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Description
A single amphibious patrolcraft enters orbit at Jarama Nuevo.

Small warships, unlike pre-singularity atmospheric fighter craft, almost never contain physical pilots. A fighter is almost always piloted by one or more uploads, although some are piloted by one or two organics in acceleration pods.

Modern fighters range from 10 to 30 meters in length and are about 50% smartmatter. Operator modules, propellant tanks, and reactors comprise the rest, although in amphibious fighters, atmospheric ramscoops are also present. All fighters have a narrow, circular frontal profile when under fire, but in normal operation their smartmatter bulk is configured to maximize surface area to dump waste heat. An amphibious fighter will configure it’s smartmatter into an aerodynamic shape when in-atmosphere. Fighters are typically armed with kinetic and conventional laser weaponry. Fighter-scale kinetic weapons are powerful but require extensive supplies of ammunition, which adds unneeded mass. Fighter-scale lasers are weak but do not run out of ammunition. Some fighters carry fission, fusion, or amat bombs, which, while effective against larger ships and atmospheric targets, are bulky and reduce DV even more than kinetic ammunition. MIMS weaponry (1) is impractical for use on fighters due to the extreme heat and radiation emitted when fired, the use of an unusually powerful explosion to produce the effect, and the need for ammunition to fire more than once.

Drones are smaller than fighters, and do not have sentient pilots. Drones are often deployed en masse from medium support ships, called drone carriers. Multi use drones are armed in the same way as fighters. Single use drones, or missiles, carry MIMS X-ray lasers or bombs as their payload.

(1):
Metastable Inner Shell Molecular State chemistry occurs under intense heat and pressure. As such, focused explosions are necessary to produce the effect. MIMS molecules break apart at atmospheric pressure, emitting X-rays and high-frequency UV in the process. This makes the technology useful for the manufacture of X-ray lasers and lightweight fusion bombs.

This composition was made using Blender, Gimp, and Space Engine. All are excellent programs, but I especially love Gimp because it's free and open source, aligning with my anarchist values.

Description
A single amphibious patrolcraft enters orbit at Jarama Nuevo.

Small warships, unlike pre-singularity atmospheric fighter craft, almost never contain physical pilots. A fighter is almost always piloted by one or more uploads, although some are piloted by one or two organics in acceleration pods.

Modern fighters range from 10 to 30 meters in length and are about 50% smartmatter. Operator modules, propellant tanks, and reactors comprise the rest, although in amphibious fighters, atmospheric ramscoops are also present. All fighters have a narrow, circular frontal profile when under fire, but in normal operation their smartmatter bulk is configured to maximize surface area to dump waste heat. An amphibious fighter will configure it’s smartmatter into an aerodynamic shape when in-atmosphere. Fighters are typically armed with kinetic and conventional laser weaponry. Fighter-scale kinetic weapons are powerful but require extensive supplies of ammunition, which adds unneeded mass. Fighter-scale lasers are weak but do not run out of ammunition. Some fighters carry fission, fusion, or amat bombs, which, while effective against larger ships and atmospheric targets, are bulky and reduce DV even more than kinetic ammunition. MIMS weaponry (1) is impractical for use on fighters due to the extreme heat and radiation emitted when fired, the use of an unusually powerful explosion to produce the effect, and the need for ammunition to fire more than once.

Drones are smaller than fighters, and do not have sentient pilots. Drones are often deployed en masse from medium support ships, called drone carriers. Multi use drones are armed in the same way as fighters. Single use drones, or missiles, carry MIMS X-ray lasers or bombs as their payload.

(1):
Metastable Inner Shell Molecular State chemistry occurs under intense heat and pressure. As such, focused explosions are necessary to produce the effect. MIMS molecules break apart at atmospheric pressure, emitting X-rays and high-frequency UV in the process. This makes the technology useful for the manufacture of X-ray lasers and lightweight fusion bombs.

This composition was made using Blender, Gimp, and Space Engine. All are excellent programs, but I especially love Gimp because it's free and open source, aligning with my anarchist values.