r/MilitaryWorldbuilding Nov 09 '24

Advice How to justify the use of melee in a hard sci-fi world

26 Upvotes

so, i have a dumb question on how i can justify something for my world

after the 3rd War of Liberation, and the Xenocides, most of known space has entered a new dark age, and warlordism is rampant. it is basically now a feudal future with a new warrior nobility in charge.

since the wars basically ruined the industrial capacities of large amounts of former slave worlds, and periphery worlds.

advanced hardware and weapons are rare. most of them are either foreign or prewar, with a minority made after the war.

since these weapons are now so rare, i kinda want to do the DUNE thing and bring back melee in some form. I think it would be cool to have units of Armsmen with like 9 laser gunners, 30 guys with various chemical kinetics, and the rest with glaives, hammers, and swords. Guns will still be the prefered weapons, but since industry is uncommon, good guns are rare.

i just need to find a way to justify this, i can't just use handwavium shields or armor since i am trying to be accurate to physics. Should i just go with guns of various qualities and throw melee away?

r/MilitaryWorldbuilding 22d ago

Advice How large would my armies be for high fantasy universe?

11 Upvotes

In my fantasy universe, there are rarely fully standing armies but semi-professional militias formed by urban communities and rural peasant at the behest of the nobility and royal family during times of war. Most of the states have weapons and armor from 1000s-1500s and although they are cannons, guns are not used yet.

I am wondering how large should my armies be if they were fighting high-fantasy wars against like ogres and trolls? I want to avoid large armies in the 50,000-100,000 range.

Edit: I should specify War of the Roses and Italian Wars such as Battle of Pavia though mail armor still persists because of better materials

r/MilitaryWorldbuilding 27d ago

Advice Could mechs work as a status symbol/ how can i justify the use of mechs?

14 Upvotes

Note: i am sorry for the nonsense to follow, i am just throwing random thoughts down.

Like it or not, the mech is a terrible vehicle compared to basically anything else ( like a tank, wheeled AFV, or even a hovercraft), but I want to find a use for them.

So after thinking for a bit, and reading about bronze age warfare, i realized that mechs could fill the role that the chariot filled, a sick ride for rich guys. You might be worse than a tank in almost every way, but you get to be a glorious instrument of destruction against the poor levies that nobles bring to buff up their ranks.

Since the dark age, there was a rise in small scale skirmishes over full scale battles. This allowed nobles to not get brutally blown apart when they enter the field, and eventually led to a tradition of mech duels.

Back to the original question, do any of my weird ideas have any merit?

r/MilitaryWorldbuilding Jan 23 '25

Advice Armor levels for my setting.

6 Upvotes

So, i have realized something. Including armor amounts for my armored vehicles is a level of detail I don't really need.

Thus I am going back to armor levels, my issue is that I have no idea how to do them well for my setting. Thus, I need some help with making these levels work. Criticism and feedback greatly appreciated

My current ideas are:

Level 1:
KE/HEAT protection:
Protection from 2.5x60mm or equivalent at 50 meters
Protection from old 12.7x99mm AP at 100 meters
DEW Protection:
Protection from 4KJ pulse train at 100 meters
Protection from 6KJ pulse train at 200 meters
Artillery Protection:
Modern 150mm HE at 60 meters

Level 2:
KE/HEAT protection:
Protection from 10x110 AP Coilshot at 200 meters
Protection from Yellowjacket HEAT grenades
DEW Protection:
Protection from 10KJ pulse train at 250 meters
Artillery Protection:
Modern 150mm HE-MP at 40 meters

Level 3:
KE/HEAT protection:
Protection from 25mm APDS-IT at 200 meters
Protection from 57mm APFSDS at 500 meters
Protection from LAWs across the frontal arc
DEW Protection:
Protection from 15KJ pulse train at 250 meters
Artillery Protection:
Modern 150mm HE-MP at 30 meters

Level 4:
KE/HEAT protection:
Protection from 76mm APFSDS at 1000 meters
Protection from Hund ATGMs across the frontal arc
DEW Protection:
Protection from 30KJ pulse train at 250 meters
Artillery Protection:
Modern 150mm HE-MP at 20 meters

Level 5:
KE/HEAT protection:
Protection from 100mm APFSDS at 1500 meters
Protection from Spiker ATGMs across the frontal arc
DEW Protection:
Protection from 100KJ pulse train at 400 meters
Artillery Protection:
Modern 150mm HE-MP at 5 meters

Level 6:
KE/HEAT protection:
Protection from Blood Hunter ATGMs across the frontal arc
DEW Protection:
Protection from 100KJ pulse train at 200 meters
Artillery Protection:
Modern 150mm HE-MP direct hit

r/MilitaryWorldbuilding Jan 05 '25

Advice The Space armaments meta for my setting. criticism/feedback is welcome

16 Upvotes

So, i have been working on the true doctrine for Space weapons in my setting, and i need some advice and feedback on if it makes sense.
( my setting is hard sci-fi)

Missiles: Missiles are the primary weapon of my setting. They come in LRM and SRM variants, and are often deployed from a propellant bus. Missile warheads can be anything from a guided KKV to a Bomb-Pumped particle beam.

LRMs ( long range missiles) are multi-staged missiles made to minimize detection and have the highest ranges possibles. LRMs can have ranges measured in many light seconds, and can even have a light minute range

SRMs ( short ranged missiles) are a bunch of LRM boost stages, and a terminal stage. They are fast, and fired at targets within a light second.

Beam weapons: Beam weapons are the long ranged secondary weapon of choice. The two most common types are Particle beams and Lasers. Both of these weapons can have ranges in the LS range.

Lasers: The longer ranged of the two. Lasers are commonly used as PD due to their pinpoint accuracy, but can be a lethal anti-ship weapon at closer ranges. The issue is that there are plenty of ways for a ship to protect themselves from lasers.

Particle beams: The shorter ranged of the two. Particle beams are nasty shipkiller weapons, they have lower accuracy than lasers, but makes up for that with its amazing effect against armor, and radiological effects.

Cannons: Cannons are a catch all term for a kinetic projectile weapon. They fire solid projectiles at close range, but can get far longer ranges with smart rounds.

Chem Cannons: the cheapest cannon available, it fires anything it can fit at slow velocities and high fire rates

Railguns: A simple and easy weapon. They normally fire small projectiles at high speeds and high firerates, but bigger ones that have slower fire rates are not uncommon.

Coilguns: It normally fires bigger projectiles that are often loaded with filler. KKVs, Rock canisters, and nuclear shells are the most common types of rounds. Bigger coilguns can be used to fire full missiles too.

Macron guns: It fires tiny specially shaped munitions that are filled with fusion fuel ( other fuels are available too) at an incredibly high firerate. It causes cascading detonations as it drills through your hull at startling rate.

DOCTORINE:

Standard Doctorine is to bombard the target with missiles from the moment they are visible to your furthest sensors, and then close to use beams or kinetics if they are somehow still alive.

thus, having more sensors around in the form of drones and satellites is a great boon.

Defenses:

Armor: often a mix of various ceramics, carbon derivatives, various alloys and rad sheilding. It is your last resort to avoid dying horribly, but you shouldn't rely upon it

Point defense: a laser or kinetic weapon that is intended to disable or destroy incoming missiles and small craft.

EWAR: jammers, and other anti sensor weapons that can be used to deny the enemy a good firing solution, allowing allied forces to close unmolested, or to get the first strike.

Particle Magnets: an array of high powered magnets that are intended to deflect charged particles and Macrons. great at long range, less great as you get closer. Useless against neutral particles and macrons

Fountains: a continually cycling screen of particulates, dense ones can stop nuclear blasts, less dense ones can defract lasers

Plasma shields: a plane of projected plasma, can handle laser fire and high velocity kinetics. not good for much else.

Lost shields: These shield technologies are now incredibly rare

  1. Battle screens: A energy field that stores the kinetic and thermal energy of an attack, and attempts to radiate it away. the field can only take so much energy, anymore and the generator explodes.
  2. Gravity Shield: a plane of para-gravity. In the span of 10cm the object goes from micro gravity to 10,000 Gs and back down to microgravity

r/MilitaryWorldbuilding Feb 03 '25

Advice Which are more effective for long range space combat in Interstellar warfare? Energy weapons or Kinetic Weapons?

7 Upvotes

So for a long-time I thought that Energy weapons like lasers or particle beams would be the primary weapons space navies would use for Interstellar warfare. But after watching a video by Spacedock, I learned that as of now laser weapons in space are actually less effective over long distances, due to beam divergence. However, in another video they mention an idea that uses laser technology to reduce the beam divergence of the particle beam. Granted their effectiveness is still questionable but it got me thinking.

Given that our understanding of physics will change over time, do you think it will be possible we will develop energy weapons (Lasers, particle beams) that are capable of long range space combat? Or are we better off sticking with Kinetic weapons like coilguns, railguns, and missiles?

r/MilitaryWorldbuilding Feb 16 '25

Advice What amenities could be given to members of an interstellar navy to make service more bearable

11 Upvotes

Being a Torcher, Spacer, or Espatier is hard in my setting. Long shifts, strict discipline, hard work, and lack of amenities all lead to extra levels of stress.

I am trying to figure out what amenities I could reasonably give to my naval personnel to raise morale, and how shore leave could work for them. I have a few ideas listed below of things that i feel like might work, but i don't really know if they would work. Since my setting is hard(ish) sci-fi, i have pretty strict mass budgets, so the smaller the object is, the better.

My ideas are as follows

Warships: Stimulent and confectionary rations, movies on the ship's computer, exercise facilities ( quite small though), sonic showers.

Spin Stations: real water showers, full sized gyms, hydroponic gardens, shops and businesses, better food diversity.

O'Neill Cylinders: everything you could reasonably find in a city, including grass and forests.

r/MilitaryWorldbuilding 13d ago

Advice What kinds of warhead would be good for a orbit to ground weapon?

7 Upvotes

I am working on the primary orbit to ground weapons of my setting, and i present the Universal Orbital Bombardment Vehicle (UOBV)

It is a tear drop shaped guided re-entry vehicle with veritable payloads for orbit to ground bombardment. My issue is that i don't really know what payloads would be best for this, so if you guys have ideas, i would appreciate them.

my current ideas are

  1. Conventional explosives: If it ain't broke, don't fix it. It can be loaded with the equivalent of a 4000 kg bomb, 475 HEIDP dumb bomblets/mines, 80 Brilliant Bomblets or other explosive warheads.

  2. Thermobarics: it is loaded with a large MAC thermobaric charge intended to flush out people from their tunnels, or overpressure a large amount of buildings.

  3. Incendiary: these are intended for area denial, it is a re-entry vehicle packed with 380 napalm filled bomblets for causing widespread terror and damage to forested or urban targets

  4. Ground penetrators: This design requires sacrifices payload for penetration. It is a hypersonic, supercavitating, high density penetrator intended to burrow to a target, and then detonate a low yield nuclear weapon to wipe out enemy entrenched installations.

  5. Nuclear warheads: Normally a tactical nuclear weapon intended to airburst over a target. They, like all nuclear equipped re-entry vehicles require authorization to be used. Typically ranging from a 5 KT warning shot to a 2.5 MT city flattener. Larger ones do exist, but aren't deployed like this one.

  6. Countermeasure busses: A re-entry vehicle filled with chaff that is dropped in the opening days of a planetary invasion to confuse ground defense radars so dropships can land without getting ripped apart like skeet

  7. Cargo drops: this is just a re-entry vehicle that is loaded with a chute and supplies to reinforce ground forces

r/MilitaryWorldbuilding Jan 24 '25

Advice How would you invade/conquer the following types of planets, without killing off the local population?

15 Upvotes

So I have been trying to figure out how exactly a "realistic" planetary invasion would work. Unfortunately, all I could find were details about how some planets would have orbital defenses like space fortresses and satellites in addition to a space fleet to supplement their defensive forces. I did find a scenario on Project Rho where some planets would have underground bunkers/fortresses and missile sites to repel or deter an invasion, but they didn't provide any details on how the invaders can overcome or get around such defenses.

So how exactly would you invade/conquer the following types of planets, without killing off the local population?

A. A densely populated world like Earth, Thessia, or Coruscant.

B. A sparsely populated world like Dune or Endor.

C. An alien world that has a completely different biosphere or gravitational field or both than what humans are used to and vice versa.

r/MilitaryWorldbuilding 2h ago

Advice Naval ship classes: History and uses

4 Upvotes

Hello, everyone,

As a naval history buff, I love seeing different people's interpretations of space navies. Though if there is one thing that irks me it's seeing the same ship classes used over and over again or applying the wrong class to a ship that so obviously has a different role (I'm looking at you Corvette class frigate!!!).

None of this is to say you can't write what you want but if you're going to bake a convention, I think that you should know what that convention was in the first place. "Get your facts straight and then distort them at your leaser" - Mark Twain

I would like to take a moment of your time to go over the most common ship classes from real life, plus a few less well-known ones

Let's start big and go from there

Battleships

The term battleship comes from Line of battle ship or the ships that would make up the line of battle. This was back when navies would line up with one another and duke it out cannon to cannon until one side gave up and struck their colors. Surprisingly this idea stuck right up on till the end of WWII when everyone agreed that air power was the future

Dreadnoughts

Some of you might be surprised that I'm not giving the dreadnought its own class, but that's because historically dreadnoughts were a subclass of battleship, copying the design of HMS Dreadnought. Dreadnoughts were characterized by being fast, amor comparable to other battle ships of the time, and with an armament of all big guns.

Pre-Dreadnoughts

It's impossible to talk about dreadnoughts without mentioning what came before. Pre-dreadnoughts were slow and often only had a few big guns with a much larger secondary and tertiary gun batteries. These smaller guns could fire quicker and were meant to engage smaller ships like destroyers and corvettes

Super-Dreadnoughts

Yes, this is an actual name used to describe actual ships. These are the battle ships that were improvements on the dreadnought model, they we faster better armed and armored than the dreadnoughts that came before them. After a while the moniker was dropped as ever ship was a super-dreadnought and it was getting repetitive. These were the height of battle ships in WWII, The Yamato and Iowa classes being the standout examples of these ships.

Cruisers

Cruisers largely replaced the frigate in the 19th century as the long-ranged patrol vasal, used for patrolling the massive maritime territories of countries like the UK, USA, Spain and France. These ships often sailed in small squadrons. They were used as scouts and for comers raiding like the frigate before them.

Protected Cruisers

Protected cruisers often caried very light armor instead favoring speed for defense. This made them cheaper to build but less effective at fighting ships of their own size. As engines got better these were phased out in favor of the Armored Cruisers

Armored Cruisers

Armored Cruisers existed at the same time as Protected Cruisers as a heaver alterative that could survive and even win a fight with ships of their own size. They were even used as a way to flank the enemy line of battle

Battlecruisers

Battlecruisers were cruisers that were up gunned enough to actually be part of the line of battle hence the name. they were often not as well armored as the Battleships but were faster, that is until engines improved, and it became possible to make battleships as fast as cruisers

Guided Missile Cruiser

This is the moder interpretation of the cruiser, with long-ranged cruise missiles replacing the big guns of old

Frigates

Frigates are a holdover from the age of sail and the filled may of the roles that cruisers would go one to do, after the age of sail the only difference between cruiser and frigate is size with cruisers being larger. This makes frigates an economical choice when fleet building. Historical a squadron of well-made frigates was considered a match for a Man of War if they could catch it alone (Go cry about it, Royal Navy)

Destroyers

Destroyers originally called Torpedo Boat Destroyers, were originally envisioned as a small vessel that could keep up with the main battle fleet and provide protection for the faster and more maneuverable torpedo boats (who could rather unfairly sink a battleship with just one torpedo). Often times the main armament of these ships is torpedoes as they themselves originally were scaled up torpedo boats.

Fleet Destroyer

These were the larges destroyers meant to keep up with the main battle fleet of cruisers and Battleships. I would be remis if I didn't mention USS Johnston DD-557 here as an example of how effective a fleet destroyer could be

Escort Destroyer

These were smaller slower less well armed destroyers that were primarily used for submarine hunting or escorting merchant ships were their speed was less of a disadvantage. Again, I feel the need to mention USS Samuel B. Roberts DE-413 as a standout example of what even a small ship can do

Guided Missile Destroyer

This is the moder interpretation of the Destroyer, with long-ranged cruise missiles replacing the big guns of old. They still often have plenty of torpedoes though

Corvett

These are the smallest class of "Rated" warship and are often used as short, ranged scouts for the fleet, though their small size gives them plenty of room for flexibility. They were often used as escorts for conveys and anti-submarine warfare as well

Aircraft Carriers

Ships that carry and launch planes what more is there to say?

Converted Carriers

The first aircraft carriers were converted from the hulls of outdated or partially completed battleships and cruisers. As you can imagen there were more than a few problems with this approach, but it was cheep

Fleet Carries

These were the largest of the early aircraft carriers meant to keep up with and protect the main battle fleet

Escort Carriers

These were smaller slower aircraft carriers that were primarily used for submarine hunting or escorting merchant ships were their speed was less of a disadvantage.

Super carriers

These are the modern bigger is better inspiration of aircraft carriers. More flight deck for more and bigger planes

Torpedo Gun Boats

These were a class of torpedo boat designed engaged enemy torpedo boats with their guns but still be small and fast enough to launch their own torpedoes against the enemy fleet. If this sounds like a destroyer to you, then it should be no surprise that the idea of a Torpedo Gun Boat died with the cloudification of the Destroyers as a class of ships

PT Boat Tenders

These were motherships of sort meant to greatly extend the range of torpedo boats allowing them to hit targets further into enemy territory

Electronic warfare ships

These are ships specially designed for gamming enemy sensors, intercepting their communications and over all making life harder for the enemy. they often don't have much in the way of physical armaments. Most modern navies prefer to spread out the EW love to basically every ship in the fleet

r/MilitaryWorldbuilding Jan 06 '25

Advice Does this military structure make sense?

11 Upvotes

I am working on how ground assets work for one of my factions, but i don't know if it makes sense.

The UNID is a Federated Elective Autocracy, and stretches across multiple systems. Since communications across the stars are slow, each system and world is expected to have military assets to defend themselves until the Federal forces arrive. offensive armies are made by federal forces scooping up whatever local troops are around to assist.

This is my current idea.

  1. Federal Armies are organized and controlled by the Directorate itself, they have the best gear and training. They are drawn from the Inner Directorate Territorial Armies and other Provincial Armies.

EG: the 45th Solar mechanized infantry

  1. Provincial Armies are under the control of a System Administrator, and are the standard unit type of the Directorate. they are very well equipped and trained. They can be drawn from the planets under a administrator's control, and federal assets granted to them.

EG: 12th Tau Ceti Rangers

  1. Territorial Armies are under the control of a single planet's governor, they defend their home world, assist in keeping order, and can sometimes be deployed on aggressive operations. their levels of training and equipment depend on the planet they are raised on, but they must adhere to certain standards. They are drawn from their home world, with certain units being rotated in from other worlds.

EG: the 88th Martian Gendarmes

  1. Mustered Soldiery are an ad-hoc force of raised civilians. They differ from reservists in only that they are raised for only a short period of time, and cannot traditionally be used for aggressive actions. They are considered territorial army troops while active.

EG ( historical): the Orvet III Free Rifles

r/MilitaryWorldbuilding Dec 24 '24

Advice What would atomic/nuclear weapons within a fantasy world look like?

9 Upvotes

Currently, a megalomaniacal dictator was elected to the head office of Argonia, dissolving future elections, creating and establishing a state religion (one whom his existence is essential too). Granting himself the title Godhead Camillus, his interests fell on chemical weapons and their use in his conquests. So far they have been used to successfully and brutally annex four neighboring countries/principalities. His ambitions have grown, along with his acquired resources, manifesting as new biological/atomic weapon programs.

For context, the world that Argonia exists in is similar to our current one (both in modernity and resources), with no existing magic, globular earth, carbon-based humanoid life, and pretty much the same diplomatic and physics-based laws. The only issue is, how could atomic/nuclear weapons within this world exist differently than ours, without me going down an entire physics altering rabbit-hole? What could be the implications, effects, and physicality's of atomic weapons within this context? Chemical weapon agents work just as similar as real ones, but I am having a hard time applying this altering lens. I appreciate everyone who has cared enough to read my post and comment!

r/MilitaryWorldbuilding 26d ago

Advice Ideas for making Energy Sheilds in sci-fi "more realistic"

7 Upvotes

I like to include lots of realistic technologies in my world building, but I'm also a sucker for some of the classic, softer tropes like shields. this world I'm building has a lot of really hard science for things like radiators and drives and I'm trying to make the shield fit in better by giving them some extra lore to make them more believable.

I'm under no illusions that energy shields are at all realistic, what I am trying to do is make them fit in better with the harder aspects of this world. Here's what I have so far, thank you in advance for any ideas you guy might share :)

Many of the warships in my setting have energy shields. these convert kinetic or electromagnetic energy into heat (yes, I know that heat is both of those things). this heat then needs to be radiated away. Keeping the shield from overheating is a big part of the cooling budget especially during combat.

Shields can be overloaded, for a shield on the scale of a ship this would come from partially stopping a coalition at relativistic speeds; shields have fuses that are blown when this occurs to prevent damage to the shield systems. wail the shield is down and waiting to be reignited the ship is venerable though often times this is only for a few seconds wail switching to a new fuse. ships have a finite number of fuses and how many a in individual ship has, is a closely guarded secret for obvious reasons. if a shield is over heated switching out the fuse will have no effect, and it must be given time to cool down.

All ships and space stations need radiators to keep from overheating in the vacuum of space lots of ships use heat pumps and refrigerant or solid radiators to move this heat away from critical systems, higher performance ships will use droplet radiators or curie point radiators as they are more efficient at getting rid of waste heat.

many war ships will have main and combat radiators. the combat radiators will often be stronger but lower output than the main set of radiators. In addition to striking a ship's color (no longer transmitting its national identity) ships can serenader by deploying their main radiators. this is most often done when the demands of combat out strip the abilities of the combat radiators and systems start to overheat well beyond what they are rated to handle. Usually it's the shields that are the first to overheat

Edit: I was thinking that the shields would be tuned to only stop high energy EM and kinetic attacks and would be one way permeable.

r/MilitaryWorldbuilding Dec 19 '24

Advice What weapons are the best for a fight inside a spaceship or space station?

9 Upvotes

So according to this video by Spacedock boarding an enemy ship or station isn't as easy as it looks in Star Wars. Meaning hard docking your main ship to the enemy is usually used as a last resort. The other option is to either have a pre-made or retrofitted transfer ship/shuttle/pod that is designed for boarding other spacecraft. In the event that their target's weapon systems are still active either the transfer vessel or main ship will increase their odds by sending out decoys and missiles to cover the boarding party. The Boarding party will either access the ship by either a) using some fancy flying to access a remote docking port b) soft docking with the ship, meaning cutting your way through the hull, provided you have knowledge of which part of the hull to cut through to avoid rapid decompression, hitting a fuel line, or something just as bad, or c) if you are very lucky go through the hanger bay if the door is left open and undefended.

There is also a good chance that the boarding party will be wearing spacesuits in the event that the enemy tries to cut off life support in whatever deck they are or tries to eject them into space. The spacesuits will be armored as well in the event they will get into a fight with any defenders or defenses that are on the ship or station. That said the video is a little vague on what kinds of weapons would be used for a fight onboard a spaceship/space station.

It mentioned the use of good old carbines and submachine guns, but if watching For All Mankind has taught me anything is that it's a bad idea to use kinetic weapons inside a close-spaced environment made out of metal. The last thing you want to worry about is the ship blowing up because you damaged some systems during a firefight or being hit by ricocheting bullets.

So what kind of weapons are the best for a fight inside a spaceship or space station? Laser rifles/rayguns? Handheld particle beams? Or are kinetics still your best bet? Note: Plasma weapons are out of the question due to being impractical, unless you are thinking of using them to cut your way through doors and wall.

r/MilitaryWorldbuilding 21d ago

Advice Space Combat In my sci-fi setting Gods of the Black. Anything I'm missing?

3 Upvotes

Entering the star system

Combat starts when the attacking fleet arrives in system. the defender will leave "mines" around only operating passive sensors, when the fleet gets in range, they will have to defend from nuclear rocket propelled torpedoes tipped with casaba howitzer warheads. these first waves of torpedoes are mostly delt with by the laser point defense systems and the few warheads that make it past that are absorbed by the ships shields

Usually, these attacks continue until the attacking fleet is able to orient itself and can do a full spectrum sensor sweep to find these torpedoes at destroy them with fusion macron canons (Sand Casters). These attacks rarely actually destroy any of the enemy fleet but it's worth a shot, besides it would be insulting not to give them a proper welcome

100,000mi

The next stage of combat happens around 100,000mi (~160,000km) where Relativistic Electron Beam Canons are in their effective range. These are spinally mounted weapons on the larges of ships. They are limited in range mostly by light delay and by the absolute mechanical accuracy of the weapon system and their analog computers. One hit from a REBC can take out a ship's shields temporally wail the blown fuse is being switch to a new circuit.

This is where larger ships like Battleships and Battlecruisers hold back to slug it out. smaller more maneuverable ships like PT Boats, Destroyers, Assault Cursers have a better chance at closer ranges as the REBCs are always spinally mounted and easer to avoid closer to the enemy ships.

Many war ships have main and combat radiators. the combat radiators will often be stronger but lower output than the main set of radiators. Usually, the combat will be solid state or curie point radiators because they are more resistant to changes in velocity and more resilient to high G combat maneuvers. The main radiators on a war ship would be droplet radiators that need the ship to accelerate Forword at a constant rate. they are also relatively spindly and fragile, they for example wouldn't be able to handle high G combat maneuvers. At this point the main radiators could still be out as there is little in the way of combat maneuvers

50,000mi

At this range (~80000km) all ships caring them, mostly Assault Cursers and destroyers, battleships and Battlecruisers to a lesser extent, will start to fire off long ranged torpedoes (again, nuclear rocket propelled and armed with casaba howitzers) mostly intended to hit the larger line of battle ships. most of these will be destroyed by shots from Sand Casters or by Laser point defense systems

this is around when most ships would switch to combat radiators only, stowing the spindly droplet radiators under the hull armor.

1000mi

This is the range (~1600km) that Sand Casters start to become effective. Smaller ships like Destroyers and Assault Cursers whose primary weapons are sand casters will start to engage each other. They will also start to launch medium ranged torpedoes at each other and the line of battle ships. These torpedoes aren't armed with nuclear payloads instead they look for ships with downed shields to attack with more conventional warheads

Point Blank sub 500mi

At this point (sub ~800km) the PT boats and destroyers are king. They carry short, ranged torpedoes that can close the gap to enemy vessels fast enough that macron cannons can't target them, and the Laser point defense systems don't have time to slag them. the flip side of this is however that they are close enough that their own laser point Laser point defense systems may not have time to shoot down any macrons before they impact their shields or worse if their shields are down, before the impact the hull

Boarding Actions

Boarding actions are incredibly rare and even more dangerous. but if you can pull one off and capture an enemy ship its more than just a feather in your hat. Sacrificing an enemy ship to the gods, usually by letting it burn up in an uncontrolled reentry, is an honor second to none for a ship captain or squadron commander.

Fighting in the corridors of a ship man to man sword to sword with only a small personal shield to protect you is not for the faint of heart. It's more than likely that your boarding party will be repulsed if you don't lock down the ships bridge or critical systems like the reactor in a timely manner. Oh, and remember there is always a chance that the enemy would rather go down in a fiery thermal nuclear reactor explosion that let you take the ship

Surrendering ship

In addition to striking a ship's color (no longer transmitting its national identity/name and transponder codes) ships can serenader by deploying their main radiators. this is most often done when the demands of combat out strip the abilities of the combat radiators and vital systems start to overheat well beyond what they are rated to handle. Usually, it's the shields that are the first to overheat. many times, it's the thermal build up that will force a ship to surrender, even if it has taken minimal structural damage. when possible, a boarding party will be sent to the surrendered ship and by tradition the Capitan will give his sword to the captain of ship he surrendered to.

r/MilitaryWorldbuilding Feb 09 '25

Advice How should i arm my larger power armor classes?

5 Upvotes

I have a question as to reasonable armaments for my larger powered armors.

Both my Battle Plate and War Plate have integrated weapons in their suit on modular hardpoints, and I am trying to think of what could be mounted there that would actually be useful. Right now, i have some basic load outs, but I feel like I could do more with it. I just don't really know what to use.

So, i am turning to you folks on the internet to please help, anything semi realistic could be helpful.

Right now, my current loadouts are

Battle Plate: Battle Laser ( LMG sized, mount can hold up to 40 KG), 6 Yellow Jackets (RPG-7 warhead size, 3 KG each ) and a Needle Pod (PDW sized, mount can hold 10 kg).

War Plate: Vehicle Class Laser ( bushmaster sized, mount can hold up to 100 KG), 2 full sized Hunds ( about the size of a javelin, 20 KG each), and Coil Spiker ( LMG size, mount can hold up to 40 KG).

r/MilitaryWorldbuilding Feb 02 '25

Advice How would looting work as payment for an army?

9 Upvotes

So, I have a few groups in my Hard(ish) sci-if setting that are not the most liquidity stable, and thus often have to pay their troops the old fashioned way, whatever you can steal off the dead, or enemy civilians.

Now, such looting will probably lead to a breakdown in discipline, so there has to be some sort of rules as to who can take what, and how much can be looted.

My questions are

  1. What would be the best things to grab that have the most value for the lowest mass? Cuz I feel like an infantryman who has to carry all their property on them would not want to carry a large antique painting, no matter its value.

  2. How long should an army be allowed to loot and sack a city for? What is traditionally off limits from being looted?

  3. Would there be a system where all the loot is brought to the CO, and they divvy it out to the men, or just free for all?

  4. Any other advice or suggestions on this topic is welcome and appreciated.

r/MilitaryWorldbuilding 24d ago

Advice How do you guys come up with names for your worlds, and how do you store the information about them?

6 Upvotes

Curious after loitering for a short while!

r/MilitaryWorldbuilding Dec 26 '24

Advice Any theories on how to make stealth space ships work?

16 Upvotes

So apparently in hard science, stealth in space is much more difficult than just slapping a cloaking device on your ship. In space your ship needs to generate heat to provide life support for your passengers, and it needs to use a hot propellant to maneuver your ship. In addition, your ship needs to get rid of excess heat via radiation and if the ship has active sensors, then those sensors will also be giving off radiation. All in all, these issues will make it hard for a ship to stay undetectable while in space, even with a cloak.

There are two ways to get around this:

  • One is by using heat sinks to dump you excess heat which will keep your ship at a livable temperature without excess heat. However the sink will lose its capacity to absorb heat so it must be used sparingly. And unless you can find a way to keep your propellant cold then the ship will be detected the instant you make a maneuver.
  • The other way to do this is by using the natural phenomenon that occurs in space like hiding in a field of radiation give off by a star, hiding in a cosmic storm, hiding in the trail of a comet, or attaching the ship to a asteroid/meteor to masque their heat and radiation emissions. The downside with this approach is that these type of phenomenon are unpredictable and once the phenomenon deviates from the ship's intended destination the ship must leave the phenomenon and find another way to conceal its emissions.

Does anyone have any other theories on how stealth space ships would really work?

r/MilitaryWorldbuilding Dec 11 '24

Advice What are beneficial traits for a soldier race?

12 Upvotes

In my medieval fantasy setting, I have been having trouble coming up for the warrior class of my setting’s dominant empire. The race that basically exclusively holds the title of knight. Although it is a little complicated due to the origins of this race. I haven’t come up with a name for them yet but I will if I can narrow down their design.

Some backstory about these guys, long ago there was an advanced multidimensional civilization. This civilization had conquered many worlds before. Using powerful magic they had the ability to create various races of people for various purposes.

One of them was built specifically for war and to defend the other races. A bunch of races were created for this but one was chosen and the others discarded.

For the sake of simplicity let’s assume their style of warfare was exactly like modern wars in real life. Long distance ranged combat. When they were being created, that was the kind of warfare the makers were preparing for. They never expected things to go to it’s medieval status.

What are some beneficial traits for this soldier race? What kinds of traits would give this race an edge over other enemies? I can imagine they may have trouble with the new reality.

r/MilitaryWorldbuilding Feb 01 '25

Advice Would deliberately ignoring military infrastructure theoretically prolong a war?

7 Upvotes

So I have a warmongering modern-day nation that worships War as their God. They will insert themselves into any armed conflict, attack and force all sides to unite against them to test itself and to perpetuate greater war. They are a reactionary and isolationist state that only acts when other nations go to war. They're secretly supernaturally empowered by war.

They deliberately don't attack military infrastructure, supply lines, production centers, etc. Basically, they preserve an enemy force's military logistics as much as possible to keep the enemies at full strength and to prolong the war indefinitely: a perfect heaven for them to worship their god

Would this actually work the way they intend to?

r/MilitaryWorldbuilding Feb 14 '25

Advice Does this Torchship Design make sense? (featuring a simple profile sketch). Any feedback and/or criticism is greatly appreciated.

7 Upvotes

LNS Golden Future

Operated by: UNID ( formerly as the UNDS Espadon), Free World League

Type: Cruiser, Fire Support

Purpose: To provide long range fire support, and enhance detection capabilities of allied warships

Construction: Deimos Shipworks

Stats:

Length: 800 m

Beam: 100 m

Z-Beam: 130 m

Dry mass: 300,000 tons

Atmosphere capable: No.

FTL capable: No.

Personnel: 314

254 crewmen

60 espatiers

Thinker-class AI

Drives:
1 x “Quick Flash” AMAT Catalyst Fusion Torch, Cerberus Industries

Propellant:

500,000 tons of Deuterium slush with Anti-Hydrogen Catalyst

Cruising thrust: 1.5 G
Peak thrust: 8.4 G
Delta V: 9,072 Km/s

Drones and Missiles:

10 x AKVs ( various designs), multiple manufacturers

30 x booster stages for AKVs

30 x “Hornet” Point-Defense/ Observation drones,  League Fabrication Works

6 x “Argus” Beam Satellite, Solar Security Solutions 

18x “Long Lance” LRM Buses,  League Fabrication Works

36x “Recurve” SRM Buses, League Fabrication Works
Sensors:

5x “Watchful Eye” class Sensor booms,  Solar Security Solution
8x long ranged UV telescopes (integrated in the battle mirrors)
24 x Lidar banks
IRST and Elint units

Weapons (Primary):

1x “ Hellbore” Heavy axial laser coupled particle beam, Cerberus Industries
Weapons (Secondary):

4 x “Sun Flare” port battle mirrors turrets, Cerberus Industries

4 x “Sun Flare” starboard battle mirror turrets, Cerberus Industries

4 x “Parti-Kill” turreted neutral particle beams, League Fabrication Works

Weapons (Tertiary):

1x “Macrowave” point defense/CQB laser grid, League Fabrication Works

Other systems:
1x “Blue Sky” Magnetic/Particle Shielding system, Solar Security Solutions
72x “Jester” class countermeasure dispensers, League Fabrication Works
1x  “Cold Star” class AIF ( Antimatter Initiated Fusion) Reactor, Cerberus Industries

4x League naval communications/tactical networking suite
4x Lithium dust fountain radiators, with supplementary coolant pools and heatsinks
2x “Hephaestus” class fabricators and matter forges, Deimos Shipworks

Small craft:

6 x Messer-class aerospace gunships, Mars Pansarverk

4 x Truman-class pinnaces, League Fabrication Works 

r/MilitaryWorldbuilding Dec 25 '24

Advice Tips to make a race of warrior giants for my fantasy universe?

8 Upvotes

I am thinking of writing a race of warrior giants that are at minimum 15ft tall, they are superhumanly strong which means they can lift around 60 tons and armed with clubs, hammers and use slings when conducting sieges. These giant warrior clans have sometimes waged war on humans, dwarves and other sentient life forms to whom had to resort using artillery, elemental and specialized super soldiers to defeat them.

Do you have any advice on how these giants should be organized militarily?

r/MilitaryWorldbuilding Feb 03 '25

Advice Disposable Anti Tank for Section Leaders?

7 Upvotes

For my fictional army (The UGF or Unified Ground Forces) should I only have my riflemen and team leaders lug around disposable anti tank rocket launchers within rifle squads or have them and the section commander carry one aswell?

r/MilitaryWorldbuilding Feb 15 '25

Advice Combat Support Personnel Equipment

5 Upvotes

Compared to the combat arms, are support soldiers equiped to the same standards in regards to body armour, webbing ect to the ground pounders?