Also, Speed Drives Don't Work So Good In Gravity Well. In particular, we already have a rule that says that you can't get to orbit and back without a bit of time spent in between. For one thing, air friction is one of the things that handwaving hulls does basically nothing for.
We may wish to say that the further in towards the gravity well you are, the less comparative speed you can draw out of a generic speed drive. Initial rule was "gravity helps some, hurts others" but I don't think there are any ships yet described with a deliberately "good in gravity, poor elsewhere" build and it *is* a really good nit.
Another thing to remember about handwaved weapons is that it's the intent that's the big part. If you are handwaving a missile casing with the intent of building a space station, it's fine. If you're handwaving a missile casing with the intent of blowing folks to kingdome come, then you're going to have some troubles.
We may also wish to come up with some handwavey reason why handwavium supertech effects don't function when too distant in space/time from a directing intelligence. Obviously, the requirements involved would depend on the thing in question, but we could at least prevent the "shots from the Oort cloud" effect.
I'm not sure that those answer the entirety of your isse between them - particularly given the existence of people who'd be willing to die in oreder to hurt their enemies, but I do think they at least help a bit.
We may wish to say that the further in towards the gravity well you are, the less comparative speed you can draw out of a generic speed drive. Initial rule was "gravity helps some, hurts others" but I don't think there are any ships yet described with a deliberately "good in gravity, poor elsewhere" build and it *is* a really good nit.
Another thing to remember about handwaved weapons is that it's the intent that's the big part. If you are handwaving a missile casing with the intent of building a space station, it's fine. If you're handwaving a missile casing with the intent of blowing folks to kingdome come, then you're going to have some troubles.
We may also wish to come up with some handwavey reason why handwavium supertech effects don't function when too distant in space/time from a directing intelligence. Obviously, the requirements involved would depend on the thing in question, but we could at least prevent the "shots from the Oort cloud" effect.
I'm not sure that those answer the entirety of your isse between them - particularly given the existence of people who'd be willing to die in oreder to hurt their enemies, but I do think they at least help a bit.