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Author Topic: "Taser" Style Energy Weapon  (Read 6248 times)

JDCollie

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"Taser" Style Energy Weapon
« on: April 04, 2012, 12:18:58 PM »

I think it would be kind cool if there were an energy weapon that fired a projectile initially, and should that projectile hit a target within range, it would act as an energy 'tether', creating a discharge arc between the attacker and the victim that increases in damage the longer it is fired (also increasing flux increase in the attacking ship as the discharge continues) only ending at a predetermined time (like five seconds or something) or when if the enemy ship moves out of range.

The damage would be logarithmic, heavily favoring ships that can keep their target in range. (only distance would matter. The weapon firing arc itself would only be used in launching the tether projectile. )
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Flare

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Re: "Taser" Style Energy Weapon
« Reply #1 on: April 04, 2012, 12:46:01 PM »

You've described how it would work, how would it add to the gameplay other than providing a tiny bit more variety? How will this act differently from the rest of the weapons?
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Upgradecap

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Re: "Taser" Style Energy Weapon
« Reply #2 on: April 04, 2012, 12:49:27 PM »

Well, it would obviously be an further ability for strike frigates adn the like, to take capitals out quicker. However, i'm unsure if it woulden't be a little too op :-\
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Hyph_K31

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Re: "Taser" Style Energy Weapon
« Reply #3 on: April 04, 2012, 01:07:11 PM »

I think a weapon like this could be very useful to frigates and maybe fighters (Very special fighters!), i would imagine that this type of weapon would be limited by ammunition, because its needs some sort of tag, and there would be a limited number of these tags.

I should also think its would take more ordnance points than normal lasers of similar strength.

And a weapon like this would be useless against shields unless you can get the tag onto the hull of the target, and lethal to fighters if they can't get out of range.

Would be very fun to use though :D
« Last Edit: April 04, 2012, 01:09:08 PM by Hyph_K31 »
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Ghosti

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Re: "Taser" Style Energy Weapon
« Reply #4 on: April 04, 2012, 03:58:01 PM »

A weapon that can transfer flux to enemy ship! Strategically, that is awesome and is a good way of disabling an enemy ship, enabling smaller ships to take on larger targets.
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Temjin

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Re: "Taser" Style Energy Weapon
« Reply #5 on: April 04, 2012, 05:02:16 PM »

A weapon that can transfer flux to enemy ship! Strategically, that is awesome and is a good way of disabling an enemy ship, enabling smaller ships to take on larger targets.

The Graviton Beam and other beam weapons do a good job of this already.

That's a pretty inefficient way of taking on larger targets, too, since they typically have exponentially more flux capacity and venting capability.
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JDCollie

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Re: "Taser" Style Energy Weapon
« Reply #6 on: April 04, 2012, 07:05:45 PM »

You've described how it would work, how would it add to the gameplay other than providing a tiny bit more variety? How will this act differently from the rest of the weapons?
As I concieve the weapon, you would only have to aim at your target during the initial strike, for the rest of the 'firing' sequence, the attacking ship would be able to move freely as long as it stayed in range.

This would give groups of smaller ships a powerful offensive option against heavier targets without giving up their primary advantage - mobility. But yes, variety is definitely the primary motivating factor behind my suggestion :P

The Graviton Beam and other beam weapons do a good job of this already.

That's a pretty inefficient way of taking on larger targets, too, since they typically have exponentially more flux capacity and venting capability.
The flux increase alone isn't the primary component of the weapon in my mind.
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Vandala

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Re: "Taser" Style Energy Weapon
« Reply #7 on: April 04, 2012, 07:13:05 PM »

As I concieve the weapon, you would only have to aim at your target during the initial strike, for the rest of the 'firing' sequence, the attacking ship would be able to move freely as long as it stayed in range.

This would give groups of smaller ships a powerful offensive option against heavier targets without giving up their primary advantage - mobility. But yes, variety is definitely the primary motivating factor behind my suggestion :P

That would depend entirely on the range of this weapon. Not having to stay in range of the other's death cannons is much preferred for smaller ships. You seem to be limiting their mobility, not increasing it.

CrashToDesktop

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Re: "Taser" Style Energy Weapon
« Reply #8 on: April 04, 2012, 07:16:56 PM »

I think he means the "taser" style weapon would have require a large flux input to fire (as most strike weapons require), have a long "burst" reload time (like a real taser) and have an extremely large EMP burst.  Sounds about right for a strike weapon. :D
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Flare

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Re: "Taser" Style Energy Weapon
« Reply #9 on: April 04, 2012, 08:01:01 PM »

You've described how it would work, how would it add to the gameplay other than providing a tiny bit more variety? How will this act differently from the rest of the weapons?
As I concieve the weapon, you would only have to aim at your target during the initial strike, for the rest of the 'firing' sequence, the attacking ship would be able to move freely as long as it stayed in range.

This would give groups of smaller ships a powerful offensive option against heavier targets without giving up their primary advantage - mobility. But yes, variety is definitely the primary motivating factor behind my suggestion :P

But isn't that just like a beam that emits emp damage? Isn't the whole stay in range thing the same thing as a turreted weapon? This just seems like a fancy beam weapon that doesn't fill up any sort of niche at all apart from the emp damage.
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JDCollie

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Re: "Taser" Style Energy Weapon
« Reply #10 on: April 05, 2012, 02:20:08 PM »

That would depend entirely on the range of this weapon. Not having to stay in range of the other's death cannons is much preferred for smaller ships. You seem to be limiting their mobility, not increasing it.
As I understand it, ship combat speed and maneuverability is determined by the hull itself and OP modifications whereas lateral traverse speed is determined exclusively by ship class.

If this is true, small, fast ships with primarily forward weapons are at a disadvantage when strafing their targets. Essentially they must sacrifice speed to stay on target. The idea I was working towards is a weapon that allows these ships to fully utilize their speed while still keeping effective levels of firepower on target.

The other factor is that small ships usually have very limited shield coverage and often have to contend with incoming fire from multiple vectors. This weapon would potentially allow a player to maximize their shield effectiveness without sacrificing as much shooting time. (Granted, this would be much more advantageous for hardpoint heavy ships than for ships with good turret coverage)

Of course, both the previous disadvantages exist for the sake of ship balance, so it is possible that this would be rather overpowered unless carefully tuned. As you mentioned, range would be the major factor in deciding how effective this weapon would be at its intended role.
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Nanostrike

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Re: "Taser" Style Energy Weapon
« Reply #11 on: April 05, 2012, 03:12:40 PM »

As I concieve the weapon, you would only have to aim at your target during the initial strike, for the rest of the 'firing' sequence, the attacking ship would be able to move freely as long as it stayed in range.

This would give groups of smaller ships a powerful offensive option against heavier targets without giving up their primary advantage - mobility. But yes, variety is definitely the primary motivating factor behind my suggestion :P

Do you realize you've basically described the Phase Beam set to Autofire?  It does constant damage, stays locked on your target as long as you stay in range and keep the beam able to point at the target, and does EMP damage to the ship.
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JDCollie

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Re: "Taser" Style Energy Weapon
« Reply #12 on: April 05, 2012, 03:29:10 PM »

Do you realize you've basically described the Phase Beam set to Autofire?  It does constant damage, stays locked on your target as long as you stay in range and keep the beam able to point at the target, and does EMP damage to the ship.
That little bit I bolded there essentially encapsulates the entire motivation behind this idea. If you don't need worry about that, it changes your whole combat maneuvering paradigm.




After some more thought, I think the question governing this weapon's usefulness is whether or not it is possible to outrun a large ship's point defense weapons while within their firing arc, as opposed to simply outranging them..
« Last Edit: April 05, 2012, 03:34:14 PM by JDCollie »
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Flare

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Re: "Taser" Style Energy Weapon
« Reply #13 on: April 05, 2012, 03:56:18 PM »

As I concieve the weapon, you would only have to aim at your target during the initial strike, for the rest of the 'firing' sequence, the attacking ship would be able to move freely as long as it stayed in range.

This would give groups of smaller ships a powerful offensive option against heavier targets without giving up their primary advantage - mobility. But yes, variety is definitely the primary motivating factor behind my suggestion :P

Do you realize you've basically described the Phase Beam set to Autofire?

Yes, that was the point. It's just the phase beam with a different skin.
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