Humanity has had infrared homing since before WWII, so I would say yes the technology exists but it probably isn't developed on a large scale since I was intentionally avoiding the whole Cold War nuclear stalemate/mutually assured destruction postwar mentality.
I was mainly thinking of space-bourne "land" mines, as they'd need homing features to be a threat unless you use waaayyy more resources to get enough density.
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How do you confuse a barbarian?
Put a greatsword a maul and a greataxe in a room and ask them to take their pick
I thought asteroid eaters were mostly found in the Belt. You could put out some kind of mine with a large radius "magnet" (probably cavoritic engine) that attracts itself to passing ships; maybe tuned to ignore any mass around it at the time it's set, with a radio-signal off-switch akin to the Io Sentry's magnetic mine. The overall setup isn't that complex, but I don't know how much such an invention would play into your presumed baseline for the tech/culture of humanity in the setting.
Come see Sprockets & Serials
How do you confuse a barbarian?
Put a greatsword a maul and a greataxe in a room and ask them to take their pick
virgil, I'm guessing you have the most experience playing/running this, could you give me your thoughts on the damage/stress economy? Is damage something that crops up as needing to be addressed frequently out in the field and stress more as a downtime issue?
Omegonthesane wrote:a glass armonica which causes a target city to have horrific nightmares that prevent sleep
JigokuBosatsu wrote:so a regular glass armonica?
You can buy my books, yes you can. Out of print and retired, sorry.
I mean, damage isn't something you generally address during downtime unless things are weird. As for stress, it's sort of like downtime, but I would more accurately describe it as a timer for getting things done; be it reconnaissance, travel time from A to B, handling a long-term investigation of an ancient temple, or withstanding torture until rescue arrives.
Come see Sprockets & Serials
How do you confuse a barbarian?
Put a greatsword a maul and a greataxe in a room and ask them to take their pick