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Post by slayernz on Jan 10, 2016 17:32:38 GMT -5
I'm tryyyyyyyyyyyyyying to flip them. There should be a torp weapon upgrade where you can "tag" a target and (a) weapons fire becomes more accurate (b) you have a percentage chance of being able to follow your target for a couple of AU - should you want to re-engage. That would make torps even more valuable  |
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Post by ntsheep on Jan 10, 2016 17:34:31 GMT -5
Laser guidance weapons upgrade.
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Post by pendell on Jan 11, 2016 9:16:19 GMT -5
Laser guidance weapons upgrade. What good is a speed of light weapon over interstellar distance? Torpedoes are FTL weapons as well, IIRC. The upgrade sounds more like some highly illegal Narvidian leftover that can track and predict a vessel's flight path more accurately than however-it-is normal Star Traders track, plot, and generate FTL weapon target solutions. Maybe an artificial brain/sensor package in the torpedo to allow it to correct course in-flight. Respectfully, Brian P. |
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Post by resistor on Jan 11, 2016 13:47:42 GMT -5
Laser guidance weapons upgrade. What good is a speed of light weapon over interstellar distance? Torpedoes are FTL weapons as well, IIRC. The upgrade sounds more like some highly illegal Narvidian leftover that can track and predict a vessel's flight path more accurately than however-it-is normal Star Traders track, plot, and generate FTL weapon target solutions. Maybe an artificial brain/sensor package in the torpedo to allow it to correct course in-flight. Respectfully, Brian P. I don't see how that would be illegal in the quadrant. Wasn't it only that machines and computers are illegal only if they can communicate with other machines free from the hand of man? |
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Post by ntsheep on Jan 11, 2016 14:07:56 GMT -5
My post was partly a joke, but, IRL laser guidance systems tend to rely on humans. In game, even if a torp spends most of it time in an FTL warp to get to the target, it has to come out and final target acquisition could be done with lasers. Guns are not FTL weapons as far as we know in game. They are close range projectiles of some sort like a Gauss Cannon or maybe energy ones like PPC's. IRL lasers on guns help with targeting. The TB's have never really said what all types of weapons there are in the game as far as I know. That bit of fun is up to us.
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Post by Officer Genious on Jan 11, 2016 17:16:56 GMT -5
(brain explodes)
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Post by ntsheep on Jan 11, 2016 18:34:26 GMT -5
I'm sure dayan will soon post his favorite Scanners clip, but what made your brain go boom? |
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Post by pendell on Jan 12, 2016 15:29:32 GMT -5
We-ll, the ST4X research tree divides weapons into realspace weapons (such as guns) and hypersonic (mis-named; should be hyper-luminal and will be so called for the duration of this post) weapons such as torpedoes.
I suppose realspace engagements occur within a very limited area, such as the orbit of a planet. Magnetic spheres accelerated to relativistic velocity hit with tremendous force, as in a railgun. In point of fact I think railguns are one of the in-game weapons.
Hyper-luminal engagements, by contrast, can occur between interstellar systems if they're really close together on the map. This implies that the weapon is either going to be VERY precisely calculated such that it intersects the path of a target at exactly the right time over those distances, or they have some kind of computer onboard which can guide the weapon in. I don't think any kind of beam-riding system, whether laser or radar or some other form, is practical.
Come to think of it, I suspect that extra-long-range sensors in-game are based on the same kind of FTL communication technology that is mentioned -- and forbidden -- in Templar Battleforce, lest it draw the Narvidians, Whatever waves or energy which travels through hyperspace and can be modulated to carry messages could also be bounced off an object and get a long range return in a reasonable time frame. So FTL comms probably bear the same relationship to long-range sensors as radio does to radar.
Respectfully,
Brian P.
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Post by ntsheep on Jan 12, 2016 15:41:46 GMT -5
In ST your starting battle distance is 100KM, at this point I think any weapon is fair game.
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Post by resistor on Jan 12, 2016 16:51:19 GMT -5
In ST your starting battle distance is 100KM, at this point I think any weapon is fair game. But does KM really mean "kilometer"? After all, AU apparently means astrochrom unit or whatever instead of astronomical unit. (I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure I saw it on one of Cory Trese 's posts). |
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Post by slayernz on Jan 12, 2016 17:05:53 GMT -5
Ya see, I still don't see ST Torps as being FTL-capable at all. The cost of a void engine is not going to be squandered on an ordinance that is designed not to come back to you if successful. Also, unless calculations are incredibly precise, getting anything to drop out of hyper-luminal velocity in a fraction of a microsecond is tricky. Even if the torp was travelling at light speed the instant it left your ship, it'd have to drop out of light speed 333 nanoseconds after launch. If it drops out at 334 nanoseconds, it is 130.5 meters past its impact point. IF you are saying that torps don't use void-space and so would hit the target at close to light speed then (a), wow, the energy consumption would be huge, (b), acceleration would cause the torp to prematurely explode, (c), guidance would be useless. You're better off just using your rail gun and be done with it  Also, don't forget that torps return back to you if they miss. If they are traveling at light speed or higher, good luck ever getting it back again. turning circles, new trajectory calculations, then return. |
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Post by wascalwywabbit on Jan 12, 2016 17:24:58 GMT -5
Space-time being one thing hyperluminal velocity would possibly target where the ship was at before launch... But modern physics is probably wrong :-p
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Post by ntsheep on Jan 12, 2016 17:36:00 GMT -5
Without being told what something means, you have to assume that it is the standard meaning. Even in real life, most distances are measured in meters in warfare. I'm not really arguing against anyone here. Like I said before my post was part joke since a cat was involved. Cats love lasers, but also there is some truth to using lasers as guidance systems. The TB's have final say so in how things work. Yes in one game it says this and another it's saying something else. That's part of the trouble of creating games that span a universe. There are 4 games right now set in the ST universe. The timeline is different in them, technology is even different it seems in them. I believe the TB's have mentioned in the the past they want to do a Lore Guide to help, but that takes time, and the games are evolving quickly. When ever there is a real need, they let us know. I just like the games man. I don't really care how it works as long as I can drop hot dogs on Cadar Prime, I'm happy  |
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Post by pendell on Jan 12, 2016 17:37:57 GMT -5
Ya see, I still don't see ST Torps as being FTL-capable at all. The cost of a void engine is not going to be squandered on an ordinance that is designed not to come back to you if successful. Also, unless calculations are incredibly precise, getting anything to drop out of hyper-luminal velocity in a fraction of a microsecond is tricky. Even if the torp was travelling at light speed the instant it left your ship, it'd have to drop out of light speed 333 nanoseconds after launch. If it drops out at 334 nanoseconds, it is 130.5 meters past its impact point. IF you are saying that torps don't use void-space and so would hit the target at close to light speed then (a), wow, the energy consumption would be huge, (b), acceleration would cause the torp to prematurely explode, (c), guidance would be useless. You're better off just using your rail gun and be done with it Also, don't forget that torps return back to you if they miss. If they are traveling at light speed or higher, good luck ever getting it back again. turning circles, new trajectory calculations, then return. Hrm. In Star Traders , maybe. In ST 4X the range of a torpedo is .. what.. 3 squares? 4? If your starting planets are close enough together, then you could hit a Xeno in orbit around Rychert Prime from the De Valtos Prime system. Also, if torps aren't FTL-capable, why have a separate listing for "realspace" weapons which include pretty much everything except torps? I concur the problems of getting an FTL capable torpedo to hit a target, then return to the mother ship if it misses is pretty incredible. I write it off as a concession to game mechanics over realism. Also, the problem of getting a torpedo to do that is utterly dwarfed by the problem of attaining FTL travel in the first place. Compared to that, getting it to do a loop would be a walk in the park. ... Circular shot torpedoes are not unknown in the real world. Getting them to return safely for retrieval is pretty much unknown under combat conditions. Generally speaking, when a torp loops back to its origin point, it sinks the firing vessel. Case in point : USS TANG, 1944. Respectfully, Brian P. |
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Post by ntsheep on Jan 12, 2016 17:39:31 GMT -5
Space-time being one thing hyperluminal velocity would possibly target where the ship was at before launch... But modern physics is probably wrong :-p If there's one thing science has taught us, just when we think we know, we find out we don't really know. There's plenty of instances where everyone thought that something was the only truth only to have one person come along and prove it wrong. |
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