lasers are the least likely weapon, it turns out
see this page:
http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/rocket3x.html
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everything you need to know about sci-fi futurist spaceships, weapons, detectors, engines etc - all with solid math to back up the points explained - in a lot of instances its a real reality check - such as 'stealth' in space when using energized reaction mass is nonexistant, since just the radiation emitted will give you away - not to mention that gravitational sensors will spot your mass
we all need a reality check on engagement ranges - they are never anything like star trek or any movie/show/game really, where you can see the enemy with unaided 20/40 sight, although they typically say 'intensify magnification' when we cut to the external shot of the engagement we can see that ships are within single-digit hull's-lengths, eg close enough to scrape the paint
a phaser would be accurate, according to the site's math, to 100,000-200,000 kilometers
a photon torpedo, which is unguided(?) would not be accurate in the least
more likely than phasers are just radiation weapons, X-ray and gamma-ray lasers and bomb-pumped lasers(more likely,er - simple). these would necessitate carrying extraordinary shielding, or they would kill any living thing in the ship- a plus when it comes to capturing alien technology, however if directed at a drone/AI driven ship it wouldn't have immediate effects and would leave you vulnerable
when it comes to kinetic weapons you've got planet-busting asteroids, railguns and coilguns - rail guns actually use Lorentz force(which is demonstrated in cheesy sci-fi and science classes with two 'bunny ear' configured antenae conducting a moving arc) but with the high energies involved a considerable breakthrough in material science is necessary to make them reusable. coilguns use coils to accelerate a magnetic material - this is often confused with a railgun, but its not - there are no rails! coilguns have their own problems, namely the rugged construction of the entire thing which must endure enormous strain as it struggles to accelerate a relatively small projectile to sub-light speeds, and the current surging through the very precisely built coils has to be switched, and switching mechanisms for that kind of current are huge clunky things.
also, a point for kinetic weapons; remember that the closer it is to C the more energy it will release on impact, so if kinetic weapons are fast enough they will be devastating within their limited range
planet busting asteroids are frightening, because they require space-superiority to counter and they could potentially sterilize a planet with no radiation, making them perfect for scouring a planet clean of life and coming back later to colonize it
homing missiles are definitely a gray area, it would really depend on their performance and the countermeasures the enemy might use - eg shoot it down, drop decoys etc
Edited by - Cold_Void on 7/28/2006 3:38:23 AM