How do crystallurgy weapons work? -> component descriptions

[Taera]

I've been thinking a little.
There are different racial technology trees out there, but most of their components and weapons (especially) actually do make sense and its clear how do they work. All but crystallurgy ones.
Okay, so i understand how High Energy Magnifier works. But how do shard cannons skip armor? and crystalline armorworks? Why normal races cant reproduce the Energy Dampener, the Solar Panels or the Energy Transmitting Lense? How does the energy dampener work anyway?

So those are my questions. Someone enlighten me?

[ November 21, 2002, 01:26: Message edited by: Taera ]

[capnq]

how do shard cannons skip armor?

I think the idea is that the shards are so dense and moving so fast that they just punch straight through the armor, leaving too small a hole in the armor to sigificantly reduce its protection against other weapons. The damage to internals could be more due to explosive decompression than anything else.

and crystalline armorworks?

Probably some kind of piezoelectric effect. (There are certain kinds of crystals known to produce electricity while under pressure.)

Why normal races cant reproduce the Energy Dampener, the Solar Panels or the Energy Transmitting Lense?

Some mods make the racial techs researchable at a much higher cost for races without the attribute, but I forget offhand which mods they are.

How does the energy dampener work anyway?

That could just be an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) temporarily knocking out the ship's systems, or it could be something more exotic using some kind of wave interference pattern.

[Kamog]

Thanks, those are interesting explainations. Hmm, come to think of it, I don't understand how half the regular technology works, let alone the special racial technologies!

For example, what is a jacketed photon? Actually, I have no idea how any of the engines work, except for the ion engine! I am also unclear on how some of the weapons work, like the wave motion gun. What exactly is coming out of the gun when it is fired?

[Phoenix-D]

Contra-Terrene Engine: weird word for an antimatter engine. Make a explosion, push hot gases and energy out the rear of the ship. Like a rocket, but with a much bigger boom.

Jacketed-Photon: "harnessed light drive". Hmm. I read this as using photons like the ions in the Ion Engine

Quantum Engine: dunno

Wave-Motion Gun, Incinerator Beam, Ripper Beam: focuses fusion heat at the target. Think heat-ray, only the heat is SUN hot.

Phoenix-D

[Raging Deadstar]

This should turn into a thread where the components are described, it'd make writing fanfiction a lot easier

[spoon]

Originally posted by Phoenix-D:

Quantum Engine: dunno

It's just an improbability drive. Watch out for whales.