Hostile fleets, gun stores and spread
A hostile fleet is the set of ships the world sends against the captain. Each ship carries guns with a limited store of rounds and a spread that grows as the rails wear.
21 numbers, 4 with an outside source
- A0 numbers at grade A
- B3 numbers at grade B
- C0 numbers at grade C
- D1 numbers at grade D
- E17 numbers at grade E
Functionality
2 topics
Enemy doctrine
- Every faction fights to a DOCTRINE. Each hostile picks its target by it every 20 s.
- It matters once escorts or allies fly with you.
- Earth | HUNTS YOUR GUNS, whatever shoots hardest.
- Mars | PRESSES CRIPPLES, whatever is already bleeding.
- The Outer Guild | SPREADS FIRE across your formation.
- The Unclaimed | TAKES THE SOFT TARGET, your lightest hull.
- Bounty Hunters | COMING FOR YOU, because they were paid for you.
- The contact report names the doctrine before the shooting starts.
The guns
- Every gun in known space is kinetic, which means it fires a solid round.
- A postwar treaty outlawed guided missiles and warheads.
- A COILGUN aims true. An AUTOCANNON hits hard up close. A RAILGUN punches through armor.
- A CANISTER fires a shell that opens into a cloud of pellets.
- A round hits harder when it closes faster, because its energy grows with the square of its speed.
- Past 3 km/s a round melts on impact, so plate weight stops it more than hardness does.
- Steel stops a RAILGUN best, and ceramic an AUTOCANNON.
Values
21 numbers: 3 B, 1 D, 17 E
Each value is read from the game code. Sort by any column heading, or filter by grade or by a word.
| Quantity | Value | Grade | Source | Why this value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spread added by a rail at the end of its life, as a multiple of its spread when new | 2 x | EAuthored | Atomic Rockets, spacegunconvent, US Navy Railguns | The mirror quotes a railgun builder that ablation of the rail and armature is the critical weakness, and gives no figure for how far accuracy falls, so the game chose a doubling. The sources are silent on this figure. |
| Rounds in a rail magazine, by size | Micro 60, Light 60, Compact 40, Standard 40, Heavy 25, Superheavy 25 rounds | EAuthored | No source recorded | A slug is real mass, about 1 kg at 40 mm and 45 kg at 160 mm, so a heavier rail carries fewer. The counts are the game's own. The sources are silent on this figure. |
| Rounds in an autocannon's store | 1,000 rounds | EAuthored | No source recorded | The game chose a store that empties in about as many fights as the coil, canister and rail stores. |
| Firings in a rail ready locker | 10 firings | EAuthored | No source recorded | The game chose a locker of ten firings, so a gun runs dry in a fight and must be fed from the magazine. |
| Smallest group a gun can fire, before accuracy | 0.05 mrad | EAuthored | No source recorded | The game chose a floor so even a perfect gun has some spread. No source gives a figure for naval gun dispersion. The sources are silent on this figure. |
| Spread added for each accuracy point a gun lacks | 0.02 mrad per point | EAuthored | No source recorded | The game chose a straight slope so a 92 accuracy gun groups well and a 52 gun groups poorly. |
| Pellets in one canister | 12 pellets | EAuthored | No source recorded | The game chose a small count that a fuze opens around the shell. No source gives a canister load. The sources are silent on this figure. |
| Rounds a second an autocannon streams (the base rate) | 5 rounds/s | BSecondary | NavWeaps naval gun pages: rates of fire, round mass, slew rates, drums, Rate of fire in the 40 mm / 70 Bofors table | NavWeaps gives the 40 mm Bofors L/70 at 240 to 330 rounds per minute by mount, with 300 for the Sea Trinity and the Mark 4. The game's 5 a second is 300 rounds per minute and matches. |
| Rounds a second a streamed autocannon fires, by size | Micro 8, Light 5, Compact 2, Standard 1 rounds/s | BSecondary | NavWeaps naval gun pages: rates of fire, round mass, slew rates, drums, Rates of fire in the Bofors 40 mm, 76 mm, Mark 45 and Mark 71 tables | NavWeaps gives a 40 mm Bofors at 300 rounds per minute (game Light: 5 a second) and a 76 mm Super Rapid at 120 (game Compact: 2 a second). Both match. For heavier guns the real rates are lower than the game's 1 a second: 20 per minute at 127 mm and 12 at 203 mm. No opened source gives the 20 mm autocannon rate for the game's Micro size (8 a second). |
| Seconds between rounds for the two heaviest autocannon sizes | Heavy 2, Superheavy 3 s | DAnalogy | NavWeaps naval gun pages: rates of fire, round mass, slew rates, drums, Rates of fire in the Mark 45, Mark 71 and AGS tables | Real heavy naval guns fire one round every 3 s at 127 mm (20 per minute), every 5 s at 203 mm (12) and every 6 s at 155 mm (10). The game uses one round every 2 s (Heavy) and 3 s (Superheavy). The game chose a faster cycle than the real guns. |
| Who comes at the captain, what each wants and how likely each is | The Unclaimed goal board, hulls (computed), weight 5, hail pirates by their transponders, after the cargo: they will want to board, Bounty Hunters goal board, hulls (computed), weight 2, hail bounty hunters, openly registered: they want us taken alive, Earth goal destroy, hulls (computed), weight 1, hail an Earth navy patrol: they will not board, they will kill us, Mars goal destroy, hulls (computed), weight 1, hail a Martian navy patrol: they will not board, they will kill us, The Outer Guild goal destroy, hulls (computed), weight 1, hail Guild warships: they will not board, they will kill us table | EAuthored | No source recorded | Pirates and bounty hunters want a boarding, and navies want a kill. The weights are the game's own. |
| Hostile captain temperament: standoff, longest shot, heat spent, breakoff and wait rule | reckless board 3, officer hot-blooded, maxflight 90, heat 1, breakoff 0, waits None, read coming straight in: a reckless captain, cautious board 3, officer cautious, maxflight 40, heat 0.6, breakoff 0.35, waits weak, read hanging back: a cautious captain, waiting for us to weaken, cunning board 3, officer calm, maxflight 60, heat 0.75, breakoff 0.25, waits hot, read holding off and watching our heat: a cunning captain table | EAuthored | No source recorded | The game chose three captains, one who rushes, one who hangs back and one who watches. Every figure is for play. |
| Weights for how many hostiles come at once | 1 1, 2 3, 3 3, 4 2, 5 1 weight | EAuthored | No source recorded | The game chose small groups as most likely, and a large one as rare. |
| Guns a hull carries, by size class | LIGHT 3, MEDIUM 5, HEAVY 7 guns | EAuthored | No source recorded | The game topped each hull up to about five guns on average with a secondary battery two size steps below its biggest gun. |
| Point defense mounts, by size class | LIGHT 1, MEDIUM 2, HEAVY 3 mounts | EAuthored | No source recorded | The game chose more point defense on a bigger hull with more guns. |
| Point defense model, by size class | LIGHT 15mm PD Autocannon, MEDIUM 20mm PD Autocannon, HEAVY 30mm PD Autocannon catalog name | EAuthored | No source recorded | The game chose a heavier point defense autocannon for a bigger hull. |
| Largest navy squadron | 6 ships | BSecondary | Atomic Rockets, astromilitary, Fleet Design | The mirror builds a navy around a six-ship squadron. |
| Largest band of pirates or privateers | 3 ships | EAuthored | Atomic Rockets, astromilitary, Fleet Design | The mirror says pirates are many small corsairs and gives no band size, so the game chose a group smaller than a navy squadron. The sources are silent on this figure. |
| Distance of a squad member from its lead at the start | 10, 40 km | EAuthored | No source recorded | The game chose a loose group that arrives as one. |
| Most a member's drift may differ from its lead, per axis | 0.02 km/s | EAuthored | No source recorded | The game chose a small difference so a squad stays together without sitting on one point. |
| Range at which a squad lead opens, off the captain | 300, 2,500 km | EAuthored | No source recorded | The game chose it so ships begin outside gun range and the approach is part of the fight. |
Real-world basis
4 points
- A heavier slug is real mass, so a heavier gun carries fewer rounds.
- A cartridge gun streams rounds fast at small caliber, and a heavy gun fires slowly.
- A navy sails as a squadron under one commander, while pirates and hunters run in small bands.
- A worn rail groups worse, so spread grows over its life.
Game and reality differences
2 points
- The game fires a gun as one catalog firing every cycle. Each round of an autocannon keeps its ammunition, but the damage a second is kept equal to the catalog, so a slower gun hits harder per round.
- A hostile is built from the hull pool of its faction and topped up to a gun count by size class. A real ship has a fixed fit.
Source absences
3 points
- Atomic Rockets does not provide values for the following:
- Rate of fire for a heavy naval gun. NavWeaps and real gun rates supply the values.
- Round count for a railgun locker.
- Size of a pirate band. The page describes small, diverse corsairs. 3 ships is authored.
Sources
2 documents
- Atomic Rockets, astromilitary, Fleet Design: A space navy builds its standard formations around a six-ship squadron. (all uses)
- Atomic Rockets, sidearmintro, Which Gun Is Better?: The page lists the GAU-8 at 1,800 rpm, and says a cartridge gun ejects its case and so sheds the waste heat of firing. (all uses)