Weapons Listing:

[AdmiralTigerclaw]

Okay guys, in order to plan what we're going to do, it's time to think about what we want for a final product.
In this case, weapons.  In order for the recoding team to be able to expedite future coding, we'll want to start mapping out our final product and working backwards.  So to get started, how do we want our weapons?

Previous conversations on weaponry can be found here:
http://stellarfrontier.ss-network.net/index.php?topic=18.msg67#msg67

For the most part, it appeared the main coding team likes the setup...

So what we need to do is come up with an extensive list of weapons.

These weapons will be broken down into the following Job Catagories.  In real life, weapons are TOOLS, not toys.  So they are made with a task in mind.  That doesn't mean they can't be used for other things, but please adhere designs to the basic catagories.

1: Point Defense.
The primary difining value of PD is lots of rapid fire, low power weapons.  Their MAIN purpose is shooting down incoming weapons (such as missiles) and defending against small craft.

2: Line Weapons.
The value of line weapons is Ship to Ship combat.  Most average guns and missiles.  The typical guns you'd find on most ships.  Cannons, Heavy Cannons, Heavy Autocannons... particle projection cannons... the works.

3: Bombardment Weapons.
BIG weapons.  They're cumbersom, a little inaccurate, but you don't want to be the one standing in front of it.  Their primary job is planet hammering and/or planetary defense, depending on who has them, but they also make GREAT heavy battleship guns.  

4: Strategic Weapons.
Strategic weapons are the thinking man's selection.  Instead of duking it out with your equal, the use of strategic weapons are for playing hard to get.  Such weapons include cruise missiles, mines, long range sniping cannons, things like that.  Essentially, point, and click... and hope for a kill.

5: Odd Jobs/Unusual, Dangerous weapons.
Got a weapon that doesn't do the normal bit... EMP laser to fry enemy controls?  Maybe energy nets to slow down fighters... A core dump shockwave generator for clearing a minefield?  If it's not in the above, it goes here.  This is for weapons who don't belong.

6: Superweapons.
Baddabing, budda bang, budda BIG BOOM!  Superweapons are exactly what they sound like.  The really powerful one-shot weapons that tend to trash opponents in one hit, or really devastate planets.  Weapons such as the Grand Galactic Grenade (G3) fall into this catagory.  Now, while powerful they have obvious, and challenging drawbacks.  The G3 of course, blows sky high and if you're anywhere near it... have a nice day.


After this, you have the primary element attribute.  

A: Mass Projectile Weapon
A mass projectile weapon is a weapon that is fired from a gun and retains no power once in flight.  It's a fancy way of saying GUN, but there are a few ways to fire mass, and many methods of execution.  For the most part, mass driving is energy cheap (except for high power railguns), but requires you to carry your ammo supply onboard.  The type of projectile used also determines how it performs.  

B: Self Powered Weapon (Missile)
A missile has limited ammo, but has tracking and terminal guidance.  Depending on the package, a missile can be as simple as a heat tracking moronic fighter chaser that's cheap to produce... Or as nasty as a cruise torpedo with advanced image recognition target guidance and tracking with a shaped nuclear charge capable of tracking your ship down Via engine signature and identifying it by the name painted on the side.  Smart, effective, but more expensive.

C: Directed Energy Weapon
You want to pack a wallop, nothing says KILL ME! as brightly as a 50,000 degree particle beam cannon.  DEWs come in all shapes and forms.  Plasma guns, lasers, PPCs...  If it's not really throwing bullets or missiles, it's probably one of these.  Their advantage is power, but thanks to thermodynamics and our friend the Inverse Square Law, they have a few drawbacks.  One being power consumption.  Because directed energy weapons are just that... ENERGY, they suck power something fierce.  The second drawback is HEAT.  Even if you can power them, creating, holding, and firing a 50,000 degree particle beam is going to produce waste heat that will need to cool unless you want to melt your weapon in the first three shots.  The third problem is inverse square.  Particle beams, plasma cannons, and lasers, lose coherency quickly, so while they pack a wallop in close... they quickly lose out in the range game when faced with a mass weapon.


I want a complete list of weapons, and I want a DIVERSE list of weapons.  I want to see ideas for weapons that aren't merely Weapon A plus a touch of paint equals weapon B.  I want weapon designs worked out with the concept of doing a job.  These are going to affect in game factors in a way you'd swear was inspired by playing too many RPGs.



When a weapon idea is submitted, I want to see what makes it unique enough to add to the list.  So I don't want just a name and what it should look like, I want it's job, and how it should work.  Technobabble allowable within reason.

Example:

Phased Molecular Disruptor (PMD)
Type 2-C  (Energy based Line weapon)
Function: Pulse firing energy weapon.  Upon impact with material, the PMD pulse weakens the nuclear bonds in the nucleus of atoms, causing them to come apart in a burst of energy.
Pros: Strong vs ALL armor.
Cons: A little weak against energy shields (especially phased energy shields that can calculate and adjust accordingly to the weapon's phase frequency)... completely useless against planets.  (Because the shot would hit the atmosphere and react right there.)

Suggestion: Pair with a good shield weakening weapon for best effect.



Get it?

My second post will be an cotninuing list of weapons.  

[AdmiralTigerclaw]

ACCEPTED WEAPONS LIST
------------------------

Any and All STAFF, this list is to be updated regularly with accepted weapons.
Weapons will be sorted under the catagory headers.  Do not add weapons to the list the moment someone adds one in a post.  They must be reviewed and 'HAXXbusted' first.

1: Point Defense

2: Line Weapons

3: Bombardment Weapons

4: Strategic Weapons

5: Odd Jobs/Unusual, Dangerous Weapons

6: Superweapons

[CloakedKiller]

I think Flame should be taken out of the game...

Is it even possible to shoot flames in space?
I was under the impression that there was no oxygen up there.

Not to mention it's so overpowering that I have yet to see a ship online in the last week that didn't have one or two tubes fitted with it. If there was no lag in the game it would be horrible...

[DarkSun]

I was under the impression that 'flames' consisted of clouds of microprojectiles ('bubbles', if you will) containing oxygen and flammable material, hence why 'flames' can run out and need to be replenished and why they have such a short range/duration when compared to most other weapons.

I don't think flames are that overpowered, I mean they are potent but they also have short range/duration, which is their Achilles' heel. This is why players who rely exclusively on flames are generally among the easiest players to kill. And there are other weapons that are potent but are only effective at short range: rams and mines being prime examples of these. I think flames are an important component of a well-balanced longrange/shortrange weapons loadout, but I don't think they're overpowered. If they were overpowered, you'd see the good players relying exclusively on flames.

[AdmiralTigerclaw]

This is for the future build in which we've rebuilt the game...

So what we're doing is STRIPPING current weapons completely and starting from 'scratch'... with a few callbacks of course... (the imfamous G3 being one of them in the Superweapons catagory.)

We start the planning stages now, the coding team (that's you, nighty, etc...) have clearer picture of what we're doing and a better idea of how things will get it coded.

With a full list of weapons, their effects, and how they work.  Those that need excessive coding to be functional can be planned for instead of.  "Wait, I didn't plan for this scattergun cluster bomb!  We have to recode 4,000 lines of code to make it work!  And we've got a week to release!"


Now, as for flamer.  Flames are, litterally, in real life, plasma.  So what a flamer is in game standards would be what plasma would do in real life since we have no method of containment.

[ChillFactor]

Class 6-C  Weapon
Dark Matter Pulse Cannon (DMP)
Sniper's choice for lining against any group of enemies.

What is does: It shoot a controlled singularity thru space in a straight line at almost lightspeed, sucking and killing everything within range (somwhat an outpost colony with a range the size of venus flying thru space @ .70c +). This 'flying dutchman' will eventually collapse after a certain distance (Earth to Mars in a normal Sol system) so it won't create a black hole which cannot be controlled.

Capacity: 10 Singularities
Power Input: 125,000 per shot.
Damage: infinite to whatever is in range.
Most Effective: All ships, Starbases, Asteroids, Outpost/Minor Colonies
Least Effective: Planets, Major Colonies

Pros: Can eliminate everything flying within range of the line of fire, can kill starbases, good against all armors and shieldings
Cons: Extremely heavy, high power consumption, missile capacity, high reload time.

---------------------------------------------------
Class 2-C Weapon
Photon Pulse Phase Shockwave (P3s)
The best to kill ship shielding and energy relay systems.

What is does: It's basically the same kind of particle phaser as in star strek, except this one is a shockwave which will hit many shield generators at a time, disrupting their energy output and even overload the internal relays, casuing mayhem on the circuitry and the power distribution systems.

Capacity: energy based (infinite)
Power Input: 900 per shockwave
Damage: High on energy shields (phase and non-phase), Mid on basic hull, Low on armors. Innefective on colonies (planets,  asteroids, etc.)
Most Effective: Small, Mid, Large ships with shield and w/o armor.
Least Effective: All colonies, Starbases.

Pros: Can take down most shields in a few shots, can damage power core directly, can disable ships w/o armor quickly, low reload time, relatively low power consumtion, infinite ammo.
Cons: Innefective against armors and planets, limited range, highly innacurate, heavy weapon system.

---------------------------------------------------

Those are my ideas, whatcha think? 

[DarkSun]

Now, as for flamer.  Flames are, litterally, in real life, plasma.  So what a flamer is in game standards would be what plasma would do in real life since we have no method of containment.

What's wrong with my idea of flames being clouds of microprojectiles?

[AdmiralTigerclaw]

Now, as for flamer.  Flames are, litterally, in real life, plasma.  So what a flamer is in game standards would be what plasma would do in real life since we have no method of containment.

What's wrong with my idea of flames being clouds of microprojectiles?

You mean asside from the fact that you described a shotgun, not flames, right?

Now I must review.

Okay Chill...  You ready?  Here we go.

D.M.P.C. 
1: Your description doesn't describe dark matter, but a singularity slinging weapon.Which inherently has two problems.  A: How do you effectively throw the singularity at nearly lightspeed when it, according to the mathematics on Singularities, weighs an infinite amount?  B: You fire this thing and it starts sucking everything in.  What keeps these things from sucking you in before or AT firing?

2: Even as a superweapon, it's overpowered.  It's a guaranteed kill for anything in the line of fire.  We want to avoid easy oneshots unless there is a massive risk.  In this case, I would change it as follows.
A:  You get ONE shot... that's because as soon as you fire, the singularity KILLS YOU! 
B: It travels at close to, but under lightspeed. (0.9C)   Why? Because Einstien said so.  (You put something that already has infinite mass, and now you want to go into the problems inherent with mass achieving lightspeed?  Good lord, even technobabble knows when to put in the towel... let's not go there.)
C: The weapon does not 'certain kill' as easily as all that.  What it does, is work like a fast moving, continuous implode mine.  If it pass near you, it attempts to suck you in and 'CRUSH' you.  (Which, would kill you.)    If it nics you, but doesn't manage to suck you in, you take only a little damge. 
D: Heavier ships are easier to drag in.  (Gravity begats gravity.  The bigger you are, the harder you fall.)  So light ships actually escape better and take less damage.  You can escape the gravity well of the singularity by Qjumping if you're fast enough...  (Because you're traveling above lightspeed when you do.)
E: As a side effect, the aim of the weapon is effected by gravity wells produced by planets.  So a shot past say, Earth, aimed at a starbase could end up missing because it got curved.
F: All in all, this is something of a deadlock breaker.  You sacrifice one life to fire this and hope that what you aimed at DIES. It's decent if starbases have a deadlock on a planet and you need to unsteady them.
G: Change that name.  Let's make it fit.  You have to be nuts to use it...   I know.  The Suicidal Singularity Projection Implosion Device  (S.^2P.I.D.)  *Quirky eyebrow raise.*

How's that look?

Next

P3S.

1.  Having played X3, this weapon sounds like the unholy spawn of the Phased Shockwave Generator, and the Ion Disruptor.  Essentially what you're trying to sell us on is a shockwave weapon that kills shields and then fries the ship's power/electronics.  My biggest beef, is that, while it may innundate the shields, how does it actually get INTO the ship to fry the generators?  Is it electromagnetic?  Ion stream?  Electron bolts?  The name suggest photons (light) Let's not use star trek's handwavium phasers that make sense as the plot sees fit.  This weapon needs work.  I'd would call it close to a keeper if you don't mind it's only real advantage is a short range shield stripper useless for anything else.


Nice start Chill.  Needs work.  But nice start.  I suggest you try not to think of weapons in terms of SF as it currently is... as that whole system is due to get an overhaul.

Anywho, to make The List, all posted weapons must be discussed, and recieve an approval from at least three of the project workers.

I like the first one as a superweapon after tweaking... but I'm not really pleased with the PSG clone.

[DarkSun]

Now, as for flamer.  Flames are, litterally, in real life, plasma.  So what a flamer is in game standards would be what plasma would do in real life since we have no method of containment.

What's wrong with my idea of flames being clouds of microprojectiles?

You mean asside from the fact that you described a shotgun, not flames, right?

I didn't realize shotguns fired clouds of microprojectiles containing oxygen and flammable material...

As for superweapons, I don't think they're a good idea. All they do is encourage lameness.

[AdmiralTigerclaw]

Okay, no I have to sort out a few things of my own.  (Because I've had time to think about this.... I have a lot.

Seperating by Catagory

1

Advanced Electronic Gatling Intercept System (AEGIS)  "Aegis"  (T 1-A)

The aegis is a basic computer controled automatic enemy fire detection and intercepting system utilizing radar and basic gatling guns.  Out of all the systems, it is the cheapest and most widely used.  It engages incoming small objects (Missiles, fighters) with a cloud of depleted uranium slugs (bullets) in order to shred them.

Pros: Quickly turns and locks on, plenty of coverage from amount of rounds fired.  

CONS: Inaccurate. Individual bullets do little damage and gun may have to hold target on a missile longer than expected to kill it.  Making it easy to overpower with armored missiles.

Proximity Detonation Flack Array (PDFA)  (T 1-A)
The PDFA utilizes a modified version of the aegis system with the gatling cannons replaced with autocannons of a larger caliber.  These autocannons fire proximity and timer fused fragmentation rounds.  If the round passes close to a metalic object, the Magnetic Anomally detector fuse triggers detonation, spraying a small cloud of pellets in all directions.  If the round detects no such object, it continues to a preset distance before self destructing to prevent spaceborne hazzards.

Pros:  Because of proximity detonation.  The round stands a better chance of scoring a hit.  Usefull for anti-fighter work.  The area effect of the detonation also means that one shot stands a chance of taking out several incoming rounds.

Cons: The Autocannon's low rate of fire and size means that there won't be as much coverage against incoming rounds, and a slow response time to multiple events.

Automated Pulsed Thermal Laser Intercept System (APTLIS) "Atlas" (T 1-C)
The APTLIS is one of the more powerful defense systems.  Utilizing a high power focused laser pulse, it quickly accquires, locks, and vaporizes incoming arounds with extreme accurracy and success.

Pros: Infinite 'ammo'.  Pinpoint accurate, high power.

Cons: Low ROF leaves vulnerability to swarm tactics.  Laser energy consumption draws significant power loads during excessive fire periods.


Homing Omnidirectional Rocket Network Electronic Targeting System (HORNETS)  (T 1-B)
Of the most expensive, but most effective defense is the HORNET System.  Incoming rounds are automaticly assigned and a rocket is fired at them.  The rocket homes in and destroys the attacking weapon quickly and accurately.  In a pinch, the entire rocket supply packs can fire as fast as targets can be assigned, resulting in a missile spam that makes enemies regret stirring up the 'Hornets Nest'.

PROS: ROF is not a factor.  Missiles can track and launch on multiple targets nearly simultaniously, and have sufficient power to counteract even armored missiles.

CONS: Due to size, sophistication, and expense.  Ammunition supplies of this point defense system will deplete quickly and are unsuited for extended firefights.


2

Conventional Mass Driver  (CMD)
CMDs are the backbone of most ship to ship battles.  CMDs are noted by their simplistic nature.  Early CMDs used rounds with self contained chemical propellants to launch them clear of the ship's "Gun".  Rail Guns and Gauss cannons were more advanced, but also more expensive because of the superconducting materials that have to be used both in the round, and as part of the weapon.  With the advent of high output starship reactors, the most popular form of CMD used today is the Plasma Chamber Cannon.  Plasma taken from the reactor is injected into the firing chamber and then released.  The rapid expansion of the plasma works on the same principle as gas expansion for Chemical Propellent Guns.  Without the volitility of storing explosive reactants, or the expense of superconductors.  Along side this, Plasma has a much higher temperature and rate of expansion than chemical gas expansion...  Resulting in higher velocity of the rounds fired.

Sub-Catagories of CMD

- Chemical Propellant Gun  (CPG)
  PRO: Cheap
  CON: ... Low velocity

- GAUSS Gun/Railgun catagory (Electromagnetic Cannon  (EMC) )
  PRO: High Velocity
  CON: Consumes more Energy/More expensive.

- Plasma Chamber Gun (PCG)
  PRO: High Velocity, does not consume excessive reactor energy per shot compared to the EMC.
  CON: Still relies on reactor power.

Along with types of launching mechanisms, rounds can be designed with a number of mechanisms.

* Armor Piercing Incindiary
* Shapred Charge Explosive
* Nuclear Tip
* Fragmentation

(This weapon alone, if I hazzard some math, we end up with... 3 guns, 3 sizes, and 4 common types of round... 36 options on this weapon alone.  I need to think of a way to simplify it.)

Pulsed Fusion Cannon  (PFC)
The most common energy based weapon used, the PFC operates by begining a fusion reaction using reactor material, then hurls the fusing mass at the enemy.  The resulting high velocity fusing material hits like an un-interceptable nuclear missile... essentially a nuclear pulse.  However, because of of the fact of the fusion reaction quickly collapsing once it has left containment, the weapon power quickly drops off with range, limiting the effective slugging range of this weapon to more or less, knife fighting range.

PROS: Infinite ammo.  Average against shields and most armor because of thermo-kinetic destructive properties.
CONS: Drains energy with constant use.  Lacks the range of solid projectiles.

Phased Molecular Disruptor  (PMD)
Pulse firing energy weapon.  Upon impact with material, the PMD pulse weakens the nuclear bonds in the nucleus of atoms, causing them to come apart in a burst of energy.
Pros: Strong vs ALL armor.
Cons: A little weak against energy shields (especially phased energy shields that can calculate and adjust accordingly to the weapon's phase frequency)... completely useless against planets.  (Because the shot would hit the atmosphere and react right there.)

High Intensity Laser Array  (HILA)
The HILA is a common weapon of choice in wide open space battles between energy weapon users.  The propogation of a laser beam in open space and the ability to more or less keep most of it's energy over these distances makes it a good choice against most lightly protected targets.  The HILA fires a high intensity laser pulse from it's focusing array.  The laser pulse instantly superheats and vaporizes the area it hits.  Once fired, the weapon then goes through a cryo cooling cycle and the waste heat dumped into the engines.  This limits the weapon to high energy pulses.  The weapon is strong against shields and small vessels with light armor... However, the lack of a laser's ability to pierce targets means it's ability to deal damage drops off as ship size approaches the larger capital ships.  Reflective and highly thermal conductive armors also lessen the Laser's ability to deal damage.

PROS: Longest Ranged of the energy weapons in the line catagory.  Hitscan.  Strong vs Shields.

CONS: Weak against heavier armors, and can be defeated by armors that reflect the energy or effectively conduct it away from the point.

UnGuided Generic Missile  (UGG Missile)  **Think caveman here... "Ugg."
UGGs are very cheap, standardized missiles that can be loaded and fired from just about any vessel, even fighters.  UGGs have no homing capability, and only moderate power.  However, they will detonate on impact with anything and make a decent all purpose screening weapon that's good as an ad-hock point defense, cloak hunter, or a weapon to confuse other ships.

PROS: Cheap, large ammo supply.

CONS: No tracking, lacks any kind of armor strength.

Ripper Missile (RM)
Light ship to fighter and fighter to fighter missile.  Small, fast, and locks on to targets in the forward cone.
Useful against drones, fighters, and other light vessels, but useless against larger ships and easily stopped by point defenses.

PROS: Fast, light, effective against fighters.

CONS: Easily destroyed, can only track a target that stays in the forward flight cone.

Hammerhead Missile (HHM)
Standard ship to ship missile.  Utilizes a shaped detonation nuclear explosive to punch through shields.  Moderately effective as a fighter launched anti-ship missile, even against larger ships.  Not as fast as the RM, but maintains a lock no matter what and will persue a target vessel until it runs out of fuel.

PROS: Heavier, harder to destroy.  Maintains lock.

CONS: Slower, less manueverable.

Special: Has 'Pierce Shield' quality and inflicts some damage through active shields.

Thunderclap Torpedo (T2)
The thunderclap is like the hammerhead on steroids.  Used as a capital ship to capital ship weapon.  It boasts heavier toughness than missiles to withstand approach through point defense fire and packs a wallop that can be felt even by a battleship.  It is slow and has poor manuevering and tracking, but two or three of these can end small ships in short orders.

PROS: Hardenned against point defense.  Very Powerful.

CONS: Slow, poor manueverability.

Special: Pierce shield quality.

Micro-Missile-Massecre Cartridge  (M3C)
A useful weapon system that replaces a typical missile pod with a pod filled with small tracking rockets.  Missiles are fired from this in swarms of ten and overwhelm target point defenses with numbers.  Useful against fighters in dogfights.  And useful when used in tandem with larger weapons against heavier ships.

PROS: Fires ten missiles in a shot.  Missiles are fast, semi-effective tracking.  Effective at overwhelming fighters and point defenses.

CONS: Missiles lack destructive power against larger vessels unless spammed like they're going out of style.

HAILSTORM Cluster Torpedo (HCT)
This torpedo travels to a target then detonates into an expanding cloud of bomblets when it is manually detonated, attempting to overwhelm the defenses of larger ships with numbers of small explosives.  The shotgun-like hail of explosives is hard for point defenses to keep up with, and are large enough to threaten heavy vessels.  After ten seconds in flight, the expanding cloud of bomblets that didn't hit a target will self destruct.

PROS: Effective swarmer weapon for capital ships.

CONS: No homing, low speed.

3

Heavy Ion Cannon  (HIC)
The H.I.C. is considered THE weapon to use in planetary sieges.  The Heavy Ion Cannon is a large particle accellerator that creates a stream of particles traveling at nearly lightspeed.  The beam of blue-white energy it discharges when firing is known for it's ability for precision and firepower, and is feared among ground instalations for a vicious combination of laser accuracy, brutal penetration, and vicious explosive splash damage.  This weapon sees use mainly on battlecruisers and battleships as a bombardment weapon.  While large and power hungry, it boast phenominal firepower against ship and surface target alike, enough that many small ships have been gutted to hide such a weapon along their spines. 

PROS: Extremely powerful battleship primary bombardment weapon.  Unlimited Ammo.  Devastating against ships AND colonies.

CONS: Very LARGE weapon, and equally large power demands.  Low rate of fire and longer cooling cycle.


Quantum Space Shockwave Artillery  (QSSA)
This weapon was designed several decades after the perfection of the Q-Drive.  Observations of ships in battle as well as the destructions of quantum jumpgates and the resulting destructive spatial fluxuations resulted in research reguarding the effects of destablized quantum space events.  This lead to a breakthrough in controlling Q-Space ocsilations enough to speculate the use of a Q-Space Packaged Energy projection system, in which a package of destructive enegy could be fired across Q-Space directly into the inner structure of another ship...  While the QSPEP system was not successful, an offshoot of it's developement found that a 'ghost flux' could be introduced into Quantum Space using technology similar to the Q drive.  When the interference frequencies were adjusted correctly, this could create a fast moving projection of destablized Quantum Space that could be 'programmed' to 'come apart' or DETONATE at a desired time.  Resulting in the appearance of a burst of energy, gravitational distortion, and other anomaly effects.  Essentially, a spaceborne Shockwave weapon.  An interesting side effect, is that when this packet of quantum space energy and distortion passes close to a ship carrying a Q-Drive core, the minor fluxuations from the idling core interfere with the frequencies of the wave, causing it to instantly detonate in proximity.
This does not occure at the source ship only because the core of the firing ship is taken into account in the firing process.  The QSSA has made its debut as a wonderful standoff screening and bombardment weapon that can cover a large volume of space without the ammunition drawbacks of flack weapons.  An important drawback however, is that the weapon becomes dangerous in close quarters fights because of the tendancy to detonate too early from proxy ship's Q cores.

PROS:  Excelent medium to long range bombardment weapon with proximity shockwave detonation.  Also detonates at end of 'lifespan'.  Unlimited ammo.

CONS:  Power hungry.  Dangerous to use in close quarters fights.

SPECIAL- Fluff would require that when programmed, the QSSA only proximity detonates when close to ships carrying a Q-Drive module.   IF a ship is not carrying a Q-Drive, there would be no detonation.  Thus it would pass harmlessly through such ships and continue on to its decay detonation range.

Siege Artillery Cannon (SAC)
The SAC is a large mass driver designed for battleship use.  Unlike its smaller cousins, it's specifically designed for heavy medium range bombardment in mind.  The nuclear payload shells it fires are commonly found on torpedo warheads like the thunderclap, and provide just as much wallop.
PROS: Extremely powerful, low energy consumption for size.
CONS: Limited ammo, very large and unwieldy.


(Planetary Weapons ONLY Collection in this category below... because they're too big to fit on ships.)
Tera-Ton: Planetary Siege Defense Cannon (TT-PSDC... needs a shorthand name.)
Built as a surface to orbit defensive artillery installation, the monolithic PSDC can fling multi-ton shells out of planetary orbit with ease.  This is mainly due to the fact that planets can support installations and weapons much larger than a starship.  However, such installations are sitting ducks as they lack mobility.

Ground Based Ultra Heavy Laser (GBUHL "Gavel")
The 'Gavel' is considered THE defensive weapon for major planets.  Because of the size of the installation, a very LARGE, very POWERFUL laser can be fired on orbiting starships, forcing many ships to stay back outside of optimal focussing range.  Because of the massive waste heat generated by this laser facility, it tends to be located near large bodies of water or similar available cooling facilities.

Surface to Orbit Combined Heavy Load Missile (STOCHLM)
The 'Stockholm' is a missile designed for surface to orbit defense and interdiction.  The missile is equipped with defensive shields to protect it during its boost phase.  Once in orbit, the missile breaks open and delivers a variable payload... usually a swarm of torpedoes like the thunderclap anti-ship torpedo.  It is considered and expensive but brutally powerful planetary defense mechanism.

[AdmiralTigerclaw]

CONT from above:


4

Strategic Hyper-Kinetic Railgun (SHKR 'Shaker')
The 'Shaker' is an advancement in Q-Drive technology based weapons systems on a more conventional platform.  This specially designed heavy rail cannon propels special projectiles to a significant proportion of C, making them deadly sniper bullets of interplanetary warfare.  Because of the special materials needed to construct each round, they are extremely expensive, and ammunition is limited.  Likewise, the power needed to fire the railgun just once tends to drain most ships, leaving them momentarily vulnerable.

PROS: Very long range, can brutally damage a battleship in one shot.  Can one-shot medium ships or smaller.
CONS:  Low ammo count.  Drains ship of energy with one shot.  Very bad weapon to use in a slugging match.

SPECIAL -  For programming purposes, when zoomed out in the main game screen, there needs to be a sniper line drawn up in the second, third, and fourth zoom levels to assist the player due to the lack of clarity in pointing direction at those levels.  The weapon is not hit-scan, but it is fast.  So aiming at range is still a challenge to tackle. 
SPECIAL 2 - For balance purposes, the ability of a starbase to regenerate shield damage taken from a Shaker impact should be faster than the round can be fired off by any one ship... this will prevent players from sitting at standoff ranges plinking starbases at their leisure.

Long Range Cruise Torpedo (LRCT)
An advanced, higher yield version of the thunderclap, the Cruise Torpedo is a standard of strategic interplanetary combat.  This weapon locks onto targets at long range, and using more intelligent fuel management and guidance software, guides itself to terminal impact with the designated target from distances that allow the launch platform to fire and forget.  Its high terminal velocity and heavy mass make it a poor weapon for short range turning fights. 
PROS: Hits hard, from a long way away.  Good for picking at starbases when used in a combined arms assault.
CONS:  Small ships easily out maneuver it.  Is generally evaded by Q jumps.


Quantum Space Jumper Torpedo (QSJT 'Jumper')
The Awkwardly named, but commonly dubbed ‘Jumper’ long-range torpedo is one of the most expensive strategic weapons in use by space navies.  Being essentially a torpedo with a Q-drive and tracking computer built into it, it’s designed specifically to take advantage of FTL and will chase down targets with surprising tenacity.  Its chief advantage is surprise.  Often the jump signature momentarily confuses other ships until they realize that it’s not a ship bearing down on them, but a weapon.   Once it’s within a specific distance of a target, it will begin a terminal burn with a very high output, short life engine, allowing it to accelerate quickly before the target has a chance to maneuver.
However, once in a terminal burn, the missile will not turn, as it will burn too much of it’s fuel trying to ‘jump’ (pardon the pun) the target.  Quick maneuvers and effective preparation skills can avoid being hit.  WARNING:: This torpedo is so expensive, it was deemed worthwhile to give it it’s own shield, making it much tougher for point defenses to take out.

PROS:  Will constantly jump to chase a target.  Is shielded to allow it to pass through point defenses.  Very powerful.
CONS: Is large and expensive, and thus, limited in ammunition quantity.  Can be dodged once it starts its terminal sprint.  Useless at close range.


5

Global Aversion Weapon Demonstrator  (G.A.W.D.)
Prototype demonstrator weapon developed to reduce the bloodiness of prolonged planetary sieges by averting direct confrontation.  The weapon works by neutralizing the magnetic field of a planet, creating a situation where an otherwise self sustaining planet can no longer sustrain itself against the onslaught of solar and cosmic energy.  As a result, previously unblockadable planets can now be blockaded.  Unfortunately, the device is large, and requires a large ship's power system to function.

PROS: Makes self-sustaining planets blockadable when in use.

CONS: Useless for any other task.  When in use, draws too much energy to allow other weapons to fire.

6

Grand Galactic Grenade (G3)  ^_^V

The imfamous G3 is an area denial superweapon of insane power, probably designed by someone with a love for huge explosions.  The Grand Galactic Grenade is specially designed trigger detonation weapon that contains a large portion of antimatter encased in a magnetized plasma shell.  De-magnitizing the plasma shell allows the annihilation reaction to commence, and for just a few brief seconds, the weapon ignites a small star.  The weapon is capable of destroying nearly everything caught in the immediate area of the blast that doesn't have decent shielding.  However, it's firepower comes at a steep price.  Producing the antimatter required for the weapon takes a significant amount of energy and time.  So the weapon cannot really be used in a proliferating fashon.  Along with that, the equipment required to contain it is highly expensive and the casings used are limited in production number.

PROS: Extremely potent area effect weapon.

CONS: Very low rate of fire, very limited ammunition.  Getting shot by point defense weapons can set it off in the launcher's face.


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Now, as for flamer.  Flames are, litterally, in real life, plasma.  So what a flamer is in game standards would be what plasma would do in real life since we have no method of containment.

What's wrong with my idea of flames being clouds of microprojectiles?

You mean asside from the fact that you described a shotgun, not flames, right?

I didn't realize shotguns fired clouds of microprojectiles containing oxygen and flammable material...

As for superweapons, I don't think they're a good idea. All they do is encourage lameness.

Well, one version would be called an explosive shotgun round.

The other would be called a Fuel Air Explosive.


Now, as for your unease with superweapons...  Not really.  Not if you account for them and design them right, you won't have that problem.  A superweapon should be a F**KOFF! weapon, meant for use as a gamebreaker to tweak a deadlock.   However, equipping one should be nearly crippling to any ship, and actually using it should either be nearly to ACTUALLY suicidal, or easy enough to spot coming that you have to be asleep at your keyboard not to get the hell out of the way.

The real problem with superweapons like the G3 was exactly that.  Equipping and using them wasn't suicidal... at least, not until I taught some players a vicious lesson.  They tried to jump me with every cheap SF tactic in the book... Q-mining...  G3 ambush...    And what did they get?   Their own weapons blown in their face because I was prepared and counteracting.

AS the lady said in Command & Conquer Generals...  "My greatest superweapon is my BRAIN, wouldn't you think?"

To ensure things work fine, you have to look at the Cat 6s... and ensure they're treated and thought of as Superweapons.

Besides, we need a catagory to have our Grand Galactic Grenade.

[CloakedKiller]

Flames are overpowered. It's practically an instantaneous kill that requires no skill at all.
What have you been killed by that wasn't flame I or II in the past week?
Nothing that required skill of another pilot, but rather stupidity of yourself, I'm assuming.

I dunno, maybe it's just the case for me - I haven't seen anybody that could shoot in the general direction of me, but if they come swooping by with 2 flame tubes I'm a dead man. Flame's are a lag killer right now, and if cloak and sensor are done up like they are supposedly are being done up, it's gonna be much worse without lag.

By the way, oxygen is consumed by fire immediately. You'd be burning up your own ship, especially if you were flying in the direction of the blaze. It wouldn't continue to shoot out like it does. Perhaps flamming liquid would work... much like napalm.

[NiteHawk]

Flames are overpowered. It's practically an instantaneous kill that requires no skill at all.
What have you been killed by that wasn't flame I or II in the past week?
Nothing that required skill of another pilot, but rather stupidity of yourself, I'm assuming.

I dunno, maybe it's just the case for me - I haven't seen anybody that could shoot in the general direction of me, but if they come swooping by with 2 flame tubes I'm a dead man. Flame's are a lag killer right now, and if cloak and sensor are done up like they are supposedly are being done up, it's gonna be much worse without lag.

By the way, oxygen is consumed by fire immediately. You'd be burning up your own ship, especially if you were flying in the direction of the blaze. It wouldn't continue to shoot out like it does. Perhaps flamming liquid would work... much like napalm.

Honestly the reason why flames are so powerful are due to lag.

You cannot long range because the lag is overpowering, and close range weapons only work. Unfort for 1.3 it will still have the same network coding, maybe a bit improved(waiting on a test), but otherwise nothing special in that department just yet. Got to recode the 'whole' thing, and the bugs are taking up alot of time right now.

But if you get long range weapons working, you'll notice a severe decrease of difficult against flame weapons when you can long range the ships.

[DarkSun]

I long-range successfully all the time. Generally the best long-range weapon is rapid1 on autofire. (And rapid2 of course, but that's only for Starbases.) Unless the opponent has 500 armor, two tubes of rapids on autofire, coupled with a tube of torps (stingers), work like a charm if you aim them in the right direction. (And in fact, if the opponent does have 500 armor, then even flames aren't especially effective. With 500 armor your only reasonable recourse is to rely on a laser, mines, rams, or a combination of such.)

Although I prefer to have at least one tube of flames equipped, I'm also capable of fighting effectively without flames, as I demonstrated the other day to a player who was complaining about my use of flames.

As far as the flames go, my rationalization for how they work isn't identical to how explosive shotgun rounds or FAEs work. In my explanation, SF 'flames' spew bubbles (microprojectiles) containing oxygen and flammable material. FAEs rely on atmospheric oxygen and would not work in space. And SF 'flames' don't look explosive to me.

I suppose a flammable liquid might work as well. But I still prefer my microprojectile idea.

Besides, stuff in SF doesn't necessarily have to work in RL. One stunning example being the Q-drive, the other stunning example being the lack of time dilation with the sublight drives.

[Trompete]

I guess the two big questions for adding weapons are:
1. Does it add fun to the game in a fair and balanced way
2. Is it feasible for the devs to draw pixels/bitmaps that make it look cool.