Guided Railguns

[welchbloke]

Again, what drag.  What is source.

Once in the possession of sufficient quantities of the minerals, the scientists discovered the minerals somehow intruded into the space-time of the alternate dimension and that spacecraft built from these elements would be affected by some of the physical laws of that universe. They theorized that this would allow spacecraft to turn in space like ships in water but it would also quickly slow them to a stop if their engines ceased operating.

Wiki

I think that's his drag, which makes some sense to me. You'd have to fire your space bullet at incredible speeds to have it get anywhere, and I'd expect it to lose damage in the long run due to lessening speed unless it's explosive or something unusual. So basically normal railguns with a guidance package and possible boosting of the damage dealt at closer ranges. :shrug:

That particular wiki page was not written by Steve. I'm not saying it is wrong, I'm just saying it may not be 100% accurate.

I wrote the bulk of that page; however, I actaully cut and pasted from one of Steve's responses to a thread.  I didn't change the thrust of Steve's comments.  That is not to say that Steve may not have changed his mind by now  

[UnLimiTeD]

I'm definetly in the camp that not everything should be available to the player at game start.

That, sadly, is not even an argument.
I think it's bad that players have access to elusive stuff like Mesons, but advanced technology or PTs or the like need you to find them first.
Why can't you start with some of that, but drastically lack in something else.
Why is the only effective choice you have to play with human technology, or at least point of view, no matter what you name your race?
I think a race starting in a nebula should not have access to missile engine research, why would they ever think of it?

BTT:

While were at it, weird hybrid weapons, a Beam weapon that has a limited amount of shots before Hangar Reload, like Box launchers.
Also, could someone sum up what is the actual gameplay sense of this suggestion?
A beam weapon with long range accuracy?
A new weapon of the PT kind?
Beams requiring Ammo?

[nichaey (OP)]

Wiki

Thank you for thinking to look there. I was thinking it was from one of Steve's fictions, which would have been a bitch to find

Also, could someone sum up what is the actual gameplay sense of this suggestion?
A beam weapon with long range accuracy?
A new weapon of the PT kind?
Beams requiring Ammo?

I was thinking more along the lines of cheap to manufacture, less effective missiles (especially at  range). The launcher mechanisms would take up more space then missile launchers, but the ordinance would take up less room, so you could store more.

If used in an ADC of similar size to a missile ADC it would
-have smaller volleys (due to increased launcher size)
-be able to intercept missiles at greater ranges (though with much less accuracy due to decreased speed)
-carry slightly more irdinance

[UnLimiTeD]

Wouldn't that just be standard missiles, but with a double size launcher that increases ordnance speed by a bit, to a limit relative to the bonus?

Like, "Accelerating Missile Launcher", +30000km/s speed, up to 90000km/s speed.  -3000km/s per 5 seconds.

Could be done with just making a special launcher, but that would probably end in a new techline again...  

[Charlie Beeler]

I wrote the bulk of that page; however, I actaully cut and pasted from one of Steve's responses to a thread.  I didn't change the thrust of Steve's comments.  That is not to say that Steve may not have changed his mind by now  

That feels like it came out of the Preservation campaigns.

[Charlie Beeler]

I'm definetly in the camp that not everything should be available to the player at game start.

That, sadly, is not even an argument.

True, it's a commentary reply to the wish of having all tech paths available to the player from the start.  Had it been an arguement I'd have detailed why I disagree.  

I think it's bad that players have access to elusive stuff like Mesons, but advanced technology or PTs or the like need you to find them first.

Part of this goes back to when Steve first introduced the Precursers to the game.  He wanted certain tech lines that were Precurser race specific and players would only have access by either salvaging a Precurser wreck of finding it in a ruin.  

Why can't you start with some of that, but drastically lack in something else.

Steve's answer in the past has been that it's easier to code.  He may change his mind in the future when it's a feature he wants.

Why is the only effective choice you have to play with human technology, or at least point of view, no matter what you name your race?

See above

I think a race starting in a nebula should not have access to missile engine research, why would they ever think of it?

See above

BTT:

While were at it, weird hybrid weapons, a Beam weapon that has a limited amount of shots before Hangar Reload, like Box launchers.

I think what your looking for here is an external means of recharging a beams capacitor.  This is one I've considered suggesting a few times since it would expand the ability of mounting beams in fighters and gunboats

Also, could someone sum up what is the actual gameplay sense of this suggestion?

Is this linked to the item above or those below?

A beam weapon with long range accuracy?

Been covered in detail recently

A new weapon of the PT kind?

Isn't that what this topic is covering?

Beams requiring Ammo?

Such as??

[UnLimiTeD]

The last 3 questions were about what the thread was meant to suggest.
Suggesting guided railguns is just the surface, as he answered later, it was basically a request for smaller missiles at the cost of bigger launchers, effectively, that is.

[spoiler:3jogoomd]I think it would be a possibility codewise to have a checkbox that when checked has the base unlock for all current weapons cost 5k, and missiles and invader/precurser-tech 10k and advanced weapons 25k with tech points automatically spend and all other weapons are unavailable until found.[/spoiler:3jogoomd]
forget that.
An SM function to allow players to create "Playercontrolled Precursors" would do that a lot easier.

But yes, thats what I meant with ammo for beam weapons.
Basically, like Missiles, I'd like a 33% (50x reload), 20% (2x Reload, 2 shots before Hangar/maintenance reload) tech line for Lasers and Microwaves.
It's already there, would be two more levels of the same line, wouldn't it?

And the idea of Missile Accelerators doesn't sound bad either, would allow for short range missiles with enormous payloads and good hit ratio, but doesn't do much on long ranges.

[welchbloke]

I wrote the bulk of that page; however, I actaully cut and pasted from one of Steve's responses to a thread.  I didn't change the thrust of Steve's comments.  That is not to say that Steve may not have changed his mind by now  

That feels like it came out of the Preservation campaigns.

Sounds about right.  I think that was when Steve established a lot of the TN technobabble.

[symon]

Maybe what would resolve this issue without damage to anyone's  needs is to divide technologies into 'lines' and allow selection of the tech lines the player (and standard NPCs?) have access to on game setup.

For example, there would be the 'Base' line that everyone would get, and in addition assorted 'advanced/divergent' tech lines that at present are only acquired by salvage/discovery.

The advantage is that if you wanted to play a remnant of the Precursors fighting their way back, you could do. In theory, several tech options could be developed, such as 'ramming tech' and the desire/will to use it.

[Beersatron]

Maybe what would resolve this issue without damage to anyone's  needs is to divide technologies into 'lines' and allow selection of the tech lines the player (and standard NPCs?) have access to on game setup.

For example, there would be the 'Base' line that everyone would get, and in addition assorted 'advanced/divergent' tech lines that at present are only acquired by salvage/discovery.

The advantage is that if you wanted to play a remnant of the Precursors fighting their way back, you could do. In theory, several tech options could be developed, such as 'ramming tech' and the desire/will to use it.

I think that ultimately Steve designs Aurora to be a sandbox, so he generally lets everybody do everything with as few restrictions as possible.

But, he wants to present people with a challenge therefore he creates these standalone NPRs that have certain behaviors and techs. You can get the techs from interaction with the NPR but you have to 'earn' it.

End of the day, just ask Steve nicely to enable the new tech to be researched. Reason he hasn't responded yet is because he is off having too much fun Vegas

[UnLimiTeD]

Just ask him to add an SM function to unlock it, like you had it captured, and then you can research it normally
Less work, and in RP campaigns you use those functions anyways.

[Morrigi]

Just ask him to add an SM function to unlock it, like you had it captured, and then you can research it normally
Less work, and in RP campaigns you use those functions anyways.

Yes please, I want my plasma torpedos. >.>