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[Scoops Novel]

I'll split this into categories: without ftl, and with. The rest is up to you.

[Darvi]

Without, pretty much like regular dogfights. With, the same but with a time limit based on how long it takes to charge FTL travel.

[ChairmanPoo]

I suspect it would not be like sea battles at all.

[Lectorog]

Formations would have a bit more of a 3 dimensional emphasis. Ships flying "upside down" "underneath" the center point, otherwise an attack could come from "beneath" unseen. Or 360-degree viewing in ships, however that would work.

[Scoops Novel]

I'm fairly vertain we can also kiss goodbye to human pilots, particularly in ftl dogfights.

[Eagle_eye]

I don't think it would really be like dogfights. The lack of an atmosphere would mean you can simply shoot down fighters with lasers, and they are powerless to do anything about it until they're hit. I expect it would be a matter of large, heavily armored ships trying to pierce the other one's hull first.

[Flying Dice]

"Dogfighting" in the sense that we know it with airbreathing fighters wouldn't exist in a universe where we still have to obey the laws of physics. With what we currently have, space combat would likely be mutual annihilation or mutual inability to harm the enemy in almost all circumstances; we can't get high enough velocities to dodge missiles, ballistic weapons are either too large to make for effective shipboard weapons or are (by space standards) absurdly short-ranged, modern DEW (like the YAL-1), while effective at shooting down large missiles, would require precise aim to damage anything critical, and if both vessels put on some multidirectional rotation, it would be difficult to maintain contact with a point long enough to burn through even an unarmored hull.


So it would hinge on whether our PD would be good enough to counteract enemy missiles; the lack of atmospheric interference in lasers makes this seem likely. It would actually not be entirely unrealistic to expect space combat with modern materials and technology to revolve around boarding actions, not least because of the current difficulty of getting materials into orbit; much better to capture a vessel than to destroy it. All we would need in that case would be a hate plague, and voila, Space Pirates and Zombies. 


If you talk about anything much beyond that, it's time to drop the pretensions and start discussing Trans-Newtonian minerals, Forerunners, and the Khanate of Orion.

[ChairmanPoo]

I don't think it would really be like dogfights. The lack of an atmosphere would mean you can simply shoot down fighters with lasers, and they are powerless to do anything about it until they're hit. I expect it would be a matter of large, heavily armored ships trying to pierce the other one's hull first.

Yeah, I agree. There's also the matter of fuel.

I suspect it'd be relatively large ships flinging very destructive stuffs at each other from very large distances. Might or might not involve rocketry.

That's pretty much why I think making simils to naval warfare doesn't make much sense.

[alway]

No dogfights(because Newtonian physics). Massive ranges(in space, everyone can see you from the other side of the solar system). Lasers(fastest possible speed, no ammunition payload). No missiles (way too slow). No Mass Drivers (too slow or too much recoil).

[majikero]

It would be like submarine with radar replacing sonar to locate enemies.

[ChairmanPoo]

No missiles (way too slow).

But what if you want to deliver a payload?

[Scoops Novel]

Thoughts? http://gizmodo.com/5426453/the-physics-of-space-battles.

[Scoops Novel]

And what about dem shields?

[Itnetlolor]

We've got inter-spatial travel (where there would be minimal gravity to consider; so aero and hydrodynamics are of little to no concern (unless there's an off-chance you crash into a space ocean made up of condensed dark matter, compressed to the degree it appears as water to us. Ultra-dense; not even a ship the size of the moon would last too long in something like that.)), Orbital combat (watch out for the satellites; a space elevator would be a primary means of bringing forces to and from surface), and sub-orbital combat (equivalent of aero-naval combat/Airship battles; some can go orbital when needed (you can tell them apart from orbital/inter-spatial ships due to their aerodynamic forms; some being hydrodynamic as well for hiding beneath the oceans.). Airship combat at orbital levels would be a hybrid of dogfighting and naval combat, complete with sub-atmo and exo-fighters capable of spatial combat from carriers that would be looming just at the ceiling of atmospheric and gravity's influence (hell-dropping fighters into aerial combat)).

Of course, if we're going system-to-system combat, then FTL combat would need to be considered, especially if you expect to defend the oort cloud inter-spatial barrier/border (keep illegal aliens out of our star system).

There's alot to consider here.


If there's one thing that's consistent, it's that anything can be destroyed if you hit it hard enough. If you have the tech available to, I would invest in kinetic weapons, and a sort of space-brake counter-inertia system (or inertial dampener) to counteract the 3rd law from sending you to another star system upon firing (depending on the size of the cannon used, exaggerated as it sounded; but then that would also mean you'd have to build a rather shock-resistant ship to handle the outgoing force, as well as the resistance to said forces; an accordion-like ship or cannon may need to be designed to handle all the forces considered.). Alternatively, you can always make pretty big railguns. Who needs energy weapons, when you can send slugs of metal at ships at such speeds, the target ships would explode from sudden decompression (although with energy weapons, you don't need to worry as much about gravity influences as much, and it's easier to snipe with light rather than solid matte; though even light bends around things; just less to worry about where light is concerned.)? You can also hurl meteors/asteroids at your targets as well. Just manipulate the gravity wells of the asteroid enough to aim it, and then have enough leading mass to launch it and guide it to your target at a quick enough speed, that even if they had time to react, they wouldn't have enough time to manipulate the oncoming meteor out of the way.

EDIT:
Oh, right; although the chances would be unlikely, there would have to be forces and etc. that would have to defend above and below the elliptical, where our planetary horizon lies (orbits). Those make excellent hiding spots, and are likely to be open space, ripe for combat skirmishes all over the place. Plenty of space between the elliptical and the oort cloud, as long as you're above or below the horizon of it.

[Sonlirain]

This would depend on the techonolgy availble.

For example if laser weapons were availble and capable of destroying fighters without any counters like shields or energy absorbing armor fighters would become useless because pretty much nothing can avoid a laser beam.

Assuming laser beams become useless due to shields or some kind of laser resistand alloy then fights would look more like atmospheric fights but without the atmosphere.

As for capital ships... i'd assume it would boil down to 2 formations of battleships flinging munitions at each other while trying to avoid/intercept munitions thrown by the other side.


But honestly... all those expectations are like writing with a stick on water. For all i know we might have gundams in 100 years.