Discovery Gaming Community

i was looking at freespace 2 and homeworld again recently. both games show the use of heavy and instant beams, usually used as capship vs. capship weapons.

in homeworld it is the ioncannon, especially the ioncannon frigate
in freespace 2 its pretty much every capship

what i like about those weapons is - they are utterly useless vs. anything small and fast, but deal some good damage vs. anything they CAN hit. freespace 2 beams appear to charge up for several seconds (1 or 2 seconds) before they actually fire. so allthough the beam is instant (when its about projectile speed, its a beam, not a projectile) it takes some aiming. the beam can t be adjusted once it fires and will fire ( and drain energy ) for all the time its active. ( in freespace 2 those beams fire for 3 or 4 seconds and weaken again for 1 second )

they deal damage over time instead of direct damage.

here is a utube video that shows freespace 2 space combat vs. cap ships:
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaYe7DrBTSY

and here is how a capital ship point defense should be ( instead of a flak ) - short bursts of instant beams at a low range - designed against fighters only - and i d love to see those weapons ONLY on frigates or destroyers. so it makes sense to have them along when going to war with a large fleet. while the heavy beams like shown in the freespace 2 video would be on battleships only.

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtWn1aKGWkI...ted&search=

again - its just an idea. and a nudge to think about. not sure if its possible to make a weapon shoot an instant beam in freelancer. there appear not to be beams, but only projectiles.

The only problem with the way FL handles beam weapons is that it can cause lots of lag. That's why the chainguns are being slowed down in 4.84

They are ?? That's too bad... but it's probably for the best.

Ah, those Chainguns never track anyway. Get rid of them!

I've suggested to Igiss a way to include beam guns that do not require a high rof, but we are still discussing whether those guns should be added or not.

Well, I have studied beam weapons, you CAN have some, though no real ones, but it depends on how you make it. There are two versions of beams:

First of all, the "Fragment Beam": Most realistic because of extremely high refire; It should consist of short beam "fragments".
Then comes the "Sniper Beam": it's called so because you have to hit a single time, with the tip. The beam should be long so it looks like a beam, but it doesn't handle like one.

So here's my suggestion: A mix of both versions, refire like the new Chain Guns, and beam "fragments" so long that the projectiles "merge" into one beam.

These are my two cents, hope the info helps.

All i will Say on this post is

NO NO NO Igiss Dont let them convince you

Cheers

' Wrote:All i will Say on this post is

NO NO NO Igiss Dont let them convince you

Cheers

Care to back up a reason behind that statement? I like the idea of a beam weapon and from the sounds of things they are potentially possible. So what is the problem?

haha, not trying to convince - the attempt was mostly about " is it possible at all to do that " - i haven t payed very much thought on if it fits into FL at all. i just played freespace 2 - and homeworld - they both have "bolts" and "beams ( rather the sniper version, but not like a sniper gun - rather like a very hard to aim show off cap ship weapon - well, you saw the beams in the UTube vids i linked there )

and - if you think it doesn t fit into the mod / game - so be it. no prob - i m happy with the weapons we have atm, too - if i wasn t , i d not play it.

edit:
by the way - freespace has both. point defense anti fighter - and flak cannons - first ones are insta beams - like sniper beams - low fire, medium refire, they to medium damage - but serve a very intersting purpose, they mess up the controls , causing engine kill for a certain amount of time ( 1 or 2 seconds ) and spin the fighter. the result is - easier aim for the capship weapons, and confusion for the fighter. so a rather passive weapon - the flak is a weapon that causes multiple explosions VERY close to the capship - just close enough not to hurt itself - its used not vs. fighters - but vs. incoming missiles.

and i only write that, to show you ways how weapons were designed in other, balanced games. freespace 2 is very balanced when it comes to capships / fighters.

if you want to try it it comes free with FL mod manager just dont use it on the sever.