On 24 Jun 2015 at 20:47, Greg Chalik wrote:

> The reason is simple: a combatant who fires from well beyond the
> certain-kill range gives up essentially nothing for a *chance* of
> killing their opponent.
>
> >The firing combatant gives away his position and the fact that he
> has the capability to fire the observed weapon.

You are mis marking things. The person you are *replying* to needs to
have the ">" in front of his text. Yours *doesn't* get the mark. In
the case of multiple levels of quoting the number of ">" in front
shows how far back the quote is.

That siad...

With lasers, he *doesn't* give away anything.  Unless you are in an
atmmosphere the only way you can see a laser pulse (or beam) is if it
hits you or it is a *very* near miss (most plausible lasers have a
very narrow "fringe" of light around the damaging part.

I suggest going outside at night with a laser pointer (green ones
work better because they area lot more visible for the same powerr).

Unless there's a lot of dust, smoke or fog, you *can't* see the beam.
If someone aims it just past you, all you know is that they are
pointing something in your general direction.

At spasce combat ranges you won't even have that.

Fun trick with laser pointers at night. With my green one, you can't
really see the dot if you are pointing at something more than a block
or so away. Unless you point at a street sign. The retro-reflective
coating (what makes them light up so well when your headlights briush
them) reflectys most of the beam energy back in your direction. so
you can see the spot at half a mile or more.

Note. Do *not* point where the beam might get in the eyes of a
driver. *Really* don't aim where you might hit a pilot. That's a
federal crime. With *severe* penalties. And that's because dazzling a
pilot near the ground is a *really* bad idea. Not that it's a good
idea at any time.

Note 2: in atmosphere, weapons grade lasers (SF level ones, not the
measly few kilowatt ones we currently have) will level *very* visible
ionization trails in the air. This both cuts down on their range and
effectiveness, but also makes them stand out like a neon sign. One
that says "please shoot me"

--
Leonard Erickson (aka shadow)
shadow at shadowgard dot com