . :xh:
TDX is here sort of.
Directional explosives have been in use for a century already. Antitank munitions are designed with a hollow cone focusing the majority of an explosive in a sharp thin beam of a shaped copper penetrator. Look up the Munroe or Neumann effect. They can be used to put a hole through a couple inches to blasting holes big enough to drop oil drum sized charges to permanently remove runways. It can be very bad for your health to be beside or behind a shape charge detonating. Only a portion of the explosive force goes into the penetrative effect, the rest still blows out in a 360 degree sphere.
A ring detonation effect has been in use for Air to air missiles for over 50 years. It is similar to the TDX effect spreading a ring of shrapnel perpendicular to the missiles flight.
Directional explosives have been in use for a century already. Antitank munitions are designed with a hollow cone focusing the majority of an explosive in a sharp thin beam of a shaped copper penetrator. Look up the Munroe or Neumann effect. They can be used to put a hole through a couple inches to blasting holes big enough to drop oil drum sized charges to permanently remove runways. It can be very bad for your health to be beside or behind a shape charge detonating. Only a portion of the explosive force goes into the penetrative effect, the rest still blows out in a 360 degree sphere.
A ring detonation effect has been in use for Air to air missiles for over 50 years. It is similar to the TDX effect spreading a ring of shrapnel perpendicular to the missiles flight.
Similar threads
