ok in my lst post i gave two different reasons for why mass drivers dont work as you think they should, the first half was in a hypothetical 'future' and the second was based on todays reality. ill try again
first in the 'future'.
in order for a ship to travel at close to light speeds it will need to have some form of shielding against normal interstellar matter (rocks, dust, asteroids, comets, and so on), that was my point by saying that there would allready be SOME form of particle defence built into any future space craft.
once you reach the light speed then ALL forms of particles are in effect allready 'mass drivers' since a mass driver functions based on speeds of the projectiles. then it becomes only a question of angle of attack, an object behind a light speed craft could never catch up(sinse light speed is the fastest you could move in this universe), but an object in front of a light speed craft becomes in effect a mass driver even if its stationary, the ultimate mass driver in fact, because the targets own speed is used against it.
the concept is that your dealing with a fixed speed limit in this universe, and sinse the defending ship in our future can reach the speed limit of the universe then a mass driver would only be useful from a forward angle of attack.
now make the leap to hyperlight speeds, that removes all the caps, but NOW you have to have the ability to have a mass propelled into hyperlight speeds, that will require some form of constiant propulsion sinse the natural speed limit is light speed you will need to use un natural means to get a mass driver to hyper light speeds like a 'warp engine' THEN it becomes a missle not a mass driver.
the above is all theory mind you but based on sound principals. now let us examin the facts.
with my comments about using missles vrs guns today, the reason that plaes are still armed with guns is for air to ground support, the guns are used for fixed target destruction, since plaes can and DO dodge gunfire, or simple fly faster than the guns speeds, once the 'jet age' started the Axis powers found that their planes were shooting themselves down because they were moving faster than the bullits their guns were firing, THAT is what caused the switch from guns to missles, the projectiles they were using needed to have their relitave speeds boosted in order for the shooting plane not to outrun its own gun fire.
now after a bit of research into a better gun they eventualy developed a high enough caliber gun that could atleast be marginaly effective against mach plus planes but its still a VERY close range weapon. it has to be, since even at mach plus speeds the bullit is still not moving that much faster than the plane in front of you, and the plane in front of you is under continuis accelleration the bullit isnt, that means that during the 'window' that the bullit can hold its overtake speed it must hit the target or it will simple bleed off all its speed and fall to earth, and that is a very very small window, now allready starting from a handycap you now also have to factor in things like vector changes of the target (dodging) and angle of attack (front head on, or rear chase)
THAT is why missles were introduced and are still being developed and why guns arent, guns are a dead end path in a ship to ship fight. with no way to guide the projectile its far to easy for the attacker and defender to dodge bullits, or out run them, or simple avoid the very small cone of attack that a gun allows you.
now attack against fixed targets a mass driver would be an outstanding weapon. since objects at close to light speed carry tremendious destructave power, the problem is hiting what you aim at, if an object is fixed or even moving slowly enough to not be able to dodge then you have something. hiting a 10 story building with even a 20 MM object at light speed would cause total destruction of that building, but buildings cant dodge. allow that building to move at light speed itself and you would need a miracle to hit it.
| Not true. Guns are used in aerial combat all the time, |
aye as an air to ground weapon, but seldom used in air to air combat.
| You're forgetting that speed is relative; if your ship is moving at the speed of light, and your target is moving at the speed of light, you could throw a rock by hand and it would be moving faster than the enemy ship |
and your forgeting that once you reach light speed you have reached the speed limit of this universe, that rock you 'throw' at light speed would either never leave your hand since your allready moving as fast as possable, or it would pop into 'hyperspace' since it would have broken the light speed of this universe and thus no longer be able to effect anything IN this universe.
| Dodging a projectile can involve a tremendous amount of g-forces, depending on the size of the ship under attack (larger ships need to move further to get out of the projectile's path) and the flight time of the projectile. Figure out a way to move a 100m ship out of the path of a projectile that will be arriving within 1/1000th of a second without killing everyone on board and/or ripping the ship apart through the g-forces involved and you'll have an argument. |
in order to even move a ship at light speed to begine with you will have had to work out all those factors since as ive pointed out more than once now, ANY object becomes a mass driver when the ship is moving at light speeds. YOUR motion relitave to ANY object is what causes that object to take on the properties of a mass driver, YOUR speed is used against you in the reverse, your ship IS the mass driver projectile. you talk about not being able to hit a bullit with a bullit, once your ship reaches light speed you BECOME that bullit. now tell me again how your going to shoot it down with another bullit?
if my ship is at C and you fire an object at me at C then that object will never hit me, assuming a tail chase aspect, if its a head to head encounter........... well the simple answer is that i know better than to go head to head with you. i figure out your cone of attack and avoid it, since your ship has the same trouble turning as mine does and the ONLY way you can hit me at light speed is if i comeing head on at you then i dont come head on at you. cant get a much better counter measure than that can you?
your dealing with a hard law of the universe, nothing in this universe is faster than the speed of light, once you reach that speed thats it. there is no overtake speed possable, there is only the ability to set up a split second window from a head to head aspect that will alow you to use an light speeds objects own speed against it. and in that case you may as well seed a mine field out of rocks and just let the ship your trying to attack to fly through it and destroy itself , for if you miss the shot with your gun then the ship is past you and you cant catch up.
how do you the shooter AIM a gun when you have 1/10000th of a second before your target is past you?
