Flatfingers wrote:Where do mines fit into this categorization?
Bear in mind that mines can have different kinds of triggers (or no warhead at all), as well as engines....
Traditional explosion mines don't particularly work in space. You need obscene numbers of them to cover an area(and if one were to judge them realistically, differing orbits would spread them all over the place unless they had active station keeping, but I doubt that would be a factor for this game).
If you classify a mine as a passive object that waits to attack until triggered, there are two types of mines that could be effective in space.
The first type is the Missile mine. Its pretty much exactly what it sounds like, a missile just floating there until some poor sod triggers it. This concept is virtually identical to that of Torpedo mines in use by various navies, a small encapsulated torpedo that automatically detects targets and launches at them.
The other type is a bit more fanciful, the nuclear pumped laser, which creates a ridiculously powerful laser for a very brief time. Of course, it is a one shot device, as the nuclear charge vaporizes the laser assembly. This type of warhead would give a mine a very advantageous range with a very powerful attack.
Kalmander wrote:The idea is that all drones are expendable weapons, and a 1 shot deal. So they do not entrench on the fighter territory, or missiles.
I'm not really sure how this would make sense. The entire point of using a gun over a missile is that the gun is reusable, and hence can be more cost effective. Its why we still have fighters as a payload delivery craft rather than using missiles for everything. If you're already resigned to throwing it away, surely a missile would be more useful and cost effective. Besides, I really don't see why you *couldn't* recover them if it proved possible.
The idea of a drone should not be a vehicle designed to be thrown away, but a vehicle that
can be should it prove necessary. It is a a middle ground between a missile and a manned fighter, not a third category.