ORBITAL FIRE
HOW TO DIRECT AN ORBITAL ASSAULT ON AN ENEMY POSITION
One of the many duties an Observer may be called upon to perform in combat is that of directing orbital fire from an overhead starship onto a planet. Directing fire requires precision aiming and calculations on the Observer’s part — with the great distances involved in orbital bombardment, even the slightest miscalculation can result in the bombardment being many hundreds of kilometres away from the designated target. In a worst-case scenario, this might even lead to friendly fire casualties. It is for this reason that an Observer must take into account all aspects of his terrain before directing the assault. While it is impossible to list all the variables that can come into account on the battlefield, some of the key ones are as listed.
- Regional Weather
- Size of target
- Movement of target
- Astral features of the planet
Regional Weather is a vitally important factor in determining the orbital bombardment of a planet. While lasers are not much affected by weather, Proton Torpedoes, Heavy Rockets, Concussion Missiles and Space Bombs are all greatly affected by the weather at the moment of attack. To combat this obvious weakness in planning an orbital bombardment, Imperial tacticians have developed the following formulas for working out the speed the explosives must travel at to hit their target accurately. However, in order to understand these formulas, a basic knowledge of projectiles is first needed.
Put simply, a projectile is an object that only has gravity acting upon it. While most Imperial ballistics are capable of independent flight, it is often more cost effective to simply leave them as projectiles. Since economics is often as key a deciding factor in battle as anything else, it is useful for Observers to have a familiarity with projectiles. Projectiles each have two separate motion components to them — horizontal and vertical motion. These two components can be considered independent of each other for the purposes of determining a projectile’s position. To determine a projectile’s horizontal position, simply multiply the velocity of the projectile by the time elapsed. If this result were graphed, it would show a straight-line path for all projectiles. However, a projectile has gravity acting upon it. Therefore, it is always falling beneath this imaginary line. The distance it falls is 4.9*t^2 metres per second on the planet of Terra, where t is the time in seconds elapsed.
Although knowledge of the above facts is not needed for most Imperial missions, as Imperial cruisers are quite capable of simply taking up orbit directly above their target and letting loose their fire, it is still useful to know for direction of static artillery (i.e. artillery that cannot move).
STATIC ARTILLERY
COMMAND CO-ORDINATION WITH IMPERIAL ARMY UNITS
While the Hammer’s Fist Elite Stormtrooper Legion is the elite ground force of the Emperor’s Hammer, it is not always used solely in ground combat missions. Hammer’s Fist Stormtroopers are a quick, effective assault force, with mobility being preferred over static weapons with massive explosive capabilities. However, it is more often than not the case that Rebels will shelter themselves within large bunkers that are heavily shielded. Often an AT-AT raid will eliminate these bunkers. However, sometimes (especially in forested areas) an artillery strike is preferred. Artillery coordination is one of the most dangerous activities an Observer will ever be called upon to do. However, it is a necessary danger. While artillery are not noted for its accuracy, many a Imperial soldier’s life has been spared by an artillery barrage. When given the opportunity, all Observer’s should press for an artillery barrage, regardless of the risks to the Observer.
After the completion of an artillery barrage, it may fall upon the Observer to report the positions of the enemy forces to the Sector Commanding Officer. In this case, an encrypted frequency should be used, as the only thing worse than having the enemy know your secrets, is having the enemy knowing that you know their secrets. Intelligence is one of our most powerful tools. If pressed to deliver intelligence on enemy locations, Observers should do so promptly and with the minimum of fuss. No tactical ‘advice’ should be given by the Observer unless specifically ordered to do so. The Sector Commander is undoubtedly a fine tactician and as time is of the essence, any ‘advice’ given by the Observer would delay victory, and perhaps even encourage defeat.
LASERS
Because Lasers are important in orbital bombardment -- overhead Star Destroyers will use their turbo lasers in addition to Proton Torpedoes -- it is useful to understand how lasers work:
Lasers got their name from they way they work. The word laser is actually an abbreviation. It stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. A laser is, in essence, a device that amplifies light. Since light is energy that is given off from individual atoms or molecules in a substance, understanding the nature of atoms and how they react with light (and other forms of energy) is crucial to understanding how a laser works. Inside each atom, there is a storehouse of energy. The amount of energy that is in a particular atom depends on the motion of the electrons orbiting that atom’s nucleus. If an atom gets more energy, it becomes excited, that is it gains more energy. Atoms can become excited when they absorb heat, light or other forms of energy. Excited atoms only stay excited while they have their greater level of energy. When they lose their energy in the form of light, the release of energy is known as spontaneous emission.
Since excited atoms release light irregularly in spontaneous emission, the light has different frequencies and travels in different directions. This sort of light is produced by the sun and also by household light globes found in the home. Light released in this way is called incoherent light.
However, some excited atoms may also release light systematically. This is known as stimulated emission. In stimulated emission, energy is released from one atom, but interacts with another atom that is also excited. The interaction makes the excited atom release its own extra energy as light. Most of this light that is produced has the same frequency as the light that triggered it. This sort of light is called coherent light — light of a single frequency. Laser light is coherent, though to a much greater degree than anything that might occur naturally.
Every laser has a power source and a light-amplifying substance. The power source is essential because it provides the energy that causes the atoms in the light-amplifying substance to become excited. The total energy produced by a laser will always be less than the energy it’s power source produces, however, the laser will produce a very intense light. The light-amplifying substance that is used in the laser has a bearing on what sort of laser it will produce. A solid laser uses a crystal, glass, or semiconductor (a semiconductor conducts electricity, but not as well as a true conductor) for it’s light amplifying substance. A crystal laser uses a special florescent crystal as it’s light amplifying conductor (not to be confused with the crystal used in a solid laser). The first ever laser was of this type — a ruby laser. Then there are liquid lasers.
Crystal lasers use a flash tube as a power source, which is coiled around the crystal. The flash tube excites the ions (chromium, in the case of a ruby laser) in the crystal. This process has a name — optical pumping. Glass lasers work in roughly the same way as crystal lasers, the only difference being that glass is used instead of a crystal as the light amplifying substance. Semiconductor lasers, known also as diode lasers, have a tiny semiconductor cube as their light-amplifying substance. Two layers that differ in electrical charge make up the semiconductor. Current that passes through the semiconductor produces coherent light between the two layers. Gas lasers use a gas, or mixture of gases, as their light amplifying substance. Gas lasers can have a number of power sources, which may include chemical reactions, electricity (in the form of electric current), electron beams and ultraviolet rays. Finally, liquid lasers use, obviously, a liquid as their light-amplifying substance. Liquid lasers can make both bursts of light, and a continuous stream of light. A dye, such as rhodamine 6G, is used in most liquid lasers. The dye is dissolved in methanol (or a similar liquid) and is contained in a glass tube.
Of course, lasers are used in military operations. Turbo lasers from capital ships can bombard a planet. While Proton Torpedoes carry more individual punch, Turbo lasers fire more quickly and are reusable. Most Star Destroyer commodore’s will empty their turbo laser batteries before dropping Proton Torpedoes on the target unless they have been specifically ordered to use Proton Torpedoes. Lasers of lesser power are also used on star fighters. These lasers, while less destructive than turbo lasers, fire faster. However, an Observer will rarely be called upon to direct fighters, this duty falling instead to Flight Co-Ordination and Control units or Wing Commanders. Should an Observer be called upon to direct fighters, he should respectfully point out that he or she is not qualified to do such as he or she only has a small field of vision in relation to the greater combat zone. It is unlikely that any Commodore would ask an Observer to direct a fighter assault. However, it should be expected that an Observer will download coordinates into his Nav Helmet of targets of opportunity and communicate these to the ranking officer flying or any Flight Co-ordination staff.
Targets of opportunity are as follows:
- Power Stations
- Officer’s Barracks
- Anti-Air or Anti-Ground bases
- Communication Centres
- Concentrated Armour hotspots
- Distinguished persons that may be passing through the area
- Any sources of water (In a desert combat zone)
- Food centres
RANGE OF PROJECTILES
Every Imperial Observer should attempt to calculate the range of a projectile before it is launched by Imperial artillery. While the soldiers who man the artillery will attempt to judge the distance their projectile will travel regardless, it is always good to double check calculations. Imperial tacticians and physicists have therefore developed this set of formulas for determining the range of Imperial projectiles. It should be noted that a projectile is something that has only gravity acting upon it — self-propelled projectiles such as missiles have on-board guidance systems that determine calculations far more effectively than any Observer could.
R=2VI2sinQcosQ
g
In this formula, R is the range of the projectile. The angle theta (Q) is the angle at which the projectile is launched. VI is the velocity of the projectile at launch and g is the gravity of the planet the projectile is launched on. Using this formula is a first step in selecting the appropriate artillery to use.
CREDITS
Lt. George
Edits: