[Geryon]

Welcome back Jamorobo, to help answer some of your questions:

As far as I know we are working on the Gold Version of the mod, I am uncertain if PF and Val (when he returns) will plan to import any new additions/changes from the Gold to the standard Version.

The pulse cannons are a bit heavy in tonnage I agree. As to the weapons efficiency, here's what I can tell you. Lasers are correct in having longer range and more damage, most EA ships carry lasers in one form or another.

Originally, the EA relied on plasma and matter weapons such as Rail Guns at the time of the Dilgar Invasion. The Dilgar were the first to develop particle pulse weapons which the EA and others retrofitted into their own technology while other major powers such as the Centauri and Narns already had them. Plasma weapons are stronger than particle weapons but only at closer ranges due to the coldness of space which diminish plasma's heat as it travels.

Laser weapons were developed by the Narns from reverse engineered Centauri weapons and later sold to the EA during the Minbari War.

There are several EA ships which still use plasma weapons such as the Olympus and the Hyperion's smaller turrets (the large batteries in the front are particle). Most ships have been rearmed with the particle pulse weapons such as the Warlock, Nova and Omega. Still Lasers are used in abundance as a standard weapon in the EA.

The Omega and Hyperion both contain the X-Ray Heavy Laser (the Omega combining it with the pulse cannons on the same turret). The Warlock however uses the same Heavy pulse cannons as the Nova, adds missiles and torpedoes, reincorporated the Rail Gun and has the 2 forward huge Particle Cannon beams.

Basically Plasma weapons have more strength but are short range, particle weapons have longer range but are a bit weaker while lasers have both the benefit of range and strength.

The strongest weapon the EA has fielded though was the Light Molecular Slicer derived from the standard Shadow Molecular Slicer. This weapon was given to the EA by the Shadows to originally be mounted on the Warlock which was the original ship intended to have the hybrid shadow armor, when Clark panicked as he was losing the Civil War, both the hybrid armor and the Light Molecular Slicers were adapted onto new Omega hulls and rushed into service. This was a blue beam as opposed to the X-Ray laser which is red. The LMS has further range, more damage than standard lasers and it didn't require practically any recharge time as the Omega-X's just let them rip and didn't need to stop, recharge and then fire again like other lasers. It was suspected that the tech for these weapons were destroyed by the Shadows after Clark lost the war but in the series Crusade it was planned to be revealed that EA special black ops had in fact successfully adapted EA shadow armor and the molecular weapons, which would appear in a ship often referred to as the EA/Shadow Hybrid. So it is also believable that the EA still has Light Molecular Slicers in its inventory and might even have been fitted into later models of the Warlock as originally intended.

[ May 19, 2003, 22:26: Message edited by: Geryon ]