[Kamikaze]

My idea #1, kinda boring maybe. *will probably do another after a good night's sleep + thinking*

[Shrike]

Originally posted by Black Wolf
There were no beams in FS1. If we'd been having this discussion 4 years ago, people would probably be saying "No. The Shivans use beams. The GTVA uses Plasma Cannons."

Just a thought...

And those people would be right.  Because FS1 canon had the GTVA using crappy turrets and rockets for their warship armament.  Were you to expand from FS1 you would be able to go further afield because the GTVA didn't have any heavy antship weapons except bombs - so torpedoes might have been the logical extension.  But FS2 canon has the main heavy weapon of the GTVA being beam cannons.  Hey, if you want to change that, fine.  Just don't expect much credit for Freespace upgrade if you start making unecessary changes.

[EDIT] Keep in mind also, that the Collossuses big beams had massive heat dissipation problems - perhaps the GTVA couldn;t counter this in massive weapons and turned to torpedoes?

That was firing on overcharge mode - during normal firing beam cannons don't seem to have any problems like that.  Furthermore, that's hardly a valid reason to explain why the GTVA changed to torpedoes, it's simply an after-the-fact rationalization of going to torpedoes.

Out of curiosity, is there any reason the destroyer can't have both? It fires BFGreens (or an appropriately upgraded variant) until heat dissipation becomes a problem, and then switches over to its torpedoes?

Seriously, you're probably just better off building bigger heat sinks instead of adding an entire new weapons system.  

What I want to know is why the FS upgrade team feels the need to abandon the definative weapon system of Freespace 2 for something that is very much nonexistent in FS canon.  I can understand if you were making longer-ranged bombs for fightercraft, but I simply don't understand why you'd move away from beams on warships.

[Kamikaze]

Personally I think beams look a lot cooler than most projectile weapons and should be kept. It doesn't necessarily hurt to use torpedos though, just don't abandon beams as the major weapon.

The only projectile weapon that can beat the look of a nice, solid beam weapon is a ton of swarm missles shooting out from long range with huge shockwaves.

[Devils_Hitman]

awww, no shivan destroyers

[Knight Templar]

Originally posted by Shrike


What I want to know is why the FS upgrade team feels the need to abandon the definative weapon system of Freespace 2 for something that is very much nonexistent in FS canon.  I can understand if you were making longer-ranged bombs for fightercraft, but I simply don't understand why you'd move away from beams on warships.

 Maeg did.

[Raptor]

I would post my Saturn/Hera Destroyer, but

a) it's mapping is not yet complete (though I suppose that dosn't really matter)
b) it's very Terran, alomst no Vasudan infulance
c) it's mainly armed with beams

Besides, I have no up to date pics...

But on the + side.

1) 2.5km long (bit big, but damm imposing)
2) it's sleek, and with an equalitat(sp?) nine engine units, is fast
3) it carries VERY big torpedos (Scripted weapons, though)

And when I say big, I'm not talk Helios, I'm talking bigger than Ursa here;7....

Oh and I agree with other peoples posts, beams are the main armament of FS2 ships, and so on after that, except under very certain circustances.

[Sigma]

I have made this destroyer for my campaign:



I think it looks a little bit like a mixture of terran and vasudan designs.
I don't want to release it at the moment and it still needs some work but if the FS Upgrade wants it you can have it!

[Bobboau]

no one looked at my destroyer again

[Gloriano]

i think Bob's destroyer would fit to FSup because it's desing

[Flaser]

I don't know the reason behind the huge upheaval.

No one beside the critisising bunch said that the GTVA will abandon beams IIRC!

What's wrong with having both beams and torpedos?

Beams are short/medium range heavy firepower while torpedos are long/medium range precision weapons.

The torpedos in this era would be more likely automatic ships similar to the Tomahawk of 21'th century designs.
It is a robot weapon designed to safely deliver a big payload to the right spot. It turns, glides evades to keep the valnurable and very expensive warhead safe, it even has control over it's engine.

It's more like a special kamikaze ship from designer's point of view than huge lame bombs.

Of course using them at short range would be risky to the deployer too.

So I simply don't see the problem.

Beside the usual warships, you have a dedicated ships/some additional weaponry on current desings that enable to lauch torpedos.

As for the reason why they weren't used: a pilot was a much better instrument for getting the job done.
Before they had strong enough engines (late Zod designs) and a higly advanced Ai bombers were superior to any torpedo design (the stealth program, the Mjorlnir - these all made breaktrhough in AI programing).

It can be even a good plot part to have a prototype torpedo warship between FS1 and FS2 armed with torpedos and beams. The torpedos fail - the beams don't. So the idea is scraped for the time. You could make a plot with two ships with 2 different weaponry competing. A powerful, but blunt torpedo system and a crips, but not so dependable beam system.

Anyway these torps would add a lot to the game gameplay wise, for they wouldn't act like ordinary ships, and hunting them down would be a dedicated interceptor role. Unlike bombs they would need long range dogfigt to counter them, for they should awade whatever risks them.

[Zeronet]

Freespace 2= Big Beams
Starlancer= Torpedoes

Now, which game is this an upgrade for again? hmm?

[Flaser]

Freespace=fun++

FS UPG.=fun+++++++++++++++++

Now:
Beams=fun
Torpedos=fun

Beams+Torpedos=Fun+fun
 
Khmm??

[an0n]

Originally posted by Sigma
I have made this destroyer for my campaign:

http://www.swooh.com/peon/Sigma/FS2-files/Thanatos-pimp.JPG

I think it looks a little bit like a mixture of terran and vasudan designs.
I don't want to release it at the moment and it still needs some work but if the FS Upgrade wants it you can have it!

Hehe. Chris Colorado kicks ass.

[Raptor]

Originally posted by Flaser

Thats kinda what I'm doing with the Saturn/Hera.  Beams are the main weapons, but there are the missiles for ultra long range attack....

[Zeronet]

Originally posted by Flaser

Torpedos=fun

 

[Baron MacDoblin]

I'll fun you, bizotch!

[Knight Templar]

Originally posted by Raptor


Thats kinda what I'm doing with the Saturn/Hera.  Beams are the main weapons, but there are the missiles for ultra long range attack....

Funny thing is, 'ultra long range' = longer than 5km..

What we need is beams that actually go the distance.

[StratComm]

I guess it makes sense that beams are not effective at long range, since the light dissipation will eventually spread it out enough to not significantly damage the hull where it impacts.  Missiles wouldn't have the dispersion problem.  The trouble is, the range at which that occurs should be at absolute minimum about 100 times what it is now.  Oh well, it's freespace.

And I'll nominate the Raynor, although she could do with some revamping for HT&L

[Beowulf]

Upgrade=>Next Installment=>Evolution of Technology=>Upgraded Technology=>Evolution of Theory=>New Battle Theory=>New Technology=>TORPEDOES

Go for it!

~Beowulf

Edit: Don't forget, torpedoes can be aimed... beams can't do this effectively. All in all, torpedoes

[Liberator]

Use the Raynor as the basis, but retouch it for HTL and give it some Vasudan touches like maybe an ablative sheath on the top side of to give the fighters cover while they launch.