More things to fit to hard points besides weapons

Ben Ryder

Ben Ryder
A class battering rams!

f41cee7d891b6f7353f4849bdba5c0dc.jpg


Goodness grief!
 

jacozilla

jacozilla
Burlsol said:
Okay.. but you're also talking about a light source that produces a strong enough light to reflect off a surface more than 1km away. I'm not particularly sure on the physics involved, but I'm pretty sure that this would essentially be a form of low focus laser. That's probably not saying much, but given that our own focused lasers require quite alot of energy just to reach a target 1-3km away, I'm tempted to think that an unfocused beam would need significantly more energy to not only reach >1km away, but also have enough energy to reflect back.
Click to expand...

Not really. There are modern SAR searchlights mounted on helicopters or fixed wing aircraft with range over 2 miles.

For example, 12mil candlepower Maxabeam searchlights have a range of 3500 meters (approx 2.17 miles or 3.5km). The focused lights are so powerful, it can burn can cause flammable substances to ignite if placed within 10 feet of the light.

our ED ship serchlight is as primitive as the massive room sized installations needed for sensors, limpet controllers, etc. Apparently a lot of current modern tech is regressed or impossible in ED 3201.
 

CryloRen

C
DaveB said:
I see where both the OP and Ben are coming from, but how about things that are a little more "weapon-like" than the stuff usually in a utility mount?
Click to expand...

I was thinking about something like that, like low power plasma machine guns like the SRV's have in the utility slots. It would be like a secondary armament for when ships get too close. It would look awesome from the cockpit.
 
Last edited:

NW3

NW3
Burlsol said:
Okay.. but you're also talking about a light source that produces a strong enough light to reflect off a surface more than 1km away. I'm not particularly sure on the physics involved, but I'm pretty sure that this would essentially be a form of low focus laser. That's probably not saying much, but given that our own focused lasers require quite alot of energy just to reach a target 1-3km away, I'm tempted to think that an unfocused beam would need significantly more energy to not only reach >1km away, but also have enough energy to reflect back.
Click to expand...
I have a flashlight which throws a visible beam ~0.5 mile under ideal conditions, which is 0.8 km. The spot is easily visible on a light-colored target at that distance. There would be even less light scattering in the vacuum of space. According to Wikipedia, planes have landing lights which are visible up to 100 miles away: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landing_lights

However, speaking of lasers... One obvious option for a hardpoint would be a spectrographic sampling laser, like the ones on the Mars rovers. It should work much like a mining laser, but report back localized mineral compositions, much like a prospector limpet. A laser spectrometer would be useful to miners as well as explorers. Some of the other rover instruments would also be useful... http://www.space.com/16801-mars-rover-curiosity-science-instruments-infographic.html

P.S. It's an awesome flashlight, but you have to be careful with it. It gets hot enough to seriously burn you if you touch the front end and might even start a fire if you leave it in contact with flammable materials.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom