New Pulse Weapons

[NannerAirCraft]

What are your guys thoughts on it? I'm downloading the update right now so I haven't tried them.

 

[Tomino_sama]

the actual pulse seems to lock the pilot from using WSAD or AIM for about 2 - 4 seconds.



We haven\'t built anything that physically pushes a ship yet. tried with a tiny sub 20 block ship, a stock Pirate IsanthVI and a Large ship.



The Push is a bit weak, but it can pin you in place leaving you vulnerable.



Only thing is the Pulse Bubble Graphical Effect, it creates a quite a bit of lag, so that is more effective to disble other players although it\'s kind of an exploit.

 

[SageOfThunder]

Tomino hit it on the dot. Pulse weapon not that great.

 

[Koross]

I wonder if they work on missiles? As in when enemies fire missles on you and they get close, you hit the pulse weapon and it pushes or even detonates the missiles? Has anyone tried this?

 

[King Chameleon]

@Koross

That is a brilliant idea.

 

[NannerAirCraft]

Does the actual pulse effect only go as far as the big bubble graphic goes? Because then you would have to be right up next to a ship thats not moving.

 

[USABxBOOYO]

Tried hitting a 20 or so mass ship with two separate pulses from two 270 Z-long groups in my capital. The pulse knocked it a few meters but that\'s it. The Z-axis determines power so considering 270 is an obscene length, the power of the pulse was extremely underwhelming.

Not to mention that the pulses did not originate from the frontmost block (Yes, I checked to make sure all the groups were done correctly) so I had to put the ship under my capital to actually hit it.

My Y-axis was pretty big as well (around high 60 or so blocks) and the radius was good but not good for what you would expect from 60 blocks high.

 

[Stakhanov]

Some people report that their ship cannot move or turn at all right after it\'s hit by a pulse. If that\'s the case , I\'d like to see how long it lasts and wether it can become a permanent state from continuous pulses.

Speaking of exploits , it has been determined that pulsing the ship you\'re docked to will cause a net movement , allowing for troll physics pulse engines. However , the speed limit is absolute and cannot be exceeded using those.

 

[shadowman615]

Haven\'t played around with the new pulse weapon yet, so I\'m not really clear on how they work or anything, but the first thing that came to mind was to build a ship that could drop a bunch of mines and push them into enemys. Thoughts?

 

[Jolkanin]

Don\'t know about all of you, but I\'ve made a ship with a 50x50x50 array, and it just blasts things hundreds of meters away. Radius is underwhelming though, at only 47. But the push force and 4 sec reload makes up for it. Mass does seem to affect, as my hefty heavy fighter (about the size of 10 pirate fighters) can withstand it to an extent, and no effect on cruiser and up.

 

[AmeriChris]

Here is a design that could be useful. Make a ship with a docking unit close to a Pulse Cannon and then create a new ship core and put bomb blocks all around it. Asign the docking block to a number (pereferably next to the pulse key) Undock the bomb ship then use the pulse. I have tested this and it actualy works pretty well.

 

[Tomino_sama]

here a few clips from the ship HaViC made on my server

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imTFhAIlIa4 - the Pulse ship

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BD1JGEo1AK0 - messing with me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGbVaFjJbPY - testing against a bigger ship

 

[Stakhanov]

In a multiplayer environment , dedicated pulse ships can struggle to connect hits without a very generous pulse radius. Fighter class have to fly too close to collision range to be reliable , and are vulnerable to counter-pulses from the larger ships.

Pulse arrays for those should favor radius first , reload second due to diminishing returns. Extending the pulses longer than 3 blocks Z-wise is counterproductive as the target will be sent flying , forcing you to chase after it before recover.

Defensive pulses can make full use of Z-scaling , though , to push aggressors out of pulse range.

I have yet to try pulse stealth frigates , but expect they would fare poorly. Increased collision calculations are bound to cause more lag , ruining ambushes. The higher area of exposed power wires would also raise the risk of powerdrain counter.

Overall , I\'d recommend sticking to the all-guns cloak ship doctrine , as increased damage and shielding matters more when engaging larger ship classes , especially dealing with turrets.

Pulse ships are useful for roleplay reasons , when you want to capture enemy ships intact.