[MatthTheGeek]

If you look in the weapon.tbl, you'll see that blobs are "ML-16 derivative",  "Avenger derivative" or "Prometheus derivative" (at least in FS1). So they're just bigger, slower and less powerful variants of fighter guns.

[Aardwolf]

Bigger, slower, and less powerful.

Now how the heck did they come up with that idea?

[MatthTheGeek]

That's obviously for gameplay reasons. And also because of the way the turret AI works. Would the AI fire at the standard fire rate of blobs, then they would become dangerous. Try and set Fury's AI to a capital ship and you'll see what I mean.

Now if we forget gameplay and try to understand this choice in the FS universe...

[Commander Zane]

Or play Procyon Insurgency, which drops all the blob refire rates to 0.1 and still pose zero threat to the player because the player typically knows how to dodge them and still attack the bigger ship.

Now do the same and make the velocities that of the fighter guns and they are trouble.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

Or play Procyon Insurgency, which drops all the blob refire rates to 0.1 and still pose zero threat to the player because the player typically knows how to dodge them and still attack the bigger ship.

Now do the same and make the velocities that of the fighter guns and they are trouble.

Hey, the blobs in PI were dangerous because of the increased refire rate. Weaving in between blobs in PI without taking shield damage is hard to do, even on Very Easy.

[General Battuta]

PI did not use any significantly altered AI, so warship turrets remained heavily handicapped.

[Commander Zane]

They still tore apart AI pretty well regardless.

[Marcov]

Wait, if you say that the Avenger's a 45 mm cannon, then this could somehow tell us whether or not the Harbringer is REALLY 5000 megatons...

[Commander Zane]

[headdie]

Wait, if you say that the Avenger's a 45 mm cannon, then this could somehow tell us whether or not the Harbringer is REALLY 5000 megatons...

problem is that though the tables effectively give muzzle velocity with the projectile speed there is no reference to the mass of the round so you dont know how much kinetic energy the round has, alternatively you can't use the maxim because although you have the speed and composition (DPU) you there is no reference to the size of the round so you still dont know its mass

[Commander Zane]

The other thing is, it's what the game says, if it's 5GT (5,000MT), then it is.

[Marcov]

Well it's kind of a long story;

considering an Avenger is basically a standard 45 mm cannon, then we can estimate how many tons of TNT a modern-day 45 mm cannon does (let's say 10 tons). Then the Avenger does 10 tons and 20 damage. The Harbringer does 3200 damage; so 3200 divided by 20 = 160. 160 x 10 = 1600. So the Harbringer is 1600 tons of TNT - compare that to the fluff, which says it does 5,000,000,000 tons of force!!!

Back to how much TNT a 45 mm cannon is.

[Colonol Dekker]

I want a gun that switches IFFs, you can use bull**** excuses like a layering nanovirus (beastiloveyou) or other such nonsense. I just think a missile or plox firing beam would be useful for the last mission or multi cruiser duels.

[Killer Whale]

An anti-bomb missile could be cool. Super-fast, high manoeuvrability, ultra-low damage, high recharge rate and locking time. Can be explained away as being high capacity (tactical weapon, expensive, large number of engine power) or low capacity (negligible if any warhead).

Invisible beams (pure photon weapon)

[Commander Zane]

Well it's kind of a long story;

considering an Avenger is basically a standard 45 mm cannon, then we can estimate how many tons of TNT a modern-day 45 mm cannon does (let's say 10 tons). Then the Avenger does 10 tons and 20 damage. The Harbringer does 3200 damage; so 3200 divided by 20 = 160. 160 x 10 = 1600. So the Harbringer is 1600 tons of TNT - compare that to the fluff, which says it does 5,000,000,000 tons of force!!!

Back to how much TNT a 45 mm cannon is.

You're trying to apply true knowledge to a science-fiction space simulator, it will only end with hordes of people bashing you for trying to put realism into something that cannot be determined by any means.

At least that's what I've seen frequently here.

An anti-bomb missile could be cool. Super-fast, high manoeuvrability, ultra-low damage, high recharge rate and locking time. Can be explained away as being high capacity (tactical weapon, expensive, large number of engine power) or low capacity (negligible if any warhead).

I like.
Has multi-aspect locking ever been mentioned here?

[Thaeris]

I've wondered about that before, too.

When I think of how something like the Hornet or Tornado was probably intended to work, I don't see it being able to track just one target, but with the option to reach out and hit multiple targets. In fact, a multi-mode aspect seeking missile would be really cool...

[Commander Zane]

A Macross mod would be a lot more feasable then since they lock-on sequence appears exactly the same if I remember right.
Though I'm pretty sure Frontier had a red dot that would highlight each target instead of a triangle.

[Commander Zane]

The Flare from the Descent games.

[Mongoose]

"Player X ignited Player Y's fuel leak with a flare."

[Commander Zane]

I forgot to add, make a Guide Bot model and give it the flare.
I'm sure people remember how AGGRIVATING it was having that damn thing plinking your health away as you progress through the levels with its flares.