I was wondering if any of you know how well a conventional firearm, either a mounted machine gun or something larger like a howitzer or those guns WWII era battleships used, would work in space against reasonably well armored spaceships?
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Considering they require oxygen for their explosive launching of projectiles, I would assume not very well. However, if you sealed the chamber off from the vacuum of space and then filled it with oxygen, they should at least fire. It would probably be best, though, to just use a different launching mechanism like magnets.
As for effectiveness, it would depend on a number of factors. The type of plating it's hitting, how fast it's hitting it and at what angle, the shape of the projectile, etc. If we're talking just within EVN, you'd probably have to base it off the Hail and Storm chainguns; high armour damage, but low shield damage.
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If you're going for full-blown realism, space combat will probably be nothing like the movies. I read an article about it awhile back, and the gist of it was it'd have a lot more similarities with submarine warfare (also not correctly portrayed in film!) I'd imagine it'd involve a lot of radar guesswork ("is that a space ship? Or just another asteroid?") and long-range missiles, most likely. Space is pretty big and it'd probably take decades with an FTL drive to even wind up in the same quadrant as your enemy.
So, in short, inter-planetary warfare probably would not exist. It'd either be a MADD-type situation or just one planet with superior technology obliterating another.
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Darn, I was hoping more people would reply to this, oh well.
DarthKev said:
Considering they require oxygen for their explosive launching of projectiles
Oxidizer are added to chemical propellants because the fuel to oxygen ratios have to be just right. You can even fire guns underwater, but with severely reduced effectiveness (that has more to do with increased pressure rather than a lack of oxygen).
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it would depend on a number of factors. The type of plating it's hitting, how fast it's hitting it and at what angle, the shape of the projectile, etc. If we're talking just within EVN, you'd probably have to base it off the Hail and Storm chainguns; high armour damage, but low shield damage.
Yeah, I really should've included a lot more information... My idea was that there could be conventional and electromagnetic weapons that fire inert slugs (good armor damage, low ammunition cap and shield damage), machine guns and grenades/exploding projectiles (low armor damage, high shield damage), and a few obligatory blaster cannons (moderate shield and armor damage, very short range). Ships would have far less shielding than armor (comparable to the Aurorans in vanilla), but they would recharge very quickly. Most ships would use conventional weapons, long range missiles (like missiles in EVC, weighty but very effective), and energy weapons. Energy weapons would soak up a lot of power, but conventional weapons would require a steady source of ammunition.
Sklent said:
I read an article about it awhile back, and the gist of it was it'd have a lot more similarities with submarine warfare (also not correctly portrayed in film!)
I think I read something like that on cracked.
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So, in short, inter-planetary warfare probably would not exist. It'd either be a MADD-type situation or just one planet with superior technology obliterating another.
Good point, but where's the fun in that? ;)/>