[gurps] [VEHICLE] of the week 688 – Aerospace Microfighter

[Zan Lynx]

On Mon, 2007-12-31 at 14:12 +0100, Onno Meyer wrote:
> This is a weekly posting with GURPS vehicles (and the like) to the 
> GURPSnet mailing list. I grant the permission for all non-commercial 
> redistribution of my work, but I would like to know if you put it on 
> a website or the like. My site is down for rebuilding, but sooner or 
> later the old stuff should reappear at   omeyer.gmxhome.de
>   Onno Meyer, 2007-12-31
> 
> Aerospace Microfighter v1.0 (TL9)
>   Copyright 2007 by Onno Meyer
> 
>   The Aerospace Microfighter is a modified racing spacecraft, armed with 
> a 10mm railgun under the nose and two small wingtip lasers. She could be 
> at home among the moons of Jupiter, a terraformed Mars or the Belt. 
>   True to her racing origins, the fighter has an impressive atmospheric 
> speed and acceleration, while avionics and endurance are below military 
> standards. A simple stealth coating protects her from civilian sensors. 
>   A full load of railgun ammunition is $6,000.

Hmm.  The kind of thing a rebellion might use?  Or perhaps a desperate
last minute defense.  Or maybe a criminal underground.

If the weapons and stealth could be hidden (this would need another
design) it could be a futuristic James Bond spy vehicle.

You mentioned Jupiter and atmospheric performance.  It would be
interesting to know its maximum pressure support and how far down into
Jupiter or Saturn it could go.  Diving into a gas giant could be a good
way to lose pursuit from military spacecraft that aren't designed for
atmosphere.  I also wonder about how intense the magnetic and radiation
environment is a gas giant like Jupiter.  I've read things that make me
think it's pretty severe and at a guess I don't think this design could
handle it.

And for some reason that makes me think of force fields.  Does Vehicles
have anything to handle shaped force fields?  Force field shaping could
create atmospheric capable shapes out of a brick.   I'm visualizing
flying into a gas giant and making 100g turns since there'd be no danger
of the "wings" falling off.
-- 
Zan Lynx <zlynx at acm.org>