Oolite Bulletins

Tivva wrote:

After a few previous encounters I quite fancy a Rattlecutter....
Yeah, its those 4 front lasers...
Anyone happened to come across one for sale or even flown one?


probably not available to players...

If it were, you would not have fun: Only one front laser is supported for playerships. You would miss the side and aft mounts and become very unhappy.

Screet

Screet wrote:

If it were, you would not have fun: Only one front laser is supported for playerships. You would miss the side and aft mounts and become very unhappy.
Screet

Oh, I don't know
Just imagine the fun of 4 front mounted Mil lasers...

BTW have you seen one for sale?

Tivva wrote:

Oh, I don't know Just imagine the fun of 4 front mounted Mil lasers...
BTW have you seen one for sale?

No, although I've been playing very much, I only did encounter them in combat. Same applies for Basilsik and Hydras.

I can imagine it could be fun to have multiple lasers into one direction, but the question is how this could be balanced, IF the coders would att support for that.

Ohhhhh....and I had to cheat a little. Did increase the chance of the Caduceus for shipyards temporarily and continued my search until I went happy...couldn't transfer some of my eq (like NEU) and could not instantly buy other missing eq...but I have to say that it looks in the game MUCH better than on the screenshots! The side turrets...I'm not sure yet, but they appear to be extremely more powerful than those turrets from the GriffBoa. Probably something with the speed of the shots or their amount. I had quite some trouble eating, as I got the ship while my food was cooking and then I couldn't properly assign my attention to any of those tasks (eating, flying, reading while out of fuel in the lane)...think I'm in love with that ship!

Screet

Screet wrote:

couldn't transfer some of my eq (like NEU)

Didn't look well enough. NEU has been transferred, but still much EQ missing, which might be a good thing to balance it. Mil Shield Enhancement wasn't for sale there...

Screet

Screet
I downloaded the Caddy oxp too but i've not found one for sale yet....
Came across the Constrictor the other night & couldn't resist.
The shield refresh rate of 16 is sooo uber...

If I find a caddy for sale I'll switch- just for a comparison
Maybe the cargo load will swing it

Downside of having multiple forward-firing weapons is that they don't converge, so if you are firing at a distant target (like you should with Mili-lasers) only 1 or 2 beams will hit, meanwhile the temperature would jump up super fast as all four lasers would be overloading the cooling system.

Captain Hesperus

Captain Hesperus wrote:

Downside of having multiple forward-firing weapons is that they don't converge, so if you are firing at a distant target (like you should with Mili-lasers) only 1 or 2 beams will hit, meanwhile the temperature would jump up super fast as all four lasers would be overloading the cooling system.

Good point. A Merlin (or Kestrel) cannot be hit by NPCs with multiple lasers. They just miss it on all sides.

Screet

Captain Hesperus wrote:

Downside of having multiple forward-firing weapons is that they don't converge, so if you are firing at a distant target (like you should with Mili-lasers) only 1 or 2 beams will hit, meanwhile the temperature would jump up super fast as all four lasers would be overloading the cooling system.

Captain Hesperus

I thought each laser had its own cooling system.

While beam convergence (a.k.a. harmonizing ones guns when in a WW-II fighter plane) for a particular distance may not be feasible in Oolite, it may not be necessary or even desireable.

Some points for consideration...

-Beams that converge also diverge beyond the point of convergence.
The divergence could prevent hits at long ranges.

-During a dogfight, having four forward mounted lasers increases the opportinity to hit a target. If one or two beams miss because the target is only partially within the line(s) of fire, then you're still glad to have scored some damage on a manuverable target.

-During a strafing run on a larger ship, having four forward mounted lasers hit simultaneously will increase the damage done in during a window of opportunity.

-The quicker the target it destroyed, the sooner you can stop firing and allow the lasers to cool.

If each laser has its own cooling system, and if each laser could be set to fire in sequence (instead of all forward mounted lasers firing simultaneously) then a pull of the trigger could create the effect of one laser firing for four times the duration of time normally possible.

CptnEcho wrote:

If each laser has its own cooling system, and if each laser could be set to fire in sequence (instead of all forward mounted lasers firing simultaneously) then a pull of the trigger could create the effect of one laser firing for four times the duration of time normally possible.

That would be a continuous beam! If you use all four lasers on a CM3 by turning, the first laser is already cool when you switch back. In most occasions, it's enough to go "forward, starbord, aft, forward", because you also need to re-aim after switching views. You could still use port instead of 2nd forward in order to have it cool for shooting additional targets. Thus, I'm pretty sure, 4 front lasers consecutive fired would result in continuous fire. It could be tough for targeting though, as you get a little bit different offset with each laser...

Screet

What about... (drum roll please) adjustable convergence point! The lasers could be swivel-mounted to aim at the target, within a certain range of the crosshairs center.
No, kidding. That would be too much like self-aiming lasers. Wait, it would be self aiming lasers!

Just throwing in my 0.2 credits here, but several Oolite (Elite) ships have lasers that are self aiming to a degree.

Take the example of the Krait, which mounts twin lasers at the 'wing tips' (quoting the E:FFE2 manual.) Given that it's wing span of 90ft (quoting original manual measuments). Assuming that in a combat situation where its chasing a Fer-De-Lance, with a 'wingspan' of 45ft. If the beams are fixed to travel parallel to the Krait's z-axis, then the beams would miss the Fer-De-Lance by 22.5ft on either side. We know that it doesn't happen.

Therefore, logic dictates that the lasers focusing systems are mounted on a internal gymbal system tied to the ship's close range scanner. The scanner calculates the range of the target, and the laser focus system adjusts the beam cross over point to that range. I would also assume the designers would set the ship's laser targeting system to infinity if there is nothing in the short range kill zone.

I've personally always thought that all the lasers in Elite were in fact multi-barrelled lower power systems that use a combined focused beam cross-over point to max the destructive power. (Additive matching photonic wave cycles for maximum ampitude and destructive power.)

Well that my 0.2cr.

As for the original thread, I currently consider the Wolf mk II pretty choice.

KZ9999 wrote:

If the beams are fixed to travel parallel to the Krait's z-axis, then the beams would miss the Fer-De-Lance by 22.5ft on either side. We know that it doesn't happen.

Wrong. Exactly that does happen. Suit yourself in a Merlin and find out! Multi-Laser ships will not be able to hit you anymore.

KZ9999 wrote:

As for the original thread, I currently consider the Wolf mk II pretty choice.

...which has multiple lasers and thus cannot hit a Merlin, too Luckily, player ships always only have single lasers, thus if you fly a Wolf, you'll be able to hit a Merlin!

Screet

Hi all,
My favourite ship is the one that hangs together under intesive hostilities and keeps my ass from feezing in the cold cold hands of space,
At the moment it's a super cobra, but have others that I play with too.

Yes officer that is his debris.. Yes officer I did blast him.. He tried to sell me one of they furry mouths!.. (OK sir you may go)

My favourite ship remains the Cobra Mk3. Especially in this variety..

I challenge you to come up with something that looks better and can fulfill as many roles.

Best wishes,
Oscar

ovvldc wrote:

My favourite ship remains the Cobra Mk3. Especially in this variety..

I challenge you to come up with something that looks better and can fulfill as many roles.

Best wishes,
Oscar

Ok Oscar I'll see your cm3 & raise you this...

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