Asteroidal Bombardment in Space Warfare

[schonovic]

I was thinking about how the "main stream" sci-fi shows have the magical starships with their fancy weapons and that's great but I think if they want to show how war will be fought in space they should know,a good general studies strategy but a great general studies logistics. The first thing that would happen in a war in space is we'd start throwing rocks around. Asteroids. That's how you get the party started. Then nukes. Then the fancy weapons would be used to get rid of those last few pockets of resistance. Fancy weapons fry with excessive use. Metal parts warp out of shape. moving parts jam. We'd use them sparingly. Rocks in space are free. And all they need is a good nudge in the right direction to do heavy damage. Then Nukes are pre-made and destructive. More expensive than rocks but cheaper than lasers or particle cannons. Especially cheaper than fancy main stream sci-fi starship weaponry. So that's my humble opinion, what do you think?

 

[phinds]

I think you underestimate the likelihood of significant advances in technology. For example, "Fancy weapons fry with excessive use" is applicable to only some weapons today and likely to be applicable to fewer tomorrow.

 

[schonovic]

Oh I have magical starships with fancy weapons but I just like to get down and dirty, it's fun. Rocks are free, nukes are cheap and they're both destructive.

 

[Ryan_m_b]

If you can nudge an asteroid into a collision orbit with the enemy they can nudge it out. Then there's the issue of how long it would take for the asteroid to hit the target given its new orbit.

In any case this thread is not in line with the SF forum rules. Unless there are specific works of fiction you want to discuss or help with a writing project the thread will be locked.

 

[newjerseyrunner]

I don't think explosives or asteroids would at all be in the arsenal of a super advanced military race. If you have an asteroid, you have the raw materials for military drones. If I were an alien hell-bent on taking over earth, I'd drop a billion terminators into the major cities and military bases. Remember in The Matrix (I forget which one) a swarm of thousands of drones entered the city? That's what I imagine an alien invasion would be like.