[nubbles526]

Ok, let's talk about tech part. Firstly, we all know that FS2 technology is vastly superior to our current tech. I mean, you don't see a lot of beam and flaks going off in outer space each day eh? Whats even more shocking, is we havn't designed a ship that is capable for space combat. Once we solved that, we still got the problem of fuel. Ahhh....scientists say that within the next 70-100 years fossil fuel will deplete. Imagine what happes when we put in the cruisers and destroyers? I don't think (with the current supply of fuel) that we could make it pass something like a freighter. In FS, I remember they use uranium, obviously, we almost don't use radioactive substances right now at the moment. So how are we going to develop the technology if we don't even use it?
One last thing: the brakes inside outer space. Surely we all know we press 'z' to slow our ships down. But remember in outer space, there is no force to stop us or even slow our ships down. We would be continuing to fly and fly until we hit something physical.

[Snail]

Actually they use a hydrogen isotope named Deuterium, which is found in small to medium quantities in gas giants, so they'd have a plentiful supply of fuel for their big fleets.

[Colonol Dekker]

Orions use fusion pile generators. And all three races have gas miners so i assume they use deuterium gas in their reactors. I don't remember uranium being mentioned anywhere at all. Could be wrong though. . .

[Snail]

As for brakes, I'd bet my shell they use retro thrusters.

[Retsof]

I don't remember uranium being mentioned anywhere at all. Could be wrong though

They use depleted uranium in thier armor and I think in the maxim.

[Colonol Dekker]

I meant in a power generation capacity

[NGTM-1R]

You seem to have leapt straight past getting into it at all. Even if you did make it in, the code could simply be read only while in combat and completely replaced each time between battles. If you sabotaged the base with the code, they could have backups of working code.

Actually, I didn't. You're talking about a very widely deployed weapons system if you intend to replace all manned fighters with it. This makes it an impossiblity to secure physical access to it. Somebody, somewhere, will be able to obtain physical access to the ship and its specifications and coding. Once that's out there, it's only a matter of time before a vunerablity is found. Or many vunerablities.

Because of its widespread deployment securing the ship against electronic sabotage while it is between missions is an effective impossiblity; it would be an utter nightmare, and cost many times what actually deploying the ship did. Whether it faults out before launch and never leaves the hanger, or problems only crop up in flight, it would be a relatively simple matter to ensure a squadron of them isn't working at the correct point in time. It may or may not be a long delay, depending on whether you can alter the backups as well, but even a delay of five minutes in getting fighters off the deck would be unacceptable.

[Spicious]

Given that hostile fighters self destruct when disabled, I'm sure that wouldn't be too hard to achieve some sort of system to deny hostile access to the technology.

If we ignore that and physical access is obtained, I guess you'd be hoping for some sort of long term storage. So, assuming that it actually has some non-volatile storage that's still in working order, how do you propose to gain access to the data contained therein? Hope the storage controller will do what you tell it to? Access it manually and hope it uses some sort of system you recognise?

Your argument about security on its base doesn't really apply since access to the base would allow similar sabotage to pilots or piloted ships. Alternatively, with that sort of access, one could just break the base itself.
Also, it relies on the assumption that every drone would be using the same program which doesn't work if we allow per base or per drone learning or even any of the usual upgrades.

[griffon67]

currently fighter (I mean planes ones) use computer to fight. using computer systems to fire.
If it was that easy to hack a system, then we would come back to our first plane which haven't any computer in them...... goodbye F-22 and Co, everyone in a crappy camel .... great don't you think ?
No seriously there is already drone systems for human sized operation currently in development for the army.
I don't think the army of tomorrow will be exclusively computers but I think for fast action and precise needed fights (like the ones we could have in space), computer will be used more than humans. and for the fight in which we need inteligence a human will still be required.

[DarthWang]

It wouldn't be too difficult to built space weapons with current technology, but there is an international treaty against it

[Snail]

It wouldn't be too difficult to built space weapons with current technology, but there is an international treaty against it

Poor Ronald.

[blowfish]

I would be surprised if the U.S. government didn't have some super-secret space weapons development program somewhere though.

[Snail]

Well we won't find out until it's used to wipe out China or some other country.

[Droid803]

It wouldn't be too difficult to built space weapons with current technology, but there is an international treaty against it

And exactly which idiots decided to sign this treaty? Nuclear weapons are far worse for general health than an orbital cannon...

[General Battuta]

Actually, I believe the big concern was orbital nukes, which could be dropped at any time and with little warning.

So it's the worst of both worlds that's being banned.

[Droid803]

Oh. Well, in that case...at least allow guns pointing OUTWARDS.

[blowfish]

But then people can be like "I will blowz up ur spacestation!"

[Droid803]

And why would they do that?

[blowfish]

Some people are psychotic.  Some people are terrorists and like to blow up expensive sh*t.

[DarthWang]

Besides, would anyone seriously believe that a country spent millions of dollars building guns in space and didn't intend to use them for warfare on other nations?