67 replies to this topic

[Lukoi Banacek]

I think its funny to complain this dumbs down the game when most weaponized lasers currently are invisible to the naked eye anyway and what you would see would be the after image anyway given how fast light travels and these tiny distances.

[stjobe]

Almond Brown, on 05 January 2016 - 11:58 AM, said:

Take a flashlight, a strong one even, out into the night and see how far you can actually see with it ffs.

You take one out and see if the beam gets wider or narrower. Also your flashlight, even if strong, is not a laser.

Almond Brown, on 05 January 2016 - 11:58 AM, said:

Light diffuses quite quickly, even a beam that starts out highly focused, diffuses pretty quick.

At the distances we're talking here (less than a kilometre), laser beams do not diffuse appreciably. If they did, they'd be useless as weapons.

Sandpit, on 05 January 2016 - 12:16 PM, said:

new players really have no easy way of knowing what a "max" range of a lot of weapons are. We take for granted that this information was dispersed years ago and we know it, new players not so much.

Distance to target is displayed centre screen, on the HUD. Effective weapon range is displayed lower right, on the weapons display.

Edited by stjobe, 05 January 2016 - 12:48 PM.

[Felicitatem Parco]

cdlord, on 05 January 2016 - 10:59 AM, said:

Opinion: All weapons should have zero damage at their listed TT max range. Period.

A high-explosive ballistic projectile has enough power to strip hundreds of pounds of ablative armor from a target at 269 meters, but at 271 meters that projectile has lost 100% of its damage potential.

That would not only be stupid, but also very frustrating.

[Felicitatem Parco]

Oh, and a final note: laser weapons are supposed to be a quick flash, not a beam lasting for any more than 1/10th of a second. So, the whole "realistic laser weapon" argument is moot.

[Jalen]

Okay, go out to your garage and get into your mech. Open the retractable roof and fire a large laser into the night sky and see if it shines into infinity or stops at some point...

What? You don't have a mech or a large laser to prove or disprove the theory? Why not? Because it's all made up?

Okay, then get over it.

[MeiSooHaityu]

Ehhh. I don't really have an opinion either way at this point. I'll hold off judgement till I see it.

In all reality, we shouldn't see any beam in clear conditions I would think. That's OK though. Science Fiction FTW!

[Coolant]

stjobe, on 05 January 2016 - 10:52 AM, said:

Because light doesn't work that way.

If you take a quarter in your hand and raise it up to eye level, you can see it clearly. If someone else raises a quarter a hundred feet away you probably won't be able to see it. Likewise a beam becomes harder to see the further away it travels. Simple logic.

stjobe, on 05 January 2016 - 10:24 AM, said:

If so, I have to say this is the silliest in a long line of silly ideas PGI have come up with.

This is just an irrationally emotional comment that doesn't enforce your opinion at all. It's funny how people post things and add emotion or cheap shots and assume their post somehow becomes more pointed and forceful.

Edited by Coolant, 05 January 2016 - 01:13 PM.

[Revis Volek]

stjobe, on 05 January 2016 - 10:52 AM, said:

Because light doesn't work that way.

And there's both a distance-to-target marker on their HUD, and an optimal-range number by their weapons.

Perhaps it's just me, and perhaps it's just silly when talking about a stompy robot game, but this doesn't cross my suspension bridge of disbelief, nor is it skating by on the ice frozen over by the rule of cool, it just seems daft to me.

I can accept that a ballistic projectile loses enough penetration to do no damage after a certain distance, and I can accept that missiles self-destruct after a certain distance, but that laser light just stops?

Nope, sorry. That's taking it one step too far.

How dumb do you want the game to be?

its doesn't stop but most lasers(other then laser pointers) use Lenses and the lenses are convex and the Light comes out in a Cone shape already, other wise you wouldn't need to focus a laser.


People think lasers work like laser pointers....and not all do. Especially ones with optics to shoot at ranges from 0-1000 meters. You would have pretty complex range and focusing system in there (more so then just a laser pointer has) and you will get to a point where the light is so spread out its not even warm anymore.


My laser at work has a focal area of. 004" and a focus length of 3.47". If you go .004 either way past that it wont burn right or sometimes not at all.

[Tombstoner]

stjobe, on 05 January 2016 - 10:52 AM, said:

How dumb do you want the game to be?

"You are not the target audience....." - PGI

[CDLord HHGD]

I honestly do not see how I will be able to tell the difference in laser beam diameter over distance unless they do one huge wide DBZ beam to start with.... I just don't have the visual acuity and I doubt many do. Add to the fact that people torso twist, jump, move, and take incoming to-the-face fire and I think it's a neat idea but a waste of resources.

[Moldur]

It's probably going to look the same on the user end.

I mean, lasers already appear to get thinner due to distance and perspective.

[Mystere]

DarthRevis, on 05 January 2016 - 01:16 PM, said:

its doesn't stop but most lasers(other then laser pointers) use Lenses and the lenses are convex and the Light comes out in a Cone shape already, other wise you wouldn't need to focus a laser.


People think lasers work like laser pointers....and not all do. Especially ones with optics to shoot at ranges from 0-1000 meters. You would have pretty complex range and focusing system in there (more so then just a laser pointer has) and you will get to a point where the light is so spread out its not even warm anymore.


My laser at work has a focal area of. 004" and a focus length of 3.47". If you go .004 either way past that it wont burn right or sometimes not at all.

Speaking of focusing lasers for effect, eat your hearts out!

[Wintersdark]

Yeah, Stjobe, you know I'm normally with you about such things, but this time? No leg to stand on.

Laser ranges in MWO - in Battletech entirely, actually - are ridiculous. So yeah, they attenuate really quickly. But our lasers already stop at a certain length, they're just making that length make sense, and instead of being full brightness and thickness till they reach that point, they'll lose intensity gradually. Thus, damage done makes brightness and "power" of the beam.

The scales involved are silly (which is a fundamental Battletech bit of silly), but what's happening makes a lot of sense.

[stjobe]

Wintersdark, on 05 January 2016 - 02:32 PM, said:

The scales involved are silly (which is a fundamental Battletech bit of silly), but what's happening makes a lot of sense.

Medium Laser beams stopping at 540 meters makes "a lot of sense"? Small Laser beams stopping at 270 makes "a lot of sense"?

We'll just have to agree to disagree on that one.

[Sandpit]

stjobe, on 05 January 2016 - 12:32 PM, said:

Distance to target is displayed centre screen, on the HUD. Effective weapon range is displayed lower right, on the weapons display.

Effective range =/= max range or explain diminished damage outside of that range

[Bilbo]

Mystere, on 05 January 2016 - 02:19 PM, said:

Speaking of focusing lasers for effect, eat your hearts out!

I was hoping to see a video of said lazor array firing. I am disappoint.

[Wintersdark]

Not to mention how ridiculous visible laser beams are in the first place.

[Champion of Khorne Lord of Blood]

Mister D, on 05 January 2016 - 10:32 AM, said:

but I won't be able to scare people with fizzling armor while doing no damage anymore

Love poking light mechs who get on hill tops with a small pulse laser 2km off. Then wondering what the teammate watching me is thinking to himself...

[Wintersdark]

stjobe, on 05 January 2016 - 02:48 PM, said:

Medium Laser beams stopping at 540 meters makes "a lot of sense"? Small Laser beams stopping at 270 makes "a lot of sense"?

We'll just have to agree to disagree on that one.

I said the specific ranges where stupid, but that is Battletech 's fault, not PGI's.

It's no more stupid than bright laser beams anyways.

You're basically complaining that the magic space rays don't confirm to how you feel magic space rays should act, when they already make no sense in the first place.

They're magic space rays.

Edited by Wintersdark, 05 January 2016 - 02:59 PM.

[Wintersdark]

As to visible light lasers: while there are invisible lasers (such as infrared lasers) most lasers are actually visible. You see the spot where they shine, not the beam. You can't see the beam not because of the type of light but for the same reason you can't see a flashlights beam unless you're waving it through smoke: you only see what the light reflects off of.

Lasers are directed, focused light. All the photons are being directed in a specific direction, which (unless things are going to go very badly for you) is not directly into your eyes.

These are magic space rays. Complaining that you think they look wrong when they should in fact be completely invisible under normal circumstances is ridiculous.