[Solatar]

Should I use beams in the Unification War? If I do, they will all be like the targeting laser, but do damage. I really am undecided. Logic tells me two things.

1.) Laser beams were invented before laser pulse cannons (The US has already developed lasers for military use, they shot down an artillary shell with a laser. Not sure about other countries).
2.) Beams were invented after the Great War, thus making them fs2 era. Well, the Unification War is 50 years before Freespace 2.

[Shrike]

Ship-launched missiles/torpedoes is my suggestion.

[Galemp]

Nnnnnnoooooooo!

[Goober5000]

I say no.  Why do we need beams when we already have torpedoes, mortars, fission bombs, missiles, and particle weapons?

If we add beams, mission designers are going to gravitate toward beams.  If we prohibit beams, mission designers will be forced to use their imagination and come up with creative mission ideas.

Besides...the average player won't know the difference (in practical use) between lasers and beams.  And Terrans didn't have beams until FS2.

[Solatar]

Okay, this is exactly what I wanted. We won't have beams.

We will have extremely dangerous turret lasers though. AAA Turrets speed is 600, and the advanced one will be faster. So they don't often miss. The only way to take down a large warship is with another large warship.

What about not flagging bombs as "bomb"? That way ship-to-ship torpedos can't be shot down.

[Star Dragon]

I LOVE beams more than anyone  but if you are doing pre FS2 then no beams for you! (hey that rhymes?)  Seriously lasers are good enough. Yeah being creative with what you got is more important...

[Unknown Target]

They should be experimental beams. Not really powerful, and only equipped on few ships, for trial runs.

[CP5670]

I would recommend keeping them out since it makes no sense story-wise, although you could probably use the beam game code to make some similar thing (e.g. a really weak, rapid-fire beam that looks different and does not have charge up/down times might be interesting, sort of like a powerful and accurate version of the terran turret).

[Anaz]

Originally posted by Unknown Target
They should be experimental beams. Not really powerful, and only equipped on few ships, for trial runs.

I disagree. Beams were developed after studying shivan tech after the great war.

[Solatar]

Originally posted by CP5670
I would recommend keeping them out since it makes no sense story-wise, although you could probably use the beam game code to make some similar thing (e.g. a really weak, rapid-fire beam that looks different and does not have charge up/down times might be interesting, sort of like a powerful and accurate version of the terran turret).

That's what I was going to do in the first place. There would be no warm-up or warm-down , but they would also be very weak.

I'm experimenting with beam AAA Turrets right now (Very weak, but they don't miss very often.)

[Unknown Target]

There weren't any beams in the Great War (the shivan super laser doesn't count). So that means that beams were probably invented from advances in ion propulsion being standard, but before that, there were probably some experimental ones, that were prone to overheating, etc.

[Solatar]

Right, so I shouldn't have capital ship carving beams, but maybe being creative with the beam code would be okay.

[CP5670]

You should be fine as long as they are not photon beam cannons (i.e. they look different) and you can think of some reason to have them removed by FS1.

[EdrickV]

Don't recall where exactly this campaign would fit in the FS1/FS2 timeline, but I do have some thoughts about when beams would be used.

1. Pre-FS1: No beams as we know them. The technology did not exist at that point.

2. Post-FS1/Pre-FS2: IIRC, beams had been retrofitted to existing ships and new ships had been designed and built to use beams, so beam technology had existed for some time before the start of FS2. (You don't design ships around a technology that hasn't been tested.) A campaign with missions set near the beginning of FS2 could have first prototype beams and then maybe beams would start showing up on cap ships as the retrofitting goes through the fleet. I'm not sure exactly how long beams would have existed pre-FS2, but at least a couple of years I'd say. (It would take time to retrofit an entire fleet, as well as design and build totally new ships.) By the start of FS2, beam technology is standard cap ship equipment.

3. Post FS2: Of course there'd be beams.

[Solatar]

Here are some possible reasons:

Cost-bigass weapons cost bigass money.
instability-lots of screw-ups.
Size-Takes a lot of room to hold a beam cannon. So much that armor can't be put on, making ship easily destroyed by fighters.

EDIT: I could try for an electric look:)

[Goober5000]

No, no, no, no, no!

Beams were developed after studying Shivan technology.  Therefore it makes absolutely no sense to have any kind of beams, even primitive beams, before the start of FS1.  Don't muddle the issue.

No lasers, either.  The military tests of today notwithstanding, we didn't see them in FS1, so we shouldn't see them in the U War or T-V War.

There are plenty of ways to make a good mission without including beams.  Get out of the "we must have beams" mindset.  Use your imagination.

[Solatar]

We're using laser pulses for Terran Turrets (Just like in fs1 and fs2) and that is final, but I'm trying to get creative with the beam code, as well as the tiling. I think a flamethrower looking weapon could be made that might look good. I'm hovering over the issue, but any beams that we have will stink. I'll wait for a while, then choose the decision that gets the most votes.

EDIT: Where does it say that beams were made by studying Shivan technology? Lots of people say this, but I don't know where they're getting it from.

[Anaz]

Originally posted by Hades
We're using laser pulses for Terran Turrets (Just like in fs1 and fs2) and that is final, but I'm trying to get creative with the beam code, as well as the tiling. I think a flamethrower looking weapon could be made that might look good. I'm hovering over the issue, but any beams that we have will stink. I'll wait for a while, then choose the decision that gets the most votes.

EDIT: Where does it say that beams were made by studying Shivan technology? Lots of people say this, but I don't know where they're getting it from.

try the tech room. I think there is some stuff there.

[Solatar]

Since more people say let's not use beams, I think that I'll scrap the beams. I'm working on a new arsenal for the Terrans to use, and it will consist of torpedos, laser turrets, and maybe some other things. So far, the player has one laser weapon, one ballistic primary, and one shotgun.

[Goober5000]

Originally posted by Hades
Since more people say let's not use beams, I think that I'll scrap the beams.

Whew! (j/k)

I'm working on a new arsenal for the Terrans to use, and it will consist of torpedos, laser turrets, and maybe some other things. So far, the player has one laser weapon, one ballistic primary, and one shotgun.

Eh, I'd rather there not be laser anything (including turrets) in the UW.  In the T-V War, that's great, and I'll fully back you up - do whatever you want.  But in the UW, I think it would be cool if it was pure ballistic.

Keep in mind that the state of the Sol system in the UW was a bunch of very disorganized factions fighting for supremacy.  They couldn't organize themselves well enough to make any huge technological developments.  But after the GTA was formed, Terran technology made a huge leap forward.