Expeditionary Force by Craig Alanson Wiki
Expeditionary Force by Craig Alanson Wiki
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Expeditionary Force by Craig Alanson Wiki

Damping Fields[]

Damping Fields prevent a ship from forming a jump wormhole to jump away. The field varies in size, sometimes encasing several light minutes or entire systems. Depending on the strength of the local area of the damping field, a ship can jump away inside of the field if they are near the "edge" of the field. More powerful damping fields wont allow ships to even attempt to jump while inside it. If they somehow manage to do so the jump drives tear the ship apart thus destroying it. [1]

The damping fields can be tuned towards a specific type of drive signature allowing the host ship to jump away need be however that is unlikely because both ships can use damping fields forcing the enemy to either run away or stay in fight.

Damping Fields implemented by Tier 1 or lower species have no effect on Rindhalu ships. It is unknown if this also applies to Elder Technology.[2]

Jump Drives[]

The jump drive technology of various species makes use of a wormhole at the stable point of a Kruskal-Szekeres diagram[3] to transport a jump-capable ship across astronomical distances nearly instantly. The jump drive does this by channeling power from a ship's fusion reactor through jump coils which distorting the fabric of space. According to the Schwarzschild solution[4] to the Einstein-Rosen[5] field hypothesis, entering a jump wormhole significantly before or after stabilization would result in crossing two or more event horizons, risking damage to the ship.

Passage through a jump wormhole holds the potential to create causality violations from the opposite end of any given wormhole being slightly backward in time. Wormholes display similar characteristics to electromagnetic particles, preventing wormholes from being positioned near gravity wells, spacetime distortions, or other wormholes. The creation of jump wormholes generates spacetime resonance and gamma-ray busts which may be used to calculate entry and exit locations. Species higher up the technology ladder have optimized the creation and stabilization of jump wormholes allowing for greater distance of travel. No extant species demonstrate the ability to maintain large stable wormholes such as those seen in the wormhole network established by the Elders.

Shield Emitters []

Shield emitters are used to consistency stop objects and debris from damaging a ship. These emitters can be worn down over a long period of time or extreme usage.[1][6]

Space Elevator[]

Space Elevators are used to transport a vast amount of troops and equipment to an Orbital Station above a planet's equator. This eliminates the needs to use multiple dropships.

Stealth Fields []

Stealth Fields warp light around the hull of the ship making the ship invisible. Scanners can locate a ship through a stealth field if the scan is done constantly and if it is close enough. The higher tech the species is, the more effective the stealth field around the ship is.

Weapons[]

MASER Emitters[]

Maser is an acronym for "Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation" which is a system of producing coherent (as in having the same or fixed phase) electromagnetic waves through amplification by stimulated emission from atoms that have been induced into an excited energy state.

While information on Maser emitter technology as a weapons system is not thoroughly explained, its likely that they operate very similarly to a Lasers emitter however likely have a higher capacity for destructive purposes due to their variable yield. Types include:

  • Ground-to-Orbit Projectors
  • Point-Defense Cannons
  • Ship-Mounted Maser Cannons
  • Ship-Mounted Particle Cannons

Missiles[]

Ship-Killer Missiles
These are in essence massive space-based zinger missiles with much higher yield warheads, bigger shield emitters, stealth field generators and more advanced sensors allowing ship-killer missiles to detect vulnerabilities in the shields and hull of enemy ships at a moments notice.  

Thuranin atomic compression warheads have a similar yield to a nuclear blast minus the fallout. This means that a direct hit with a ship-killer missile is usually the end of an enemy ship. But in space combat ships need to be in "Knife fighting" range in order to use missiles as they travel at a snail's pace in comparison to MASER bolts and in space even the speed light can be slow.  

Terrestrial Zinger Missiles
These are advanced surface-to-air, air-to-air missiles. They have more in common with UAV drones or cruise missiles than traditional Stinger Missiles. Zingers can be deployed in many ways from MAN-portable air defense (MANPAD) launchers to dropships or even dropped off of a sufficiently high building. after being launched Zingers can deploy wings and ramscoop in order to loiter in the area for long periods of time if no targets are found to set a trap or provide limited reconnaissance.   

Zingers are equipped with a stealth field generator to avoid detection and to deceive enemy sensors as well as a nose-mounted shield emitter to provide partial protection against point-defenses and limited shield/armor penetration.[6]   

Nuclear Weapons[]

Although nukes contravene the rules set by the Rindhalu and Maxolhx, UNEF send The Flying Dutchman out with a full compliment of them.

Railguns[]

Railguns utilize magnetic induction to accelerate metal darts to relativistic speeds. This results in rail guns being capable of punching through a ship from bow to stern (if the gun is powerful enough), even a glancing blow to a ships hull can structurally snap its spine or cause it to spin wildly out of control.

Railguns are also very useful in precision planetary bombardment as they can even destroy deep well-armored bunkers. The typical anti Starship railgun is a little bit bigger than a lipstick tube.

Railguns although powerful do have a few setbacks:

Heavier Railguns need to be used sparingly for orbital bombardment because the force of impact from their rounds can launch masses of surface practicals into the atmosphere which can have detrimental effects on the local ecosystems and can induce a greenhouse effect. For this reason they are often regulated by the "Rules of Engagement".[7]

Railgun effectiveness can be mitigated by energy shielding although this does have a massive power cost so most ships cannot sustain a constant barrage. This leads to the tactic of using MASERs to knock out shields or at least weaken them before the use of railguns.

References[]

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