Mark Hall wrote:Samored II wrote:Mark Hall wrote:Sure, it's within their technical capabilities, but you've ignored other arguments. That other nations have attempted to launch into space, and the orbitals have left everything about them completely alone...
I'm sorry, to date who has tried launching anything that had a snowballs chance of penetrating the defense barrier?
I don't know. Do you have stats on what was launched?
Over 30 years ago the NGR launched a group of missiles, bots, and microscopic probes. That was the last attempt by an Earth-bound power to get anything into Orbit. (I'm discounting the Cosmo-Knight that left on his own from SA. He wasn't part of an organized nation-state.)
If the fly represented a disease that was threatening to wipe out my entire society (since they do consider the people on the ground quarrantined), and the only method I had of swatting it was a grenade? Yeah, I'd drop that rock.
Then what is your issue here? The situation you describe is radically different from the current setting.
So why are they going to let 240' spacecraft, capable of of carrying 32 powered armor suits (all of which are space-rated, though the K-Universal and Manling are the best-suited to manueverability), be built and deployed? How about the 2000' long Splugorthian ships (WB7, p. 185)? The ones that can carry hundreds of power armor troops... even more when you replace the Gargoyles and Metzla with power armor or fighters? Why are they letting these be built if they're going to Thor shot things that might be space carriers?
The fact that none of those could reach orbit through the defense network.
Because to the knowledge of the orbitals, the way you get into space is by taking off and forcing your way out of a gravity well. You follow a nice, easy to target, trajectory, which gives killsats plenty of time to destroy anything that makes it past the debris field (which should rip things to shreds in the first place... even if it doesn't kill, it will make very vulnerable).
Since they don't know about magic, they don't know that the Splugorth can completely skip the debris field in LEO, inserting a fully loaded carrier (or even a variety of fighters; you can make that circle pretty big) to where they only have to deal with, at best, some of the killsats.
Not so. The orbital defense network extends 19,000 miles from the surface. The debris field might not be as dense, but it would still be present. Also, the fact that the ships may be able to penetrate a significant portion of the defense network makes it more likely the Orbitals have prepositioned missiles in eliptical orbits to strike during the two hour secondary boost phase. Assuming that the carrier can instantly accelerate to Mach 10 after materialization.
And I'm still asking "What about all the other things that could be spacecraft if you can only see them from above"
If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck. If it doesn't, it's not.
or "What about the things they can't see"? The Splugorth have the capability to build spacecraft, and they have the capability to avoid LEO.
But not the entirety of the defenses. The Orbitals don't know Atlantis can skip the first 3600 miles but Splynncryth knows it's not far enough.
The Naruni might be able to do it, but they don't have much of a manufacturing presence. The Arkhons could, they have a force in space that has already clashed with the Orbitals, and may or may not have ships on the ground that just need repair (WB9: p. 68). They're not being Thor-shotted, despite having attacked the Orbitals AND left to take over Mars.
If the crash-landed ships could take off, they would have before now. IIRC they need help from the Arkhons in space to complete their repairs. If one of their ships headed towards orbit, it would get shot down. Since they don't, they don't get hit.
If the orbitals are leaving the Arkhons alone, they're either technically incapable of launching a Thor shot (specifically targeting), or they don't bother to Thor-shot ground targets.
Or the third option, they don't bother to Thor-shot ground targets that aren't a threat.