pheonixstorm wrote:Even in space prox mines wouldnt cost nearly as much as others. Explosive and prox passive sensor and maybe a small rock to attach to. Litter thousands at a jump point or along a well travelled space lane and you have a lot of hurt ships.
Jump point, yes. Then again, it makes sense to put there a big nasty fort with really big guns already trained at it.
But how a "traveled space line" can be a place if everything orbites?
pheonixstorm wrote: With a weapon mounted mine you have the weapon cost as well as the cost of advanced tageting systems as well as ammo stock or some type or reactor to power the weapon.
Not "as well as", but rather "or" (rockets, of course). Even from existing VS weapons - being greeted by several streams of Swarm or Hail can be rather unpleasant, especially when shields are down because a few moments ago the ship was in SPEC or jumped.
As to the targetting, a mine already needs to locate and identify targets, and either way, with rather puny effective range it would have to track at less than 1/1000 of the weakest radar's range in VS.
Another variant, is a FF kinetic missile in a box, waiting for a target - though it needs longer radar range.
pheonixstorm wrote: Then you have to have enough fuel for the reactor to make sure it will last for a long time.
Rocket box would need more power than a bomb box only when it turns after a target in range is detected. And probably would have to do it only once or twice in its active lifetime. In VS even missiles have mini-reactors.
klauss wrote:I still stand by weapon mounted mines. Their biggest advantage is that they can afford to be overpowered and overshielded, they only have to last for a little while, and in that time inflict massive damage. They don't require propulsion or any other complex system, all they require is a generator that can power up on-demand and a powerful gun.
IMO, at best enough of cheap armor (e.g. raw iron-nickel alloy
), to withstand a few hits of PD beams it may take before it's out of ammo.
Depending on whether the fore surface that's mostly one big rocket pod with a radar may be considered "armored".
klauss wrote:And if you still don't like them as mines, you can use them as stationary defenses :p
Which, BTW, bases and planets would be in need of.