Ideas for new weapons

[Phoenix-D]

quote:

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Originally posted by Taqwus:
Some ideas (that would require engine modding...) --

* Sensor burn effects; for instance, a weapon designed specifically to overload EM-type sensors. Might be useful for a mine warhead or a nasty ambush satellite.

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That would require engine changes, correct.

quote:

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* Anti-ship cannons with the point-defense (IOW, automatic firing) ability.

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May or may not work without changes.

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* An improved solar sail that also functions as a low-power, no-supply-cost weapon.

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Easy.

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* Small, fast one-shot (30 turn reload) missile racks for ships. Maybe even counting as armor, as well (external variant) -- have several for an opening salvo, say.

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Already done, check the devnull mod I think.

Phoenix-D

[capnq]

quote:

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An improved solar sail that also functions as a low-power, no-supply-cost weapon.

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I'm having a hard time thinking of a way to use a solar sail as a weapon. What are you imagining this to do?

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Cap'n Q

The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the
human mind to correlate all of its contents. We live on a placid
island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was
not meant that we should go far. -- HP Lovecraft, "The Call of Cthulhu"

[Puke]

quote:

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Originally posted by capnq:

An improved solar sail that also functions as a low-power, no-supply-cost weapon.

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I'm having a hard time thinking of a way to use a solar sail as a weapon. What are you imagining this to do?

streach it between two ships, spin it untill it is twisted into a tight 'rat-tail' and snap it at your target at near-realativistic speeds.



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"...the green, sticky spawn of the stars"
(with apologies to H.P.L.)

[Baron Munchausen]

I'm more than a bit surprised that the old MOO standbys, like Engine Pulsar and Lightning Field have not come up. Surely there is a use in SE combat for a weapon that sprays damage out to all ships surrounding yours? If the Engine Pulsar were available and could do X number of points per undestroyed engine in a ship you could make them a specialty restricted to "Propulsion Experts" and increase the value of that racial trait. The lightning field would be a really cool artifact tech. Having a "one shot - many kills" weapon to stop missiles would be very powerful, though. It would need some special restrictions to balance it out. Maybe it should be impossible to use it with shields? That opens the possibility of a MOO defense tech being added, too, the damper field. Imagine if there were another racial tech with damper fields, lightning fields, and some special weapon like the "spatial distortion" weapon that the Antareans had. (Similar to Engine Pulsar but not dependent on Engines). That would be a really interesting variation that could through a wrench into lots of strategies that work pretty well right now against the existing AI races.

BTW, the principle of the solar sail as a weapon is logical but awkward. Think of a magnifying glass and bugs on a sidewalk. It's the same thing. You could be able to focus the sail on something like a huge mirror and do some damage but it would be very large, slow and clumsy. Maybe as a base weapon it would be workable but it would still be very fragile. I guess it'd be best as a long range weapon. (Maybe on the strategic screen?)

[This message has been edited by Baron Munchausen (edited 31 July 2001).]

[CW]

quote:

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* An improved solar sail that also functions as a low-power, no-supply-cost weapon.

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Try this: You tow it behind your ship, if someone tries to sneak behind you to get a clean shot, aim at the bad guy's engine intake and release it. (okay maybe there is no engine intake, try the missile launch tubes then!) Covering up his bridge with the sail is a good idea too. If it is metallic, you might even affect his sensors!

"Warning: The captain and the gunnery officer can't see anything out the window, and the combat sensors failed due to a large piece of unknown object hanging on the ship. Combat effectiveness seriously reduced."

(edit) Remember to fit a retro-rocket on the solar sail!


[This message has been edited by CW (edited 31 July 2001).]

[Saxon]

Now, this isn’t workable in SE4, but if you use the Solar Sail as a solar oven, focusing the energy, you could have the damage variable, depending on the distance from the nearest star and the star’s strength.

Theoretically, the solar sail doesn’t reflect, it is pushed by the light, so we can not focus light with it, but that shouldn’t stop us. Maybe it is like a reversible sweater!

A more modable weapon would be something that drops something on the map. Right now you can drop mines, but what if you could drop a lot of something an force your opponent to change their movement. Create a barrier that limits the number of enemy who can come at you at once or funnel them into a killing zone.

[Puke]

would it not make better use of energy if it was reflective? I would think that it would gain more forward momemtum if it reflected light back rather than absorbing it.