to the person thinking plasma and disruptors are time of pulse
yes plasma is a type of puls but disruptos are still a form of laser
plasma shouldnt even be classifies by laser since it is a make up of both particle and energy but no laser in it.
the plasma is super heated and lauched and contained by a magnetic feild (i know my dad has a small one in his office) on sufficent impact the magnetic feild is disrupted causing an explosion of energy and mass often messing with the gravity part of a ship or planet. if the impact is not sufficient it will burn thru the armor and explode when the magnetic feild disperses. sheilds should have the greatest basic effect but in essence the armor of the ship should define how much damage is taken so in closeing the plasma should get its own class.



this is raistlin36 who knows everything about anything that has to do with space battle.

you can have wave wepons in space. but they need to either be a high form of energy or contained by a magnetic feild (plamsa) for example im writing a book where the super capital class battle cruiser (titan x) has a main cannon. it is a combination of 3 types of wepons laser particle and wave. it uses the laser to do initial damage to the shields and burn through any weaker ships while the particle blasts trhough any armors or anything else for that matter. but the most destructive is the wave which on this ship cannont be stopped by any form of mass. the only ship in my story to ever survive the main cannon of this ship used a magnetic concentrated beam to greatly lessen the effects of the cannon but the ship still took massive damage and was forced to retreat. wave wepons on their own (sound for example) cannont exsist in space unless it has some form of medium.


raistlin36 the person who knows everything about anything that has to do with space battle

this is raistlin36 who knows everything about anything that has to do with space battle.

I am willing to take this as gospel, for the moment! LOL

*jaw drops as he reads posts since his*

Sonics can't work in a vacuum, simple as that. What the frack.

However, you can make yourself a Microwave deathwave gun and fire it at an enemy ship. Currently, all Microwave weapons can do is utterly destroy electronics - not unlike Ion weapons in Star Wars or any old EMP.

EDIT: I don't say waves won't work in space, just sonics won't work. There is a very big difference.

Stormbringer, sound is vibration through a medium

Ahhh, yes, which came first, the chicken or the egg. Okay, let me get this straight. Vibrations are the result of the wave hitting said molecules. Sound is sound is sound. If there is nothing there to resonate the waves hitting it, then there could be no "vibration" per se. But you cannot say that the sound wave isn't there. Just because something isn't vibrating doesn't mean there is no sound wave present. Maybe the molecular resonance needs a different frequency with which to allow vibrations of said molecules. I don't claim to know all but I do delve into more radical aspects of quantum physics and more and more researchers are agreeing that the universe is an electrically charged place. Electricity can due amazing things besides power our comps. Things are being rewritten daily with regards to this.

Theoretically the lasers in-game are already wave weapons. They fire a beam at red light wavelengths...

EDIT:

Just because something isn't vibrating doesn't mean there is no sound wave present

Maybe I'm not understanding you, but...er...yes, by definition of "sound wave," that's exactly what it means. Sound waves are vibration in a medium. Without a medium, they can't exist. Thus no sonic weapons in space.

... the anatomy of a sound wave is molecules vibrating and 'hitting' other molecules. There are not enough molecules in space to perpetuate the sound wave. Thus, no sound. There are enough molecules for other forms of waves, though. Just sound is so 'weak' that it can't work in the sparseness of space.

the anatomy of a sound wave is molecules vibrating and 'hitting' other molecules.

Okay then, what is making them vibrate? Hmm? What was that? LOL. This is way too deep for in here so forgive me, but I love the responses. I've been taught this (and yes, it does seem like a contradiction): Energy is everything. Don't define it. Just accept it. Energy can radiate in different wavelengths, no? Strong or weak signals isn't even factored yet. Space is not a void as one would think. Is there a vacuum present? Yes. But just like air, just because you can't see the molecules doesn't mean they aren't there. So is the same for the "void" or dark matter, or whatever that great amount of "nothing" stuff is out there. Now, a laser excites molecules, generating heat, generating knives through butter, lol. It's that energy's effects on the molecules. Same for sound. As the molecules become excited they produce vibrations instead of heat. Different form of energy, different results. I am not saying that you could "hear" sounds in space, nor am I denying it. Do any of you truly know from firsthand experience? Don't always trust what you're told in the books people. My longwinded point is, just because it is classified as sonic in nature, it still has it's base, which is energy. What is pure energy? Who knows. I think maybe Tesla knew.

Well the setup we have now is a rock-paper-scissor deal with a little wiggle room. I guess its not a pure R-P-S in that mass drivers > missles, missles > lasers, lasers > mass drivers is not actually the case. But you get what I'm saying. So adding another type of weapon would throw that off a bit.

The only other weapon group I could think of is drones or pods. And this plays to the pro-"Spacecraft Carrier" group out there. Ships could be equiped with drones/robotic pods that are launched from bays and swarm an enemy ship. But still, like I said I don't think that a 4th weapon type is all that necessary.

The molecules that 'vibrate' are the ones producing the sound wave. Like your vocal chords. They are made up of molecules (GASP!). Or a crystal emitter used in an offensive sonic oscillation device. Once you have that initial vibrator that impacts with particles, then the 'chain reaction' of particles hitting other particles starts, forming a wave in the particle 'bath' that is the atmosphere.

You can have shockwaves, you can have gravitic waves, you can have varying wavelengths of light...

But space is very sparse in matter, as I said. There's just not enough of it for sound to work. Waves don't just keep going- especially if there's nothing to interact with. Can you hear someone on the other side of the planet without the assistance of technology? No, you can't. There's a limit to how far a wave can reach. In space, soundwaves have a practically nullified reach. It'd barely leave the emitter, whatever it may be. You'd need to form a stream of particles, then send sonic waves through it... which is likely more trouble than its worth. Best to just intensify that particle stream into something lethal, or rely on another form of waves that are far more effective in space.

Electricity in our powerlines and even in nature is basically just a string of electrons. Which orbit molecules.

E=MC^2. Energy is a factor of Matter at speed. It transfers more efficiently between the two states as it approaches the speed of light squared (impossible to reach C, let alone C^2). This is evident in Kinetic Energy, which is basically just the 'Energy' of Matter in motion. As soon as that Matter impacts with another Matter, it transfers some of that Energy to the other object, causing it to be sent further along. There is also Potential Energy, which is the 'possible' energy of Matter, which exists while it is at rest. However, matter is rarely truly at rest. Solid matter, for instance, is constantly vibrating, despite its solid nature.

However, solid matter doesn't produce waves on its own. Gravity helps produce waves - especially with respect to the gravity of the Moon and Sun acting upon the looser molecules of our planet so that water and air currents exist. Without the Moon, we wouldn't have waves on our beaches. At least not with the regularity or intensity that they tend to be. Glacial melting causes waves, as well- by the large bits melting and cracks forming that send chunks crashing into the ocean. The impact into the 'medium' that is the ocean produces a Tsunami - a devastating form of oceanic wave. This does not produce as much devastation in the atmosphere as it does via the water. The higher volume is what causes this.

Even if there is theoretically enough matter in space to perpetuate the sound wave vibrations, there's just such sparseness of the kind of matter that sound works with for anything involving sound to be effective.

EDIT:
"Collapsed stars generate black holes. Collapsed stars are matter. My left foot is also matter. Therefore my left food can generate black holes. You've never witnessed my left foot generating black holes, because none of you have witnessed my feet. But Tesla witnessed my feet."

star wars style weapons will be in the Star Wars mod. Probably not the 1st release, but perhaps the 2nd once we get balance issues and cost issues figured out... We're completly modifying the weapons, not just changing names.

Three classes: (Since there is no way to include Ion Cannons)

Capital Energy Weapons (Defended by Shield)
Fighter Energy Weapons (Defended by Armor)
Projectile Weapons (Defended by ECM)

The fighter weapons will be cheaper, and less efficient than capital weapons to prevent people from just piling fighter weapons on their capital ships.

There will not be many Armor techs, to make it more difficult to defend from fighters. And we're working on a way to make Starfighters safer from capital ship fire, though it won't be pretty. lol.

Collapsed stars generate black holes. Collapsed stars are matter. My left foot is also matter. Therefore my left food can generate black holes. You've never witnessed my left foot generating black holes, because none of you have witnessed my feet. But Tesla witnessed my feet."

Dude, I am LMAO so hard right now, at work, even co workers who read this one enjoyed it! OMFG!!!! It would be so cool to challenge your intellect at a good game or two of something, lord knows what! PaladinStorm is my idol!!!! But again, everyone seems to divert from the source of sound, energy!!!! Sound may come from the atomic vibrations but what is making them vibe, eh? Think about that one! Wow. My feet are now registered weapons of the black hole generating kind!!!! Cool!

Stormbringer, seriously, give it up. You're completely wrong.

If I clonked you on the head with a mallet, it would generate sound. However, this is nothing to do with energy, this is the vibration.

Therefore energy exists, sound doesn't in a vacuum. Stop arguing when you're out and out wrong. Sound = vibration, NOT energy. Nothing to vibrate = no sound.

Don't make me come over there with a mallet.

On that note: That's a weapon I would like in DA. Beams, Missiles, Mass Drivers, and Giant fricken mallets. For the win.

Perhaps also cheese mallets.

Hitting someone on the head with a mallet to produce sound waves has nothing to do with energy?

???

In order to produce the vibration in the first place there must be a transfer of energy, which is imparted by you swinging the mallet and the mallet striking an object.

It has everything to do with energy.

I love it when people on this site act like they are scientists, lasers and beams, DON'T EXIST ( well exept for laser pointers and such), it all started with Star Trek and Star Wars, and now people act like its reality, it's all shiny looking special effects in movies and games meant to make people look at them and say "oooh pretty".

hate the way mass driver weapons look. I mean think of a gun; it's a mass driver. In the game, mass driver shots should travel FAST, like the PROJECTILE it... its not a floaty, slower-than-missile-blob. I hope they fix this in DA, cause I'm seriously on the fence about the expansion.

Amen

I love it when people on this site act like they are scientists, lasers and beams, DON'T EXIST ( well exept for laser pointers and such), it all started with Star Trek and Star Wars, and now people act like its reality, it's all shiny looking special effects in movies and games meant to make people look at them and say "oooh pretty".

Current military lasers are merely missile defences. However, the way they successfully act as missile defences is in a destructive means. The power necessary to be a proper offensive weapon (and not just fry people's eyes and cook off a rocket's fuel or warhead) is currently not within our current level of knowledge with energy production.

Scientists do, however, know it is possible with enough power. It's just not very efficient or portable right now.

"Improbable, unlikely, but never impossible."

EDIT: Also, Scientists have given the thumbs-up with Star Trek, from what I've heard. Only a few things they have a gripe with (dilithium, etc), but they see the logic in most of the principles behind the technology proposed.

Yes. The problem with lasers et al isn't that they wouldn't work militarily; the issue is whether they can match or exceed more conventional weaponry at with reasonable energy expenditure. The reason modern militarys fire projectiles instead of lasers is that they're currently the most effective way to store energy and deliver it to a target.

It may not always be that way, though:

Introducing the Particle Beam Weapon

Still worth a read after all these years.

A cool way to have a different style of gun would be a tech for each that would give you a weapon that's very cheap for its damage but big on size. This would allow you to make use of all the extra space you sometimes have on a ship that you don't want to get too expensive.

These could be your "pulsed" weapons, and they'd come somewhere near the end of each branch.

How do you 'pulse' a missile?

As far as I know, the only pulse weapons are energy weapons, using a 'flickering flashlight' effect to keep damage constant over time and using less energy.

Feasibly, a 'pulse' mass driver might be a giant machine-gun, and 'pulsed' missiles might be guided rockets... But a rocket large enough to substantially damage another ship would have to be fired in massive numbers. I daresay you would save no space or money.

As a side note...

Lasers would fundamentally work in space. The reason they're ineffective in an atmosphere is because the innate particles in the air would interfere with the beam. Essentially, a smoke grenade would make them practically useless. They can't keep plasma hot enough, long enough in an atmosphere, unsupported by it's source that is, to be a useful weapon.

In space, a laser would be supremely effective. Heat is much easier to bleed off. The big limitation is power and quality.

I actually tend to classify the modern-day H&K G11 as a 'Pulse Rifle' ... Mostly because it fires quick bursts of fire - so quick that the human ear cannot tell it is actually a burst and not just a 'snap shot' of a single shell - in a pseudo-automatic manner. Fire burst, short pause, fire burst, etc... Without needing to release the trigger, if I remember the mechanics right.

I tend to see this as how the Pulse Rifles from the Aliens movie to work, as well, which is why I view the G11 as a Pulse Rifle.

I actually tend to classify the modern-day H&K G11 as a 'Pulse Rifle' ...

Yeah, that makes sense. The Russian AN-94 in it's two-round burst fire select uses a single action to fire both rounds. They leave the barrel one right behind the other.

I love it when people on this site act like they are scientists, lasers and beams, DON'T EXIST ( well exept for laser pointers and such), it all started with Star Trek and Star Wars, and now people act like its reality, it's all shiny looking special effects in movies and games meant to make people look at them and say "oooh pretty".

Actually, lasers DO exist (they are used for surgery, construction, etc.) AND they are being developed as weapons as we speak.

To all the armchair geniuses: SOUND CANNOT TRAVEL THROUGH SPACE...EVER. NEVER HAS, NEVER WILL.
When you hear sounds on Star Trek or Star Wars it's there to make the show more exiting (like the fake laughter most of you need to watch a dumb sit-com).

In order to produce the vibration in the first place there must be a transfer of energy, which is imparted by you swinging the mallet and the mallet striking an object. It has everything to do with energy.

Thank you very much. That was all I was saying. Wow, sometimes it's just too simple.

lasers and beams, DON'T EXIST ( well exept for laser pointers and such),

Then what do our armed forces have mounted on their tanks over in Iraq? Silly one.