[ShadowGorrath]

Ok, so I think that the reason why FS2 fleets are much larger than the FS1 ones ( at least it seems so ) is because of beam cannon tech. Think of it this way- small versions of beam cannons ( like the ones used in the Colossus cutscene by the construction machines ) could help "cut"/form the parts of the ship hull the way it'd be need.

Well, Snail seems to protest about this, dunno why, so we ( mostly me ) decided to bring this to a HLP level. Soo... any ideas?

[Vrets]

There's really not much to say about that. Sure, I guess? 

Although it really seems likely that the GTA and PVE had industrial strength cutting lasers back in the day. It takes more precise tools than massive BFGreens to build super advanced space destroyers (eheheh), so this idea sounds a little silly. However, this idea of yours explains the impotency of the SGreen, I suppose.

"Damnit, boys, we're horrifically over budget. Anyone got any ideas?"

"Sir, why don't we just cannabalize our weakest construction lasers instead of having R+D come up with a good beam cannon for the cruiser hull?"

"I don't see how anything can go wrong. Make it so."

[ShadowGorrath]

Welcome to HLP. We're at a 1st of April celebration here, so don't get scared too much. 

Well, I just wanna hear what people think of this, if it's a plausible idea. Because if it's at least mostly agreed on, then your mom can assume that with better beams come more ships.

[Pred the Penguin]

Maybe because of the combined industrial might of both races?
Resource rich systems discovered?

[Snail]

Agreed with Pred.

Srs. How does shooting things with lasers speed up construction?

[Pred the Penguin]

Cutting things with lasers speeds up things, but I don't think construction lasers were invented after the Shivans came....

We already have small scale lasers nowadays...

[ShadowGorrath]

But not powerfull enough to cut armour that can take multi-gigaton explosions.

[Pred the Penguin]

We've just barely started going into space. Give the human race some time...

[Mongoose]

"Damnit, boys, we're horrifically over budget. Anyone got any ideas?"

"Sir, why don't we just cannabalize our weakest construction lasers instead of having R+D come up with a good beam cannon for the cruiser hull?"

"I don't see how anything can go wrong. Make it so."

This...actually makes a massive amount of sense.

[Rick James]

Ugh. The SGreen wouldn't even be so bad if it would just recharge a little faster. The LTerSlash is just a pile of ****, though. For the sake of making the Fenris not suck so much in my on-and-off-again mayhem FRED tours, I find it more realistic to replace the LTerSlash with just a regular TerSlash.

[Sololop]

Isn't their a beam labeled simply "Green Beam," and if so, is it weaker than the Sgreen?

[FUBAR-BDHR]

By just going with beams you are forgetting all the other tech and new uses for that tech.  I mean you have beams, shields, Vasudian tech, reverse engineered Shivan tech.  Just to say any one tech could speed up things that much I don't think would be a good statement. 

[Snail]

Isn't their a beam labeled simply "Green Beam," and if so, is it weaker than the Sgreen?

The Green Beam is worse than both the LTerSlash and SGreen.

[Eishtmo]

I think the reason the fleets are bigger is much simpler:  The ships weren't being built, sent straight to the front lines where they were promptly destroyed in combat.  The Terrans and Vasudans fought a war for 14 YEARS, ships were being destroyed almost constantly.  Then they get a couple decades worth of peace (after being almost completely wiped out) so they went on a building spree.  Simple as that.

[The E]

I guess the surprise appearance of a certain lobster had something to do with it as well...

[Mongoose]

Indeed.  A 30-year breather from sustained combat plus a civilization-destroying motivator equals big fleet expansion.

[S-99]

In the cut scene i think those were just high powered laser cutters.

[Snail]

Yeah, I doubt that beam cannons played a part in ship construction.

The laser cutters seen in the cutscene were probably around for decades, but they weren't very useful in combat.

[Enigmatic Entity]

AKA targeting laser.

[Snail]

AKA targeting laser.

Er, no, the Targeting Laser has no structural effect whatsoever.