Gunstars!

[robkelk]

Extracted from the http://drunkardswalkforums.yuku.com/topic/6569]Even More Inspirational and Meta Sites thread

A new thread over on the SJGames Forums has me a bit sad that we've established one has to do some work in order to turn something into a spacecraft. There's something appealing about renting a hangar and stocking it with a DVD, a 55-gallon drum of handwavium, and a really big box of LEGO, and getting http://www.xenobuzz.com/MyLegoCreations/Gunstar.htm]one of these after a week... or renting a drydock and stocking it with some Japanese government documents, a tanker-truck filled with handwavium, and a really colossal box of LEGO, and getting http://gizmodo.com/5214510/lego-battles ... -ship-ever]one of these after a few months.

Both in 1:1 scale, of course.

Hmmmmmm... Gunstars. Ultimate heavy hitter in aerospace dominance. Few things can get past a good Star-Gunner/Star-Navigator team.

Good quirk for Gunstars as a class: Aaaaaaand... I'm done! - after using Death Blossom, the famed weapon of last resort, a Gunstar will simply up and quit. The only way to get it back up and running is to tow her back to base to rearm, refuel, and recharge.

Primary Users (maybe?) : Trekkers, Warsies, VVS, and Roughriders (primary manufacturer).

I think the Gunstars are too heavily-armed for the Trekkies... but StellviaCorp might want one. (It isn't as if "Mama Bear" can't wait patiently for a tow even after the life support runs out.)

Now, how are we going to arm the silly thing? It can't use wavetech laser munitions, because those don't exist...

%[link=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=laser-downs-uavs]We can't?]

Those are hardtech... and far too large to fit inside a Gunstar.

I'm sure we can come up with something, though...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Black Aeronaut]

Cobalt and I were chatting in IRC and hit upon the idea of high-power X-Ray Lasers hooked up to rapid-decay chemical batteries. Combined with a horde of small, dumbfire projectiles (daisy-chained projos in an array of barrels - say like ten per barrel) and have them just burn away as UHV penetrators. Sound suitable?

And for the "I quit" effect, Cobalt figured that all the spinning could, if momentarily, blow out the gyros. And then you would get a little dizzy Gunstar icon in your HUDs. With stars circling around it.

[robkelk]

And spirals instead of eyes...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012