You dont even need combustion in space to propel a rocket or missile, all you need is compressed air or some other compressed gas or liquid which can be released from a valve at the back end of the projectile.
Now, the problem with most of freelancer's energy weapons is that they wouldnt work with current technology, so a lot of it is left unexplained and we're just supposed to leave it to faith that it has some mechanical soundness behind it.
On to a few specifics:
Plasma Weapons
Plasma is the fourth state of matter, and is essentially a superheated/charged gas. When you take any gaseous matter (oxygen, helium, hydrogen, whatever) and excite the atoms within that matter enough, it becomes plasma.
It's based on the laws of conservation mostly, IMO. Matter cannot be created or destroyed, but when you force matter past it's boundaries, the protons, neutrons, and electrons seperate and what you end up with is raw energy in the form of heat and light.
So, for a plasma weapon to function you need a few key components:
1. A tank of some form to hold the base matter (like an oxygen tank)
2. An exciter chamber in which the matter being used is energized to the point of becoming a plasma
3. Some method of propelling the newly formed plasma at the enemy - this is the part which we cant really explain yet, as magnetic fields would not have enough effect on plasma to move it at high speeds, and just 'releasing' the plasma into space would cause it to disperse and fizz out too quickly to do any damage to anything other than your own ship.
Most sci-fi movies/games/etc. make use of 'force fields' to hold the plasma in a concentrated ball and move it to the target. However, there is no way to explain force field technology with terms used in modern science - it's something that to this point remains sci-fi-only.
But, assuming we can project a concentrated ball of plasma at an enemy ship, it basically serves as a heat source on the hull of the target. The energized atoms of the plasma collide with the atoms that make up the target ship's hull. The excess energy of the plasma is transferred into the hull's atoms, which cause them to break away from the surface they are attached to. This essentially disintegrates the hull of the enemy ship until the plasma's energy has been fully consumed.
I would think the 'sheild buster' weapons would use some type of EMP (electro-magnetic pulse).
The Paraylyzer missle and it's lesser cousins would have a small atomic device similar to a tactical neutron bomb. Hence, little physical damage and massive elecrto-mechanical disruption. Not only could we make such space weapons today, but it is very likely there are already EMP missles deployed as satellite killers. By someone:blink:
I think with the 'pulse' series of weapons, the name says it. A focused EMP beam that shreads any energy field it comes in contact with. A small controlled series of "almost critical mass" explosions. Today's physics and limitations do not allow such containment and focusing of energy, but theoreticaly it could be done. The trick is, it takes energy to contain energy. I'm pretty sure that after the Mr Fusion goes into widespread production, that will not be a prob.
<span style="font-family:Comic Sans Ms">I love the smell of carbon emissions in the morning...</span> <span style="font-family:Comic Sans Ms">It smells like... WIN! Or something.</span>
I would think the energy is drained from a internal reactor. Perhaps they get larger as the classes do.
Mini Nuclear - Fighter, ect ect...
However, I have always wanted for a Tactical class of weapons. I think of it this way. All the current weapons do is kill the shield, then hull. Say, however, You make a weapon do a far less amount of hull damage but it has pinpoint acuraccy enough to target devices and destroy them leaving the ship defenseless? I think this idea has been shot down before, because freelancer says you need to kill the shield first, then hull.
Particle weapons are simple, you're propelling solid matter (particles) at the target. Think of particle weapons like shotguns, the barrel is firing thousands of tiny little bullets, probably made of a superdense material like uranium, at the target.
Photon weapons are basically laser weapons, they're focusing photons (light, in layman's terms) at the target in order to create heat. When photons (light) collide with matter, their energy is transferred into that matter. In the same exact way a laser beam (which is actually a photon beam) burns through something, so does a photon cannon.
with the anti matter guns, this is how i see them working.
they take lots of energy, and convert it into antimatter using something. possibly gravity wells.(more or less localized miniture black holes.) and then hold it until its needed in magnetic holding fields made possible by superconducters.
when the fire command is given, the magnetic fields act as a coil gun. accelerating
the glob of anti matter to speeds needed for hitting anything. the glob of anti matter gains a layer of energy from the annhilation with the local steller meduim, keeping it from exploding.
and forgive my spelling will you, its one in the mourning.
' Wrote:<span style="font-family:Century Gothic">Violence is Golden</span>
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