Oolite Bulletins

Hi All,

I have read that you can't change laser functionality regarding temperature etc but would it be possible to reroute energy from one to another, so for example if you had 4 fitted you could transfer energy from any of them to one i.e the one your currently using.

Just a thought

Hi Hawker, and welcome.
In a word, No, because energy is not the problem. Lasers overheat and this cannot be avoided or circumvented. The knack is to learn to use them wisely so they don't overheat.

Are you confusing the 'temperature' of the laser with the 'energy'? The laser stops firing because it over-heats, not because it has run out of energy.

If you could transfer the energy of all four lasers into one, then you would just get one laser that over-heats four times as fast - and burns out on the first shot. But lasers don't work like that.

Or do you mean "swivel the other three lasers to fire in the same direction" so the output of all four lasers are directed at the same target? (Because you can't do that either as at v1.76.) If that were possible, it would drain your energy 4 times as fast and every mis-shot would waste an awful lot of energy.

Edit: Ninja'd ... by a pumpkin.

Running with your suggestion, hawker, how about the ultimate in laser re-routing: a one-shot-kill laser?

Idea 1: A brand new, non-Elite, Oolite-only, Capital Laser?
Based on the suggestion by maaarcooose for charging up lasers. A very expensive laser that is even more powerful than the Military Laser. A huge Military Laser for capital ships, hence Capital Ship Laser or Capital Laser.

In one shot it fires an intense a bolt of photons which consumes all the available energy in the energy units. (In a capital ship it can call on monstrous power sources, in anything smaller it uses up whatever energy there is).

It will need to cool down just like any other laser, and the other lasers will be unavailable until some energy has recharged.

Same range as the military laser.

I assume, would need the core game to be changed to allow this 4th type of laser. It would be available for use by any ship / station / structure that can take it and would be, say, 10 times the energy of a Military Laser.

Idea 2: A Laser Over-Charge
An equipment device which permits the desperate pilot to dump the entire energy bank content through an existing laser, forcing it to overload.

A not-terribly-expensive piece of equipment to buy (but expensive to use).

In one shot it makes the laser fire an intense a bolt of photons which consumes all the available energy in the energy units.

In so doing, it destroys the weapon that was over-charged. The weapon mount will become empty although the piece of equipment will still be intact.

Any other lasers will be available once some energy has recharged.

Same range as the laser that was mounted at the time. Will work with pulse and mining lasers.

I presume this could be simulated by an OXP:
- using the shift-n malarkey prepare the OverCharge Device. When it is fired:
- calculate the energy in the energy units and convert it to an equivalent laser damage;
- determine if there is a target in the sights;
- deduct from the target the energy fired;
- set the energy unit value to zero;
- remove the weapon mounting that was fired.

Problem: game spoiling
Provoking anything carrying either of these would mean game-wrecking instant death to a human player. Pirates or Police having access to them would be no fun.

<sighs despairingly>

Hi SandJ,

My thoughts are a little simpler .. possibly !!

OK you have 4 lasers fitted with independent temperatures, your using the front and it reaches max temperature so the re-router would kick in and transfer energy from a different laser fitted.

This laser also heats up and when at max temp it either re-routes energy back to the selected laser or perhaps to another if the temp is lower than the one your using.

As its the laser hardware that heats up creating the energy, re-routing it would be possible and allowing you to better use that hardware you have fitted when required.

When they are all maxed out .. then you run

Hawker wrote:

OK you have 4 lasers fitted with independent temperatures, your using the front and it reaches max temperature so the re-router would kick in and transfer energy from a different laser fitted.

But it has reached maximum temperature, so it has cut out. Transferring energy to it makes no difference (they get their energy from a shared reserve anyway).

Do you mean "transfer the heat of this laser to another one so that this one cools down"?

Do you mean:
"separate the laser generation component from the laser gun barrel so that you can create the laser beam in any laser generator, and fire it from any laser gun barrel"?

So, you could buy 20 more laser generators and by the time you have heated them all up, the first one has cooled down?

I think the answer will be "it is the laser gun barrel that over-heats".

I guess if they use shared energy creation it would not work .. but if each laser fitted creates its own energy to release, this energy could be transferred to another mounted laser and released on this one.

You still have the same amount of lasers.

but yes your probably right ... damn it

The real problem regarding laser overheating is that laser overheating is a Good Thing. Attempts to circumvent it risk breaking the game by making combat far too easy. This then results in calls to make enemies harder. Fighting harder enemies means that lasers overheat, even with laser cooling devices, which means ...

The best suggestion I've seen concerning laser overheating is to reduce the speed at which beam lasers overheat: at the moment, they overheat at exactly the same rate as military lasers, and upgrading is a no-brainer once you have the cash. It would be interesting to see if allowing longer bursts of fire from a shorter-range weapon like the beam laser would make it more of a decision as to which sort of laser to fit. It might also, arguably, make adapting to the military laser more of a challenge for players: if they'd spent time learning to fight with a beam laser, it could be a shock to the system to learn how to handle a military laser.

An alternative laser can be found here

Okti wrote:

An alternative laser can be found here

A somewhat 'chatty' laser it is too!

Smivs .. i replied to your post earlier but it didnt post for some reason .. anyway in that post i mentioned that this would aid when fighting with the galactic navy in large thargoid battles, not soley so you can make it easier but mainly so you can delve right in amongst them for longer.

At the moment i just use the cloak until the lasers cool down .. same result just maybe more immersive !!

How about that one

It doesn't sound like a bad idea to have a sort of "capital ship" laser. I had suggested previously that lasers absorb a much higher amount of energy, in order to give ships with more energy banks the ability to fire more often than smaller ships, thus simulating the greater destructive power of a larger ship.
Welcome, Hawker, by the way (although I am new here myself)

Okti wrote:

How about that one

Oh my.