• UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    5 months ago

    at such long ranges you could move your ship and avoid a directed energy weapon

    But how would you know an energy weapon had fired? Wouldn’t you be constrained by the speed of light, regardless?

          • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            5 months ago

            This is also an idea behind the Dark Forest Hypothesis

            I think that’s less about warp-speed weapons and more about natural resource constraints and the unpredictable nature of technological advancement causing advanced civilizations to preemptively obliterate one another.

            But yes, the only practical defense against superluminal weaponry would be to avoid getting spotted.

    • Geek_King@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      5 months ago

      Yeah, you wouldn’t, but in those books, the ai of ships have random evasive movements they perform to make some shots miss.