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Burning Lazer
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7/11/2012 2:35:50 PM,
Old PRE-ALPHA topic
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109 months ago by
voodoo6358
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Right now, a regular person can amke a burn mark of steel with a laser amde from home. in a lab working on fusion, they have a laser that can almsot start it. in 70 years, we will have lasers powerful enough to cut through steel. why not add them here? All you'd need is a good tracking system and a good reactor in your ship :)
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109 months ago by
mrcalhou
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I believe you mean "laser."
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109 months ago by
TiberiuS
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Even today you can cut through steel and other materials with a laser... o_O
One of the reasons we don't have many laser-weapons today is because of the energy supply that is needed. Same thing applys to mobile robot-tanks or exosuits and so on... the main problem is always the energy supply.
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109 months ago by
Eversor
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The problematic parts about a laser is, that it needs significant power output to be of any use, getting the power isn't that hard, but it will generate a lot of heat and the generator and cooling unit needed is big and bulky, unless you use chemical lasers, but those have other problems. The third problem is focusing the laser on the target. We do have working lasers today that are getting mature enough for military use, but they are still big (one of them is mounted in a Boeing 747). We could have laser weapons, but only on big ships, not small fighters.
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109 months ago by
muggsbud
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well, we do have lasers today, and yes they have been weaponized. The thing is if you want one on a ship smaller than a boeing747, it's not going to be practical. you would need to get to and stay withing 3-4 feet of your enemy for long periods of time. in 70 years this may jump drastically, but they wouldn't work how you think they would. first, the light would only show up if you were looking 'down the barrel' or at the target. second it would take a long time to actually cut anything.
but it would be fun to etch your name on an enemy ship.
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109 months ago by
Xephelium
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I agree, space lasers as a weapon are impractical. The benefits of using a laser are nulled.
Firstly, lasers are used in manufacturing because when they cut things, they cut smooth edges. If you saw through metal, it leaves a rough, jagged edge. In a battle, you don't care if the holes you are poking in your enemy's ship are rough edged or smooth edged.
Secondly, lasers are not very powerful. Yeah, if you link up twenty car batteries you get a powerful laser, but I could shoot a gun and get the same effect with much less volume. However, even a large laser wouldn't cut through metal instantaneously like a matter weapon. It would need to be phenomenally huge to reach science fiction standards, and a phenomenally huge matter weapon would be much better (like a railgun).
Thirdly, everything moves quickly in space. If you shoot a gun in space, the bullet will maintain the same velocity for a very, very, very long time. Unless you are sniping things from a very, very, very long way away, lasers don't make much difference.
However, I just said that weaponizing lasers is impractical. Lasers as countermeasures are actually practical. A laser is the only thing that can shoot a missile out of the air, and present laser tests have destroyed artillery shells in mid air. Maybe lasers can be mounted on motherships to shoot down incoming missiles.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tactical_High_Energy_Laser
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109 months ago by
voodoo6358
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My idea jsut got owned, but the anti missle thing could work :)
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109 months ago by
ZevN47
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Well... you have a valid point Xephilum but I reject your conclusion on the grounds that lasers are indeed awesome AND that the (American) military seems to have an interest in lasers. I know this because they are melting holes in pickup trucks from a AC-130 with them... I think partially why they are interested is that they travel at the speed of light (sorry Lucas) and Its pretty hard to get the hell outta the way of something that is going at the speed of light. (particularly if it isn't aimed by humans rather it would be aimed by a computer tracking system)
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109 months ago by
TiberiuS
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Idea for game design:
There could be 2 different types of lasers.
Pulse Lasers (fire short, but more powerful pulses with a short recharge time, e.g. 0.5 - 1.0s)
Beam Lasers (fire persistent laserbeams with low damage)
Advantage of a laser weapon (as it has been said before) is, that it's an instant hit weapon. You have a target in your crosshairs (even if it's fast moving in whatever distance), you fire and you hit.
Another advantage is that lasers don't need ammo in order to work, but they need energy. So better not use it when your ship is already on low energy. ;)
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LOCKED
7/11/2012 2:35:50 PM,
Old PRE-ALPHA topic
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