Author Topic: Suggestion: Plasma Carronade technology: Direct feed  (Read 4408 times)

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Offline Platys51 (OP)

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Suggestion: Plasma Carronade technology: Direct feed
« on: December 28, 2020, 01:22:03 PM »
Plasma carronades, with little to no choices while designing them are being left behind as other weapons gain more uniqueness and design choices such as Lances, Spinal Lasers or upcoming reduced railguns.

And so, I propose unique tech for plasma carronade, which is by now least interesting weapon system with only capacitor and size techs.

Direct feed would do simple thing. Connect plasma weapon directly to reactor. Effect? Set recharge rate of plasma weapon to 5s. No matter the size or recharge tech.

Ofcourse, to offset this MASSIVE buff, weapon would have lowered HTK, higher power draw and upon being destroyed, said weapon would explode with force of reactor of size equal to its power draw. Extra cost and size would probably have to be added too to not make carronades too OP.

Anyway, details would be up to Steve. Im just throwing out nice idea I had. What I would like from this tech is lower tech navies with extra dakka up close. And a LOT of explosions. On both sides.
« Last Edit: December 28, 2020, 01:23:40 PM by Platys51 »
 
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Offline nuclearslurpee

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Re: Suggestion: Plasma Carronade technology: Direct feed
« Reply #1 on: December 29, 2020, 12:48:44 AM »
It's an interesting idea, however in practical terms I wonder what this actually does to make a plasma carronade a better weapon than it already is? Presently the plasma carronade essentially works like this: if your guns are in range of the target, you win. The check on it is very short range that cannot be improved with technology (although this does make them a very cheap weapon type to research). So realistically, what does making them even deadlier at that short range actually do to make them a more viable or interesting weapon? At the end of the day, if your guns are in range of the target, you still win.

Comparing to the other special mounts, I think there's a clear requirement that a special mount gives its weapon(s) an additional capability that supplements its existing role rather than merely enhancing it. Laser spinal mounts for example provide a supplemental long-range and alpha strike capability to the reliable DPS of standard lasers; turrets for lasers/Gauss/mesons give them point defense capability (in the case of mesons admittedly this is a VB6 holdover); the particle lance turns a decent mid-range sniper weapon into a surgical annihilation device with its unique damage profile; and in 1.13 railguns will gain a reduced shot capability making them a strong fighter weapon in addition to their existing all-around capabilities.

So for a unique plasma mounting option we need something that will give plasma cannons a new dimension or capability, not just more dakka. Given the existing limitations of plasma, this is a difficult order to fill (R.I.P. plasma torpedoes), but a necessary one.

(Incidentally, HP microwaves also suffer from this problem, although I've suggested the idea of mounting HPMs into a missile to produce an EMP bomb elsewhere. That said, their utility is so narrow and specific that it's hard to conceive of a meaningful alternative mounting for them as a beam gun weapon.)
 

Offline sadoeconomist

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Re: Suggestion: Plasma Carronade technology: Direct feed
« Reply #2 on: December 29, 2020, 04:02:55 AM »
I thought looking at the historical usage of carronades might bring up some interesting suggestions for plasma carronades, I agree that they could use some more options as well.  Let's check Wikipedia.
Quote
Its main function was to serve as a powerful, short-range, anti-ship and anti-crew weapon.
Maybe an option that makes carronades cause extra crew/marine deaths? Like Neutron Blasters in MoO.  Radioactive space grapeshot.  That could make them especially useful as a complement for a boarding-focused strategy, which already synergizes with the carronade's point-blank range.  Though, it already sort of does this with its likelihood to cause shock damage.
Quote
The carronade was designed as a short-range naval weapon with a low muzzle velocity for merchant ships
Simplifying gunnery for comparatively untrained merchant seamen in both aiming and reloading was part of the rationale for the gun
Carronades initially became popular on British merchant ships during the American Revolutionary War.
A lightweight gun that needed only a small gun crew and was devastating at short range was well suited to defending merchant ships against French and American privateers.
So. . . maybe commercial ships should be allowed to use plasma carronades? Would that break the game too much? Maybe only let them be used in self-only final defensive fire against boarding attempts?
Quote
The smaller carronades served in three roles.  First, they often constituted the entire armament of unrated vessels.  For instance, the Ballahoo- and Cuckoo-class schooners were armed only with four 12-pounder carronades.  Second, gunboats such as those that the Americans deployed at the Battle of Lake Borgne often had one large 18-, 24-, or 32-pounder gun forward on a pivot, and two smaller carronades aft.  Finally, larger vessels carried a few 12-, 18-, or 24-pounders to arm their ship's boats—cutters, pinnaces, launches, barges, and the like—to give them firepower for boat actions.
Hmm.  Plasma carronades already seem pretty well suited to arming FACs and gunboat/corvette-sized ships.  I don't think they'd need any more special options to be a valid choice for that role.
 
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Offline Gyrfalcon

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Re: Suggestion: Plasma Carronade technology: Direct feed
« Reply #3 on: December 29, 2020, 05:11:42 AM »
Commercial ships with carronades would break the game pretty badly. It’s easy to build commercial shipyards to ludicrous sizes, and plasma carronades aren’t that big, so it’d be easy to slather a commercial ship in armor and carronades and use it as a warp point assault ship.
 
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Offline liveware

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Re: Suggestion: Plasma Carronade technology: Direct feed
« Reply #4 on: December 29, 2020, 06:59:32 AM »
I quite liked a suggestion posted in another thread:

Add an option to allow for carronades to be equipped to ships which do not have reactors but require reactor-less carronade ships to 'recharge' from a ship that has a large enough reactor and hanger. Each recharge would allow the reactor-less carronade ship to fire a limited number of carronade shots (maybe 1-5?) and then it would have to return to base for another recharge. This would make carronades very unique and allow them to maintain their existing advantages while providing potential boost to reactor-less carronade ships which could leverage their reactor space for more armor/engines/weapons/etc...
Open the pod-bay doors HAL...
 

Offline kilo

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Re: Suggestion: Plasma Carronade technology: Direct feed
« Reply #5 on: December 29, 2020, 07:25:38 AM »
On wooden ships the carronade was  used on the upper decks it had a short barrel but a high caliber. This allowed the nations to place short ranged and inaccurate guns in positions, which could otherwise only be used for small guns. How could that be done in Aurora?

If I was Steve, I would introduce a modifier like the one we have with Gauss or will get with Rails. Gauss can trade mass vs accuracy, Rails can trade RoF vs tonnage. Maybe Steve could give Plasma a mass vs range modifier. This would give players the opportunity to build smaller guns with higher damage falloff or larger guns with a smaller one.
 
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Offline Droll

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Re: Suggestion: Plasma Carronade technology: Direct feed
« Reply #6 on: December 29, 2020, 10:58:40 AM »
I quite liked a suggestion posted in another thread:

Add an option to allow for carronades to be equipped to ships which do not have reactors but require reactor-less carronade ships to 'recharge' from a ship that has a large enough reactor and hanger. Each recharge would allow the reactor-less carronade ship to fire a limited number of carronade shots (maybe 1-5?) and then it would have to return to base for another recharge. This would make carronades very unique and allow them to maintain their existing advantages while providing potential boost to reactor-less carronade ships which could leverage their reactor space for more armor/engines/weapons/etc...

The problem I see with this is that reactors don't actually take up that much space to begin with.
 

Offline liveware

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Re: Suggestion: Plasma Carronade technology: Direct feed
« Reply #7 on: December 29, 2020, 12:10:09 PM »
I quite liked a suggestion posted in another thread:

Add an option to allow for carronades to be equipped to ships which do not have reactors but require reactor-less carronade ships to 'recharge' from a ship that has a large enough reactor and hanger. Each recharge would allow the reactor-less carronade ship to fire a limited number of carronade shots (maybe 1-5?) and then it would have to return to base for another recharge. This would make carronades very unique and allow them to maintain their existing advantages while providing potential boost to reactor-less carronade ships which could leverage their reactor space for more armor/engines/weapons/etc...

The problem I see with this is that reactors don't actually take up that much space to begin with.

This is true. Some further refinement is probably in order. Maybe some adjustment to the recharge rate of normal carronades is in order... they are already very potent alpha strike weapons. I'm not sure how useful they are in their current state in terms of pure DPS as I've always considered them an alpha strike weapon.
Open the pod-bay doors HAL...
 
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Offline Droll

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Re: Suggestion: Plasma Carronade technology: Direct feed
« Reply #8 on: December 29, 2020, 12:21:43 PM »
I quite liked a suggestion posted in another thread:

Add an option to allow for carronades to be equipped to ships which do not have reactors but require reactor-less carronade ships to 'recharge' from a ship that has a large enough reactor and hanger. Each recharge would allow the reactor-less carronade ship to fire a limited number of carronade shots (maybe 1-5?) and then it would have to return to base for another recharge. This would make carronades very unique and allow them to maintain their existing advantages while providing potential boost to reactor-less carronade ships which could leverage their reactor space for more armor/engines/weapons/etc...

The problem I see with this is that reactors don't actually take up that much space to begin with.

This is true. Some further refinement is probably in order. Maybe some adjustment to the recharge rate of normal carronades is in order... they are already very potent alpha strike weapons. I'm not sure how useful they are in their current state in terms of pure DPS as I've always considered them an alpha strike weapon.

I personally like carronades as an STO weapon - cheapness means that the STO formation doesn't take a decade plus STOs are likely to fire at ships that are close to the planet anyways.
And then the alpha strike is quite good when you need to one-shot a troop transport
 

Offline xenoscepter

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Re: Suggestion: Plasma Carronade technology: Direct feed
« Reply #9 on: December 29, 2020, 02:55:37 PM »
 - I've made quite a few suggestions on HPM, Mesons and Plasma Carronades. The one I like for Carronades is the use of fuel rather than power to fire them. These could end up having reduced mass as well, allowing them to be more useful on Fighters and FACs as well as making them an attractive "weapon of last resort" or Anti-Fuel Based Carronade option for bigger ships.

 - Perhaps a "Plasma Array" for mounting options? It 's a battery of 'em and fires 2-4 shots rather than one, but weighs more and use more power. Basically the reduced railgun, but in reverse. Perhaps an Extended Range version that doubles the size and quadruples the power requirements, but triples the range and doubles the damage per shot? Maybe have the ability to combine them for a truly massive weapon?

 - I don't know, I'm just spitballin' here. :P
 
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Offline Migi

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Re: Suggestion: Plasma Carronade technology: Direct feed
« Reply #10 on: December 29, 2020, 04:41:06 PM »
My 2 cents:
1) make plasma cannons more effective against shields because there isn't a dedicated anti-shield weapon yet.
 1a) straight 2x damage vs shields because it's simple
 1b) +1 damage at base, can be increased by +1 per level by tech. This would make different permutations possible.
 1c) plasma damage increases shield recharge time by +1 seconds per point of damage, which wears off after 1 hour
 

Offline Needler

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Re: Suggestion: Plasma Carronade technology: Direct feed
« Reply #11 on: December 29, 2020, 04:53:05 PM »
Maybe a Anti-Missile function similar to the EDM from Starfire? Kicks out a Plasma Cloud that Fools the missile into Detonating early or late.  Maybe 15-20% chance Self Only, with a 1-3% at Fleet Level.  With the salvo sizes Ive been seeing in game even this would help. 
 

Offline TheTalkingMeowth

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Re: Suggestion: Plasma Carronade technology: Direct feed
« Reply #12 on: December 29, 2020, 05:08:00 PM »
My 2 cents:
1) make plasma cannons more effective against shields because there isn't a dedicated anti-shield weapon yet.
 1a) straight 2x damage vs shields because it's simple
 1b) +1 damage at base, can be increased by +1 per level by tech. This would make different permutations possible.
 1c) plasma damage increases shield recharge time by +1 seconds per point of damage, which wears off after 1 hour
HPM do triple damage versus shields.
 

Offline Bluebreaker

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Re: Suggestion: Plasma Carronade technology: Direct feed
« Reply #13 on: December 29, 2020, 06:15:00 PM »
My 2 cents:
1) make plasma cannons more effective against shields because there isn't a dedicated anti-shield weapon yet.
 1a) straight 2x damage vs shields because it's simple
 1b) +1 damage at base, can be increased by +1 per level by tech. This would make different permutations possible.
 1c) plasma damage increases shield recharge time by +1 seconds per point of damage, which wears off after 1 hour
HPM do triple damage versus shields.
Yes triple sounds impresive, until you remember HPM always do 1 damage.
 
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Offline Migi

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Re: Suggestion: Plasma Carronade technology: Direct feed
« Reply #14 on: December 29, 2020, 06:31:34 PM »
My 2 cents:
1) make plasma cannons more effective against shields because there isn't a dedicated anti-shield weapon yet.
 1a) straight 2x damage vs shields because it's simple
 1b) +1 damage at base, can be increased by +1 per level by tech. This would make different permutations possible.
 1c) plasma damage increases shield recharge time by +1 seconds per point of damage, which wears off after 1 hour
HPM do triple damage versus shields.
Yes triple sounds impresive, until you remember HPM always do 1 damage.
Larger HPM should do more damage as a matter of principal, you use more power, you get more damage.
Even +1 damage per caliber would make them a proper anti-shield weapon. (And make my argument for plasma becoming anti-shield redundant).