Pah. Using the full range is quite possible, with skill… and mouse control. (I occasionally kill things that are sufficiently far away that they’re not drawn at all, using the scanner and advanced targeter to aim.)
Sorry. I couldn't resist that joke. Fun with grammar!
Anyway, lasers do have a limit to their range of effectiveness. I was just reading an article about a real-world plane-based anti-missile laser in development. It was mentioned that the laser had a limited range of only about 200 nautical miles (and it was detailed how the designers went about increasing this range, but that's not important to my point).
I am not a number! I am a free man! ... Oh what the heck. You can call me Sics.
The ABL’s range is almost certainly limited primarily by atmospheric diffraction. In space, this is an insignificant issue for the first few hundred thousand km and the range of a beam weapon will depend on how collimated the beam is.
The ABL’s range is almost certainly limited primarily by atmospheric diffraction. In space, this is an insignificant issue for the first few hundred thousand km and the range of a beam weapon will depend on how collimated the beam is.
Indeed. Which means the damage inflicted would decline by the square of the distance. The flip side is that the challenge of aiming would remain constant regardless of distance.
Hey, now there's an idea. Wouldn't it make sense if laser strength decreased as one's ship approached its overhaul period? Recollimating the lasers sounds like the sort of thing that would be done at that time. And it would provide greater incentive to get that maintenance done.
Attacking a Navigational Beacon is illegal. Police are on their way.
In space, this is an insignificant issue for the first few hundred thousand km and the range of a beam weapon will depend on how collimated the beam is.
Ooh, we've actually got a data point for this. The Mars Laser Communication Demonstration will shine a laser back at us from about 344 million kilometers, at which point the spread will be one quarter the size of the USA.
"Do not look at Mars with your remaining good eye."
Attacking a Navigational Beacon is illegal. Police are on their way.
If lasers would diminish in quality, all equipment should be included and overhaul would increase with additional EQ...
(this may already happen as overhaul is calculated as a fraction of ship value, and I believe EQ is included in this sum)
If equipment would begin to fail, I'd want to choose for specific tuning sessions for say the ECM or the injectors.
I could live without a fuelscoop, but mising one or both of those could make spacelife hazardous!
Only if you have infinitely precise eyesight and controls.
Don't you?
But seriously, the beam size is expanding proportional to the distance. So difficulty should remain constant, no? That is, assuming one can see the ship at all.
Hey, it just occured to me that the Mars Laser Communication Demonstration will actually have to shot-lead their laser! If it takes roughly 8 minutes for the beam to reach Earth, aiming at the desired quadrant of the US would guarantee a miss. Yes, you can 'dodge' a laser.
Attacking a Navigational Beacon is illegal. Police are on their way.
