Q&A · 1:37:16-1:45:22

Writing space combat with manoeuvre as well as targeting

Honor Harrington's impeller wedges constrain attack geometry without eliminating three-dimensional manoeuvre. Another approach restricts sensors to create the desired fighter-combat environment.

Question

Have other science-fiction authors used technology to constrain space combat as David Weber does?

Short answer

Honor Harrington's impeller wedges constrain attack geometry without eliminating three-dimensional manoeuvre. Another approach restricts sensors to create the desired fighter-combat environment.

Notes

Honor Harrington's impeller wedges constrain directions of attack while allowing substantial three-dimensional manoeuvre. A different fictional setting interferes with sensors around combatants, forcing reliance on enhanced visual detection to support its intended fighter combat. These restrictions on targeting differ from restrictions on movement. Authors also have to judge how much tactical detail readers will follow. Invented propulsion, sensors, and weapons can create conditions resembling island-hopping carrier campaigns or sailing-ship battles. The Lost Fleet is praised for explicitly describing course changes above and below a system's plane. A recollection from a space-warfare gathering identifies Remnant Faction in Peacekeepers of Sol as a strong depiction of destroyer-flotilla action, informed by research into how destroyers cooperate. The Luna War offers another example, placing spacecraft that manoeuvre like actual spacecraft in a fictional 1997 conflict.