Re-imagining the Damage Pulse

[jzimmerman4]

So I have never seen anyone, not even a noob, use the damage pulse as the master weapon on a ship. They currently are completely pointless in battle besides as a slave, in which case are really awesome. I recently had an idea of a new way the damage pulse would work as a master weapon that would make it effective in combat, unique, and generally fun to use and see.

Concept
The basic idea is that the Damage Pulse would shoot a large round pulse (lots of surface area) away from the end of the gun, sorta similar to a cannon. The radius, damage, and speed(projectile and reload) would all be effected as the gun increased in size. The bigger the gun, the more damage the pulse has, the larger the radius, the slower the pulse is, and the longer the reload is.

Weapon Combos
With a cannon slave the pulses would travel faster with less reload but have an decrease in size and damage.
With a beam slave the pulses would travel farther and faster.
With a missile slave the pulse would have an increased radius.
With a damage pulse slave the pulse would deal more damage, have a larger radius but travel slower and have a larger reload.

Advantages and Disadvantages
The advantages/disadvantages of Damage Pulse over Cannons
-Projectiles have a larger surface area
-More damage dealt per projectile
-Longer reload
-Slightly less range

The advantages/disadvantages of Damage Pulse over Beams
-Projectiles have larger surface area
-More damage dealt per projectile
-More range
-Longer reload

The advantages/disadvantages of Damage Pulse over Missiles
-Projectiles have a larger surface area
-Faster reload
-More range
-Can not lock on
-Less damage dealt per projectile

I am not sure if this is possible but I would like to see Damage Pulses have a charge up instead of a reload, simply because it would add a new element into the game that would be unique from the other weapon types.

If you have any questions about any of my reasoning or think something would work better in a different way please leave a comment below!

 

[CoolDog3]

This sounds really good, and I would use it a lot if it was implemented!

 

[Keynesian]

+Infinity

 

[Crimson-Artist]

from my understanding when the Mine layer weapon is added the Cannon+ Mine layer combo will be a flak cannon which will theoretically do just this.

the pulses from the beginning were always a odd weapon and seem to be made exclusively for Melee combat. they were beyond useless before effects and logic. with both I've actually started designing ships around using damage pulses as melee weapons.

One of my fighters has a damage pulse weapon thats auto triggered with logic so all you have to do is just ram it into an enemy and it goes off. that cupeled with a stop effect cannon+cannon combo you can do some serious damage to ships

But i do concede that theres always room for adjustment

 

[NeonSturm]

@jzimmerman4

*joking* A space-vortex-cannon?

*end joke*


If I understand the OP correctly, they should then do less damage at distance (as surface area increases in a cone-shape).

from my understanding when the Mine layer weapon is added the Cannon+ Mine layer combo will be a flak cannon which will theoretically do just this.

Hope this is true.

Pulses have other uses (killing intruders).



Why does emp/ion-effect pulse needs to calculate hit blocks? Hit the core (pass-through) or boundary-box-surface and then calculate penalty based on mass and damage
-> more consistent and adjustable damage values vs large/small -> better balance for bigger pulses -> bigger pulses.

This could create something unique which makes pulses and the suggested "vortex cannons" or however they will be called not redundant.

 

[ltmauve]

I believe the flak cannon will be something that splits into shots going in different directions at max range or on impact, but this would be like a shotgun: more damage at close range, with decreasing damage further away.

 

[NeonSturm]

I believe the flak cannon will be something that splits into shots going in different directions at max range or on impact, but this would be like a shotgun: more damage at close range, with decreasing damage further away.

Shotguns only behave this way cause of air-resistance.

Space has no air and damage is only dependent on how many projectiles hit.

Just the single-point penetration value decreases. (IRL damage is often dependent that you get high damage in low time on the same spot)

 

[ltmauve]

You are forgetting the inverse square law. As the pulse expands, the area increases with the square of the distance. Since the energy is conserved, the energy density is total energy/area. The amount of energy determines how much damage the ship will take. A fighter close to the pulse and a capital far away will take the same amount of damage.

 

[CoolDog3]

So would it look like this...

 

[NeonSturm]

Nice pic

 

[jzimmerman4]

So would it look like this...View attachment 3950

Yes! It would be exactly like the Malevolence

 

[CoolDog3]

Yes! It would be exactly like the Malevolence

You watch it too?

 

[jzimmerman4]

You watch it too?

Hahah yea Im in season 5, It is a surprisingly good.

 

[CoolDog3]

Hahah yea Im in season 5, It is a surprisingly good.

Yeah I've always been a big Star Wars fan. But let's get back on topic, would we be able to change the color of it? Because I'm thinking an orange version of that would look pretty cool. And would the push pulse look the same?

 

[jzimmerman4]

Yes they could be colored like the other weapons but the push probally wouldn't change since you can always give the damage pulse a 100% push effect so it would be nice to have a 360 push weapon.

 

[Crimson-Artist]

I actually like the Push pulse since they added a EMP effect. things hit with it have all their systems shut down for 3 secs.

I actually would like to see this expanded. as far as I know they're stats can't be upgraded by adding blocks. 1 block has the same effects has 100. of course i could be wrong haven't tested this since the the weapons update dropped

 

[Ithirahad]

Personally, I'd be content with the max range being doubled, combined with synchronization of pulse bubbles with ship movement (so that pulses don't "drop" behind ships)

 

[NeonSturm]

Weapon range also determinates the time some ship needs to get into the next closer range class:

500 range diff / 100 speed = 5 seconds.
1000 range diff / 100 speed = 10 seconds.
1000 range diff / 200 speed = 5 seconds.​

<500 range "Meele"-Ships will likely charge at you, fire at you, continue charging behind you, again out of range - if they want to get into range without taking 5 seconds of fire. This would be realistic situation, except somebody just fires a kinetic suicide ship 10 days before the enemy arrives - giving it enough time to accelerate and the enemy not enough time to change mind.

Or they use jamming (which is probably the most imbalanced thing vs stations and turrets)

 

[Lecic]

Not quite a necro here. I like the idea, but I'm having trouble visualising it. What would make this different from a shaped cannon projectile?

 

[jzimmerman4]

View attachment 3950
Here is a picture from the Clone Wars series and this is pretty much exactly how I envision it, a large disk that can either deal damage to a large number of ships or a large area on one.