Quote:
Originally Posted by MarkBB
The other thing about the tactics in Webbers HH is that the ships are protected by both active and passive defenses - any missile boring straight in for a KE kill would not reach the target. In fact at the start of the series the technology was such that even with stand-off warheads the probability of scoring a hit against a similar warship was practically zero, and the main tactic was to try & swamp the enemies defenses.
I'm not that much of a physicist so I can accept the propulsion system and inertial dumps as handwaviums without two much problems, but I do have problems with the massive crews his ships seem to carry - 6 people to each secondary weapons system in case of control run failure does seem a bit excessive. His ships also seem to have few of the compromises seen in real life - massivly armored plus massive defences plus massive attack power in one ship would probably make his navies unfordable even fo0r multi-planetary bodies.
Mark
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Hmm, yes, but if the kinetic strike is launched from far enough away, it can shut down its drives before your target picks up its gravity signature, and coast in ballistically, but with enough speed that the target has no time to respond when it picks up the missile on radar.
And, 90,000 x
g does not sound so extraordinary to me. I have used a centrifuge that is capable of generating a relative centrifugal force of 400,000 x
g.
I think the best thing about Weber's HH series is: it's like Age of Sail naval warfare, but with
bigger guns! You just have to accept lots of arm-waving not-compatable-with-laws-of-physics stuff to enjoy them.
The nature of compromise in ship construction is touched on here and there in the novels. Heavy arms and armament versus manoeuverability versus cost. Anyway, I've already mentioned that I think some of it is quite creative, so let's see if the thread can get back on-topic...