[bfobar]

I thought the SBlue has better range. At the speed cap ships move, an extra 2km is a lot of time to shoot, escape, or whatever.

[Aesaar]

If I got it straight, a Sblue requires less space, but cannot handle the huge amount of power input, so it needs longer to cool down before getting fired again.
Guess the emitter is smaller than that of the Terslashblue too.

They're actually almost the same size, if one looks at the Hyperion and the old Sparta Diomedes.  Right now, I'm working off the assumption that the Raynor's SBlue is an alternate firing mode for the Bull Frost that trades rate of fire for accuracy.   Fits in with the replacement of two of the Medea's TerSlashBlues with SBlues in Aristeia.

Although it could be interesting if, in R2, the Raynor's SBlues were to be replaced with a sort of pulse beam with worse damage, identical recharge, but split-second duration and bursts 5 or 6, like a giant MWO-style pulse laser.

I thought the SBlue has better range. At the speed cap ships move, an extra 2km is a lot of time to shoot, escape, or whatever.

The TerSlashBlue actually outranges the SBlue by 400m, according to wiki.

[General Battuta]

The emitter size you see on the surface isn't everything, since those are actually not a super integral component of the beam system (the Alliance expects the emitters to be shot off a lot, so sandboxes them a little from the rest of the weapon for ease of replacement).

[SaltyWaffles]

As waffles said before, in game all of it's 'victories' against enemy ships were in situations where any Terran destroyer except maybe the Hecate could have delivered a performance that was at least on par with what the Raynor accomplished. I understand that the Raynor's abilities are supposed to go beyond straight firepower and armor, but we've yet to see them actually demonstrated in any mission (with the exception of the sprint drive), and until that happens those two categories are the things that spring to mind when thinking about it's performance.

A lot of the Raynor's power lies in the meta-rules we laid down, things that are never written into tables but are taken into account when designing missions, setting AI levels, timing jumps, telling the story. This is unfortunate for fans who comb through the tables, but believe me, having put the Atreus in action at full capacity - with its heatsinks and power grid and crew and electronics in mind - it's an incredible, almost absurd platform.

Well, why not have a bit of fiction covering an instance where the Atreus actually demonstrates that kind of capability? The only impressive feat the Atreus displays in WiH, IIRC, is a use of its sprint drive to make two modestly-precise jumps in quick succession. I don't remember even hearing about the Atreus pulling off any feats like the ones you're describing in that post. In the intro cutscene, an entire battlegroup is casually shredding the Comorant to pieces--I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did (which was already a matter of seconds) in that position. The fact that three Sanctus cruisers and a lone Karuna were destroyed by that entire battlegroup from ideal firing position with plenty of warning (and, come to think of it, a major range advantage too) doesn't exactly make the Atreus itself very impressive.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that if the Atreus truly is the incredible ship you say it is, why am I only just hearing about the basic details about how it might be, in the form of a post on the forums? Maybe the Atreus was always this awesome in your mind/plan, and you have clear plans for how you're going to show it off in WiHP2, and that's fine, but from the perspective of just having AoA and WiHP1 to look at, the Raynor (and Atreus, by extension) has been very underwhelming in nearly all of its appearances and mentions.

[General Battuta]

The reason the Raynor didn't appear much in R1 and hasn't had the chance to be a real badass yet is because the Atreus' appearances represent Steele as a character in the story so far. He's not up front slugging it out with omfg hax beams. He's using his resources carefully, positioning elements from behind the scenes, focusing on inflection points and gaps in the UEF's surface. He's fighting the Atreus as the literal king of the board, limited in its actions but immense in its ability to shape enemy strategy.

When he brings the full might of the Atreus to bear you'll get to see more of the Raynor's capabilities. Discussion on the BP forums tends to look at these ships in a very narrow, HP-and-beams centric vision of what makes a potent warship. Consider strategic and tactical agility, electronics, the ship's sensor, the affordances of an excellent power grid, the countermeasures Steele has been marshalling for use against a Solaris-class opponent. The Raynor's power is immense in much the same way a modern guided missile destroyer's power is immense compared to a WW2 battleship: the guns are physically smaller, or not guns at all, but the ability to place that firepower where it is needed, when it is needed, and to acquire the information to determine how best to use those weapons, to position friendly elements to prepare or follow up upon the strike, is enormous.

How do the Shivans kill GTVA ships in FreeSpace 2? Is it always through a force-against-force set piece? No. The Shivans get most of their decisive kills by abruptly changing the battlespace, deploying new forces, exploiting blind spots in GTVA information. It's the unexpected and the unknown, incredible violence of action from unexpected directions, that works for the Shivans. And the Raynor was built with these lessons in mind.

[SaltyWaffles]

I thought the SBlue has better range. At the speed cap ships move, an extra 2km is a lot of time to shoot, escape, or whatever.

Actually, the TerSlashBlue has ~400m greater range than the SBlue (which has a range of 6,375 m). It's also pretty accurate, so in practice its damage output is much closer to the basic stats than the TerSlash is.

[-Norbert-]

There is one more thing to consider about the Atreus.
It's the ship that has the commander in charge of the entire system and all his staff on board.

Usually such people are kept out of the actual fighting, unless the situation is something out of the ordinary.

[headdie]

There is one more thing to consider about the Atreus.
It's the ship that has the commander in charge of the entire system and all his staff on board.

Usually such people are kept out of the actual fighting, unless the situation is something out of the ordinary.

or if it's steele in charge, in that case the Atreus will just as likely be in the thick of it

[crizza]

And the Atreus took Jupiter by storm, the Feds could've selfdestruct for all thats worth it^^

[Colonol Dekker]

Surely the Orestes demonstrated how AWESOMESAUCE Raynors were...

Anyway, I'm just looking forward to seeing it when it's done. Of which I'm in no rush.. Anticipation is decadent after all.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

Surely the Orestes demonstrated how AWESOMESAUCE Raynors were...

Does a good part of that come from you sitting on the bridge with Admiral Bei?

[An4ximandros]

Temeraire control, this is the Orestes, you are clear to jump out, good luck out there, *****es!

Sorry, I couldn't resist quoting that file.

Also, why is it called a Ray-nor, it should be a Ray-and, Steele takes no substitutes!

[Aesaar]

Raynor is a terrible name.  I'd change it, but the compatibility issues that would cause are unacceptable.

I'd have called it either Atreides or Erebus.  You know, something in keeping with GTVA naming conventions.

[MatthTheGeek]

Haters gotta hate.

[SpardaSon21]

Raynor is a terrible name.  I'd change it, but the compatibility issues that would cause are unacceptable.

I'd have called it either Atreides or Erebus.  You know, something in keeping with GTVA naming conventions.

What's next, a Shivan Juggernaut class called Harkonnen?

[General Battuta]

Raynor is a terrible name.  I'd change it, but the compatibility issues that would cause are unacceptable.

I'd have called it either Atreides or Erebus.  You know, something in keeping with GTVA naming conventions.

What's next, a Shivan Juggernaut class called Harkonnen?

I don't know whether or not you missed the actual origin of the word Atreides so I don't know whether or not to be snippy!

[SpardaSon21]

Yes, I know Atreides is an ancient Greek name and Frank Herbert just borrowed it, so please, no snippiness.

[Droid803]

Raynor is a terrible name.  I'd change it, but the compatibility issues that would cause are unacceptable.

I'd have called it either Atreides or Erebus.  You know, something in keeping with GTVA naming conventions.

It's called the Raynor because its supposed to look like a vulture bike from StarCraft (not 2), and Jim Raynor uses a vulture bike. And then nobody bothered changing it.
I mean it doesn't make it any better I guess but I can definitely see where it comes from, which is (imo, as a bit of a SC nerd), pretty awesome.

[Molaris]

honestly Droid, I had a funny feeling that was why it was called that.

plus, did you guys design the Raynor? from what I understood, it's gone through a lot of work in the last few years. it may have been named by someone else and they just kept it. I kind of like it honestly. It's different.

[General Battuta]

honestly Droid, I had a funny feeling that was why it was called that.

plus, did you guys design the Raynor? from what I understood, it's gone through a lot of work in the last few years. it may have been named by someone else and they just kept it. I kind of like it honestly. It's different.

Like all the StratComm ships the Raynor predates Blue Planet pretty significantly.