Jonathan_S wrote:I've speculated - with nothing directly in the text to back me us - that impellers that are within the diameter of an active impeller ring are less affected by it. (That could explain why a ship's wedge doesn't misalign the impellers of it's small craft or missiles). So I'd speculate that the warhead is smaller because the 2nd stage is a smaller diameter so that the outer diameter of its drive ring is slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the 1st stage drive ring. (Which would give the Cataphract a stepped side profile; like a Saturn V)
It's also possible that a CM drive, which is described as overpowered, and which lacks the complexity of high/slow acceleration options, is simply more robust and can survive sitting closer to the normal missile impeller ring than another normal missile impeller ring could.
It can't be that simple. Travis would have known this. In fact, Lt. Cyrus would have and he'd have argued this very thing with Travis. The simplest solution to a dual drive missile problem is to attach two missiles back to back and it is what Travis said would work, aside from the cost. So if this didn't work with regular missiles, a counter-missile would have been tried next.
(FWIW not only were missile impellers far less advanced in Travis's time, but they did not yet have impeller powered counter missiles. So that style of drive wasn't an option when he was spitballing what a 2 stage missile might be like)
It isn't clear why CMs didn't exist at this time. It could be a cost issue (battles seem to consist of 1 to 3 missiles) or it could be that no wedge could be fast enough to be worth being used as a defensive solution.
But once a CM did get produced, if it was just a matter of being different / smaller than a capital ship, it should have occurred to someone. This might be a Black Swan technology case -- obvious in hindsight, but unexpected before it. I just think the explanation is too simple.
It's possible the cost of a Cataphract does approach that of a frigate. For the SLN, this wouldn't be a problem. Moreover, material strength may have increased considerably in the next 350 years, meaning the cost wouldn't be as much as Travis estimated. Compensators may also contribute to lower the stress and thus cost. It wouldn't explain the need for the separation of the impeller rings, but maybe it's a combination of all of these and a few more things. Because they wouldn't have happened at the same time, no one would have thought to try again something that had been tested before and found lacking. Add to that the fact the SLN wouldn't have invested in this research for the past 100 years and the PN didn't have the resources to do it on their own.
Then it would be a Black Swan technology.