Blue Highways are the secondary subspace routes of the Highlands. Blue Highways are routes which do not have hypercable communication stations seeded along their route. Beacon stations are located farther apart and the Department of Roads does not have as many gravitational weather stations located along the route. This makes travelling along the Blue Highways marginally more dangerous than along the Major routes. Travel is also generally slower. This is reflected in the subspace quality factor. Blue Highways generally have had less spatial stabilization. Portal Gates generally tend to be located outside the 100 diameter limit, in orbit around the stellar primary. This is less convenient.
Waystations are also fewer and farther between. A greater majority of travel along the Blue Highways consists of commercial traffic. Hypertrains do not run along these routes, so most passenger traffic goes by hyperbus, a much less comfortable mode of travel. It also much slower than hypertrain travel as there are stop overs every few days at the waystations that do exists.
Most cartage goes by hyperlorries.
The lack of hypercable means that information travels no faster than the Courier vessels of the Grand Postal System. Worlds on the Blue Highways are often thought of as a little behind the times by the inhabitants of the population centers on the Major Routes. The Church tends to be fairly strong on these worlds, its clerics and orders often receiving news via the Church's own couriers before it is delivered by the Post.
Many religious orders and lay organizations provide both help to travelers and relief to natives.
The Shelta, itinerant trader/technicians travel the Blue Highways in their caravans of hypershuttles. Most are devout sons and daughters of the Church, though often accused of having odd interpretations of some of the commandments (most especially the sixth and seventh,) on worlds where their travelling lifestyle is looked on with suspicion. On many worlds their talents with machinery and technology are welcomed. They often seem to have the right materials and design specs for hard to get spares and some seem to be almost able to talk to technology. They are often associated with the Grey Friars of the Renewal, who often seem to travel with the Shelta caravans, both seeing to their spiritual needs and smoothing over problems with locals. Along with hyperlorries and HUVs, they are a common sight on the Blue Highways.
Outside the Highlands almost every route could be considered a Blue Highway. Most of these routes are toll roads, either privately owned or short routes joining the worlds of a petty collection of worlds. Some few are extensions of the Grand Human Union, expanding into the Midlands.
Within the Highlands the Department of Roads in constantly upgrading existing Blue Highways to Major Routes, stringing hypercable stations along improved spacial structures in subspace. Likewise the Blue Highways themselves are extended to otherwise disconnected worlds, previously only open to traffic with hypershunting capability. Even so some worlds will never be connect via Blue Highways, and some that are will never get hypercable.
Friday, August 26, 2011
Space Combat Missile Design
As for all New Diasporia technical game rules missiles are designed using GURPS 3rd Edition rules from VE 2nd Edition, modified for the New Diasporia Universe. If you use another system either just import the operating statistics into your ruleset or design your own, based upon what ever design rules that ruleset uses.
Standard missiles (250mm & 500mm) were designed using the vehicle rules from VE2 and using GURPS Vehicle Builder, a program which I believe is still available from SJGames. I created a custom Barnes-Gutierrez Engine Module for GVB. Basically it is a Gravity Drive with a low power deflector representing the Barnes Manifold Interface. It was created at TL12 and improves over the next two TLs per standard GURPS Tech Level rules.
Viper anti-missiles were created using the space missile design rules on VE2 p122. The P factor has a progression which goes from TL4 to TL11+. This progression discounts the fact that according to GURPS Reactionless Thruster (and Gravity Drive) rules a drive becomes 1000 times more efficient (that is its weight to thrust ratio is a thousand times greater at TL13+ than it is at TL9.) By increasing setting P=P*1000 to reflect this progression, I got a very high acceleration, but short endurance, anti-missile missile.
X-Ray Laser warheads use damage from GURPS Traveller rather than Gurps Space Third Edition, that is they do 9dx200(2) damage. Note divide by 2 only against Armor, not force fields. As can be seen at that level of damage a flight of 10 missiles could damage even a dreadnought, even with an operating force field. 10 flights of them could easily do in even such a first rater as a super dreadnought.
Missiles with X-Ray warheads are not susceptible to typical point-defense weapons (lasers and rail guns) nor to nuclear dampers at the ranges they deploy at. Anti-Missile Missiles are the best defense against them. Typical ranges of Vipers is 1 million miles (or 100 hexes if using the Traveller 10,000 mile hex based combat system.)
Point-defense weapons typically are only effective when missiles get within 3,000 miles of the target, or within the same hex. X-Ray Lasers detonate at ~10,000 miles from the target or just within the same hex.
Nuclear dampers are only effective in the < 100 mile range. Since nuclear tipped missiles are effectively contact weapons this is more than adequate. Even an active force field will not protect against the 12dx20,000 damage from a 250mm warhead or the 12x2,000,000 damage of a 500mm warhead.
I'll cover more about New Diasporia space combat philosophy in another post.
Standard missiles (250mm & 500mm) were designed using the vehicle rules from VE2 and using GURPS Vehicle Builder, a program which I believe is still available from SJGames. I created a custom Barnes-Gutierrez Engine Module for GVB. Basically it is a Gravity Drive with a low power deflector representing the Barnes Manifold Interface. It was created at TL12 and improves over the next two TLs per standard GURPS Tech Level rules.
Viper anti-missiles were created using the space missile design rules on VE2 p122. The P factor has a progression which goes from TL4 to TL11+. This progression discounts the fact that according to GURPS Reactionless Thruster (and Gravity Drive) rules a drive becomes 1000 times more efficient (that is its weight to thrust ratio is a thousand times greater at TL13+ than it is at TL9.) By increasing setting P=P*1000 to reflect this progression, I got a very high acceleration, but short endurance, anti-missile missile.
X-Ray Laser warheads use damage from GURPS Traveller rather than Gurps Space Third Edition, that is they do 9dx200(2) damage. Note divide by 2 only against Armor, not force fields. As can be seen at that level of damage a flight of 10 missiles could damage even a dreadnought, even with an operating force field. 10 flights of them could easily do in even such a first rater as a super dreadnought.
Missiles with X-Ray warheads are not susceptible to typical point-defense weapons (lasers and rail guns) nor to nuclear dampers at the ranges they deploy at. Anti-Missile Missiles are the best defense against them. Typical ranges of Vipers is 1 million miles (or 100 hexes if using the Traveller 10,000 mile hex based combat system.)
Point-defense weapons typically are only effective when missiles get within 3,000 miles of the target, or within the same hex. X-Ray Lasers detonate at ~10,000 miles from the target or just within the same hex.
Nuclear dampers are only effective in the < 100 mile range. Since nuclear tipped missiles are effectively contact weapons this is more than adequate. Even an active force field will not protect against the 12dx20,000 damage from a 250mm warhead or the 12x2,000,000 damage of a 500mm warhead.
I'll cover more about New Diasporia space combat philosophy in another post.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Space Combat - Missiles
In the New Diasporia Universe, at TL A at any rate, space combat is dominated by the missile. Energy weapons, especially among the largest ships, are formidable weapons with very great ranges. In single ship actions, especially between relatively small vessels at very close range, energy weapons are very effective. In fleet actions missiles are the deadliest weapons.
The Legion has standardized on offensive missiles in 2 standard sizes, 250 mm 6 cf missiles and 500 mm 30 cf missiles. Other armed ships inside the Union tend to use these same missile sizes. Because much of the weapon technology of the nearer Midland worlds tends to originate in the Highlands these sizes are also common there,
The typical light missile is a kinetic kill weapon, primarily a heavily stealthed B/G engine with a mass of collapsed matter for a warhead and a brilliant compact computer guided by a sensor targeting array. Topping out at 700G acceleration and with an endurance of 15 minutes and a range of almost 2 million miles light missiles are formidable weapons, even against a target with a force field, if you throw enough of them at it.
Heavy missiles are even more versatile. Topping out at 1000G acceleration and with an endurance of 18 minutes and a range of 3 miles heavy missiles can carry a variety of payload packages, including nuclear and X-Ray laser warheads.
Viper anti-missile have a crushing 10,000G acceleration, but only have a 3 minute endurance, but they can still have a range of a million miles of powered flight. A heavy missile can deliver 10 Viper anti-missiles, extending the usable range of these lethal fire and forget weapons. They can also be fired from a gravity pulse launcher, which conveys an even higher initial acceleration, extending their range. Vipers typically contain a force field warhead which gives them an intersection cross section larger than their own size.
Unlike Vipers, light and heavy missiles are a combination of guided and fire-and-forget technology. Each missile contains a long range laser receiver that allows it to be controlled from its firing vessel or any other platform with the proper access codes. When the missile gets withing close range of its target an on board computer uses the missile's own sensor package to guide it to its target. A self-destruct charge allows the remote operator to destroy the missile at need.
Modified heavy missiles can be used to control other missiles in its flight allowing one laser guidance transmitter to control a barrage of missiles.
There are versions of both light and heavy missiles which have been converted into surveillance drones, ECM drones and even delivery systems for smart bombs, glide bombs and deadfall ordnance.
There are a variety of different sensor packages that can be used for guidance. Passive systems include radscanners, which can be used for Anti-Radiation Missile Homing (ARM), ladar homing, and neutrino homing, and PESA, good for Infrared imaging, Radar homing, and even optical homing. Multiscanners can be used to target particular targets based on human occupation or even to avoid them, as well as working in radscanner mode as above. In chemscanner mode particular ship locations or economic targets can be chosen. Gravscanner homers can lock onto force fields or the Barnes Manifold of a B/G engine.
For the cost in weight of a laser transceiver a missile can send telemetry data back to its mother ship. This slightly reduces its payload.
Because they can be remotely controlled missiles can be seeded in a location and be activated later. A missile's engine can also be turned off to allow it to drift further extending its range, though ballistic missiles are easy targets for lasers or railguns.
The Legion has standardized on offensive missiles in 2 standard sizes, 250 mm 6 cf missiles and 500 mm 30 cf missiles. Other armed ships inside the Union tend to use these same missile sizes. Because much of the weapon technology of the nearer Midland worlds tends to originate in the Highlands these sizes are also common there,
The typical light missile is a kinetic kill weapon, primarily a heavily stealthed B/G engine with a mass of collapsed matter for a warhead and a brilliant compact computer guided by a sensor targeting array. Topping out at 700G acceleration and with an endurance of 15 minutes and a range of almost 2 million miles light missiles are formidable weapons, even against a target with a force field, if you throw enough of them at it.
Heavy missiles are even more versatile. Topping out at 1000G acceleration and with an endurance of 18 minutes and a range of 3 miles heavy missiles can carry a variety of payload packages, including nuclear and X-Ray laser warheads.
Unlike Vipers, light and heavy missiles are a combination of guided and fire-and-forget technology. Each missile contains a long range laser receiver that allows it to be controlled from its firing vessel or any other platform with the proper access codes. When the missile gets withing close range of its target an on board computer uses the missile's own sensor package to guide it to its target. A self-destruct charge allows the remote operator to destroy the missile at need.
Modified heavy missiles can be used to control other missiles in its flight allowing one laser guidance transmitter to control a barrage of missiles.
There are versions of both light and heavy missiles which have been converted into surveillance drones, ECM drones and even delivery systems for smart bombs, glide bombs and deadfall ordnance.
There are a variety of different sensor packages that can be used for guidance. Passive systems include radscanners, which can be used for Anti-Radiation Missile Homing (ARM), ladar homing, and neutrino homing, and PESA, good for Infrared imaging, Radar homing, and even optical homing. Multiscanners can be used to target particular targets based on human occupation or even to avoid them, as well as working in radscanner mode as above. In chemscanner mode particular ship locations or economic targets can be chosen. Gravscanner homers can lock onto force fields or the Barnes Manifold of a B/G engine.
For the cost in weight of a laser transceiver a missile can send telemetry data back to its mother ship. This slightly reduces its payload.
Because they can be remotely controlled missiles can be seeded in a location and be activated later. A missile's engine can also be turned off to allow it to drift further extending its range, though ballistic missiles are easy targets for lasers or railguns.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Celestial Architecture
Celestial Architecture is the art and science of designing spacecraft. In the New Diasporia universe this typically means shunt capable vessels as opposed to space vehicles capable of using the Major Routes or Blue highways. The design of the smaller, mass produced vessels used on these routes is typically called Aerospace Engineering.
While small spacecraft are designed based on both aesthetic and practical engineering considerations, large space vessels are almost totally designed based on practical engineering design factors. This leads to a uniformity of design practices. That is, vessels of similar purposes will almost always be designed to the same constraints, and will look and perform similarly.
So for example, men o' war are almost always spherical in shape. This is because force fields which are spherical rather than conformal are lighter, cheaper and require less power. The size and strength of the field required by a hyper utility vehicle is small enough that the difference between maintaining a spherical or conformal field does not result in a great enough limitation to constrain the design. Other considerations, such as parking convenience and ability to utilize transmat portals are more important. For heavily armored war craft though, the spherical shape is the most efficient one.
Smaller vessels, like the pinnace, schooner and corvette are typically cylindrical or saucer shaped, depending on their size.
Unlike craft propelled by reaction engines a vessel which uses a Barnes-Gutierrez Engine is not constrained to a single axis of movement. A B/G engine can thrust equally well in any direction. In all but the smallest craft the control room, or as it more properly known, the bridge, is typically centrally located in the vessel rather than at the "front." Most modern vessels will typically thrust so that the vessel's motion is perpendicular to the main deck, with "down" facing the direction of origin. Since it is not required to change the orientation of the engine to change its direction of thrust vessels do not "flip" to decelerate. On larger vessels not all decks necessarily are oriented to the same direction. Such vessel are never meant to land on a planetary surface and provide their own gravity anyway. There is no reason they should maintain a consistent "down" direction, and often it is more convenient for them not to.
Radial designs have many benefits and most modern vessels which are not spherical use a radial design. The very smallest craft; brakes, HUVs and hypertrains are the exception.
While small spacecraft are designed based on both aesthetic and practical engineering considerations, large space vessels are almost totally designed based on practical engineering design factors. This leads to a uniformity of design practices. That is, vessels of similar purposes will almost always be designed to the same constraints, and will look and perform similarly.
So for example, men o' war are almost always spherical in shape. This is because force fields which are spherical rather than conformal are lighter, cheaper and require less power. The size and strength of the field required by a hyper utility vehicle is small enough that the difference between maintaining a spherical or conformal field does not result in a great enough limitation to constrain the design. Other considerations, such as parking convenience and ability to utilize transmat portals are more important. For heavily armored war craft though, the spherical shape is the most efficient one.
Smaller vessels, like the pinnace, schooner and corvette are typically cylindrical or saucer shaped, depending on their size.
Unlike craft propelled by reaction engines a vessel which uses a Barnes-Gutierrez Engine is not constrained to a single axis of movement. A B/G engine can thrust equally well in any direction. In all but the smallest craft the control room, or as it more properly known, the bridge, is typically centrally located in the vessel rather than at the "front." Most modern vessels will typically thrust so that the vessel's motion is perpendicular to the main deck, with "down" facing the direction of origin. Since it is not required to change the orientation of the engine to change its direction of thrust vessels do not "flip" to decelerate. On larger vessels not all decks necessarily are oriented to the same direction. Such vessel are never meant to land on a planetary surface and provide their own gravity anyway. There is no reason they should maintain a consistent "down" direction, and often it is more convenient for them not to.
Radial designs have many benefits and most modern vessels which are not spherical use a radial design. The very smallest craft; brakes, HUVs and hypertrains are the exception.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Gravity Drives
The Barnes-Gutierrez Hyperspace Engine is a form of gravity drive. A gravity drive is a type of propulsion engine which operates by manipulating space-time. A gravity drive produces a "bubble" which is gravitationally isolated from the rest of space-time. This produces a number of effects which define the operational characteristics of the Barnes-Gutierrez Hyperspace Engine.
The interface or topological surface produced by the B/G engine is called the Barnes Manifold. Mass inside the Barnes Manifold is accelerated by the engine without translating the resultant inertial force to the the field's interior. In other words, inside the Barnes Manifold the usual acceleration force is not present. As a matter of fact vehicles and spacecraft which use Barnes-Gutierrez Hyperspace Engines require an artificial gravity web to maintain a comfortable gravity field, else the occupants would be weightless. This means that a passenger in a vehicle using a B/G Engine will feel neither acceleration nor deceleration. This allows such vehicles to perform hairpin turns, rapid changes in acceleration, and high speed stops, without fear of injuring the occupants. This also means that a spacecraft utilizing a Barnes-Gutierrez Engine can provide thrust in any direction without the vessel changing orientation.
The strength and permeability of the Manifold Interface is a function of its size and differential interaction with outside space. So micro B/G Engines, such as are used by smart ammunition, have very weak Barnes Manifolds even though they accelerate at >200,000 Gs. A full size space vessel, accelerating at only dozens of Gs will have a substantial, and well defined Barnes Manifold. The Manifold Interface acts as a buffer between particles outside the field and those inside the field. That means that even without a force field, a craft with a Barnes-Gutierrez Hyperspace Engine provides it's own radiation shield and protection against particulate radiation and even micrometeorites. The higher the acceleration the better the protection. The lower the acceleration the less protection.
Most spacecraft using reaction engines accelerate for approximately one half of a trip through space and then turn over to use their engines to decelerate for the second half of the journey to arrive at their destination with approximately zero residual velocity. Because a Barnes-Gutierrez Engine can produce thrust in any direction it is not required for a spacecraft equipped with one to "flip" during a typical journey. Most spacecraft that use reaction drives will adjust pitch and yaw through the use of small reaction engines. A vessel equipped with a Barnes-Gutierrez Engine can control its facing by manipulating the slip along the Barnes Manifold Interface such that the vessel can easily be set to any heading.
Because facing is not terribly relevant for a large vessel using a Barnes-Gutierrez Hyperspace Engine many are spherical with a fore and aft section designated more for reasons of tradition than from need. Such vessels typically maintain a single heading during a voyage, changing the vector of their thrust rather than their heading.
Because it is a form of gravity drive a Barnes-Gutierrez Hyperspace Engine behaves differently in subspace. On the gravitational topology of subspace too much gravitational thrust will actually result in a contra-gravitational force causing a vessel to lose velocity rather than gain it. To allow a vessel to move through subspace a Barnes-Gutierrez Hyperspace Engine must be adjusted to match local gravitational conditions. The vessel will then move at a more or less constant velocity unless affected by local gravitational eddies.
With proper modification a Barnes-Gutierrez Hyperspace Engine can open a temporary conduit to subspace. This is called shunting. A Barnes-Gutierrez Engine cannot provide both acceleration and open a shunt at the same time. This is a limitation of the nature of space-time and not of the engine itself. No one foolish enough to attempt to operate two engines in the same vessel, in different modes at the same time has survived to explain the result.
Engines operating in acceleration mode can easily coexists, though two vessels operating at high accelerations, with well defined Barnes Manifolds will have problems trying to dock. The effects will not be catastrophic, the vessels will simply tend to push each other away. This makes it easy to launch battleriders or shuttles even at high acceleration, but difficult to recover them without moving at a constant velocity.
Most spacecraft using reaction engines accelerate for approximately one half of a trip through space and then turn over to use their engines to decelerate for the second half of the journey to arrive at their destination with approximately zero residual velocity. Because a Barnes-Gutierrez Engine can produce thrust in any direction it is not required for a spacecraft equipped with one to "flip" during a typical journey. Most spacecraft that use reaction drives will adjust pitch and yaw through the use of small reaction engines. A vessel equipped with a Barnes-Gutierrez Engine can control its facing by manipulating the slip along the Barnes Manifold Interface such that the vessel can easily be set to any heading.
Because facing is not terribly relevant for a large vessel using a Barnes-Gutierrez Hyperspace Engine many are spherical with a fore and aft section designated more for reasons of tradition than from need. Such vessels typically maintain a single heading during a voyage, changing the vector of their thrust rather than their heading.
Because it is a form of gravity drive a Barnes-Gutierrez Hyperspace Engine behaves differently in subspace. On the gravitational topology of subspace too much gravitational thrust will actually result in a contra-gravitational force causing a vessel to lose velocity rather than gain it. To allow a vessel to move through subspace a Barnes-Gutierrez Hyperspace Engine must be adjusted to match local gravitational conditions. The vessel will then move at a more or less constant velocity unless affected by local gravitational eddies.
With proper modification a Barnes-Gutierrez Hyperspace Engine can open a temporary conduit to subspace. This is called shunting. A Barnes-Gutierrez Engine cannot provide both acceleration and open a shunt at the same time. This is a limitation of the nature of space-time and not of the engine itself. No one foolish enough to attempt to operate two engines in the same vessel, in different modes at the same time has survived to explain the result.
Engines operating in acceleration mode can easily coexists, though two vessels operating at high accelerations, with well defined Barnes Manifolds will have problems trying to dock. The effects will not be catastrophic, the vessels will simply tend to push each other away. This makes it easy to launch battleriders or shuttles even at high acceleration, but difficult to recover them without moving at a constant velocity.
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