PALC and other beam weapons in AP

[kurush]

Do we have PALC or other beam weapons in AP? Just wanted to check whether there is a "legal" vanilla way to get them before adding them via a hack...

[Catra]

just the kyon emitter if you're lucky.

[DGBowman]

Not yet. I hope they put them in (even if its just a single shot reward as in X:TC). I'll miss them on the Tiger.

[Vyrebird]

I've seen them equipped on NPC ships (a Military Panther Raider I believe?), so in principle I'd assume they'd be acquirable via boarding.

[ConCorDian]

id love to see these things becoming more active in game, the TV show i liked most for combat was Bab 5 so if they were to come into play id like to see a rework to where they can be loaded onto ships, id like to see M7's firing a couple of these from the front as their form of capital weapon.

[Master of the Blade]

I've seen them equipped on NPC ships (a Military Panther Raider I believe?), so in principle I'd assume they'd be acquirable via boarding.

REALLY? Are you 100% Vanilla? I have never seen a PALC equipped ship in TC or AP. If it's possible, .

[DGBowman]

id love to see these things becoming more active in game, the TV show i liked most for combat was Bab 5 so if they were to come into play id like to see a rework to where they can be loaded onto ships, id like to see M7's firing a couple of these from the front as their form of capital weapon.

They're not powerful enough for anti-capship work. They are however probably the best anti-fighter weapon in the game.

[Cpt.Jericho]

PALCs were in TC great against everything with less than 25MJ shields. M4+ and heavier fighters were rather unimpressed. But it's real cracker for missle defense, too, due to its range.

[ConCorDian]

They're not powerful enough for anti-capship work. They are however probably the best anti-fighter weapon in the game.

and whats stopping them upgrading the weapon specs? to my knowledge the only beam weapons used ingame normally is the Kyon Emitters (Kha'ak) and the Plasma Beam Cannon (Laser Towers)

but you still have the Tri Beam Cannon, Fusion Beam Cannon and the Phased Array Laser Cannon as options for upgrade. it wouldn't even step away from Lore too much because we have kind of defeated the Kha'ak (they are more or less raiders now than a real threat) so sure to god we will have studied their weapon systems and been able to implement improvements of our own.

we are in desperate need for a proper M7 weapon, i think these would fit the role well, have it so they can only be fitted on 2-4 of the forward weapons of the M7's (not turrets to stop them making M7's "i win" ships) and perhaps implement new ones as well (iirc there is 2 "spare lasers" in the game files) you could give the Terrans the Fusion Beam Cannon which considering where it shows i think thats what it was ment for. and give each of the other races one of their own but have it so that there is a degree of flexability like there is with the current weapons. (Boron will have a largly "Ion Beam Cannon" Split something more hull damaging than sheilds and Argon something fairly all round) and have them based on something like: 45k sheild damage 7k hull damage and 4.5k range. obviously with the race specific variations.

and just to add more variation dont give the Teladi and Paranid Beams as such, give them pulse weapons but to similar stats. at least that way the forward punching ability of the M7 will be up over the ability of M6's.

[Catra]

the spare lasers were the guns that the torus used when it was still alive. =P

the tri-beam is the paranid racial laser, so they kinda have to have it. =P

the only race missing a beam weapon is the teladi, so what your saying kinda is already implemented(and technically the boron, as the Ion Cannon is the Star Wars ball of energy, rather than the HW2 beam), but thats easily fixed by giving it the beam property in Tlasers. =P

[DGBowman]

The whole advantage of PALCs over all other antifighter weaponry is that they're practically insta-hit, and don't slow the turrets down. You don't need a weapon like that against capships. You do need something like that against fighters, and all those tomahawks the M8s throw at you these days.

The forward punching capacity of the M7s is pretty good- they can keep firing the M6 class of weaponry pretty much indefinitely, while M6s run out of puff pretty quickly. The only problem is their lack of range. But almost all of them can mount IBLs or the ammo-based GCs in their side turrets. They can't fire them indefinitely like an M2 can, but that's not surprising either.

The Split Tiger mounts IBLs in the main battery, and when you charge them up they're very, good, the Thresher does the same with ICs and PPCs, but doesn't really have the weapons generator to keep them going (it works well for sniping though). But most of the M7s aren't generally designed to go up against M2s, they're for flattening small fleets of M6's, and taking on other M7s.

Paranid ships get the PSG, which while its terrible in a furball with friendlies, when you're on your own, will chew through everybody.

And don't replace the animation for the Boron Ion Cannon. Its got probably the best looking bullet in the game.

[WeriTis]

...

The forward punching capacity of the M7s is pretty good- they can keep firing the M6 class of weaponry pretty much indefinitely, while M6s run out of puff pretty quickly. The only problem is their lack of range. But almost all of them can mount IBLs or the ammo-based GCs in their side turrets. They can't fire them indefinitely like an M2 can, but that's not surprising either.

The Split Tiger mounts IBLs in the main battery, and when you charge them up they're very, good, the Thresher does the same with ICs and PPCs, but doesn't really have the weapons generator to keep them going (it works well for sniping though). But most of the M7s aren't generally designed to go up against M2s, they're for flattening small fleets of M6's, and taking on other M7s.

...

Well this does not apply to the terrans, which could use a weaker, faster projectile speed weapon than the EMPC for M5s/M4s and also either a specific M6 weapon or better a specific M7 weapon.

As it is, Terran M6s seem to outdmg all commonwealth M6s due to ammo based M/AM launchers, but the terran M7s suffer from being limited to the same weapons that are quite ineffective against other M7s or even M1/M2s.

[NeverSnake]

The whole advantage of PALCs over all other antifighter weaponry is that they're practically insta-hit, and don't slow the turrets down.

Actually they almost halve the turret speed next to other anti-fighter weaponry like flaks and PRGs and are pretty much useless at 6km bringing their effective range down quite a lot.

They're still comparable to flaks, but I wouldn't say they were definitely better.

[Cpt.Jericho]

They're still comparable to flaks, but I wouldn't say they were definitely better.

And they make considerably less noise

[Sovereign01]

As it is, Terran M6s seem to outdmg all commonwealth M6s due to ammo based M/AM launchers

Unless said M6s were carrying a full battery of EBCs

[DGBowman]

I found PALCs pretty effective at long ranges.

I agree that the Terrans need a M7 weapon for dealing with things as big (or bigger) than they are, but I don't think the M6 needs one. The Hyperion is just as effective at killing things as the Vidar, and doesn't suffer from having a hold barely big enough to keep you in ammo and e-cells.

In terms of Commonwealth ships I think we're pretty well catered for. You've got your capship hunters (Tiger/Thresher/Panther), and the ones for targeting fighters (Deimos/Shrike). I think the Yokohama and the Aegir fall firmly into that category.

[deca.death]

and whats stopping them upgrading the weapon specs? to my knowledge the only beam weapons used ingame normally is the Kyon Emitters (Kha'ak) and the Plasma Beam Cannon (Laser Towers)

Why they don't want to introduce them is because they are all bugged. If you go into turret and shoot manually, squeeze and don't release, beam stays forever and energy isn't spent. We have them throngs in XRM but always in turrets because of that. And if you shoot them manually it's considered cheating. I was told problem was unavoidable. Even like that, they are good enough for mod, but not for official game.

[NeverSnake]

They're still comparable to flaks, but I wouldn't say they were definitely better.

And they make considerably less noise

Yeah, another downside to PALCs.