the shape of things to come

secondary control stick instead. On the plus side, if your
helmet’s visor is cracked, the central touchpad screen can
switch over to a mini-HUD mode, placing sensor and
squadron readings on the secondary screens.
Many conventional atmospherics, by the way, rely
on the older tried-and-true methods
of sticks and screens, but
even then many use the reliable
helmet HUDs to get the job done
right, so don’t discount the abilities
of conventional jets against
aerospace fi ghters during a raid.
FIGHTER ENGINES
Aerospace fighters are powered
by a fast-pumping, dualchambered
fusion power plant.
Damn, that sounds cool, doesn’t
it? Anyway, the first chamber
is a fairly conventional fusion
reactor like you’ll find on
BattleMechs. This uses a small
quantity of hydrogen from the
tanks as fuel to produce enormous
power. Most of that’s spent
in the second chamber, which superheats
a lot more hydrogen like
the combat drives of DropShips. Or
BattleMech jump jets, for that matter.
Some of the larger fighters keep fuel efficiency
up by dumping reactor plasma
into the second chamber.
Conventional fi ghters may use fusion engines
similar to these, or gas-burning jet turbines, but they
also function far more effi ciently in their element. Bear
that in mind if you’re an aerospace fi ghter jockey engaged
in battle with a swarm of conventionals: when
you’re in their playground, most of these guys can
manage tighter turns and stay in the fi ght longer just
because they were born to fi ght in the wild blue yonders,
while your plane was meant to suck void more often
than not.
FIGHTER WEAPONS
An aerospace fi ghter’s weapon controls are extremely similar
to those on Droppers, only designed more effi ciently for a
single gunner. Once a target is selected, the integral targeting
systems do the rest: calculating lead and speed, while the
pilot maneuvers to keep the target within his fi ghters’ slim
fi ring arc. Once the battle computer fi nishes reloading and
recharging the weapons, the pilot fi res with the click of a trigger—or
a twitch of a fi nger in those fancy old SLDF gloves.
The computer then unleashes a volley enhanced by its target
tracking software, sometimes with a miniscule delay for optimum
fi re resolution.
Bear in mind that, unlike BattleMech targeting computers,
those on armed spacefaring (and air-breathing) fi ghter craft
can track prey eff ectively at hundreds of kilometers. Ironically,
this is not in spite of the extreme speeds with which combat
occurs in space and atmosphere, but because of them. Unlike
ground combat, where most combatants
can stop, turn and change direction at
the drop of a coin, a fi ghter or DropShip going
several thousand kilometers an hour can’t
change directions easily unless you dedicate a lot of thrust
to that task. Up-to-date databases onboard every vessel can
recognize what craft the target is and automatically calculate
how long it would take that craft to change direction enough
to evade fi re; in most cases, it takes quite a bit of time. Yes,
craft can take “evasive” maneuvers using their attitude thrusters,
but these are minor and serve only to delay or screw up
a calculated lead on lasers and autocannons. In addition, if
you’re doing this, don’t expect your own computer to ever
get a good bead on anything; it’ll be too busy trying to take
into account all the sudden movements you and your targets
are doing to ever get it right.
That’s all the time we have for today. We’ll meet here, same
time tomorrow, to delve into the wonders of specifi c fi ghters,
Droppers and maybe even JumpShip technologies. For now,
consider what you learned here. It may save your worthless
lives someday.
INTRODUCTION
CONSTRUCTION
BASICS
BATTLEMECH
CONSTRUCTION
INDUSTRIALMECH
CONSTRUCTION
PROTOMECH
CONSTRUCTION
COMBAT VEHICLE
CONSTRUCTION
SUPPORT VEHICLE
CONSTRUCTION
CONV. INFANTRY
CONSTRUCTION
BATTLE ARMOR
CONSTRUCTION
AEROSPACE UNIT
CONSTRUCTION
WEAPONS AND
HEAVY EQUIPMENT
INFANTRY WEAPONS
AND EQUIPMENT
COSTS AND
AVAILABILITY
BATTLE VALUE
INDEX
RECORD SHEETS
179