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So how would lasers on spaceships really work again?
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Ghoest
#1 - 2013-01-25 04:56:15 UTC
http://gizmodo.com/5978740/us-military-to-install-laser-turrets-in-combat-airplanes

I guess they really are viable.

Wherever You Went - Here You Are
Tauranon
Weeesearch
CAStabouts
#2 - 2013-01-25 05:07:41 UTC
What kind of game do you usually play here ?

Oh we got both kinds, we got science and fiction.
Hrothgar Nilsson
#3 - 2013-01-25 05:21:49 UTC
The question has never been whether lasers themselves are viable as weapons, the bottleneck to viability has been the energy requirement/source. Laser cutters used in manufacturing for cutting stuff like sheet metal have been around for decades that could easily cut someone in half in a millisecond, they just weighed several tons.

I've... seen things you people wouldn't believe...

Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion...
Barrogh Habalu
Imperial Shipment
Amarr Empire
#4 - 2013-01-25 07:14:32 UTC  |  Edited by: Barrogh Habalu
Hrothgar Nilsson wrote:
The question has never been whether lasers themselves are viable as weapons, the bottleneck to viability has been the energy requirement/source. Laser cutters used in manufacturing for cutting stuff like sheet metal have been around for decades that could easily cut someone in half in a millisecond, they just weighed several tons.

Another problem is also related to energy, but more with efficiency in mind. Even today most of gain medium materials will emit more energy into immediate surroundings (laser device itself) as heat than as EM emission of laser beam. Meaning that you must have terribly effective heat sinks in order to deal more damage to target than to yourself. I think that issue is still in place, but since you know where to apply cooling while aiming at vulnerable spots, you can actually use it as a weapon (and not to mention that spreaded heating of your device is much easier to deal with than focused one of target surface that may actually cause explosion if power and focusing are sufficient). And hey, using lasers in vacuum is so much easier than in dispersing and absorbing atmosphere...

Future of T3 cruisers - multi-tool they aspired to be instead of sledgehammer they have become
Sekhmet Snotra
Rattium Incorporated
#5 - 2013-01-25 09:49:59 UTC
Barrogh Habalu wrote:
Hrothgar Nilsson wrote:
The question has never been whether lasers themselves are viable as weapons, the bottleneck to viability has been the energy requirement/source. Laser cutters used in manufacturing for cutting stuff like sheet metal have been around for decades that could easily cut someone in half in a millisecond, they just weighed several tons.

Another problem is also related to energy, but more with efficiency in mind. Even today most of gain medium materials will emit more energy into immediate surroundings (laser device itself) as heat than as EM emission of laser beam. Meaning that you must have terribly effective heat sinks in order to deal more damage to target than to yourself. I think that issue is still in place, but since you know where to apply cooling while aiming at vulnerable spots, you can actually use it as a weapon (and not to mention that spreaded heating of your device is much easier to deal with than focused one of target surface that may actually cause explosion if power and focusing are sufficient). And hey, using lasers in vacuum is so much easier than in dispersing and absorbing atmosphere...


Or solve the medium heating problem using an FEL (Free Electron Laser) but then have some efficiency losses in the particle accelerator. FELs can also be tuned to the exact frequency which your mirrors reflect with greatest efficiency, so you can aim them with mirrors instead of turning the laser itself, thereby greatly increasing tracking.
Katran Luftschreck
Royal Ammatar Engineering Corps
#6 - 2013-01-25 10:07:15 UTC
Hrothgar Nilsson wrote:
The question has never been whether lasers themselves are viable as weapons, the bottleneck to viability has been the energy requirement/source.


We Amarr know this all too well, sadly.

CCP: "Let make all their ships armor tank!"
Players: "You mean active tank?"
CCP: "Exactly!"
Players: "Which is to say, capacitor tank?"
CCP: "Exactly! And then we'll give them the biggest cap sucking weapons in the game too!"
Players: "And this is a good idea... why exactly?"
CCP: "Because screw those guys."
Players: *sigh*

http://youtu.be/t0q2F8NsYQ0
Bastion Arzi
Ministry of War
Amarr Empire
#7 - 2013-01-25 10:31:08 UTC
Katran Luftschreck wrote:
Hrothgar Nilsson wrote:
The question has never been whether lasers themselves are viable as weapons, the bottleneck to viability has been the energy requirement/source.


We Amarr know this all too well, sadly.

CCP: "Let make all their ships armor tank!"
Players: "You mean active tank?"
CCP: "Exactly!"
Players: "Which is to say, capacitor tank?"
CCP: "Exactly! And then we'll give them the biggest cap sucking weapons in the game too!"
Players: "And this is a good idea... why exactly?"
CCP: "Because screw those guys."
Players: *sigh*


lol
Zimmy Zeta
Perkone
Caldari State
#8 - 2013-01-25 10:47:02 UTC  |  Edited by: Zimmy Zeta
Katran Luftschreck wrote:
Hrothgar Nilsson wrote:
The question has never been whether lasers themselves are viable as weapons, the bottleneck to viability has been the energy requirement/source.


We Amarr know this all too well, sadly.

CCP: "Let make all their ships armor tank!"
Players: "You mean active tank?"
CCP: "Exactly!"
Players: "Which is to say, capacitor tank?"
CCP: "Exactly! And then we'll give them the biggest cap sucking weapons in the game too!
And let them specialize in Cap warfare, their capacitors could also run several neuts, too, against their Minmatar enemies that are almost completely cap-independent"
Players: "And this is a good idea... why exactly?"
CCP: "Because screw those guys."
Players: *sigh*



FIFY

I'd like to apologize for the poor quality of the post above and sincerely hope you didn't waste your time reading it. Yes, I do feel bad about it.
stoicfaux
#9 - 2013-01-25 12:06:54 UTC
Geez, even in real life Defender missiles are passé at best...

Pon Farr Memorial: once every 7 years, all the carebears in high-sec must PvP or they will be temp-banned.
Tauranon
Weeesearch
CAStabouts
#10 - 2013-01-25 13:59:14 UTC
Katran Luftschreck wrote:
Hrothgar Nilsson wrote:
The question has never been whether lasers themselves are viable as weapons, the bottleneck to viability has been the energy requirement/source.


We Amarr know this all too well, sadly.

CCP: "Let make all their ships armor tank!"
Players: "You mean active tank?"
CCP: "Exactly!"
Players: "Which is to say, capacitor tank?"
CCP: "Exactly! And then we'll give them the biggest cap sucking weapons in the game too!"
Players: "And this is a good idea... why exactly?"
CCP: "Because screw those guys."
Players: *sigh*


Its good to see that the amarr race balance guy was co-operating with the hurricane balance guy to ensure that the utility highs for winning cap wars whilst doing good dps and dictating range didn't go on the same cap inde.... oh wait.
Abrazzar
Vardaugas Family
#11 - 2013-01-25 14:30:52 UTC
More important question is what properties a real laser would require to make it visible from a third perspective. What frequency or what temperature would it require to excite air particles into emitting light?

I don't want laser weapons without the light show.

Sovereignty and Population

New Mining Mechanics
silens vesica
Corsair Cartel
#12 - 2013-01-25 14:37:51 UTC
Abrazzar wrote:
More important question is what properties a real laser would require to make it visible from a third perspective. What frequency or what temperature would it require to excite air particles into emitting light?

I don't want laser weapons without the light show.

Then what you really want are particle beams. Lasers only show visible if they're in the visible frequences and have interacted with something that scatters the beam. Particle beams, OTOH, are made of, well... energetic particles. Which particles have a non-zero chance of changing energy states en-route to the target, thus giving off photons which would be visible to an external observer.

Thus: Lightshow. Cool

Tell someone you love them today, because life is short. But scream it at them in Esperanto, because life is also terrifying and confusing.

Didn't vote? Then you voted for NulBloc
Jenn aSide
Soul Machines
The Initiative.
#13 - 2013-01-25 14:46:09 UTC
Ghoest wrote:
http://gizmodo.com/5978740/us-military-to-install-laser-turrets-in-combat-airplanes

I guess they really are viable.


Good, now we can officially Change the name of my country to "The United States of AMARRica" and be done with it.
silens vesica
Corsair Cartel
#14 - 2013-01-25 14:53:55 UTC
Failing particle beams, you could always go for directed plasma. OK, so thats only loosely-directed plasma used as a rocket engine. But slap some elctromagnetic collimators on that beam, and you've got a plasma lance.

Tell someone you love them today, because life is short. But scream it at them in Esperanto, because life is also terrifying and confusing.

Didn't vote? Then you voted for NulBloc
Barrogh Habalu
Imperial Shipment
Amarr Empire
#15 - 2013-01-25 15:36:17 UTC
silens vesica wrote:
Failing particle beams, you could always go for directed plasma. OK, so thats only loosely-directed plasma used as a rocket engine. But slap some elctromagnetic collimators on that beam, and you've got a plasma lance.

Meltaguns for life?..

Ahem, sorry, couldn't resist.

Future of T3 cruisers - multi-tool they aspired to be instead of sledgehammer they have become
silens vesica
Corsair Cartel
#16 - 2013-01-25 17:58:21 UTC
Lol
Industrial-sized Meltaguns. :D

Tell someone you love them today, because life is short. But scream it at them in Esperanto, because life is also terrifying and confusing.

Didn't vote? Then you voted for NulBloc
Ris Dnalor
Tribal Liberation Force
Minmatar Republic
#17 - 2013-01-27 03:24:55 UTC
Ghoest wrote:
http://gizmodo.com/5978740/us-military-to-install-laser-turrets-in-combat-airplanes

I guess they really are viable.



Eve needs point-defense lazors!! Twisted

https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=118961

EvE = Everybody Vs. Everybody

  • Qolde
Katran Luftschreck
Royal Ammatar Engineering Corps
#18 - 2013-01-27 09:07:36 UTC
Zimmy Zeta wrote:
CCP: "Exactly! And then we'll give them the biggest cap sucking weapons in the game too!
And let them specialize in Cap warfare, their capacitors could also run several neuts, too, against their Minmatar enemies that are almost completely cap-independent"


And being almost completely cap-independent simply means that they can run even more cap boosters (and thus shield/armor repair modules) effectively.

http://youtu.be/t0q2F8NsYQ0
Barrogh Habalu
Imperial Shipment
Amarr Empire
#19 - 2013-01-27 15:24:51 UTC
Ris Dnalor wrote:
Eve needs point-defense lazors!! Twisted

Yup, defender missiles should have turret analogues! Wait...

Future of T3 cruisers - multi-tool they aspired to be instead of sledgehammer they have become
Celly Smunt
Neutin Local LLC
#20 - 2013-01-27 15:38:07 UTC
Katran Luftschreck wrote:
Hrothgar Nilsson wrote:
The question has never been whether lasers themselves are viable as weapons, the bottleneck to viability has been the energy requirement/source.


We Amarr know this all too well, sadly.

CCP: "Let make all their ships armor tank!"
Players: "You mean active tank?"
CCP: "Exactly!"
Players: "Which is to say, capacitor tank?"
CCP: "Exactly! And then we'll give them the biggest cap sucking weapons in the game too!"
Players: "And this is a good idea... why exactly?"
CCP: "Because screw those guys."
Players: *sigh*



LOL...
my Hat's off to you Ma'am...
+100

o/
Celly

PS. don't forget the new AARs as those will help us too.. *wink*

Don't mistake fact for arrogance, supposition for fact, or disagreement for dismissal. Perception is unique in that it can be shared or singular. Run with the pack if you wish, but think for yourself. A sandwich can be a great motivator.
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