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Made in us
Trustworthy Shas'vre





Mt. Gretna, PA

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2008/01/video-rail-gun/

Real railgun... and just as crazy as the Tau one, although way larger.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2010/12/15 03:16:29


 Goliath wrote:
 Gentleman_Jellyfish wrote:
What kind of drugs do you have to be on to see Hitler in your teapot?
Whichever they are, I'm not on the Reich ones, clearly.
 
   
Made in gb
Avatar of the Bloody-Handed God






Inside your mind, corrupting the pathways

Fast forward to about 3:30 to see it actually shoot stuff

   
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The Great State of Texas

And not a moment too soon.

-"Wait a minute.....who is that Frazz is talking to in the gallery? Hmmm something is going on here.....Oh.... it seems there is some dispute over video taping of some sort......Frazz is really upset now..........wait a minute......whats he go there.......is it? Can it be?....Frazz has just unleashed his hidden weiner dog from his mini bag, while quoting shakespeares "Let slip the dogs the war!!" GG
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Decrepit Dakkanaut






Eternal Plague

Frazzled wrote:And not a moment too soon.


Yes. Perfect anti-Frazzled weapon.

Make sure it doesn't fall into the hands of DOOMFAIL.

   
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Avatar of the Bloody-Handed God






Inside your mind, corrupting the pathways

Yeah, I am sure there is some 8th rate army that needs its mud hut bunkers blown away by some rail gun sporting ships that cost roughly 20,000x the value of the entire country being targeted

Though on the other hand, they are damn cool and I wish the UK had a few

   
Made in us
Secret Force Behind the Rise of the Tau




USA

SilverMK2 wrote:Yeah, I am sure there is some 8th rate army that needs its mud hut bunkers blown away by some rail gun sporting ships that cost roughly 20,000x the value of the entire country being targeted


Hey, the rail gun is cheaper than shooting a missile

   
Made in us
Trustworthy Shas'vre





Mt. Gretna, PA

LordofHats wrote:
SilverMK2 wrote:Yeah, I am sure there is some 8th rate army that needs its mud hut bunkers blown away by some rail gun sporting ships that cost roughly 20,000x the value of the entire country being targeted


Hey, the rail gun is cheaper than shooting a missile


I think a missile could do more damage.

The railgun just leaves a really nice hole in whatever it hits, missiles can explode and do more damage, not to mention be far more accurate.

 Goliath wrote:
 Gentleman_Jellyfish wrote:
What kind of drugs do you have to be on to see Hitler in your teapot?
Whichever they are, I'm not on the Reich ones, clearly.
 
   
Made in us
Secret Force Behind the Rise of the Tau




USA

Supposedly the RG is supposed to do damage comparable to a missile at a certain operation range and at cheaper cost which is why the Navy is so interested. I haven't followed any actual testing though so I have no idea how that pans out. I'm sure that we'd still keep missiles for especially long range targets or for when that super cool rail gun doesn't pack enough punch.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2010/12/13 19:06:23


   
Made in us
Stoic Grail Knight



Houston, Texas

Pretty sure with how fast that projectile is going and what not anyone in the immediate area is going to have their guts liquified by the shockwave created by the impact...

Daemons-
Bretonnia-
Orcs n' Goblins-  
   
Made in gb
Avatar of the Bloody-Handed God






Inside your mind, corrupting the pathways

Kinetic missiles are actually surprisingly destructive, assuming you can channel enough of the kinetic energy of the missile into destructive power anyway.

Another advantage of the rail gun system is it uses far smaller ammunition (currently at least), meaning you can store more shots in the same area as for a regular gun, and you can potentially fire it a lot faster as well.

   
Made in us
Trustworthy Shas'vre





Mt. Gretna, PA

And there are no counter-measures for a railgun... yet.

Considering iirc it travels at Mach 6 or 8, you can't really have any counter measures.


I'd imagine the destructive power will increase when submunission rounds are invented.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2010/12/13 19:21:59


 Goliath wrote:
 Gentleman_Jellyfish wrote:
What kind of drugs do you have to be on to see Hitler in your teapot?
Whichever they are, I'm not on the Reich ones, clearly.
 
   
Made in es
Oberfeldwebel




Palma de Mallorca, Spain

SilverMK2 wrote:Kinetic missiles are actually surprisingly destructive, assuming you can channel enough of the kinetic energy of the missile into destructive power anyway.


that's not the principle for APFDS ammo? a DPU "bolt" using speed and heavy weight for kinetic impact?

2000 foot sloging IG
Cataphracts.... need to recalculate points....
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Made in us
Decrepit Dakkanaut






Burtucky, Michigan

"One of the big selling points of the Navy’s new destroyer is that it can rain a whole lot of hell — 20 rocket-propelled artillery shells, in less than a minute — on targets up to 63 nautical miles away. Fully armed, two DDG1000s should have the firepower of an entire, 640-man artillery battalion, the Navy promises"


That would be pretty damn impressive. Im glad to see they are doing so well, I saw a small part of that project on TV once a few years ago. Very cool stuff
   
Made in gb
Decrepit Dakkanaut






UK

The thing with railguns isn't the active damage it does, but more the consequential damage. A small hole doesn't seem like much at first, but when the projectile hits at the speed of a railgun shot, whatever it hits would probably have a nice projectile-shaped hole in it, and whatever was inside should it have been a ship of tank would likely have been draged through the exit hole with the projectile and would be a mess of guts.

Even if not used for direct damage, the effects on morale could be huge. A weapon that doesn't outright destroy the main target, but liquefies anything inside would be a huge morale killer. Sure, your tank might only have a hole in it, but whatever was inside probably no longer exists in its previous state.

Of course, direct damage could be applied if the shot was precise; something with the penetration power of a true railgun and the precision of... something really precise could target hidden fuel tanks or armoured generators etc. Even if it doesn't shoot out of the other end, as long as it possesses the power to cut through any armour and into the critical system itself, it doesn't matter.

Mandorallen turned back toward the insolently sneering baron. 'My Lord,' The great knight said distantly, 'I find thy face apelike and thy form misshapen. Thy beard, moreover, is an offence against decency, resembling more closely the scabrous fur which doth decorate the hinder portion of a mongrel dog than a proper adornment for a human face. Is it possibly that thy mother, seized by some wild lechery, did dally at some time past with a randy goat?' - Mimbrate Knight Protector Mandorallen.

Excerpt from "Seeress of Kell", Book Five of The Malloreon series by David Eddings.

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Made in us
Battlewagon Driver with Charged Engine






The Bringer wrote:
LordofHats wrote:
SilverMK2 wrote:Yeah, I am sure there is some 8th rate army that needs its mud hut bunkers blown away by some rail gun sporting ships that cost roughly 20,000x the value of the entire country being targeted


Hey, the rail gun is cheaper than shooting a missile


I think a missile could do more damage.

The railgun just leaves a really nice hole in whatever it hits, missiles can explode and do more damage, not to mention be far more accurate.


Avatar 720 wrote:The thing with railguns isn't the active damage it does, but more the consequential damage. A small hole doesn't seem like much at first, but when the projectile hits at the speed of a railgun shot, whatever it hits would probably have a nice projectile-shaped hole in it, and whatever was inside should it have been a ship of tank would likely have been draged through the exit hole with the projectile and would be a mess of guts.

Even if not used for direct damage, the effects on morale could be huge. A weapon that doesn't outright destroy the main target, but liquefies anything inside would be a huge morale killer. Sure, your tank might only have a hole in it, but whatever was inside probably no longer exists in its previous state.

Of course, direct damage could be applied if the shot was precise; something with the penetration power of a true railgun and the precision of... something really precise could target hidden fuel tanks or armoured generators etc. Even if it doesn't shoot out of the other end, as long as it possesses the power to cut through any armour and into the critical system itself, it doesn't matter.


there seems to be some confusion of what a rail-gun does to its target, First off a cumputer assisted rail-gun would be just as accurate if not more so then a guided missile, secondly this thing ahs 33 megajoules of energy behind it and this is just a prototype. The navy predicts the finale product will hit somethin 200 miles away in under 6 min with 50 mega joules of energy. 1 megajoule is approximately equivaslent to a 1 ton car hitting something at 100 mph. A 50 megajoule impact is a 50 ton object hitting something at 100mph. It's not a small hole it's more of the target ceases to be there, steel would instantly vaporize. the target would cease to exist in any recognizable form.

H.B.M.C. wrote:
"Balance, playtesting - a casual gamer craves not these things!" - Yoda, a casual gamer.
Three things matter in marksmanship -
location, location, location
MagickalMemories wrote:How about making another fist?
One can be, "Da Fist uv Mork" and the second can be, "Da Uvver Fist uv Mork."
Make a third, and it can be, "Da Uvver Uvver Fist uv Mork"
Eric
 
   
Made in gb
Decrepit Dakkanaut






UK

Wouldn't it still depend on the size of the projectile? It's all well and good when it vaporises steel, but how large would the area of effect of a non-explosive solid projectile be?

Mandorallen turned back toward the insolently sneering baron. 'My Lord,' The great knight said distantly, 'I find thy face apelike and thy form misshapen. Thy beard, moreover, is an offence against decency, resembling more closely the scabrous fur which doth decorate the hinder portion of a mongrel dog than a proper adornment for a human face. Is it possibly that thy mother, seized by some wild lechery, did dally at some time past with a randy goat?' - Mimbrate Knight Protector Mandorallen.

Excerpt from "Seeress of Kell", Book Five of The Malloreon series by David Eddings.

My deviantART Profile - Pay No Attention To The Man Behind The Madness

"You need not fear us, unless you are a dark heart, a vile one who preys on the innocent; I promise, you can’t hide forever in the empty darkness, for we will hunt you down like the animals you are, and pull you into the very bowels of hell." Iron - Within Temptation 
   
Made in us
Shadowy Grot Kommittee Memba




The Great State of New Jersey

The Bringer wrote:
LordofHats wrote:
SilverMK2 wrote:Yeah, I am sure there is some 8th rate army that needs its mud hut bunkers blown away by some rail gun sporting ships that cost roughly 20,000x the value of the entire country being targeted


Hey, the rail gun is cheaper than shooting a missile


I think a missile could do more damage.

The railgun just leaves a really nice hole in whatever it hits, missiles can explode and do more damage, not to mention be far more accurate.


For line of site purposes, the railgun is a more accurate weapon. Long distance, who knows, but the railgun does way more damage. Fun fact, the sabot launched by a railgun does explode, but the explosion isn't generated by explosives, its generated by the sudden release of built up energy. Watch this video, its the most recent test of the railgun (from earlier this month): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BfU-wMwL2U

Notice what happened to the target? It exploded... The interesting thing is that the size of the explosion is partially dependent on the size/mass of the target. In this case, the explosion was relatively small because the target didn't put up enough of a 'fight' against the sabot, and thus the sabot didn't burn off as much energy as it could have.

There is a reason why the air force was considering 'Tungsten rods from god' as an alternative to nuclear weapons. Dropping a simple tungsten rod from space would have the effect of a low yield nuclear weapon without the radiation impact (and supposedly the theoretical accuracy of the system was within only a handful of meters, not that it matters when the explosion is that large).


Not just that, but missiles cost money. Hundreds of thousands of dollars, even millions for the more advanced ones. The sabot only costs a couple hundred, if that.



"One of the big selling points of the Navy’s new destroyer is that it can rain a whole lot of hell — 20 rocket-propelled artillery shells, in less than a minute — on targets up to 63 nautical miles away. Fully armed, two DDG1000s should have the firepower of an entire, 640-man artillery battalion, the Navy promises"


The sad thing is that the DDG-1000 costs almost as much as an aircraft carrier (which can deliver more munitions a farther range), and the navy is only planning on building three of them total, so the chance of two of them being anywhere together at once is slim to none IMO.


This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2010/12/14 00:43:27


CoALabaer wrote:
Wargamers hate two things: the state of the game and change.
 
   
Made in us
Battlewagon Driver with Charged Engine






Avatar 720 wrote:Wouldn't it still depend on the size of the projectile? It's all well and good when it vaporises steel, but how large would the area of effect of a non-explosive solid projectile be?


If its travelling fast enough it can be exponentially more powerful then an explosive. Think about some thing that weighs 50 tons, like a tank, now imagine it hits another tank at 100 mph
the target would cease to be, its gone to meet its maker, joined the choir invisible, it's an ex target.

H.B.M.C. wrote:
"Balance, playtesting - a casual gamer craves not these things!" - Yoda, a casual gamer.
Three things matter in marksmanship -
location, location, location
MagickalMemories wrote:How about making another fist?
One can be, "Da Fist uv Mork" and the second can be, "Da Uvver Fist uv Mork."
Make a third, and it can be, "Da Uvver Uvver Fist uv Mork"
Eric
 
   
Made in gb
Junior Officer with Laspistol





Sheffield, England




I wonder how easy/difficult it would be to meet the power needs of a 64 megajoule railgun on a ship? What kind of rate of fire could you sustain?

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Made in us
Mutated Chosen Chaos Marine





NorCal

The Bringer wrote:http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2008/01/video-rail-gun/

Real railgun... and just as crazy as the Tau one, although way larger.


Bleh on the video, but this little tidbit in the article is exciting!

One of the big selling points of the Navy’s new destroyer is that it can rain a whole lot of hell — 20 rocket-propelled artillery shells, in less than a minute — on targets up to 63 nautical miles away.


BOOM BABY!

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Made in gb
Tail-spinning Tomb Blade Pilot






UK

The Bringer wrote:And there are no counter-measures for a railgun... yet.

Considering iirc it travels at Mach 6 or 8, you can't really have any counter measures.


I'd imagine the destructive power will increase when submunission rounds are invented.


Considering that a railgun does not yet exist apart from prototypes in labs I am not surprised.

If I am not in my room, is it still my room?  
   
Made in us
Hangin' with Gork & Mork






Elmodiddly wrote:
The Bringer wrote:And there are no counter-measures for a railgun... yet.

Considering iirc it travels at Mach 6 or 8, you can't really have any counter measures.


I'd imagine the destructive power will increase when submunission rounds are invented.


Considering that a railgun does not yet exist apart from prototypes in labs I am not surprised.


Funny how that works, isn't it?

Amidst the mists and coldest frosts he thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghosts.
 
   
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UK

Quite.

If I am not in my room, is it still my room?  
   
Made in gb
Junior Officer with Laspistol





Sheffield, England

Well now you've got me wondering what you could do to stop one... perhaps some kind of reactive armour to vaporise the slug. Although you still might just end up with a railgun-slug-shaped cloud of plasma blowing a hole in your ship.

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Et In Arcadia Ego





Canterbury

The Dreadnote wrote:Well now you've got me wondering what you could do to stop one....


*British Postal service / AT & T joke here*

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UK

A power cut would do it.

If I am not in my room, is it still my room?  
   
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Elmodiddly wrote:A power cut would do it.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_pulse



 
   
Made in gb
Junior Officer with Laspistol





Sheffield, England

Sure, but that's not going to do anything if the shot has already been fired.

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Building a titan? Make sure you pick the right size for your war engine!

 
   
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Decrepit Dakkanaut






Eternal Plague

The Dreadnote wrote:Sure, but that's not going to do anything if the shot has already been fired.


Well, then you step out of the way.

   
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Shadowy Grot Kommittee Memba




The Great State of New Jersey

And how exactly do you do that? People have trouble enough stepping out of the way of a bullet, a railgun slug is travelling MANY MANY times faster than that.

CoALabaer wrote:
Wargamers hate two things: the state of the game and change.
 
   
 
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