[Aardwolf]

So, we all how unrealistic the "lasers" of FreeSpace are... they emit light when passing through a vacuum, and they travel at very subluminal speeds. It was unrealistic, but it was fun, and so were the tech descriptions (even though they didn't match the gameplay), so I was willing to accept the discrepancy. That said, I quite liked FS2's addition of "photon beam cannons" which actually behaved like photon beams, crossing the whole field of engagement [nearly] instantaneously.

Some people (the Blue Planet team in particular) have retconned these as magnetically contained plasma weapons. Personally, I didn't much care for this.

Nonetheless, a while ago I came up with a "theory" which would allow the weapons to be all of these things as once: "magnetically contained plasma weapon", "slow-moving, light-emitting blob", and the surprising one: "laser".



Consider the GTW-66 Maxim Cannon. Although the tech title is "Cannon", the tech anim is "Tech_GTW-66_Maxim_Gun". It's named after the Maxim Gun; according to the Wikipedia article "The Maxim gun was the first recoil-operated machine gun, invented by Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim in 1884. It has been called 'the weapon most associated with British imperial conquest'." We are not expected to believe that the GTW-66 Maxim Cannon is based on such archaic technology.

Similarly, consider how modern frigates are scarcely related to the "frigates" of the ships-of-the-line days.



What I propose is that sometime between now and when FreeSpace happens, the LASER becomes a historically significant weapon of war. Then later, that technology falls out of favor. Eventually (but still before the events of FreeSpace), someone makes a new class of magnetically-contained plasma weapon, and names it "laser" in honor of the historically significant weapon of wars past. This class of weapon becomes so immensely popular that all of its offshoots are called "lasers" as well.



Things not covered by this theory (but not exactly holes in it): the HL-7, which is described as a "Xaser" weapon; also "photon beam cannons"; there may be some FS1 tech descriptions I've neglected, as well.

Also it's entirely silly, as it's making up lore to patch other made-up lore to patch something I was just willing to accept as the devs not knowing what they were talking about.

[An4ximandros]

Weapon tech entries should honestly be banned from mods completely in my opinion. Waste of time and effort to simply "sci-fy" something that is not real anyways.

[Mongoose]

So, we all how unrealistic the "lasers" of FreeSpace are... they emit light when passing through a vacuum, and they travel at very subluminal speeds. It was unrealistic, but it was fun, and so were the tech descriptions (even though they didn't match the gameplay), so I was willing to accept the discrepancy. That said, I quite liked FS2's addition of "photon beam cannons" which actually behaved like photon beams, crossing the whole field of engagement [nearly] instantaneously.

Some people (the Blue Planet team in particular) have retconned these as magnetically contained plasma weapons. Personally, I didn't much care for this.

Well in reality, a "photon beam" would just really be the description of a laser (or maser, or xaser, or whatever other wavelength you're talking about).  The idea of magnetically-contained plasma fits much better with some of the fluff dialog in the game, like "Commence plasma core insertion," and relativistic plasma beams would look as almost-instantaneous as the beam cannons do.

[Aardwolf]

The point was that the photons were finally behaving like photons.

[AdmiralRalwood]

A giant beam visible from all directions and at great distances is not an accurate description of a laser.

[Aardwolf]

More like photons. Sheesh.

[z64555]

Laser Excited, Magnetically Contained Plasma.

The acronym wasn't particularly catchy, so laymen just called the whole thing as a "laser" even though it's scientifically wrong. That's my story and I'm sticking with it. 

[jr2]

   at least until they figure out how to turn light into mass.  XD

[Aesaar]

Weapon tech entries should honestly be banned from mods completely in my opinion. Waste of time and effort to simply "sci-fy" something that is not real anyways.

Some people enjoy reading (and writing) them.

[Bobboau]

I always assumed that the laser thing was a description of the mechanism used to make the plasma. shoot laser into a gas -> make plasma -> ??? -> blow **** up.

though I suppose laser being something of a genericised term for fighter based weapon is as good as any. I mean we call them guns, and they are not using a chemical reaction to propel a mass.

[Spoon]

Weapon tech entries should honestly be banned from mods completely in my opinion. Waste of time and effort to simply "sci-fy" something that is not real anyways.

Anything else that should be banned?

[mjn.mixael]

Weapon tech entries should honestly be banned from mods completely in my opinion. Waste of time and effort to simply "sci-fy" something that is not real anyways.

Anything else that should be banned?

Smiles and good fun should be banned too.

[Colonol Dekker]

Guns is just a term for a munition delivery system. You don't call missiles "racks or tubes" navy captains don't say "fire the shells!" When referring to massive deck guns, (Although tank drivers call "heat" or "sabot" oddly enough)

There's no reason why you can't use laser to describe something related in your fluff

[karajorma]

Exactly. They could quite easily have been actual lasers 100-200 years before Freespace 2 and the term simply never changed.

[Swifty]

I don't know about you guys but to me torpedoes are just floating proximity bombs.

These self propelled underwater explosives? Not real torpedoes. Get it right.

[Rheyah]

I work in laser driven pulse plasma accelerator systems.  As a result, all of my tech entries are based loosely on real science.  It's still bull****, but I like getting people to think about real systems.

I also enjoy writing tech entries.

[NGTM-1R]

Some people enjoy reading (and writing) them.

One of the first things I look for in a post-Capella campaign setting is to check and see if someone's gone back and fixed the tech entries to reflect that. If that detail is taken care of, I am much more confident in the campaign in general.

[CT27]

How would you all say the Kayser fits into this discussion?

[AdmiralRalwood]

The tech entry for the Maxim is more obviously wrong than the one for the Kayser.

[qwadtep]

From the GTW Disruptor:

A gas-focused krypton laser - when the ship is in flight, the chamber of the GTW-41 rotates at a constant speed - a small amount of NO2 is injected into the container .05 ms prior to the emission of the laser light - the rotation of the NO2 in the chamber focuses the laser pulse to a state that is only very slightly (1%) diffused - after the laser pulse is emitted from the chamber into space, the chamber expels the NO2 into space (thus expelling ionized molecules and moisture) - the process repeats for each subsequent burst of laser energy - as this laser is very slightly diffused, it is not effective as a destructive weapon, but as a tactical weapon - the Disruptor Cannon is best suited and is used for the permanent disabling of enemy ship subsystems.

So when you fire laser weapons like the ML-16, Prometheus, Subach and so forth, what you're seeing is probably not the beam, but the spent gas from the chamber. That the damage only occurs on impact is probably a technical and gameplay limitation. Nobody wants to dogfight Shivans at light-minutes range...

   at least until they figure out how to turn light into mass.  XD

Light has mass! I don't know the proper equations but it would be interesting to see how much photon pressure would be exerted by a laser in the FS2 universe, given the standard of a Fury being a 3Kt nuke.