[headdie]

how about the fact that the speed of beam weapons probably makes them laser type weapons, if that is so it just probably passes right through the shields lets face it there is no distortion of the normal light as it bounces of the fighter to suggest it is reacting to light.

about the plasma core insertion line in surrender Belisarius probably refers to a chamber used to generate the laser light with a specialized plasma being the only way to generating the energy for long lasting beams with enough output

[NGTM-1R]

how about the fact that the speed of beam weapons probably makes them laser type weapons, if that is so it just probably passes right through the shields lets face it there is no distortion of the normal light as it bounces of the fighter to suggest it is reacting to light.

Then shields wouldn't stop ML-16 blasts. Or Prometheus blasts.

[Thaeris]

Must not be applicable to sub-light lasers... 

[Klaustrophobia]

i really think this is going to remain a case of "because that's how the game mechanics work".  for what it is worth, i always had the idea that beams were giant EM waves, not a particle stream.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

I always thought it's made of pure energy.

[High Max]

;-)

[Androgeos Exeunt]

Well, the one thing that's established is that Northrop Grumman has already made a real beam cannon.

[General Battuta]

Beam weapons aren't lasers because FS shields stop lasers.

You could reach a lot and suggest that the laser weapons we see in FS might not be visible spectrum (selectively ignoring the fact that all the non-visible-spectrum weapons are explicitly termed things other than 'laser'), but even then you wouldn't be able to get around the fact that simply tuning the ML-16 to the visible spectrum would be trivial as it's an argon laser and their median wavelength is in the visible.

Never mind that the beam weapons don't look or act like lasers.

In short: it takes a tremendous amount of wank to make beam weapons into lasers when there are simpler and more effective explanations.

[CaptJosh]

So the supposed Home Fleet Orion destroyer is the Defender of Earth...

Is her is the name of commander "Keen"?

[Klaustrophobia]

beam weapons behave a lot more like lasers than the actual lasers do in FS.  lasers are EM waves, meaning they would travel at the speed of light, not ~400 m/s bolts. 

but i'm going to revert back to my favorite argument, that this is a game and not a class in physics, so it doesn't really matter.  to me at least.

[Thaeris]

beam weapons behave a lot more like lasers than the actual lasers do in FS.  lasers are EM waves, meaning they would travel at the speed of light, not ~400 m/s bolts. 

but i'm going to revert back to my favorite argument, that this is a game and not a class in physics, so it doesn't really matter.  to me at least.

I'm Thaeris and I endorse this message.

[General Battuta]

beam weapons behave a lot more like lasers than the actual lasers do in FS.  lasers are EM waves, meaning they would travel at the speed of light, not ~400 m/s bolts.  

but i'm going to revert back to my favorite argument, that this is a game and not a class in physics, so it doesn't really matter.  to me at least.

I'm Thaeris and I endorse this message.

Beams are not more likely to be lasers than any other 'realistic' explanation of what they are.

Lasers could, hypothetically, use a plasma core as part of the lasing medium. So that fits. They also travel instantaneously at these ranges, just like beams. Those are the big points in favor of the 'laser' theory.

However, lasers do not sidescatter like beams do. Lasers do not charge up with bright glowing particles around the emitter. Lasers do not travel a fixed distance at maximum power and then stop working. :V: called everything which was a laser - no matter how bizarre and aphysical - a laser, but did not do so for beams.

And, most importantly, in FreeSpace? Shields block lasers. (See above for why yes, that includes visible light.)

So it ends up being just as much of a kludge as any other explanation. It's not necessarily a bad one but it's not a good one either.

In the end, beams are beams, and you're just going to drive yourself nuts trying to make them make physical sense.

[manwiththemachinegun]

So presumably the Vasudans have new vanguard ships too right? Especially since their economy is doing well.

I always saw their design philosophy as: faster but frail fighters, heavy bombers, light cruisers and heavy destroyers.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

Their bombers and destroyers don't seem to be heavy enough, though.

...fail cruisers...

Fixed?

[Titan]

I think beams are an extremely fast firing plasma/laser cannon, whatever FS2 primaries are, that fire so fast they blur into one. They also move really fast. The intensity is so great from the barrage that they punch right through shields. But they cook radiators, which have to cool, thus the cooldown times.

[Fury]

I'm sorry Titan, but that is a weak hypothesis.

[Aardwolf]

So like, "powering up photon beam cannons" and whatnot...

[General Battuta]

That's also a point for the laser theory. Although it's fairly transparent technobabble in the same vein as 'photon torpedoes.'

[Aardwolf]

I'm pretty sure it's explained somewhere that 'photon torpedoes' referred to how they released a blast of electro-magnetic radiation (i.e. photons)... or at least someone told me that. Idunno the source.

[General Battuta]

Yes, and that is pure technobabble, because it is essentially saying 'explosions make light.'

No ****?