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**Exthalion** · 14 September 2010, 02:26 PM

Not quite a good idea. Railguns have their main advantage in the speed at which they fire their projectiles. Adding rockets increases the mass which increases the energy required to accelerate meaning either lower speed or frequent replacement of the rails.

A smaller shell with a higher speed has more energy then an explosive shell. And there is no range in space so it wouldn't really help much.

Edit: And firing a shell at high fractions of c make it harder to intercept then limited homing/anti-pd. Simply because there is less warning to shoot it down. At those speeds and Stargate's visual range a fighter couldn't dodge the round. I suggest a good auto-targeting system.

**Cmdr. Setsuna F. Seyei** · 14 September 2010, 02:58 PM

@ black luster was that done with Sketchup?
it looks like it

**blackluster** · 14 September 2010, 03:41 PM

Originally posted by Ex

Not quite a good idea. Railguns have their main advantage in the speed at which they fire their projectiles. Adding rockets increases the mass which increases the energy required to accelerate meaning either lower speed or frequent replacement of the rails.

A smaller shell with a higher speed has more energy then an explosive shell. And there is no range in space so it wouldn't really help much.

Edit: And firing a shell at high fractions of c make it harder to intercept then limited homing/anti-pd. Simply because there is less warning to shoot it down. At those speeds and Stargate's visual range a fighter couldn't dodge the round. I suggest a good auto-targeting system.

Good points yes. I had considered the cost of accelerating the heavier projectile though the solutions didn't appear readily obvious. I mused on the possibility of perhaps using highly localized inertial dampers (active within the turret itself) to perhaps assist the EM accelerators with moving the heavier projectile and getting up to conventional railgun round muzzle velocities.

I'm assuming some improved performance as well with the discardable casing improving the electromotive efficiency of the gun and thereby perhaps mitigating the increased weight a little bit and increasing the longevity of the barrels.

As to the second point, the main reason I dreamed this weapon system up was to push the damage limit per shot. This was because in the stargate fiction I've never seen a railgun round do significant damage against a shielded capital ship at any range let alone an extended one. Perhaps the calibres were simply to low, I'm not sure. In either case, my intention was to combine the kinetic damage of a high speed round with a naquadah enhanced secondary explosion. This would be particularly useful against an unshielded ship where a delayed fuse charge would explode after breaching the hull giving a quicker kill or disable with less shots (analogous to using hollow point ammunition). To this end a rocket motor wouldn't be necessary, though I am fascinated by the possibility of increased round velocity extending the effective firing range. (yes I know a projectile would keep going in space but at a certain point once your enemy can detect that a shot is fired there is enough warning to evade. I'd like to not only increase that distance but also increase the odds of a direct hit even when the opponent is maneuvering)

On the last point, the rocket accelerated rounds are only used against capital ships at very long range (possibly well beyond visual). The smaller railguns on the flanks fire more conventional penetration and flak rounds.

Originally posted by Set

@ black luster was that done with Sketchup?
it looks like it

Yes. SketchUp is the only modeling software I know how to use.

**Merlin1701** · 14 September 2010, 11:11 PM

good old sketchup...there are qyuite a few of us that do use it. looks good blackluster.

**Exthalion** · 15 September 2010, 03:04 PM

A 1kg solid slug going 10% c has 100 kilotons of KE. Given naqueda's density that is not a very large slug. Your normal rail guns are already nukes if you up the speed.

**thekillman** · 15 September 2010, 10:18 PM

railguns and anything electronic, well i doubt it's a good idea. railguns put enourmous stress on the projectiles. something goes from standstill to several mach's over the course of, what, a meter?

suffice to say, any complex bullet won't work.

a large coilgun would be better as coilguns are nicer to their projectiles. and there's no intense electric and magnetic field and no intense electric current through the projectile. and no massive friction. Coiguns use magnets only

**dboy-2007** · 15 September 2010, 10:32 PM

went to start a new ship in sketchup and the little scroller in the middle of my mouse dont work

.

**dboy-2007** · 15 September 2010, 10:50 PM

Even if i cant get the model started I've got the specs.

Spoiler:

**dboy-2007** · 15 September 2010, 10:50 PM

Even if i cant get the model started I've got the specs.

Spoiler:

**blackluster** · 16 September 2010, 01:06 AM

Originally posted by killman

railguns and anything electronic, well i doubt it's a good idea. railguns put enourmous stress on the projectiles. something goes from standstill to several mach's over the course of, what, a meter?

suffice to say, any complex bullet won't work.

a large coilgun would be better as coilguns are nicer to their projectiles. and there's no intense electric and magnetic field and no intense electric current through the projectile. and no massive friction. Coiguns use magnets only

Well, the coilgun does seem appealing and the change as far as the ship is concerned is just semantics. I might replace the forward upper turret with a missile turret like the one in your specs. I assuming an anti-ship missile would have a diameter 0.8 meters.

**thekillman** · 16 September 2010, 08:19 AM

well it would semi-impact the gun design. also when using coil guns, it's favourable to use longer barrels. but aside from that...

missile diameter depends. things like ICBMs have a diameter of like 1 meter or so. regular missiles are much smaller. it's all about how much energy your rocket engine outputs and how fast it REALLY needs to go.

as to projectiles (by no means a lecture)

i have thought of a similar technology myself, but by FAR the most simplistic system would be a dummy missile design. bullet-like missiles, with a solid-state rocket engine. nuke in the front, detonation system capable of detecting shields and, well, pretty much it. no real need for guidance, it's about lots of cheap ammo.

as the weapon fires, the rocket engine ignites, and it accelerates. then the nuke detonates on the shield or it punctures the armor and THEN detonates

**Lt. Col. Mcoy** · 16 September 2010, 08:57 AM

Originally posted by thekillman View Post

a large coilgun would be better as coilguns are nicer to their projectiles. and there's no intense electric and magnetic field and no intense electric current through the projectile. and no massive friction. Coiguns use magnets only

Uh . . . right. Sure.

I think you may have made a slip of the tongue.

**Saquist** · 16 September 2010, 02:05 PM

Originally posted by dboy-2007 View Post

went to start a new ship in sketchup and the little scroller in the middle of my mouse dont work

.

Search for mouse configurations in control panel.

**dboy-2007** · 16 September 2010, 10:02 PM

when do what

I'm confused, I need to find my old mouse and put that in but I'm a busy guy and the cupboard i think its in is full

.

**thekillman** · 16 September 2010, 10:50 PM

Uh . . . right. Sure.

I think you may have made a slip of the tongue.

yea. comes down to that a Railgun has tons of intense forces at work. coilguns are more simple in that aspect (only magnetic forces), and frictionless

Dboy: your central mouse button is broken. i'd buy a new one.

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