Battlestar Galactica

[Agelastus]

Actually, the BG battles weren't particularly realistic, IMO.  Getting hit by nuclear weapons and shrugging them off made no sense to me.  The fighters behaved pretty much exactly like atmospheric fighters.

I think the current government's of Earth would love to get their hands on the formula for Galactica's armour.

Especially as the ship looks as if most of its armour is missing, and it still stood up to a nuclear strike!

I didn't exactly say they did the battles well. I said they made the distances they fought at on screen make sense by limiting themselves to non energy weaponry. Of course, the FTL drive they used would also encourage close range combats as well!

[Neil]

It's very difficult to have battles in space, as an effective defence is nearly impossible.

[Agelastus]

It's very difficult to have battles in space, as an effective defence is nearly impossible.

Expound on this point, please?

After all, at the ranges space combat is likely to be fought at, simple movement ought to be a good defence, unless you are tied down defending a fixed vector/point. I would have thought mounting an effective attack would have been the harder task.

[Neil]

It's very difficult to have battles in space, as an effective defence is nearly impossible.

Expound on this point, please?

After all, at the ranges space combat is likely to be fought at, simple movement ought to be a good defence, unless you are tied down defending a fixed vector/point. I would have thought mounting an effective attack would have been the harder task.

I'm speaking strategically.  In space, it is trivially easy to destroy absolutely anything relatively large and immobile, like a planet.

[Darth Wagtaros]

What would an actual space battle look like?  I always imagined it would have way more in common with Jutland than Midway, all extremely long-range ordinance and guessing where the enemy is/will be.

The descriptions in these books are the ones I've read that I consider most likely. He deals well with the problem of light-speed transmission of information, and how you are trying to outguess your opponent right up to the moment of contact.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dauntless-Lost-Fleet-Book-1/dp/0441014186/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265292054&sr=1-4

Although even this author cannot resist having fleets interpenetrate, even if for only microseconds. The odds against this actually happening must be astronomical.

Good books.

[grumbler]

I didn't exactly say they did the battles well. I said they made the distances they fought at on screen make sense by limiting themselves to non energy weaponry. Of course, the FTL drive they used would also encourage close range combats as well!

I must admit that, while I enjoyed the whole debate around B5's space battlel physics, I never even considered that for BSG.  BSG simply wasn't the kind of show one would even think about evaluating in that context (much like the Star Wars movies or Star Trek); the physics seemed purely there to serve the story.  And that is fine with me, actually.  I prefer writers who make the attempt to stay honest with the physics, but understand why few do.

[Agelastus]

I'm speaking strategically.  In space, it is trivially easy to destroy absolutely anything relatively large and immobile, like a planet.

Agreed. However, most wars on Earth aren't fought to the point of mutual annihilation, so I suspect that our descendants, should they ever colonise other worlds and develop an effective method of transiting between said worlds at FTL speeds, will still have to develop methods of actually fighting in space, even if these engagements only take place in close proximity to said colonised worlds.

There are, of course, two big (and given current science, insoluble) "ifs" there.

[Agelastus]

Hey, Grumbler, have you ever tried this out?

http://www.hw2bsg.org/

I think there's a Babylon 5 mod for the game as well, although I think it was never finished.

[Neil]

Agreed. However, most wars on Earth aren't fought to the point of mutual annihilation, so I suspect that our descendants, should they ever colonise other worlds and develop an effective method of transiting between said worlds at FTL speeds, will still have to develop methods of actually fighting in space, even if these engagements only take place in close proximity to said colonised worlds.

There are, of course, two big (and given current science, insoluble) "ifs" there.

What are they fighting for?  Unmanned satellites would be much more effective in close proximity to colonized worlds, if all one wants to do is control space so as to allow one's land forces to come and go as they please (and to blast the surface with the occasional Rod From God).  If you're looking for mass destruction, long range missiles launched from the outer reaches of the solar system and accelerated on target by a course-correcting computer would be far more useful than a fleet of space warships.

[Faeelin]

hat are they fighting for?  Unmanned satellites would be much more effective in close proximity to colonized worlds, if all one wants to do is control space so as to allow one's land forces to come and go as they please (and to blast the surface with the occasional Rod From God).  If you're looking for mass destruction, long range missiles launched from the outer reaches of the solar system and accelerated on target by a course-correcting computer would be far more useful than a fleet of space warships.

Earthlike planets are rare, no? Why wouldn't they be worth controlling in their own right?

[Neil]

hat are they fighting for?  Unmanned satellites would be much more effective in close proximity to colonized worlds, if all one wants to do is control space so as to allow one's land forces to come and go as they please (and to blast the surface with the occasional Rod From God).  If you're looking for mass destruction, long range missiles launched from the outer reaches of the solar system and accelerated on target by a course-correcting computer would be far more useful than a fleet of space warships.

Earthlike planets are rare, no? Why wouldn't they be worth controlling in their own right?

Certainly in the Solar System.  Outside, it's impossible to say.

So, if you have an earthlike planet, and you want to retain control over it.  How would you go about doing that?

[Grinning_Colossus]

Who needs planets? Once you've gone to all the trouble of pulling yourself out of a gravity well, why jump into another one?

[Darth Wagtaros]

Who needs planets? Once you've gone to all the trouble of pulling yourself out of a gravity well, why jump into another one?

So that you can have a more familiar setting for drama and adventure.

Captain Kirk wrestling with the Gorn would have looked stupid if it happened in the corridor of a space station.

[Viking]

It's very difficult to have battles in space, as an effective defence is nearly impossible.

The History Channel's The Universe "Space Wars Episode"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WkJ0ib0w9M

[Neil]

Who needs planets? Once you've gone to all the trouble of pulling yourself out of a gravity well, why jump into another one?

Many people find it convenient to live in a place that doesn't seek your death at every opportunity.