Beams

How do they work?

I'm working on a new plug and I want to add some special beams (not lightning beams). Can I use spin resources for beams or am I just stuck with using the normal beam creating system?

You can use spins to simulate beams, but they won't fool anyone. That is the only way to get some levels of control, however. You'd set the weap resource up just like you would an unguided projectile, except use the spin of your 'beam' weapon.

Thanks rmx256, but is there any other way to make special beems.

What exactly do you mean by 'special' beams?

Have a look at Guy's new topic, it could help you create non-standard looking beams

I am using "special beams" to describe any beam that isn't a lightning beam and that isn't just a beam like the BioRelay Laser for example. I am trying to get a beam that can pulsate and has more than 1 color that makes up the actual beam.

This post has been edited by general11 : 15 January 2005 - 05:44 PM

Use a corona with a different colour, that's a start.

Coronas with a different color. I can now get the right colors for the beam . Now the beam according to my notes is supposed to "pulsate with a sickly green color as it striped the target's molecules down one by one with terrifing speed." Is there any way that I could do this?

The only way I can think of is to use the decay and falloff fields to make your beam take a little while to deactivate, while making it a burst-reload weapon like the hail chaingun. That's as close to pulsating as you can get.

Thanks alot for this help all of you. Now I can finally finishe the beam that I have been working on :D. In case you were wondering the beam is the primary weapon on a ship that I am designing. The weapon is called an Asynchronous Bipolar Linear Induction Motor. Please don't ask me to tell you what it is, as it is a very complex theory. Thanks again.

You don't need to use a burst reload. Just set the Count to about 10 and the Reload to Count+16-Falloff (actually about 15 or 14-Falloff looks best). The corona will appear to sort of pulse, though not very well.

Thanks, Guy but it didn't exactly pulse like I wanted it to . Oh well, I guess that I'll just have to live without a pulsating beam.

But I like it... I can use this!

rmx256, on Jan 14 2005, 05:27 PM, said:

But I like it... I can use this!
View Post

What do you like, the name Asynchronous Bipolar Linear Induction Motor or the stuff about pulsating beams. If it is the former, just post that hear and I can give you more detailed info, otherwise good luck :).

I've honestly not implemented a lot of 'neat' effects into my weaps and ships. This is just a bit of neat info, coupled with the other topic, that gives me a lot of food for thought.

I am doing a Nova tc, I might as well use the engine features.

I know, you are doing the Kement TC. I hope that this thread has helped you as much as me, although I wish we had more control of beams.

Yeah, I know what you mean... I, for one, would like to be able to make point-defense-lasers have inaccuracy. You'd think the engine would allow that, since beam turrets can be made to be inaccurate, but nooOOOooo.....

Just give them a certain reload time, and a burst reload. And also make them more costly. That's what I'm doing for Arpia 2. It limits their power a little.
What I've also done is to separate them: one has a rear-quadrant blind spot, the other has it at the front.
With Quad Light Blasters at 60.000, and each Anti-Missile Beam at 110.000 credits, it kind of compensates, I reckon.

This post has been edited by Pace (haldora) : 15 January 2005 - 10:18 AM

Yes, just do what Pace has said. If you want to just convert a current beam to a PD beam just change the Polaris TBRL to a PD turret, give it a burst count and reload, and make them more costly. A good cost is up to you, but PD beams are very powerful, you have to be careful with their mass and energy damages otherwise they will swat missles and fighters out of the sky so fast as to be completly unfair. Trust me. In my new TC that I am making I am experimenting heavily with beams and I know that they are very easy to make powerful. This is why the CPL, one of the best waepons in the game (in my opinion :D) has only a mass damage of 4 and an energy damage of 8. You would think that the heavy blaster with higher mass and energy damages would be better, but no.

Learn how to use beams properly and people will fear you :).

general11, on Jan 15 2005, 05:09 PM, said:

This is why the CPL, one of the best waepons in the game (in my opinion :D) has only a mass damage of 4 and an energy damage of 8. You would think that the heavy blaster with higher mass and energy damages would be better, but no.
View Post

Yeah, why is that? I tried experimenting to find out why but got distracted and ended up posting about beam display instead.