Ideas for honorverse space navy improvements?

On Fri, 28 Dec 2007 14:05:45 -0800 (PST), troy.terry.DeleteThis@gmail.com wrote:

>Hi folks
>
>I've been re-reading the Harrington saga, and one of the things I
>really like is how Weber pays so much attention to his space
>technology -- what are the ships like, what can they do, and the
>interaction between the various weapon systems and countervailing
>defenses.
>
>That said, how would you guys upgrade the Fleet (whichever one you
>fancy) for the next book?

Ok, how about a twist on an old idea:

I propose missile pods.

I'm not talking about the ones they have had for several books now,
but rather pods that are missiles.

The missiles are single-stage Apollo-capable missiles, although there
is no command missile included.

Rather, the pod itself has the command missile and a three-stage drive
with enough power to boost the whole thing. The normal tubes are
omitted, however--the missiles are simply strapped on around the core
with small rockets (probably chemical!) to push them apart when the
time comes. I'm picturing 18 missiles per pod--two complete rings of
missiles around the core.

These are rolled like ordinary pods but instead of disgorging their
missiles the whole pod takes off towards the enemy. The first two
stages are burned to build velocity and then it goes ballistic for a
while. During the ballistic phase the rockets separate off the
missiles from the core spreading them out enough to avoid fratricide.
This occurs *BEFORE* they enter the outer CM zone.

At this point you have 18 missiles + the core that contains the Apollo
command missile. When the drives light off for the final attack the
Apollo missile lags slightly behind so it's hidden behind the wedges
of the missiles it's guiding and thus is very hard to hit.

While you lose your pod in this case it's a much cheaper pod than the
standard ones as it doesn't have those expensive launch tubes. You
also are replacing 36 drive units with 2 bigger ones--almost certainly
another big savings.

To be extra nasty add a variant on this: An extra low-power drive
module + stealthing hardware.
 >> Stay informed about: Ideas for honorverse space navy improvements? 

Don Sample wrote:
> In article
> <7ba11e4d-921b-43de-9dc4-b07140fdbb6a DeleteThis @s8g2000prg.googlegroups.com>,
> troy.terry DeleteThis @gmail.com wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > This one is kind of out there, but... We know that ships can
> > manipulate gravity, and that sidewalls are basically focused bands of
> > gravitation, yes? So, how about a missile which contains not a
> > warhead, but instead a powerful gravity generator which will try to
> > interfere with the sidewall itself? Such a missile could be sent out
> > with a cluster of regular missiles, which will try to strike during
> > the moment that the target's sidewall is compromised.
>
> What you're talking about is basically what a grav-lance does, and given
> that they had to rip out half of Fearless's armament in order to fit her
> with grav-lances, I think they're a bit big to fit into a missile body.
>
> --
> Quando omni flunkus moritati
> Visit the Buffy Body Count at <http://homepage.mac.com/dsample/>

Weber has repeatedly said that the grav-lance can't be mounted on
anything smaller than fearless. So troy.terry I would not even think
about something like this.
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On Dec 29, 7:50 pm, Don Sample <dsam... RemoveThis @synapse.net> wrote:
> In article <c1mdn31nlb0c5mhjqltjium94mkhp67... RemoveThis @4ax.com>,
> Brian McDonald <Brian_knowspam.McDon... RemoveThis @shaw.ca> wrote:
>
>
>
> > On Fri, 28 Dec 2007 18:49:23 -0500, Don Sample <dsam... RemoveThis @synapse.net>
> > wrote:
>
> > >In article
> > ><7ba11e4d-921b-43de-9dc4-b07140fdb... RemoveThis @s8g2000prg.googlegroups.com>,
> > > troy.te... RemoveThis @gmail.com wrote:
>
> > >> This one is kind of out there, but... We know that ships can
> > >> manipulate gravity, and that sidewalls are basically focused bands of
> > >> gravitation, yes? So, how about a missile which contains not a
> > >> warhead, but instead a powerful gravity generator which will try to
> > >> interfere with the sidewall itself? Such a missile could be sent out
> > >> with a cluster of regular missiles, which will try to strike during
> > >> the moment that the target's sidewall is compromised.
>
> > >What you're talking about is basically what a grav-lance does, and given
> > >that they had to rip out half of Fearless's armament in order to fit her
> > >with grav-lances, I think they're a bit big to fit into a missile body.
>
> > another wee problem is that the closer the missile has to get to the
> > ship it's attacking the better the point defense is going to be at
> > killing that missile.
>
> Something that bothers me about Dave's tactics: rolling a ship to
> protect against missile fire. I can't see how that does anything but
> make the job harder for the defensive fire, while not really doing much
> to protect the ship against the incoming missiles.
>
> The attacking missiles just have to come in from above or below the
> wedge, passing in front of, or behind the target ship, and detonate as
> soon as they clear the wedge for an up the kilt, or down the throat shot.
>
> Up until the last couple of books, Dave didn't have missiles that could
> turn a corner after launch, so the incoming missiles would be safe from
> both counter missiles, and the point defence laser clusters. (Even if
> the counter missiles can turn the corner around the wedge, it still
> makes the defensive targeting harder, and the laser clusters are still
> useless until the incoming missile clears the wedge, at which point it's
> too late.)
>

What is important to remember is that the wedge is only effectively
opaque from the outside. Although a ship cannot fire energy weapons
through its own wedge and long range sensors are still degraded, at
close ranges, performance is good enough to cue the point defence
clusters to engage missiles as they come across the edge. The
missiles have the problem that once they cross over the edge, they
have to find the target. Unfortunately, missiles have only primitive
gravitic sensors, so they have to deal with a light lag while
travelling at relativistic speeds.
 >> Stay informed about: Ideas for honorverse space navy improvements? 

On Fri, 28 Dec 2007 18:49:23 -0500, Don Sample <dsample DeleteThis @synapse.net>
wrote:

>In article
><7ba11e4d-921b-43de-9dc4-b07140fdbb6a DeleteThis @s8g2000prg.googlegroups.com>,
> troy.terry DeleteThis @gmail.com wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> This one is kind of out there, but... We know that ships can
>> manipulate gravity, and that sidewalls are basically focused bands of
>> gravitation, yes? So, how about a missile which contains not a
>> warhead, but instead a powerful gravity generator which will try to
>> interfere with the sidewall itself? Such a missile could be sent out
>> with a cluster of regular missiles, which will try to strike during
>> the moment that the target's sidewall is compromised.
>
>What you're talking about is basically what a grav-lance does, and given
>that they had to rip out half of Fearless's armament in order to fit her
>with grav-lances, I think they're a bit big to fit into a missile body.


another wee problem is that the closer the missile has to get to the
ship it's attacking the better the point defense is going to be at
killing that missile.
 >> Stay informed about: Ideas for honorverse space navy improvements? 

In article <c1mdn31nlb0c5mhjqltjium94mkhp679vf RemoveThis @4ax.com>,
Brian McDonald <Brian_knowspam.McDonald RemoveThis @shaw.ca> wrote:

> On Fri, 28 Dec 2007 18:49:23 -0500, Don Sample <dsample RemoveThis @synapse.net>
> wrote:
>
> >In article
> ><7ba11e4d-921b-43de-9dc4-b07140fdbb6a RemoveThis @s8g2000prg.googlegroups.com>,
> > troy.terry RemoveThis @gmail.com wrote:
> >
> >>
> >>
> >> This one is kind of out there, but... We know that ships can
> >> manipulate gravity, and that sidewalls are basically focused bands of
> >> gravitation, yes? So, how about a missile which contains not a
> >> warhead, but instead a powerful gravity generator which will try to
> >> interfere with the sidewall itself? Such a missile could be sent out
> >> with a cluster of regular missiles, which will try to strike during
> >> the moment that the target's sidewall is compromised.
> >
> >What you're talking about is basically what a grav-lance does, and given
> >that they had to rip out half of Fearless's armament in order to fit her
> >with grav-lances, I think they're a bit big to fit into a missile body.
>
>
> another wee problem is that the closer the missile has to get to the
> ship it's attacking the better the point defense is going to be at
> killing that missile.

Something that bothers me about Dave's tactics: rolling a ship to
protect against missile fire. I can't see how that does anything but
make the job harder for the defensive fire, while not really doing much
to protect the ship against the incoming missiles.

The attacking missiles just have to come in from above or below the
wedge, passing in front of, or behind the target ship, and detonate as
soon as they clear the wedge for an up the kilt, or down the throat shot.

Up until the last couple of books, Dave didn't have missiles that could
turn a corner after launch, so the incoming missiles would be safe from
both counter missiles, and the point defence laser clusters. (Even if
the counter missiles can turn the corner around the wedge, it still
makes the defensive targeting harder, and the laser clusters are still
useless until the incoming missile clears the wedge, at which point it's
too late.)

--
Quando omni flunkus moritati
Visit the Buffy Body Count at <http://homepage.mac.com/dsample/>
 >> Stay informed about: Ideas for honorverse space navy improvements? 

In article
<18671d1c-e594-42c8-9904-31f23fe76432 RemoveThis @e25g2000prg.googlegroups.com>,
"rlbell.nsuid@gmail.com" <rlbell.nsuid RemoveThis @gmail.com> wrote:

> On Dec 29, 7:50 pm, Don Sample <dsam... RemoveThis @synapse.net> wrote:
> > In article <c1mdn31nlb0c5mhjqltjium94mkhp67... RemoveThis @4ax.com>,
> > Brian McDonald <Brian_knowspam.McDon... RemoveThis @shaw.ca> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> > > On Fri, 28 Dec 2007 18:49:23 -0500, Don Sample <dsam... RemoveThis @synapse.net>
> > > wrote:
> >
> > > >In article
> > > ><7ba11e4d-921b-43de-9dc4-b07140fdb... RemoveThis @s8g2000prg.googlegroups.com>,
> > > > troy.te... RemoveThis @gmail.com wrote:
> >
> > > >> This one is kind of out there, but... We know that ships can
> > > >> manipulate gravity, and that sidewalls are basically focused bands of
> > > >> gravitation, yes? So, how about a missile which contains not a
> > > >> warhead, but instead a powerful gravity generator which will try to
> > > >> interfere with the sidewall itself? Such a missile could be sent out
> > > >> with a cluster of regular missiles, which will try to strike during
> > > >> the moment that the target's sidewall is compromised.
> >
> > > >What you're talking about is basically what a grav-lance does, and given
> > > >that they had to rip out half of Fearless's armament in order to fit her
> > > >with grav-lances, I think they're a bit big to fit into a missile body.
> >
> > > another wee problem is that the closer the missile has to get to the
> > > ship it's attacking the better the point defense is going to be at
> > > killing that missile.
> >
> > Something that bothers me about Dave's tactics: rolling a ship to
> > protect against missile fire. I can't see how that does anything but
> > make the job harder for the defensive fire, while not really doing much
> > to protect the ship against the incoming missiles.
> >
> > The attacking missiles just have to come in from above or below the
> > wedge, passing in front of, or behind the target ship, and detonate as
> > soon as they clear the wedge for an up the kilt, or down the throat shot.
> >
> > Up until the last couple of books, Dave didn't have missiles that could
> > turn a corner after launch, so the incoming missiles would be safe from
> > both counter missiles, and the point defence laser clusters. (Even if
> > the counter missiles can turn the corner around the wedge, it still
> > makes the defensive targeting harder, and the laser clusters are still
> > useless until the incoming missile clears the wedge, at which point it's
> > too late.)
> >
>
> What is important to remember is that the wedge is only effectively
> opaque from the outside. Although a ship cannot fire energy weapons
> through its own wedge and long range sensors are still degraded, at
> close ranges, performance is good enough to cue the point defence
> clusters to engage missiles as they come across the edge. The
> missiles have the problem that once they cross over the edge, they
> have to find the target. Unfortunately, missiles have only primitive
> gravitic sensors, so they have to deal with a light lag while
> travelling at relativistic speeds.

Attack range for a laser head is 30,000 km. That's a tenth of a second
for any lightspeed defensive fire, so add a little random jinking to the
missile's terminal maneuvers (taking place at 90,000g) and the laser
clusters are trying to hit something a few metres long, somewhere inside
a sphere with a 9 km radius. In other words there is no way in hell
that a laser can hit a missile at that range. Meanwhile the missile's
got lots of time to actually *see* the ship its shooting at before it
detonates.

--
Quando omni flunkus moritati
Visit the Buffy Body Count at <http://homepage.mac.com/dsample/>
 >> Stay informed about: Ideas for honorverse space navy improvements? 

On Sun, 30 Dec 2007 10:58:15 -0500, Don Sample <dsample.DeleteThis@synapse.net>
wrote:

>Attack range for a laser head is 30,000 km. That's a tenth of a second
>for any lightspeed defensive fire, so add a little random jinking to the
>missile's terminal maneuvers (taking place at 90,000g) and the laser
>clusters are trying to hit something a few metres long, somewhere inside
>a sphere with a 9 km radius. In other words there is no way in hell
>that a laser can hit a missile at that range. Meanwhile the missile's
>got lots of time to actually *see* the ship its shooting at before it
>detonates.

Ouch! You just invalidated laser PD entirely!
 >> Stay informed about: Ideas for honorverse space navy improvements? 

On Sun, 30 Dec 2007 10:58:15 -0500, Don Sample <dsample DeleteThis @synapse.net>
wrote:


>
>Attack range for a laser head is 30,000 km. That's a tenth of a second
>for any lightspeed defensive fire, so add a little random jinking to the
>missile's terminal maneuvers (taking place at 90,000g) and the laser
>clusters are trying to hit something a few metres long, somewhere inside
>a sphere with a 9 km radius. In other words there is no way in hell
>that a laser can hit a missile at that range. Meanwhile the missile's
>got lots of time to actually *see* the ship its shooting at before it
>detonates.

wouldn't that be a 90 km radius sphere?
 >> Stay informed about: Ideas for honorverse space navy improvements? 

In article <i67gn3lcr6efid426idqqhnn53j77s4jgg.RemoveThis@4ax.com>,
Brian McDonald <Brian_knowspam.McDonald.RemoveThis@shaw.ca> wrote:

> On Sun, 30 Dec 2007 10:58:15 -0500, Don Sample <dsample.RemoveThis@synapse.net>
> wrote:
>
>
> >
> >Attack range for a laser head is 30,000 km. That's a tenth of a second
> >for any lightspeed defensive fire, so add a little random jinking to the
> >missile's terminal maneuvers (taking place at 90,000g) and the laser
> >clusters are trying to hit something a few metres long, somewhere inside
> >a sphere with a 9 km radius. In other words there is no way in hell
> >that a laser can hit a missile at that range. Meanwhile the missile's
> >got lots of time to actually *see* the ship its shooting at before it
> >detonates.
>
> wouldn't that be a 90 km radius sphere?

d = 1/2 at^2

a = 90,000g = 900,000 m/s/s = 900 km/s/s
t = .1 second

1/2 * 900 * .1 * .1 = 4.5

So we were both wrong. It's a 9km diameter sphere.

--
Quando omni flunkus moritati
Visit the Buffy Body Count at <http://homepage.mac.com/dsample/>
 >> Stay informed about: Ideas for honorverse space navy improvements? 

troy.terry.RemoveThis@gmail.com wrote:
> Hi folks
>
> I've been re-reading the Harrington saga, and one of the things I
> really like is how Weber pays so much attention to his space
> technology -- what are the ships like, what can they do, and the
> interaction between the various weapon systems and countervailing
> defenses.
>
> That said, how would you guys upgrade the Fleet (whichever one you
> fancy) for the next book?
>
> One thing that occurred to me...
>
> Telemetry! That is, I get the strong impression that not much
> attention is being paid to recording the battles.

IMHO given their sensor and computer technologies, telemetry must be quite
advanced, it's just in the books Weber don't spend too much time on it.

About upgrades ... there are a lot of things that could be improved, it's
only a matter of deciding what doesn't bend the rules too much.

a) "Hyper submarines"

From the books it looks that transition from hyperspace back
to normal space and once back in normal space it takes some time
for the ship sensors to "adapt/stabilize" and more time to jump
back in hyperspace.
It is one of the things that has not been improved, probably
because most of the fights happen inside the hyperlimit, jumping
quickly in and out of hyperspace wasn't on the "must have" list
of Manticore or Haven.

Now, imagine a ship with better hyperspace "navigation" systems
and more powerful generators or superconductive accumulator
so it can perform multiple "micro jumps" with enough precision
to perform "close range" shoot-and-run against an enemy ship
(i.e. it pops out of hyper, fires its grasers, jumps back into hyper
and then repeats the attack from another direction).

I said grasers, not missiles because all the tonnage required
for ruggedized sensors (bigger and bulkier, but they reach
targeting accuracy faster), extra power generation and more
superconducting accumulators has to come from somewhere and
once the ship can micro-jump straight at graser range it makes
sense to go for it.

A ship like that could be described as a "hyper submarine"
(or as a "vomit ship" because of the transition's side effects
on some humans), useful to interdict the zone around the hyperlimit
or to attack convoys near the hyperlimit.

In the published books the spaceships make the transition
from hyperspace to normal space at a safety distance from the hyperlimit
and usually with enough time and distance to be able to jump back into
it, in that zone the "space submarine" can wreak havoc thanks to
its better agility and precision in hyperspace transitions.

A "hyper submarine" is almost useless to attack targets inside
the hyperlimit (no missiles and too much tonnage spent in
generators/accumulators and enhanced/ruggedized sensor arrays)
but can strike deeper behind enemy lines (remember, no missiles
nor missile pods; plus at least a part of tonnage can be used
for extra reaction mass, storage of food and spares, etc. etc.)
and besides disrupting enemy logistics it forces the adversary to
disperse its forces to guard convoys in previously "safe" space.

The reason nobody spent resources on "hyper submarines" was that
no previous war between political entities so big and with
that level of technology happened *before* (i.e. previous wars
happened either on a smaller scale or with more primitive
technologies available), but now having something good for
"attrition near the hyperlimit" becomes a valuable asset
especially *if* the "hyper submarine" can pop-up at maximum
graser range, fire and safely jump back into hyperspace before
its target can hit back.

b) fleet level gravitic phased arrays

Or "if it works with electromagnetic waves ...".
Active phased array radars can perform some nasty tricks
on enemy avionics, think about its gravitic equivalent.
What may happen if lots of LACs or maybe all the ships in a task force
modulate in sync their impellers like a massive phased array to produce
focused "gravitic beam/pulses" ?
Just something capable to disturb enemy sensors could be terrific
because it traslates into less effective enemy defences
and degraded guidance for enemy weapons.

c) SESD MIRV (Suppression of Enemy Defense MIRV)

Like multi stage missiles, but their third stage is 3..4
countermissiles-like warheads designed to gut the enemy defense system
(i.e. to damage sensors,laser emitters, countermissile launchers
and anything that's vulnerable on the outer parts of a ship).
Packing enough of them in the first wave of missiles will open the path
for the second wave.
A further improvement is to improve the multiple warhead communications
so their sensors can operate in synthetic aperture mode and shoot
at roughtly the same position on the same target if it is big enough.
So instead of a hit or miss single warhead the MIRV has more probability
to inflict at least partial damage and helps in saturating and/or
degrade enemy defenses).
Another improvement is to simulate a missile hitten by countermissiles
when the third stage missiles detach.

d) swarm pods with delayed activation

Like missile pods, but bigger, with longer endurance and more stealthy
until activated; dropped from auxiliary units keeping outside the
hyperlimit, they coast at nearly zero power on ballistic trajectories
flanking/preceding the advance of the main attacking force
that will follow later.
When the main force kicks in, the swams preceding and shielding it
can pump an unexpected salvo on at least part of the enemy forces
trying to intercept the attackers.
When the swarm pods come online they are pre-programmed to attack
in group certain targets entering their kill zone
and/or to ignore some targets to concentrate on the ones they can
handle better, or they can acquire new targets or directives
on demand from the ships.
They can be programmed for selfdestruction before they run out
of power (to avoid Eridani-like accidents).

L. Micheletto
 >> Stay informed about: Ideas for honorverse space navy improvements? 

On Sun, 30 Dec 2007 18:34:57 -0500, Don Sample <dsample DeleteThis @synapse.net>
wrote:

>In article <i67gn3lcr6efid426idqqhnn53j77s4jgg DeleteThis @4ax.com>,
> Brian McDonald <Brian_knowspam.McDonald DeleteThis @shaw.ca> wrote:
>
>> On Sun, 30 Dec 2007 10:58:15 -0500, Don Sample <dsample DeleteThis @synapse.net>
>> wrote:
>>
>>
>> >
>> >Attack range for a laser head is 30,000 km. That's a tenth of a second
>> >for any lightspeed defensive fire, so add a little random jinking to the
>> >missile's terminal maneuvers (taking place at 90,000g) and the laser
>> >clusters are trying to hit something a few metres long, somewhere inside
>> >a sphere with a 9 km radius. In other words there is no way in hell
>> >that a laser can hit a missile at that range. Meanwhile the missile's
>> >got lots of time to actually *see* the ship its shooting at before it
>> >detonates.
>>
>> wouldn't that be a 90 km radius sphere?
>
>d = 1/2 at^2
>
>a = 90,000g = 900,000 m/s/s = 900 km/s/s
>t = .1 second
>
>1/2 * 900 * .1 * .1 = 4.5
>
>So we were both wrong. It's a 9km diameter sphere.


i have the nagging feeling we're overlooking something important here.

for instance would it actually be a sphere or would it be limited to a
conical form? this also assumes the vector change is constant for
that critical tenth of a second.
 >> Stay informed about: Ideas for honorverse space navy improvements? 

On 2008-01-01, Brian McDonald <Brian_knowspam.McDonald.RemoveThis@shaw.ca>
allegedly proclaimed to alt.books.david-weber:
> On Sun, 30 Dec 2007 18:34:57 -0500, Don Sample <dsample.RemoveThis@synapse.net>
> wrote:
>>In article <i67gn3lcr6efid426idqqhnn53j77s4jgg.RemoveThis@4ax.com>,
>> Brian McDonald <Brian_knowspam.McDonald.RemoveThis@shaw.ca> wrote:
>>> On Sun, 30 Dec 2007 10:58:15 -0500, Don Sample <dsample.RemoveThis@synapse.net>
>>> wrote:
>>> >Attack range for a laser head is 30,000 km. That's a tenth of a second
>>> >for any lightspeed defensive fire, so add a little random jinking to the
>>> >missile's terminal maneuvers (taking place at 90,000g) and the laser
>>> >clusters are trying to hit something a few metres long, somewhere inside
>>> >a sphere with a 9 km radius. In other words there is no way in hell
>>> >that a laser can hit a missile at that range. Meanwhile the missile's
>>> >got lots of time to actually *see* the ship its shooting at before it
>>> >detonates.
>>>
>>> wouldn't that be a 90 km radius sphere?
>>
>>d = 1/2 at^2
>>
>>a = 90,000g = 900,000 m/s/s = 900 km/s/s
>>t = .1 second
>>
>>1/2 * 900 * .1 * .1 = 4.5
>>
>>So we were both wrong. It's a 9km diameter sphere.
>
> i have the nagging feeling we're overlooking something important here.
>
> for instance would it actually be a sphere or would it be limited to a
> conical form? this also assumes the vector change is constant for
> that critical tenth of a second.

The center of the sphere is the locus of the target assuming no
delta-V. The surface of the sphere represents the set of possible
locations assuming constant max acceleration for the target. Any
variation in acceleration will place the target within the sphere.

The question is how much variation in acceleration vectors can a
missile wedge produce? If the missile is restricted to, for
example, 15 degrees of course change per second, then you end up
with a quasi-conical segment of the sphere with an apex of 3
degrees (max 1.5 degrees of change in 0.1 seconds) in which to
find it. (The actual volume is smaller, since you're taking a
circular arc and rotating it around the baseline course.)

--
Capt. Gym Z. Quirk (Known to some as Taki Kogoma) quirk @ swcp.com
Just an article detector on the Information Supercollider.
 >> Stay informed about: Ideas for honorverse space navy improvements? 

On Sun, 30 Dec 2007 10:58:15 -0500, an orbiting mind-control laser
made Don Sample <dsample.RemoveThis@synapse.net> write:

>Attack range for a laser head is 30,000 km. That's a tenth of a second
>for any lightspeed defensive fire, so add a little random jinking to the
>missile's terminal maneuvers (taking place at 90,000g) and the laser
>clusters are trying to hit something a few metres long, somewhere inside
>a sphere with a 9 km radius. In other words there is no way in hell
>that a laser can hit a missile at that range. Meanwhile the missile's
>got lots of time to actually *see* the ship its shooting at before it
>detonates.

Your reasoning would be fine, so long as the acceleration imparted
by the drive bands could be imparted instantaneously in any direction.

It's pretty clear that that is not the case.

The primary mode of operation of the drive is to apply insanely
high acceleration in one direction.

You can not /change/ the acceleration of a missile drive and
vector changes appear to be really slow.

Granted, 45000 or 90000 gs of acceleration when you alter the
'thrust vector' even by a tiny bit can give your PD clusters
significant targeting problems, but it's not as cut and dried as you
imply in your post.

At detonation ranges, any missiles with a decent chance of hitting
the target are no longer actually maneuvering defensively: they're
busy settling into a direct approach so that they can sight their
target, which simplifies the PD firing solution immensely - there's
little to no bearing change.

The whole reason that the laserhead missile was gaining such favor
in the late 18th century PD was because point defense had gotten so
deadly that getting contact nukes through to the target was becoming
effectively impossible. Stand-off weapons were then needed.


-JPB
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