Game in the Brain

I don’t know if you noticed I’ve published my GURPS sci-fi technology notes. Basically its a writing exercise regarding GURPS Ultra Tech and all the effective combos that would make the “dominant strategy”.

Its me Munckining out the system till it breaks and finding its limits. Oh boy the limits.

I’ve been running a GURPS Modern Fantasy, its easy to simplify doctrine because limits and technologies dictate what can be done and what is reliable. In GURPS UT when it comes to future tech, many things are possible.

So what I’ve been doing is min-maxing it and writing it down so that the Optimal Strategy is the Standard Operating Procedure… everyone else sucks and the Imperium and other Equally powerful Entities have the “Broken Combos” as they SHOULD.

I got frustrated when I tried using DC’s Ballistic Spreadsheet, because the damage was too high and did not scale well with the other technology and options. Because of basic physics Missiles and Ballistics is still far cheaper to deliver damage than Energy Weapons….

It does not stop there: Light Speed Limitations, Computing Power, EW and “No Stealth in Space” drastically alter doctrine that make Missiles still more effective because of AI. Computing basically screws all other assumptions with GURPS computing power progression.

Because of Emulated Minds that are run with Mega Computers a degree of coordination and precision allows combatants to exploit the Light Seconds of Opportunity (in time and distance).

Missiles are not the dumb Missiles we are familiar with instead they are like Spells with special effects and abilities.  They are compartmentalized essences of the Mega Computer with enough intelligence to make the best possible use of the microseconds of opportunity they have as they near their target and probe beyond their effective defense in depth. Their payload can be specialized and surgical – EM disruptor beams, tightly focused and targeted Jammers (enough to degrade the effectivity of sensor equipment), Ballistic Nano-Virus Delivery (which breaks the ships surface and uses Las-comm to give a HARD connection; or Invade the weaker Robot Symbiots doing damage control) and many more I’m sure others will figure out.

With mind Emulations fighters are at default “drones” but with Heightened Emulations of their pilots (the reason you still have many pilots is because of their “randomization” of combat pattern and intelligence to make them less predictable). These Emulated Pilots extend the mega computers’s computing power as independent agents.

anyway, I’ve hit a wall as you will notice. Because missiles can theoretically attack in 700,000miles on the FIRST (20min) turn in basic merchant ship combat, Naval Combat is going to be more crunchy. The Meson Canon is great but missiles engaging in 2,800,000 away is better. Now Saturate Point-Defense by having some missiles specialize as “Penetration Aids” sending out EMP, Nano-Virus and Stingray Ballistically launched payload from the missile and the Meson Savior of Terra can go byby against the Numeric Might of Vilani SMART Missile swarm.

If Solomani will want to out do them, then the Pilot Emulation Drones will reward Individual Heroism vs Vilani’s Low-individuality. The Fighters deliver many complicated combos of sensor degredation (like feints) only to slide in the chinks of defense precise hits (most of space is taken up by the EW systems).

sorry for kinda rambling.