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CTD - Laser Cannon


Ancalagon

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Here is a rough draft fot the laser cannon ctd

 

Despite the successes of the rail-cannon and the avalanche and stingray missiles, they both had major limitations. The cannon had extremley short range and limited accuracy, rendering it ineffective aganist medium and large UFOs. And both of the missile systems had low firing rates, and could carry very little amunition, while the missiles themselves were expensive and bulky, requiring large amounts of storage space.

 

After designing more and more powerful lasers, x-corps scientists realized that laser systems were becoming powerful enough to be practical in air to air combat due to their superb armor piercing capabilities. A powerful enough laser would be more powerful than a stingray, have more ammo than a cannon, and would be as accurate as an avalanche without the need for guidance systems.

 

The laser cannon stores hydrogen in a similar way to the avalanche and stingray missiles, however, rather than burning the hydrogen the laser cannon uses a stack of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) to directly produce electricity from the hydrogen. The electricity is then fed to the capacitors which eventually discharge and the lasers fire (see laser concept).In field trials, the laser cannon has been able to burn 5cm holes in 10cm steel plates. The only refueling the laser cannon needs is an electrical source and the very occasional dose of distilled water.

 

x-corps pilots and maitnence crews alike can't wait to install this new weapon system on all x-corps fighter craft.

 

If you don't know what a PEMFC is then click here.

A basic description is that it rips the electrons off of four hydrogens, runs them through a circut, and than forces the hydrogens to share their electrons with two oxygens. kinda mean to the hydrogens, huh? :devillaugh:

 

Should I explain this and/or the whole water electrolosis thing in the ctd?

 

Edit: and yes, I am accepting criticism, so please input. :master:

Edited by Ancalagon
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Well, I just used the vague idea of a hydrogen power cell in my missiles. (names will eventually be changed by the way)

 

After designing more and more powerful lasers, x-corps scientists realized that laser systems were becoming powerful

 

You may want to consider a synomim instead of that second powerful (effective, useful, ect.)

 

and would be as accurate as an avalanche without the need for guidance systems.

 

Well, correct me If im wrong, but wasn't the stingray in the original game more powerful and Accurate? iirc lasers were rather inaccurate in the original game. And they had less range than missiles. So you might want to emphazise on their limit less ammo more than superiority to missiles in damage, range, and accuracy.

I'm not trying to be mean here, but just trying to get it to make sense within the game. If we are going to make lasers better, than disregard what I said.

 

Overall though, it is pretty good. Needs fluff text and possibly a little bit of devlopement history.

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lasers should be changed to be way better. I Never ever used it, i just waited untill i got heavy plasma/clip, and then got the cannon.

 

Fluff text?

 

"Now...if only you could carry that thing into battle as a handheld weapon, Earth would already be saved!"

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Well, Come up with who said it!

 

And you might consider giving a little comprehensive history of how it was invented. Kind of like my missiles, but modified so that it is an xcom engineer/scientist telling you how it came to be.

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hmmm...k

 

"First we tried to take a heavy laser and dublicate everything by 4. The only thing we got out of that was a 4 times larger beam, but it did the same damage. Then we tried some of the techniques that were too heavy to be used for the current weapons, and the laser cannon was born. Now...if only you could carry that thing into the battle itself... Thats an idea... Maybe we'll try that next..." Mordon Leeman, head scientist

Edited by mikker
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We have indurstrial lasers right now then can burn far more then 5cm into steal in a few seconds yet a solid carbon plate would slow them right down.

 

Fluff txt is like I think

Field tests have shown the Laser Cannon to be extremly effective up to 5km range able to burn though a 35mm carbon heat shield in under a second. Unlike normal lasers which after initial reaction with a target get deflected and refracted by the vaporised meterials, it uses a puse fire which fires many hundreds of times in a single shot, both saving energy and helping to overcome the refraction propties of gasses, even the most dense and conducting materials will be damaged before the heat can dissipate though the object.

 

The cannons best points however are its Extremly high Damage/weight ratio, 0 kick back, no need for the pliot to caculate deflection angles and lead a target like with a cannon system since the Laser is near enouth as instant at such close ranges. The cannon has been unoffcialy labed the Zeus, as when fired it heats random air particles sufficently to create a lightingbolt effect that is rather impressive if one is not expecting it.

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sorry I'm responding so late but I got into a 4 hr game of diplomacy and spent two hours talking about another game of diplomacy.

 

Cpl. Facehugger:

After designing more and more powerful lasers, x-corps scientists realized that laser systems were becoming effective enough to be practical in air to air combat due to their superb armor piercing capabilities.

This is the new text

 

Well, correct me If im wrong, but wasn't the stingray in the original game more powerful and Accurate?

yeah, but than the player has no incentive to use them, unless they're worried about running out of stingrays during combat or the cost of stingrays, although I suppose they could use them as a replacement for the cannon, but then it turns into a small scout destroyer.

 

Also, there isn't much I can write for history since anything after 2013 is in control of the player, I'll work on it though

 

Mikker: good quotes, and I support you in your position on laser cannons(specifically that they should be stronger)

 

Firehawk:

We have indurstrial lasers right now then can burn far more then 5cm into steal in a few seconds yet a solid carbon plate would slow them right down.
Yeah but I thought the Laser only used short quick bursts.

Thanks for the advice all.

 

Edit: how about something vague, like:

In field tests the laser canon has shown that it can effectivley pierce alien armor for up to x kilometers.

Edited by Ancalagon
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I agree, lasers should be stronger. Didn't xcomutil make laser cannons longer range and more damage?

 

Great correction! Pretty good so far. Might need a little more fleshing out though...

 

Lasercannons had one place on my base: money. Thats it. Just make 40-50 and sell. Later I equipped all of my interceptors with plasma, so missiles become useless at that point.

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Here's a fluff text suggestion:

 

"Dr. Sklodowska locked herself in the lab for three days after word came back about what happened in Krakow, you know, just after that new guy from the RAF missed that big ship. Then this morning, I wake up with a hole a meter in diameter in the wall next to my bed. I could see clear to Hanger 1 through it!"

 

-The Captain

 

edit: typo

Edited by Cpt. Boxershorts
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Despite the successes of the rail-cannon and the xxxxx and yyyyy missiles, they both had major limitations. The cannon had extremley short range and limited accuracy, rendering it ineffective aganist medium and large UFOs. And both of the missile systems had low firing rates, and could carry very little amunition, while the missiles themselves were expensive and bulky, requiring large amounts of storage space.

 

After designing more and more powerful lasers, x-corps scientists realized that laser systems were becoming effective enough to be practical in air to air combat due to their superb armor piercing capabilities. A powerful enough laser would have more ammo than a cannon, be more powerful than a yyyyy, and would be as accurate as a one without the need for guidance systems, primarily because there is no need to lead the shot. "it's like shooting fish in a barrel compared to the old cannon system" says Jim Lumbeck, a pilot.

 

The laser cannon stores hydrogen in a similar way to the xxxxx and yyyyy missiles, however, rather than burning the hydrogen the laser cannon uses a stack fuel cells to directly produce electricity from the hydrogen. The electricity is then fed to the capacitors which eventually discharge and the lasers fire (see laser concept). In field trials, the laser cannon has been able to burn 10cm holes through 15cm steel plates with only a 25th of a second burst, and depending on the length of the burst, holes up to a meter wide have been burned out of steel. "Dr. Sklodowska locked herself in the lab for three days after word came back about what happened in Krakow, you know, just after that new guy from the RAF missed that big ship. Then this morning, I wake up with a hole a meter in diameter in the wall next to my bed. I could see clear to Hanger 1 through it!"- the base captain

 

x-corps pilots and maitnence crews alike can't wait to install this new weapon system on all x-corps fighter craft. However there have been complaints from x-com operatives. "first they make a laser more powerful than my gun, then they tell me I can't use it, what's the deal with that anyway?" -Sam Dodge

 

xxxxx=avalanche yyyyy=stingray (names are gonna be different right?)

Sam Dodge=soldier who took multiple plasma wounds and survived to colonel, then died from a mundane plasma shot -_-, not even a blaster bomb.

Jim Lumbeck=my parents friend who has a propeller plane

The base captain=Captain Boxershorts

Edited by Ancalagon
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  • 7 months later...

You might want to check the model ideas. If we keep the ideas about apollo diamonds used, i have an addition.

 

the leading russian eksperts from "Apollo Diamond Inc.", have agreed to almost freely help X-corps fighting aliens. On the end of the new laser cannons, will there now be issued diamond crystals to increase the power of the laserbeam tenfold! It is still continiual, so diamonds are acturly the only gem hard enough to be able to withstand that much temeprature, not to mention the high external powers doing flight. But apollos D-rated, IF diamonds (colorless, flewless, and purest) diamonds are strong enough to give os an adventage over the aliens.

 

For a long time, we have been unable to construct diamonds, the strongest materal know to man. Its slightly better then alien alloys, and it requires alot of advanced technology to acuire. Over the years, Apollo have made staggering advantages, from small gems, to more large complex structures used today. Roughly, it's quite similar to how the laser for the cannon is developed, but with quite a twist, plus the diamonds are formed at base. It's made by placing a small slice of diamond, put it on a pedal in a room with a tenth of earths normal atmosfare, and fill the room with methan and hydrogen. Warm it up to 1800 degree Celcius using mikrowaves, where elektrons will start breaking off. The methan and hydrogen will turn into a plasma cloud, which will rain carbon pieces onto the original dimond slice, which will grow larger. This operation, makes several millimeters a day with a single machine, and more can be used. This effect is a great way to increase the laser power.

 

The diamonds are normal used for jewelry and industry, but they decided to help us defend earth by lending us their highly sended machines, together with russian ekspert engineers to help us. Thease machines arn't that expensive, and energy requirement is patheticly low. But the outcome is wonderfull, and one of these perfect gems can cost about $57,000. But its much much cheaper to produce, as little as $5.

 

"You might think that it could be possible to make personal armor out of diamonds, as they are so cheap to make. We tried it too, but i doubt we should try again. You see, diamonds are almost superconductors. And plasma is heat-based. Lucky we tried it on a Junior soldier, and not an officer..." ~Gjernal Ferr, head tester of technology.

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It's a good idea, but that leads to the question: Why can't we make and sell diamonds for a profit, outside the laser cannon? It does explain why the laser cannon is the best money-maker in the game, though. (Or at least in UFO it was.)

 

Perhaps a better way to put it is:

 

...This operation, makes several millimeters a day with a single machine, and more can be used. This effect is a great way to increase the laser power.

 

The diamonds are normally used for jewelry and industrial applications, but Apollo Diamonds, Inc. has agreed to supply the required focusing diamonds, charging us only the cost of producing them. Unfortuantly, because of their specialized nature, these diamonds are only useful in the production of laser weapons at this time.

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I love the CTD. The bit about diamonds is really sweet.

 

Well, that explains the gigantic diamond necklace the commander wears.

And his diamond rings...

And his diamond glasses...

But it doesn't explain the feather in his hat. :)

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It's a good idea, but that leads to the question: Why can't we make and sell diamonds for a profit, outside the laser cannon?

I though about an answer to this, and found one. Apollo wants to keep the diamond prize UP, and they agree to help us with weapons, not financely. The Apollo Engineers have been instructed only to make weapon parts, and not any jewelry. Besides, once the market have got alot of diamonds, the prize will fall, meaning that Apollo will sign their own doom. So they run a risk by helping us.

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I dunno, I'd like to keep the diamond manufacturing off base, rather then these engineers taking over lab space for their diamond growing. *chuckles*

 

Besides, once I've captured a Sectoid leader and researched alien psionic skills, I'll just mind control the engineers into making me all the diamonds I need. ^_^

 

Humor aside, your answer works, but I don't you'd need to include it in the section on the diamond growth and use, I just tend to ask "Why" questions like that. *grins*

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hmm yes. What about "The making of the apollo diamonds are a tough guarded secret, especially their engineers, and diamond facilities. They have agreed to help us, if we wíll not do profit of it, and therefore corner the market. The Apollo engineers are also instructed only to create weaponry parts, which means the diamonds can't be misused." or something along those lines. Edited by mikker
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Hmm... the statement is a bit ambigious. Are the makers of Apollo Diamonds well-guarded, or the process of making them?

 

Perhaps:

 

"The making of the apollo diamonds is a well guarded secret, as are the locations of their diamond facilities. Apollo has agreed to help us, but only if we agree not to sell the diamonds outside of equipment. The Apollo engineers have been instructed to only create weaponry parts, which means the diamonds can't be misused."

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Just a quick note,

 

Superconductivity is an electrical phenomenon. Diamonds are electrical insulators (actually, they are semiconductors with a very large bandgap), but thermal conductors. I suggest that if the fluff text used above is included, replace the phrase "almost superconductors" with "good thermal conductors." It's a good piece of text, though, apart from that.

 

Is there a more up-to-date version of the article? It looks quite good so far, just wondering if Apollo diamonds and such were going to be incorporated.

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could they not use artificial diamonds?

they could be produced in base.

They are artificial diamonds. Apollo is making them for X-Corps, using their 100-million dollar equipment.

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I'll update the article soon, I haven't logged in for a while, sorry.

 

We can't put the appollo diamond thing in without permission. Also, by that time diamonds will be manufactured more several competing companies so there really isn't much of a reason to include specific names. If you want I can put in the name of a fake (or perhaps not yet existent) company.

 

Otherwise I will add a modified version of the diamond paragraph, thanks for bringing it up

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I'll update the article soon, I haven't logged in for a while, sorry.

 

We can't put the appollo diamond thing in without permission. Also, by that time diamonds will be manufactured more several competing companies so there really isn't much of a reason to include specific names. If you want I can put in the name of a fake (or perhaps not yet existent) company.

 

Otherwise I will add a modified version of the diamond paragraph, thanks for bringing it up

fine enough ^_^

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Sorry I didn't get this done sooner, I was playing some good old fashioned x-com

Here are more of my worries about your suggestions.

The concept of the diamond lenses is introduced in the laser rifle entry, so having an intro to it here would be redundant and make us look like idiots who can't keep track of what says what. I will not put any sort of introduction to diamond lenses into this ctd unless someone removes the diamond bit from the rifle ctd or assures me that it will be removed in short order. If you want the diamond bit in the rifle ctd, then put all the text you wrote up there. The Also, I changed some spellings and gramatical errors in the piece.

 

EDIT: woops forgot to include this:

Despite the successes of the rail-cannon and the xxxxx and yyyyy missiles, they both had major limitations. The cannon had extremely short range and limited accuracy, rendering it ineffective against medium and large UFOs. And both of the missile systems had low firing rates, and could carry very little ammunition, while the missiles themselves were expensive and bulky, requiring large amounts of storage space.

 

After designing more and more powerful lasers, x-corps scientists realized that laser systems were becoming effective enough to be practical in air to air combat due to their superb armor piercing capabilities. A powerful enough laser would have more ammo than a cannon, be more powerful than a yyyyy, and would be as accurate as a one without the need for guidance systems, primarily because there is no need to lead the shot. "it's like shooting fish in a barrel compared to the old cannon system" says Jim Lumbeck, a pilot.

 

One feature that was used in previous designs but proves most effective in heavy laser weaponry is the diamond lense focus system. In smaller laser weapons the change in size of the beam is negligible. On a larger laser, these diamond lenses are needed to focus the laser beam to pierce heat resistant UFO armor, and the radius of the laser can vary up to 5 centimeters. The system can also adjust for attack at different ranges.

 

The laser cannon stores hydrogen in a similar way to the xxxxx and yyyyy missiles, however, rather than burning the hydrogen the laser cannon uses a stack of fuel cells to directly produce electricity from the hydrogen. The electricity is then fed to the capacitors which eventually discharge and the lasers fire (see laser concept). In field trials, the laser cannon has been able to burn 10cm holes through 15cm steel plates with only a 25th of a second burst, and depending on the length of the burst, holes up to a meter wide have been burned out of steel. "Dr. Sklodowska locked herself in the lab for three days after word came back about what happened in Krakow, you know, just after that new guy from the RAF missed that big ship. Then this morning, I wake up with a hole a meter in diameter in the wall next to my bed. I could see clear to Hanger 1 through it!"- the base captain

 

x-corps pilots and maintenance crews alike can't wait to install this new weapon system on all x-corps fighter craft. However, there have been complaints from x-com operatives. "First they make a laser more powerful than my gun, then they tell me I can't use it, what's the deal with that anyway?" -Sam Dodge

 

EDIT: I'll fix the xxxxx yyyyy thing tommorrow

Edited by Ancalagon
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laser? ammo? laser don't have ammo, just big electrical 'zaps' or something, not clips! Plasma has clips.

A laser doesn't have solid ammo, but it's still limited by any energy cells in the craft. In this case, it's powered by extremely nice fuel cells. "Ammo" does seem like an odd word to use there, though.

 

I wonder if fuel cells will be enough to power a craft laser cannon? I guess it'd have alot of space for generators, and with less space for fuel storage. :huh?:

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I'll update the text entry at home, but regarding the redundant intro text about diamonds, I thought you can research any of the laser weapons first, or is it required you learn laser rifle before heavy laser? I'm 95% sure there is no required order after you get laser weapons.

 

If you feel the repetitive text is too long to have in each, we could just put it into the overall Laser Weapons entry instead.

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I'll update the text entry at home, but regarding the redundant intro text about diamonds, I thought you can research any of the laser weapons first, or is it required you learn laser rifle before heavy laser? I'm 95% sure there is no required order after you get laser weapons.

 

If you feel the repetitive text is too long to have in each, we could just put it into the overall Laser Weapons entry instead.

no. Its laser weapons, laser pistol, laser rffle, heavy laser, laser cannon/HWP, laser defenses. We might change this tho.

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It's not so much that it's too long, but having two, or four, explanations about the diamonds looks sloppy and would probably irritate the player. It would probably be best to include it once in either the laser weapons or laser rifle entry (IIRC laser pistols don't have the feature), depending on whether you must research them in order or not. Of course, I have nothing against mentioning the diamonds in each one. It just seems like a paragraph about diamonds in each ctd would be annoying to read.

 

EDIT: And mikker is right, it is pistol, rifle, heavy weapon, ship weapon, and defense system in that order.

Edited by Ancalagon
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  • 9 months later...

Looks like we will need to do some consistency checks between all the laser entries.

 

The Laser Rifle is very technical, almost to the point of being out of place when compared to the other laser texts. The Laser Defense Facility entry is similar in tone, but has a definitive “Star Trek” mood.

 

The Laser Pistol entry introduced the idea of “core breakdown,” which effectively meant that it had 10 shots of ammunition. The Laser Rifle CT mentions greater ammunition capacity, but not why this is the case. The Heavy Laser Rifle text mentions nothing about ammunition, and the Laser Cannon text here mentions it having “effectively more ammo than a [rail] cannon.” No mention is made of core replacement for the Laser Cannon, and no reference to core breakdown is made in the “Laser Weapons System” thread (this isn’t in the Asset List!) nor the Laser Base Defense Facility entry. We need to come to a consensus on laser weapon ammunition/cores.

 

On a side note, the word “pinnacle” is also used in the first sentence of many other text entries… we might want to change it up a little.

 

Also, the concept of a series of capacitors is mentioned in the laser texts. The “Laser Weapons System” thread says this is an innovation to improve rate of fire, as does the Laser Pistol CT. The Laser Base Defense Facility implies this as well. The Laser Pistol and Heavy Laser Rifle also attribute additional capacitors as a safety “buffer.” The Laser Rifle and the Laser Cannon texts both imply that all the capacitors are working in tandem to produce the laser beam. Further, most entries suggest that the capacitors are storing “laser energy” and not “electrical energy,” like mentioned in the Laser Cannon text. Is this correct? The reasons behind the series of capacitors should be uniform across the CT’s.

 

The Heavy Laser Rifle is the only one to mention multiple cores, and it says that the secondary core is used when the first overheats, or is damaged. Don’t know if this is even a gameplay issue; suggest deleting the dual-core setup from that entry.

 

I feel that the “Laser Weapons System” CT should contain the most technical theories, allowing the other derivative entries to focus on practical matters rather than theory.

 

Additionally, there also needs to be a consensus on hydrogen fuel cells/tanks. The Sidewinder and Titan texts don’t mention hydrogen at all, but this Laser Cannon entry claims that they used hydrogen as fuel. This also begs the question: when was the hydrogen fuel cell developed? It was “first used” in the XC-1 Gryphon, but if it was already in use in the Sidewinder and Titan… you see the chronological discrepancy. Also, this Laser Cannon entry claims that hydrogen fuel cells converted energy directly to electricity without combustion… This differs from what I remember in the XC-1 Gryphon text.

 

Anyway, on to the Laser Cannon entry.

 

-Asty

 

Red text indicates additions, orange text indicates deletions, and blue text indicates comments.

 

[LASER CANNON]

X-Net://Pegasus.net/Armament/[Laser Cannon]

 

Despite the successes Confusing word choice.  Like the Titan missile entry, rail-cannons were described as being “only accurate within miniscule ranges.”  I don’t think rail-cannons would qualify as a “success.”  Perhaps use “military applications” instead? of the rail-cannon and the Titan and Sidewinder missiles, they both had major limitations. The cannon had was extremely short-ranged and limited accuracy inaccurate, rendering it ineffective against medium and large UFOs. And both of the missile systems had low firing rates, and could carry very little ammunition, while the missiles themselves were expensive and bulky, requiring large amounts of storage space.

 

After designing more and more powerful lasers, x-corps X-Corps scientists realized that laser systems were becoming effective enough to be practical in air-to-air combat due to their superb armor piercing capabilities. A powerful enough lasers would effectively have more ammo than a cannon, be more powerful than a Sidewinder, and would be as accurate as a one without the need for guidance systems, primarily because there is no need to lead the shot. "it's like shooting fish in a barrel compared to the old cannon system" says veteran pilot Jim Lumbeck, a pilot.

 

One feature that was used in previous designs but proves most effective in heavy laser weaponry is the diamond lense focus system. In smaller laser weapons, the change in size of the beam is negligible. On a larger laser, these diamond lenses are needed to focus the laser beam to pierce heat resistant UFO armor, and the radius of the laser can vary up to 5 centimeters. The system can also adjust for attack at different ranges.  This paragraph is confusing.  Suggest: In smaller, man-portable laser weapons, beam dispersion is virtually negligible at the ranges required.  In the larger craft-mounted version, the laser beams must travel many times further, and focal imperfections would result in the energy being scattered long before the beam reached its target.  By using finely-ground diamond lenses in our craft-mounted [laser cannons], however, beam dispersion is kept to a minimum: at XX kilometers, the laser beam’s deviation is still within five centimeters.

 

The [laser cannon] stores hydrogen in a similar way to the Titan and Sidewinder missiles, however, rather than burning the hydrogen the [laser cannon] uses a stack of fuel cells to directly produce electricity from the hydrogen.  The electricity is then fed to the capacitors which eventually discharge and the lasers fire (see [laser concept]). In field trials, the [laser cannon] has been able to burn 10cm holes through 15cm steel plates with only a 25th of a 0.04 second burst, and depending on the length of the burst, holes up to a meter wide have been burned out of steel. The problem is that lasers are supposed to be tightly focused, right?  Burning through a greater area displays the power of the laser, but not its ability to focus tightly. "Dr. Sklodowska locked herself in the lab for three days after word came back about what happened in Krakow, you know, just after that new guy from the RAF RAF?  Shouldn’t it be X-Corps Air Force or somesuch? missed that big ship. Then this morning, I wake up with a hole a meter in diameter in the wall next to my bed. I could see clear to Hanger 1 through it!"- the base captain. Add a name to the quote.  Also, I don’t really understand the relevance of this quote.  The scientist makes a more powerful laser in response to a pilot’s inaccurate shooting?

 

x-corps X-Corps pilots and maintenance crews alike can't wait to install this new weapon system on all x-corps X-Corps fighter craft. However, there have been complaints from x-corps X-Corps  operatives. "First they make a laser more powerful than my gun, then they tell me I can't use it, what's the deal with that anyway?" -Sam Dodge, X-Corps marine (pilot?) I don’t see the relevance of this quote, either.  When and where did “they” say operatives can’t use lasers?

Edited by Astyanax
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  • 2 weeks later...

LASER CANNON

X-Net://Pegasus.net/Armament/Laser Cannon

 

Despite the successful application of the rail-cannon and the Titan and Sidewinder missiles, they all have major limitations. The cannon is extremely short-ranged and inaccurate in what refers to aerial engagements with Alien ships, rendering it effective only against the smaller classes of UFOs. And both missile systems had low rate of fire (ROF) and could carry very little ammunition, while the missiles themselves are expensive and bulky, requiring large amounts of storage space.

 

Changed all instances of past to present, as Sidewinders and Titans are still in use when you develop the Laser Cannon, and even if you are not, they still exist and are available for purchase, so, they are short-range and inaccurate, they were and still are. Added a clarification about the inaccuracy and short range that it refers to combat with UFOs, as X-Corps has the best of the best, we can say that their ships’ weapons are crappy, they are crappy but only compared to the UFOs’ weapons, compared to other Human tech they’re state of the art.

 

After designing more and more powerful laser weaponry, X-Corps’ scientists realized that laser systems had become effective enough to be practical in aerial combat due to their superb armor piercing capabilities. A powerful enough laser-based weapon would effectively have more ammunition than a cannon, be as powerful as a Sidewinder, and as accurate as one without the need for guidance systems, primarily because there is no need to lead the shot. "it's like shooting fish in a barrel compared to the old cannon system" -veteran pilot Jim Lumbeck.

 

In smaller, man-portable laser weapons, beam dispersion is virtually negligible at the ranges required. In the larger craft-mounted version, the laser beams must travel many times further, and focal imperfections would result in the energy being scattered long before the beam reached its target. By using finely-ground diamond lenses in our craft-mounted laser cannons, however, beam dispersion is kept to a minimum: at 21 kilometers, the laser beam’s deviation is still within five centimeters.

 

Adopted Astyanax’s new paragraph, as the old one was indeed confusing, we have to check what the distance is/would be, maybe in the laser cannon entry in X-com1

 

The laser cannon stores hydrogen in a similar way to the Titan and Sidewinder missiles, however, rather than burning the hydrogen the laser cannon uses a stack of fuel cells to directly produce electricity from the hydrogen. The electricity is then fed to the capacitors which eventually discharge and the lasers fire (see [laser concept]). In field trials, the laser cannon has been able to burn 10cm holes through 15cm steel plates with only a 0.04 seconds burst, and depending on the length of the burst, holes up to half a meter wide have been burned out of steel.

 

Maybe half a meter sounds more reasonable than a meter wide for a laser cannon, right?, we can discuss it later if it’s still too much. RAF stands (I believe) for Royal Air Force, the pilot must have been recruited from the Royal Air Force of England, I suppose, but you are right, that quote serves no purpose and is a little illogical, “that pilot couldn’t hit the Battleship, let’s make a larger laser cannon, just for him”, chopped

 

X-Corps’ pilots and maintenance crews alike cannot wait to install this new laser armament on all available fighter craft. However, there have been complaints from field operatives. "First they make a laser more powerful than my gun, then they tell me I can't use it, what's the deal with that anyway?" –Private Sam Dodge

 

This quote is about the soldier being angry ‘cause the scientists made a laser more powerful than the Heavy Laser, and they tell him that he cannot use it in ground combat. It’s a little out of place IMO, especially the first part, you can really take seriously such complaints, I wonder if we should replace this fluff…

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Moved back to Active for not being ready for complete.

 

[LASER CANNON]

X-Net://Pegasus.net/Armament/Laser Cannon

 

Despite the successful application of the rail-cannon and the Titan and Sidewinder missiles, they all have major limitations. The cannon is extremely short-ranged and inaccurate in what refers to aerial engagements with Alien ships, rendering it effective only against the smaller classes of UFOs. And both missile systems had low rate of fire (ROF) and could carry very little ammunition, while the missiles themselves are expensive and bulky, requiring large amounts of storage space.

 

After designing more and more powerful laser weaponry, X-Corps’ scientists realized that laser systems had become effective enough to be practical in aerial combat due to their superb armor piercing capabilities. A powerful enough laser-based weapon would effectively have more ammunition than a cannon, be as powerful as a Sidewinder, and as accurate as one without the need for guidance systems, primarily because there is no need to lead the shot. "it's like shooting fish in a barrel compared to the old cannon system" -veteran pilot Jim Lumbeck.

 

In smaller, man-portable laser weapons, beam dispersion is virtually negligible at the ranges required. In the larger craft-mounted version, the laser beams must travel many times further, and focal imperfections would result in the energy being scattered long before the beam reached its target. By using finely-ground diamond lenses in our craft-mounted laser cannons, however, beam dispersion is kept to a minimum: at 21 kilometers, the laser beam’s deviation is still within five centimeters.

 

The laser cannon stores hydrogen in a similar way to the Titan and Sidewinder missiles, however, rather than burning the hydrogen the laser cannon uses a stack of fuel cells to directly produce electricity from the hydrogen. The electricity is then fed to the capacitors which eventually discharge and the lasers fire (see [laser concept]). In field trials, the laser cannon has been able to burn 10cm holes through 15cm steel plates with only a 0.04 seconds burst, and depending on the length of the burst, holes up to half a meter wide have been burned out of steel.

 

X-Corps’ pilots and maintenance crews alike cannot wait to install this new laser armament on all available fighter craft. However, there have been complaints from field operatives. "First they make a laser more powerful than my gun, then they tell me I can't use it, what's the deal with that anyway?" –Private Sam Dodge

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The laser cannon stores hydrogen in a similar way to the Titan and Sidewinder missiles, however, rather than burning the hydrogen the laser cannon uses a stack of fuel cells to directly produce electricity from the hydrogen. The electricity is then fed to the capacitors which eventually discharge and the lasers fire (see [laser concept]). In field trials, the laser cannon has been able to burn 10cm holes through 15cm steel plates with only a 0.04 seconds burst, and depending on the length of the burst, holes up to half a meter wide have been burned out of steel.

I don't get this eventually, isn't supposed to happen when the pilot pushes the trigger?

And why a laser cannon would need a separate power supply, isn't the fusion reactor on the interceptor good enough? Because returning from fusion to fuel cells is a big step backwards, I think... :huh?: ....

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I don't get this eventually, isn't supposed to happen when the pilot pushes the trigger?

 

I think with "evantually" he wants to say that after all the preparing steps the laser fires...

 

And why a laser cannon would need a separate power supply, isn't the fusion reactor on the interceptor good enough? Because returning from fusion to fuel cells is a big step backwards

 

Yea, but remember, that the cannon also has to fit on the Gryphon...

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The laser cannon stores hydrogen in a similar way to the Titan and Sidewinder missiles, however, rather than burning the hydrogen the laser cannon uses a stack of fuel cells to directly produce electricity from the hydrogen. The electricity is then fed to the capacitors which eventually discharge and the lasers fire (see [laser concept]). In field trials, the laser cannon has been able to burn 10cm holes through 15cm steel plates with only a 0.04 seconds burst, and depending on the length of the burst, holes up to half a meter wide have been burned out of steel.

I don't get this eventually, isn't supposed to happen when the pilot pushes the trigger?

And why a laser cannon would need a separate power supply, isn't the fusion reactor on the interceptor good enough? Because returning from fusion to fuel cells is a big step backwards, I think... :huh?: ....

 

He's right, this armament has to fit the XC-1, which uses hydrogen fuel cells, not fusion engines as it was previously intended for initial craft, and the Laser Cannon sure must use a good deal of energy to use that of the engines, the interceptors would run out of fuel much sooner.

Also, for the eventually, it is for when the pilot presses the trigger, maybe it's that it's not very clear in the text, that's why we moved it back here :)

What this text lacks, is an explanation of its functioning, the different parts, etc.

Edited by Azrael
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[...]What this text lacks, is an explanation of its functioning, the different parts, etc.

Do you really think? ´cause we already explain the techniques behind this in the previous researched laser weapons, and the principle stays the same. All you do is making it bigger and give it more energy. But maybe we could insert something like:

 

"After extensive researches on new laser media we discovered an amorph organic material which is, unlike its brothers, not only capable of dealing with very high energy levels resulting in an extremely powerfull LASER beam output, but also in changing the output weavelength of the LASER. Combined with the computer driven spectroscope connected to this weapon it is possible to modify the emitted weavelength in a wide spectrum so that the optimal weavelength for the specific target can be used "on the fly" resulting in a greater damage.

Using specially designed alloys it was possible to build a small yet very powerfull heatspreader which, connected to the inner liquid helium cooling system, allows an effective cooling of the weapon itself allowing even higher shot rates and an increased energy output."

 

ok... brothers is not the perfect word, but I couldnt think of something better... :)

Edited by Mad
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All laser weapons, though similar in basic components, have something different, we should stay on the line of explaining those components a bit "The laser cannon is equipped with a second-generator primary capacitor capable of sustaning a large amount of lasing energy...", something like that.
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I was thinking more along the lines of adding details that set it apart from its fellow laser brethren. Something like, "the laser cannon's extended xx core allows for a greater laser impulse to be accumulated, resulting in vastly more destructive beam than the hand-held versions. Additionally, the xx used as the focusing crystals/mechanism allows for a tighter beam with a dispersion factor of only 0.0xx%, resulting in an effective range of xx kilometers. However, in order to keep the laser cannon from overheating during prolonged dogfights, it is equipped with an advanced xx coolant system, ..." und so weiter. :) That's just some ideas I had- play around with them and expand on them if they sound decent.

 

Edit- forgot to mention the capacitors- just make them big and advanced, or say that a "bank" of capacitors operating sequentially allows for a continuous rate of fire.

Edited by Astyanax
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He's right, this armament has to fit the XC-1, which uses hydrogen fuel cells, not fusion engines as it was previously intended for initial craft, and the Laser Cannon sure must use a good deal of energy to use that of the engines, the interceptors would run out of fuel much sooner.

What this text lacks, is an explanation of its functioning, the different parts, etc.

If fuel cells are used, than methanol is the fuel to use, it's liquid, so doesn't need special storage and the power output is higher and faster (if I remember correctly). Somebody wants to use methanol fuel cells on power-hungry cell phones, but seems a fire hazard to me.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Heh, and there are already cases of existing cell phone batteries exploding... :P

 

I can't remember precisely, but there was a CT that explained why hydrogen was adopted as a fuel source. Iirc, hydrogen was more efficient per unit mass, but methanol was more efficient per unit volume? Hang on while I dig up the thread.

 

EDIT- Ok, I was mistaken. Hydrogen engines were more 3 times more efficient than their petroleum equivalents; however, hydrogen fuel takes up more volume (4 times, I believe) than petroleum. The advent of the hydrogen fuel cell allowed more hydrogen to be stored per unit volume, thus making hydrogen technology feasible.

 

See the XC-1 "Gryphon" thread: http://www.xcomufo.com/forums/index.php?sh...pic=1690&st=0

Edited by Astyanax
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  • 2 months later...

That sounds like a great idea! It has the additional benefit of being consistent with the other laser texts (especially the Laser Weapons Systems CT). :)

 

How about this?

The laser cannon stores hydrogen in a similar way to the Titan and Sidewinder missiles, however, rather than burning the hydrogen the laser cannon uses a stack of fuel cells to directly produce electricity from the hydrogen. The electricity is then fed to the capacitors which eventually discharge and the lasers fire (see [laser concept]). In field trials, the laser cannon has been able to burn 10cm holes through 15cm steel plates with only a 0.04 seconds burst, and depending on the length of the burst, holes up to half a meter wide have been burned out of steel.
The laser cannon is powered by an array of high-performance capacitors which are charged in X-Corps bases prior to each sortie. In field trials, the laser cannon has been able to burn 10cm holes through 15cm steel plates with only a 0.04 seconds burst, and depending on the length of the burst, holes up to half a meter wide have been burned out of steel.
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Guest Azrael
Laser Defense - Vaaish - Must be on the top floor 15 x 15m all the layouts are similar. The defense systems are in a central block with a corridor around. This acts as a buffer zone if anything blows up. A single large weapon is mounted on a lifting turntable to lift it into the attack position. The rest of the facility contains, control room, cooling systems, and high voltage generator systems.

 

    * Structure - Lifting turntable; Weapon on mounting; Concrete bunker with think walls; Blast proof doors Generator Room - Huge sparky generator with big insulator things and cables as thick as an arm.

    * Ops Room - Console desk with monitors and screens and lots of buttons; Swivel chair

Let's have a generator be constantly charging them, charging previous to each attack would be slow and ineffective, so the cannon's ready to fire at any minute now.

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Laser Defense - Vaaish - Must be on the top floor 15 x 15m all the layouts are similar. The defense systems are in a central block with a corridor around. This acts as a buffer zone if anything blows up. A single large weapon is mounted on a lifting turntable to lift it into the attack position. The rest of the facility contains, control room, cooling systems, and high voltage generator systems.

 

    * Structure - Lifting turntable; Weapon on mounting; Concrete bunker with think walls; Blast proof doors Generator Room - Huge sparky generator with big insulator things and cables as thick as an arm.

    * Ops Room - Console desk with monitors and screens and lots of buttons; Swivel chair

Let's have a generator be constantly charging them, charging previous to each attack would be slow and ineffective, so the cannon's ready to fire at any minute now.

We could still have the primary capacitor, required for high power output, which is slowly recharged by the fuel cells.

But the round recharge happens always at the base, never on the way. I thought it would be simpler to have a simpler power storage like capacitors.

I'm not sure about the quote though, it's not for this weapon, is it?

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