Little question for the space fans in here:
How can an attack by a weaponised LASER be detected and/or traced back to its source?
This obviously assumes a miss, but feel free to describe cases of direct hits, too.
Assuming multiple optical (or whatever part of the spectrum is involved) sensors mounted on different spots on the hull, the line could probably be visualized and triangulated. Depending on temporal resolution and range it might actually give
two possible origins, but probably the ship knows which
side the enemy was coming from.
For a direct hit, assuming the sensors aren't knocked offline, I figure the same approach would work, but it'd be clearer which side got hit (even if it punched through, though if that happens the sheer transfer energy of the hit would probably be fairly catastrophic).
Though in general I suspect that a warship armed for short-range engagement, in energy range, where the enemy doesn't already
know its location... the enemy won't have much of a chance to reply. Of course it depends on relative durability and power, etc.
And of course there's stand-off weapons like missiles that shoot lasers when they explode, where tracing it won't help you, but anyway.
