(Found) Laser lance

[dnewhous]

I'll start off by simply remembering that when my mother was at the library I went to the shelves and pulled from them an entirely fictitious book about starship design! Every two pages was another starship design with some of them panned hilariously and a mention of how some of them fared in the war against Andromeda. Anyway, I am wondering not only that book but if there is any book that describes a laser lance as a weapon on a starship. A very close range weapon. What made me think of this again after all these years is my attempt to play Space Quest. It starts with your starship being captured by a bug ship.

 

[M. Robert Gibson]

I don't know about the book, but I do know of this site, which might be of interest

Starship Schematics Database

The Starship Schematic Site is dedicated to the sole purpose of archiving every single starship design ever conceived in the Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Babylon 5, and Space Battleship Yamato Universes, both official and unofficial, interesting and mediocre.

www.shipschematics.net

"Welcome to the Starship Schematics Database. It's dedicated to the sole purpose of archiving every single starship design ever conceived in the Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Babylon 5, and Space Battleship Yamato (A.K.A. Star Blazers in the USA) Universes, both official and unofficial, interesting and mediocre."

 

[Parson]

David Weber's book On Basilisk Station has a very similar weapon. A "grav lance" is a plot element and the key thing is it's very limited range.

 

[dnewhous]

Tungsten carbide - cobalt is the best metal. It used to be just tungsten carbide to their making progress. Thanks for the book recommendation.

Does anyone know how you'd charge up a lance so that it doesn't become magnetized under duress?

You also need to keep it free of static charge. So, yeah, you need to keep it connected to ground to make sure nothing odd happens.

Maybe if a repulsor beam is too difficult (see Master of Orion) there is some way to make a laser lance a repulsor lance using quantum gravity? Like a spiral of anti-gravitons like a Narwhal's horn?

 

[dnewhous]

What is NPA? I think it stands for National Party of America. The NPA has an army? This honor book has a very weird sense of humor. Also, I don't think the author has ever seen The Bounty.

National Party Association?

 

[The Judge]

Can't help you with the laser lance, but I'll move this over to Book Discussion as Book Search is aimed at those of us looking for a specific book we've read in the past but can't now recall title or author.

 

[hitmouse]

The book is possibly Spacecraft 2000-2100AD by Stewart Cowley.

 

[dnewhous]

Was there a sequel? Because that looks very nearly like the right book. But not quite. I remember a ship shaped like a bee, it had 4 lances protruding from it.
I see there are 4 books in that series. They're listed on the wikipedia. Who's the artist? The art style is the same. Maybe if we look for another book that artist has illustrated we can find it.

Spacecraft 2100 to 2200 AD from Jeffrey Lilly, Adrian Mann, and Stewart Cowley does exist. I don't know if that's the right book.

Goodreads.com describes it as Terran Trade Authority #6. That means the wikipedia isn't complete.

 

[hitmouse]

This one?

There were multiple artists. 3 sequels if I recall

 

[dnewhous]

yes - which book is that?

 

[hitmouse]

yes - which book is that?

This one:

 

[Bick]

I see there are 4 books in that series. They're listed on the wikipedia. Who's the artist? The art style is the same.

It looks like Chris Foss.

 

[hitmouse]

It looks like Chris Foss.

Tony Roberts

 

[hitmouse]

Found my old copy:

 

[dnewhous]

I have a copy now and the description of a laserlance is clearer than I remember. The Hornet is the name of the ship. Wing Commander allusion.

 

[hitmouse]

Found!
(Ahem @mods)