PAWS

[jwcarroll60]

PAWS- Particle Accelerator Weapoms Systems...
let's talk about this. I seem to recall 2 types mentioned CPAWS and NPAWS. One was better for us in atmosphere than the other. Which was which? Can anyone here help me with this?

 

[TheEngineer]

Hi jwcarrol !

I would highly recommend to search CotI for this topic as I remember, that we had quite a few pretty detailed talks about that...

regards,

TE

 

[The Oz]

CPAWS - Charged Particle Accelerator Weapon System: it fires a stream of electrically charged particles (protons, electrons, or light atomic nuclei) at the target. Since the particles all have the same electrical charge they repel each other which leads to immediate dispersion of the beam in a vacuum (making the weapon useless for space-to-space combat). In atmosphere the beam tends to be confined by the surrounding gas and hold together well enough for use at planetary combat ranges.

NPAWS - Neutral Particle Accelerator Weapon System: fires a stream of electrically neutral particles (neutrons, atoms) at the target. Since the particles do not repel each other the beam is coherent and can travel great distances in a vacuum but the beam is easily absorbed by an atmosphere, making the weapon useless for planetary combat.

Since (in theory) it's "easy" to convert an ion (from a CPAWS) into a neutral atom as it leaves the muzzle (making the CPAWS beam into a NPAWS beam) TRAVELLER PAWS are (IIRC) able to switch modes of operation from CPAWS to NPAWS as needed, depending on where the target is.

 

[jwcarroll60]

Oz,

Thanks for the info...

 

[BetterThanLife]

There is a canon source for the fact that the PAWS can do both in Traveller.

Originally Published in Adventure 1, The Kinunir, Page 10.
Armament: Dual ventral missile turrets, each with semi-automated missile launch racks. Charged/neutral particle accelerator tip turrets (port and starboard). Anti-boat laser batteries along dorsal surface.

 

[Andrew Boulton]

FF&S confirms this.

 

[Jame]

I'm confused: can each type of pause switch from its type to the other, and change back to its original type after changing?

 

[The Oz]

Originally posted by Jame:
I'm confused: can each type of pause switch from its type to the other, and change back to its original type after changing?

Yes. In theory, all PAWS are built as CPAWS but there would be a device at the muzzle of the PAWS that "adds" electrons to the charged ions, converting (when needed) the beam from a CPAWS beam to an NPAWS beam. It's this device (the "beam neutralizer") that can be turned on and off at need to convert the weapon from CPAWS to NPAWS.

 

[tjoneslo]

To be completely correct, you need to design a PAW to enable this to work correctly. You can also build a CPAW or NPAW that can't be switched easily.

The Reconfigurable PAW (RPAW) is probably a proton accelerator (using hydrogen as a fuel source) and the reconfiguration turns on or off a electron source at the barrel.

An example of a non-reconfigural NPAW would fire magnetically accelerated Neutrons. Neutrons have a better penetraing factor against armor than RPAW hydrogen atoms.

An example of a non-reconfigurable CPAW would fire either electrons (being a lighting gun), muons, or another subatomic particle. Electrons work well as charged particle weapons because the electrons are easy to come by, accelerate quickly (being smaller than most other particles) and cause an interesting light show.

 

[atpollard]

Originally posted by tjoneslo:
An example of a non-reconfigural NPAW would fire magnetically accelerated Neutrons. Neutrons have a better penetraing factor against armor than RPAW hydrogen atoms.

Inquiring minds want to know:

How do you magnetically accelerate a Neutron?
I thought magnetism is based on charges attracting and/or repelling while neutrons (by definition) have no charge.

 

[tjoneslo]

Neutons have no electical charge, but do have a magnetic dipole moment. They have a slight magnetic field because quarks that make up the Neutron, while they create a neutral charge, still occupy some space and since they spin within a space create a slight magnetic field.

I will emphasize the term slight in the last sentence. If you though the magnetic fields required for railguns was bad, it requires even larger ones for a weapons grade neutron accelerator.

 

[atpollard]

Originally posted by tjoneslo:
I will emphasize the term slight in the last sentence. If you though the magnetic fields required for railguns was bad, it requires even larger ones for a weapons grade neutron accelerator.

Thank you for the enlightenment.

Would it be safe to conclude that a "neutron" NPAW would be "even larger" than a CPAW, since it required a stronger field (presumably a stronger field requires more equipment and energy than a weaker field)?

 

[tjoneslo]

I'm not sure that the neutron NPAW would be physically larger than a normal PAW at Traveller tech levels. If they can build efficient gauss weapons, the same technology can be used for the PAW.

For a detailed system like FF&S or GURPS Vehicles, I might increase the size by a few percent, but for something like HG there wouldn't be any difference. But you are correct, the power requirements would be higher, though I'm not sure how much higher.