Scythe Customization: BEAM LAZORZ!

[Pyreal]

pip pip pip?

Hellllllllll no!

I want:

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt!

I want a Beam Laser upgrade for my Scythe. No Pulse lasers for me thanks!

I want a continuous beam of trash burning purple power!

[ArmedZealot]

TBH I don't know why there aren't more beam weapons in vanu ala lightning gun from quake or beam cannons from EvE.

Seems the most classic sci fi alien weapon there is is facemelting lasers.

TLDR: MOAR PEW PEW

[NewSith]

Actually pulse beams are quite logical even from RL perspective, because a continious laser will just melt the barrel.

Aye and it reminds people of BFRs...

[Pyreal]

A 'pulse beam' is logical, because a non-pulsed beam melts barrels? Eh?

A beam is different than a pulse. I want a continuous beam rather than an intermittent pulse.

Lasers are emitted, not fired, from Lenses rather than barrels.

Make it happen, Shags!

[Zekeen]

The problem with such a weapon (while not entirely), is that it is hit immediately or almost, leaving no chance to dodge. In a dogfight this would feel somewhat unfair that your turns are doing nothing for you.

Now, granted, it can be made fair such as making it come in smaller bursts with longer waiting periods and doing less damage, and if balanced enough it would add to the game.

I only play NC, PS1 did a number on me there, but I LOVE when Vanu get new interesting weapons, so that there is a COMPLETE change of strategy when fighting them. Also, I like kicking alien butt.

[ArmedZealot]

Originally Posted by Zekeen

The problem with such a weapon (while not entirely), is that it is hit immediately or almost, leaving no chance to dodge. In a dogfight this would feel somewhat unfair that your turns are doing nothing for you.

Wouldn't be too much of a problem if it couldn't be directed with the mouse and could only be directed out of the front of the aircraft in a straight line. Wouldn't be too much different from the miniguns already in place in that respect.

[maradine]

Originally Posted by NewSith

Actually pulse beams are quite logical even from RL perspective, because a continious laser will just melt the barrel.

Lasers don't have barrels per se, and the whole point of coherent light is that you're not spilling energy out of the beam path. A more applicable consequence of continuous beam directed energy weapons is "shading" - the rapidly vaporized material of the contact location now forms an occluding cloud over the area. Compressing beam output into pulses delivers more energy to the target hull and less into it's rapidly expanding armor fog.

[NewSith]

Ok, now that there are two people countering my point, I'm going on defense. From BeamZ0R to Pulsar LMG, there is a a piece of metal covering the barrel, something you may actually call muzzle, that means the shots are made from inside the gun, not from the outside.

Here're the pictures:



As you can see the latest Pulsar model still has the same issue, though the muzzle war redesigned.


Same with Fission:


It is also same for the Maggy and the Scythe, the explanation for which is the one Pyreal gave. Vanu weaponry does not shoot lasers. It shoots beams. Beams of energy, not light.

PS: On a sidenote even NC can use lasers. Actually THEY are the ones who have the most potential to do that, because they''re all, you know, kinda miners...

[maradine]

Originally Posted by NewSith

Ok, now that there are two people countering my point, I'm going on defense.

I have no opinion on your point, merely lobbing some education into the thread. If you're going to reference the dreaded "RL", expect to hear from people who play with expensive toys.

I don't care if the Vanu shoot rapid nadions or magically contained plasma.

[Sabot]

A beam laser would, logically, work in sucha fashion that the longer you aim it on a targets hull, the more damge it does, as it more or less rapidly heats up and loses integrity. Way too powerful for the most maneuverable fighter in the game imo. Cool yes.. but too powerful :/ I guess they could just do minimal damge at all times, but that would just be lame tbh
Then I'd rather sport the pewpew for skill shots!

[IMMentat]

Vanu probably work with plasma "blob" projectors, not beams. The only beam weapon for the vanu in PS1 was the BFR AI weapon, and seeing as it was:-
A. Hit-scan
B. Associated with BFRs
C. Attached to the most unstable weapon platform in the game.
I don't see it returning to planetside (at least in its current configuration).

Most Vanu weapon names are misnomers, the beamer is a plasma caster, the pulsar is just a rapid-refire plasma accelerator (out of the magazine, heated? contained and accelerated in projectile form towards the enemy).
If a beam is involved it is as a guiding force dictating the path the projectile travels, rather than being the damage source.

Originally Posted by NewSith

there is a a piece of metal covering the barrel, something you may actually call muzzle, that means the shots are made from inside the gun, not from the outside.

Agreed, though the "muzzle" is most probably a heatsink, projectile guidance mechanism (and maybe accelerator chamber) who's to say the NC didnt steal a few railgun prototypes of some Vanu plasma tech).

Originally Posted by NewSith

the explanation for which is the one Pyreal gave. Vanu weaponry does not shoot lasers. It shoots beams. Beams of energy, not light.
Vanu weaponry does not shoot lasers. It shoots beams. Beams of energy, not light.

Phyreal said nothing of the sort, he just wants a continuous beam weapon rather than a flickering one.
Beams are usually pulsed to reduce the thermal, fuel and materiel (what its made of) cost of a continuous beam, given the Vanu level of tech I do not doubt they could create a man or vehicle portable beam weapon if they so choose (but hit-scan weapons are unfair so we choose to melt our foes with plasma "spheres").

I could wiki physics descriptions of the words you used but clearly didn't understand (beams, energy), but in the end, it does not matter from a gameplay standpoint if a beam weapon is firing lasers, electrons (lightning, yay) or whatever.
Any continuous beam with a high velocity will have the same properties as a laser, near instant hit, impossible to dodge and pinpoint accurate (pro and a con depending on how wide the beam is and how unstable the firing platform).

The ONLY "low velocity" beam weapon I have ever seen in a videogame is the "Phase Stream Projector" in Oni (old game, on the PC and Playstation1/2?, great weapons, good fun) where the beam was slow enough that it created a slow moving channel of doom similar to a high pressure fire-hose (or a gel based flamethrower before it was ignited) I looked but could not find a youtube vid with the oni gun in-use.
Either way that weapon would be more for air-ground use due to the fairly slow speed of the projectile mass and the need for sustained exposure to rack up damage (sort of bathing a tank in thermite).