Building PDC bases

[AtomikKrab (OP)]

I am trying to construct beam based PDCs but I have no real idea what they need and other issues

1. do they need fuel storage for the reactors or is it based off the planetary supply?

2. how exactly do the targetting arrays work, if I put them all on one array will I get a focused fire like I want for my giant ones, or is there a limit per array,

3. do I need crew quarters? I am assuming I do

[Erik L]

I am trying to construct beam based PDCs but I have no real idea what they need and other issues

1. do they need fuel storage for the reactors or is it based off the planetary supply?

2. how exactly do the targetting arrays work, if I put them all on one array will I get a focused fire like I want for my giant ones, or is there a limit per array,

3. do I need crew quarters? I am assuming I do

1. Fuel only is for shields and engines. Reactors do not use sorium-based fuel.
2. Each fire control can only target 1 thing at a time. So if you have 10 lasers connected to 1 fire control, all 10 would shoot at the target.
3. Yes.

[AtomikKrab (OP)]

thanks

[boggo2300]

AAAND the big killer, if theres an atmosphere, Meson's are the only Beam weapon worth the time to install, none of the others actually will do damage (lasers will on a thin enough atmosphere, but not on a 1 atm one)

Matt

[Magnnus]

AAAND the big killer, if theres an atmosphere, Meson's are the only Beam weapon worth the time to install, none of the others actually will do damage (lasers will on a thin enough atmosphere, but not on a 1 atm one)

Matt

Aww crap... What about for point-defence?

[Charlie Beeler]

AAAND the big killer, if theres an atmosphere, Meson's are the only Beam weapon worth the time to install, none of the others actually will do damage (lasers will on a thin enough atmosphere, but not on a 1 atm one)

Matt

Aww crap... What about for point-defence?

Same...  The only beam that is not effected by atmosphere is meson.  

Missile PD (ie counter missiles) work just fine.

[Andrew]

I have tried putting Beam armed bases on the moons of the planet I want to defend , while the missile armed bases are under the protection of the atmosphere. Problem is that the moons are usually too easy to bypass.
You can shoot through an atmosphere with other energy weapons as well as lasers but only if it is less than 1 atmosphere pressure , I have used railguns and plasma carronades for orbital bombardment of enemy troops.

[Steve Walmsley]

AAAND the big killer, if theres an atmosphere, Meson's are the only Beam weapon worth the time to install, none of the others actually will do damage (lasers will on a thin enough atmosphere, but not on a 1 atm one)

Matt

Aww crap... What about for point-defence?

The best bet for point defence of planets is orbital point defence bases. On automated point blank mode they will protect the planet against missile attack. If you have enough maintenance facilities on the planet below you won't have any maintenance failures. Unlike PDCs, you can also tow them to another planet if necessary.

Steve

[Magnnus]

Is being able to use lasers on planets with or without an atmosphere of 1 a boolean? Or does it's effectiveness scale as the atmospheric pressure goes up?

[sloanjh]

Is being able to use lasers on planets with or without an atmosphere of 1 a boolean? Or does it's effectiveness scale as the atmospheric pressure goes up?

IIRC, damage is multiplied by (1-pressure_expressed_in_units_of_1_earth_atmosphere), rounded down to the nearest integer.

So a strength-2 hit on a world with 0.66 pressure would be 1.32 rounded down to 1; with .49 pressure it would be .98 rounded down to 0.

I'm fairly certain about the multiplier, but don't remember if it affects damage or something else.

You should be able to do a search in the forum for "atmosphere" and "beam" and turn something up....  (Haven't tried it, just guessing.)

John

[sloanjh]

Is being able to use lasers on planets with or without an atmosphere of 1 a boolean? Or does it's effectiveness scale as the atmospheric pressure goes up?

IIRC, damage is multiplied by (1-pressure_expressed_in_units_of_1_earth_atmosphere), rounded down to the nearest integer.

So a strength-2 hit on a world with 0.66 pressure would be 1.32 rounded down to 1; with .49 pressure it would be .98 rounded down to 0.

I'm fairly certain about the multiplier, but don't remember if it affects damage or something else.

You should be able to do a search in the forum for "atmosphere" and "beam" and turn something up....  (Haven't tried it, just guessing.)

John

Yep - found this thread by searching for "atmosphere beam" - viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1550&p=14046&hilit=atmosphere+beam#p14046  I realized after doing the search that it's usually a good idea to filter on only posts from *Steve* (he has two accounts) to cut down on noise

And reading the post made me realize my examples were backwards - .66 pressure results in 2*(1-.66) = .68 which rounds to zero, while .49 results in 2*(1-.49) = 1.02 which rounds to 1.

John