5 replies to this topic

[Osillion]

Something that always bugged me in MW4 (though I think they got the pulse laser right in MW3)...

a Laser should fire as long as the trigger is pulled, the limiting factor being HEAT. That being said...the pulse lasers should go back to the MW3 style...where the laser varied output as a wave...increasing and decreasing, instead of a "sputter" laser like in MW4.

Edited by Osillion, 10 March 2012 - 09:50 PM.

[Alantin]

I agree on the laser thing. I like the idea of having to hold the lasers on the target. Keep em on too long, it gets hot. Thats the balance on those lasers.

I do like the "normal" lasers too. Maybe go back to mw3 style pulse and regular lasers?

[Strum Wealh]

"Pulse lasers differ from traditional laser weaponry, in that instead of firing one powerful beam, they maintain several laser beams fired off in quick succession. While offering an overall increased rate of fire, the heat output also increases accordingly. Pulse lasers increase damage because they allow vaporized armor to dissipate from the location of damage. This allows subsequent pulses to reach the target area without being diffused by the vapor."

Pulse lasers are described as firing several beams in very quick succession, with there being time between firings to allow the cloud of vaporized armor to dissipate.
Some of the pulse lasers used in real-life light propulsion experiments fire as many as 20-30 pulses per second.
(Note that the opening footage of the lightcraft in operation is in slow motion...)

A number of the BT/MW books (CBT Field Manual: Updates, Imminent Crisis (a novel by BT Product Line Developer Randall Bills), Binding Force and Storms of Fate and Patriots and Tyrants and The Killing Fields by Loren Coleman, and several others) describe pulse laser fire as streams or flurries of "emerald darts".
So, the visual effect of pulse lasers is actually one of the things MW4 got "right"!
By contrast, their depiction in MWLL (demonstrated at 1:00 to 1:20) - a series of beams fired in an on-and-off strobing effect - is closer to what pulse lasers would look like in reality.

As far as "normal" continuous-beam lasers go, I think the depiction in the MWO gameplay video and their being damage-over-time weapons (as opposed to having all of their damage "front-loaded") are the best way to go.

Your thoughts?

[Belisarius1]

Yeah, standard lasers shouldn't be able to sustain fire for long periods, that's what bust-fire pulse lasers are for.

Standards should still be a direct-fire point-and-shoot weapon, but I like the aspect of having to keep a beam on target for the (short) duration of the shot.

Edited by Belisarius†, 11 March 2012 - 06:18 PM.

[Hanyit Greyhame]

IMO, the reasoning behind the lasers firing and then having to recharge is not so much the inability for them to keep firing indefinitely, its more of a heating and gas problem. The big increase in technology that allows pulse lasers to pulse is the fact that the lasers won't melt the weapon down when fired continuously. The standard lasers heat their housing too much, and that account for why bigger lasers have longer cooldowns as well.

Just my two c-bills,

Hanyit Greyhame

[Pht]

Osillion, on 10 March 2012 - 09:50 PM, said:

a Laser should fire as long as the trigger is pulled, the limiting factor being HEAT.

Laser optics can only handle so much "on" time at full rated damage without significant degradation.