War does change. A new battlefield means new machines and tactics.

Overview

As its name implies, space combat is any sort of violence that takes place in space. This includes dogfights, combat between capital ships, and surface-to-orbit warfare. These can be skirmishes, stand-offs, or full scale battles. The ultimate goal is for one side to force their will on the other side with as few losses as possible.

Battlescape

Space is not like aerial or naval battles. There are two major factors that reshape the landscape of space combat: firing range and detection range. Both are massive. In space, ships can detect each other from opposite ends of a solar system and further. Stealth is near impossible in space though more primitive sensors can be fooled by taking cover behind a large celestial body. Any element of surprise involves hyperspace jumping on top of a target and that requires intelligence. Simply put both sides will always know what the other is doing. The other factor is firing range. When mentioning firing range, it's not how far a shot will travel but how far can an average sized target be reliably hit without the shooter requiring specialized equipment. A ship can hit a stationary object from the other side of the solar system. But between the time it takes for the weapon to get there and the target likely being in motion, it will most likely miss. Many ships such as the ha'tak have a range of fifty thousand kilometers, allowing them to fire upon targets from high orbit.

Another factor is the 3D plane. Even atmospheric dogfights are not truly 3D. The gravity of the planet will impact how things move. However in space, ships and fighters need to be able to engage targets in a 3D environment.

A lesser factor to consider is shields. Normally offensive technology moves faster than defensive technology. As a result, it is better to simply not be seen. While rules such as 'if seen don't get hit', and 'if hit, survive' apply, stealth is normally a massive factor. And because there is no stealth in space, primitive spaceships would linger at the edge of each other's maximum firing range, playing an awkward game of battleship by sensing each other then predicting where to fire based on the ship's trajectory and how long a weapon will take to reach it. However defensive technology, namely shields and hyperdrive, have changed things. An easy escape is now always available. And shields allow ships to close the distance and take more shots. Had they continued fighting at their maximum ranges then the battle would never end as by the time a second shot lands, the shields would have recharged.

General Combat

Because of the way space combat is, range is the name of the game. If ships do not have shields they will stay at the maximum range and dart in an out of range to maximize their shots that land while minimizing shots they take. The same holds true with shields though at closer range. Ships will maneuver to play with the range, to go in and land as many shots as possible before pulling out to lessen how many shots they have to withstand. And this isn't out of range of the targeting systems. The ships can still see and aim at each other. However they will pull to a distance where weapons fire can no longer consistently land.

If a ship is small enough and fast enough the rules change. The guns aboard a ship have a limit to their turn rate. The larger the gun the slower the turn rate. At a distance this doesn't matter. However this limit in angular velocity means that fast ships can maneuver very close to an enemy ship and be safe. The target ship wouldn't be able to rotate their guns fast enough and allied ships wouldn't be able to target the fighters without hitting their ally. For this reason small point defense weapons are created. These weapons are not particularly strong but their guns have a much faster turn rate.

Weapons

There are many possible weapons to bring to bear but the most commonly used types are ballistic, explosive, and energy. And they can also fall into the category of guided and unguided.

Guided munition are considered smart weapons and are guided to their target with a combination of a guiding computer and a means of propulsion. Now something like this can accelerate with enough G's that would kill a person but the technology in it still limits its maximum acceleration. However it can track moving targets. This also means they can be fooled or shot down. On the flip side, unguided munitions travel in a straight line and at some pretty absurd accelerations. But because they are not guided, they can be dodged and often require a great quantity and automatic fire to reliably hit their target.

Ballistic weapons are simple. Slam a solid object into a target. This simple technique is so often looked over despite an asteroid always being able to wipe out all life on a planet. A finger nail moving at fast enough velocities can achieve the same result. While the speeds required to do such a feat are difficult to achieve, it does illustrate how effective a projectile is. On impact, all the energy it carries is directed into a single focal point. This makes ballistic weapons ideal for penetrating shields.

Explosive weapons, as its name implies, explode and release all their energy in all directions. These weapons are very easy to build and it is easier to create a giant explosion as opposed to slamming a solid object with enough speed to produce the same energy. The explosion makes explosive weaponry ideal for orbital bombardment. However in space, explosive weapons are considerably less effective. The explosion will not be as large due to the lack of oxygen and there will be no shockwave either.

Energy weapons include plasma, ion, and particle weapons. They contain a lot of energy and can be calibrated in how that energy is transferred. Penetration means having all the energy directed into a small focal point similar to ballistic weapons. Explosive power, as its name implies, causes the energy to explode outward. The ability to be re calibrated to suit these needs makes energy weapons very versatile.

There are plenty of weapons that can be created with a bit of creativity. Cyber weapons can be very effective, capable of anything from interfering with ship functions to completely disabling a ship. Maybe even overload their hyperdrive and destroy them. Of course this strongly depends on their computer security. Some weapons such as ancient drones can pass through shields though weapons that do this are rare and unique.

Shields

Shields have greatly changed how space was fought. Without shields, ships would be much further away to not get shot. Shields operate by having two layers: one to absorb the energy of the weapons fire and a secondary layer that stops what's left by introducing energy in the opposite direction. The more energy directed at the shields, the harder the shield generator has to work. As the generator begins to overheat, the shield strength goes down as the safety features kick in to stop the shield from overloading. Shield strength is directly tied to the heat of the generator. As temperatures go up, the integrity of the shields decrease. As shield integrity decreases, more and more of the attack will manage to breach the shield. Once the shield generators reach critical, the shield generator shuts down to avoid overloading. In theory the safety can be overridden and have the generator work at maximum potential the entire time, it is risky as it will not only go critical even faster but when it reaches critical it will explode.

Shields can be influenced in a number of ways. Larger generators can project a stronger shield with less issue with overheating. Superior cooling systems can stop the shield generator from going critical. The way the shield is projected can have it be more efficient in absorbing energy.

Shields also naturally interfere with sensors. While this doesn't impact detecting or targeting a ship, trying to locate something for transport is impossible. And even if beacons can be locked on, the shields will interfere with the matter stream so nothing can be transported to or from a ship with shields up.

Stealth

Simply put, stealth in space boarders on impossible. A ship can detect a human from across an entire solar system. A ship will release several times more energy than a person. Even if that energy is masked, ship sensors can see the ship against the black background of space. Even if it is painted black or turned invisible, it will still register as a solid mass. Even if it can fool sensors to no show up as that, space is not a true vacuum and the interactions with the particles will generate enough radiation to be detected. The only way that's been discovered is to put the target ship into another dimension. The ship forms a bubble around the target then hide everything in that bubble in an alternate dimension. The bubble will direct all particles around the ship so it won't generate radiation and won't be registered as a solid mass. It will be invisible and most of its energy will be dumped in this dimension. This cloaking device is the only known way to hide a ship effectively. This is also why hiding capital ships is so difficult as it has to mask several times more energy than say a shuttle. It is also why weapons cannot be fired while cloak. The cloak will overload in its attempt to mask the energy of weapons fire.

This method is not infallible. If a ship is advanced enough, it can increase the sensitivity of its sensors to pick up cloaked ships.

There are some other methods to try to his ships. If a ship is too primitive, putting your own ship directly behind a celestial body like a planet then minimizing power usage will fool the sensors. But the ship's sensor technology needs to not have been fully developed.

Another method is to hide near a celestial object that projects enough energy to fool sensors, like hiding from someone by standing directly in front of a bright light being pointed at someone. This can be done by hiding in the chromosphere of a blue giant star.