Quote:
Originally Posted by dworth
I suspect that real space battles, were they ever to occur, could take place at extremely longe ranges, something that brings with it a whole raft of problems. How do you hit a moving target at ranges of millions of kilometres? How do you target a ship if the distance is such that the light delay means that the ship that you're firing at isn't where it appears to be anyway and definitely won't be there when your missiles arrive? How do you stop it shooting down your projectiles when it has hours or even days to intercept them or move out of the way? If you aren't using projectiles, how do you create a powerful enough beam weapon capable of delivering enough hitting power over those distances?
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Answer: Independently-maneuverable self-guiding missiles for long-range combat. Short-range combat shouldn't even involve manned vehicles: Drones should be semi-autonomously piloted (mainly to keep from getting hit) while remote controllers use them as weapons platforms for short-range fire and defense.
Of course, that takes all the fun and excitement out of battle, so you're not likely to see much of that, especially on-screen...