User blog:Rozh/Surface-to-Orbit Artillery

Groundside MACS: Just How Plausible are They? A random thought by Rozh

D ue to the great pand'ammonium that is commonly referred to as the Eastern Bloc writers' block, I've been doing more and more open brainstorming to come up with good ideas. One of my newest whims is, you guessed it: high power, planet-based, magnetically accelerated artillery.

Since the dawn of war, Man (or Woman) has tried to defend his home territory from external threat. Siege began with manually thrown stones and crude spears; the mighty tribes even outfitted their loincloth troops with atlatls. By the times of Antiquity and later the Medieval times, archers, ballistas, and behemoth walls of stone were often used to fend off the bad guy army. However, that was long ago; warfare, and technology for that matter, has evolved. Now, we have a question left unsliced on the cutting board of scrutiny: could high power Gauss weaponry prove to be an efficient deterrent against invasive orbital forces, namely in the post-war area?

We know that there are are a handful of potential problems that might nudge otherwise from the canon point of view. First, other than on Harvest (and possibly a handful of other instances I'm not aware of), surface-based coilguns are very rarely mentioned in official media. Additionally, we've heard all too many times about the horrendous planetary glassing by Covenant warships, which could make quick work of surface artillery. Furthermore, there is evidence that orbital defense installations, while potentially more vulnerable as they are easy to locate, are highly mobile and versatile in fending off attackers.

To the contrary, planetary Gauss artillery may provide some exclusive benefits. First off, power supply would be much less of an issue as a fusion reactor could be located on-site. Secondly, accessibility for maintenance and repair would be improved by a similar factor. These surface-based platforms would also be more concealed from the attackers. Whereas an orbital platform could easily be spotted by sensor systems in orbit, a much more thorough scanning array would be needed to spot ground targets such as this one.

There are a few aspects that would be commonplace for most modernized ground installations. In my opinion, one that would be the most universal would be rotating maneuverability capabilities. The first concept would be the utilization of a ball-and-socket joint; this would work in a similar manner as a ball-point pen or an analogue stick on a gaming controller, albeit in a more complex manner. The other potential system would be a multi-axial swivel system. In the most basic conceptualization, it would only rotate on a single axis, though if the whole mechanism could also be rotated, it could mimic the ball-and-socket joint and, in my opinion, would be mechanically simpler to implement in the most efficient manner.

So, what is your opinion on the manner? Don't be afraid to explain yourself, either. ;)  Rozh( Talk ) 18:24, March 20, 2011 (UTC)