94 replies to this topic

[John Flenaly]

Well its the same basic principle as a mag-lev train, just at much higher accelerations. I don't think you would see any sort of muzzle flash, and unless the projectile had a tracer you, wouldn't see it either.

[Vizth]

RaginCajun, on 06 November 2011 - 08:24 AM, said:

I was under the impression that larger scale (like ones the navy is testing) rail guns pass the current through a propellant which vaporizes from the electrical energy(but still remains conductive), and this cloud pushed the projectile forward. Do you know anything about that?

Sorry i wouldn't. could be possible, i only have experience with small scale ones.
going by this page the navy is still just using a conductive sabot. and the gap between the projectile and rails would make propellant useless.
http://www.dailymail...miles-away.html

[DEVASTATOR]

Late to the party here but i like the "real" look of the rail gun video. There's a slight explosion of sorts from the barrel (obviously much smaller than what's in the video) which makes sense as the air is super heated. But, as the projectile is supersonic, I'd like to see an "air blur" or bubble of sorts that resembles what you see on a fighter jet's wings. It might look like a blob of air moving along or a vapor trail. That'd be all you'd see as the projectile itself wouldn't really be visible to the naked eye at that speed.

Edited by DEVASTATOR, 06 November 2011 - 08:43 AM.

[Owl Cutter]

My use of "if" was such that I ought have used "since," my bad.

RaginCajun, on 06 November 2011 - 08:24 AM, said:

I was under the impression that larger scale (like ones the navy is testing) rail guns pass the current through a propellant which vaporizes from the electrical energy(but still remains conductive), and this cloud pushed the projectile forward. Do you know anything about that?

I think that's called an electrothermal cannon, but take that with a grain of salt, and has nothing to do with magnetic acceleration so far as I know. Railguns look kinda like a Jacob's ladder, but the arc is replaced with a conductive projectile and the current is enough that the tendency of the field to inflate throws the projectile. "Gauss Rifles" are coilguns in Battletech, and usually in other fiction too. It's a different kind of magnetic acceleration where a coil or more likely timed series of coils is used instead of the more direct method of railguns, which is probably harder to do but results in much less "barrel" wear and friction heat.

[maxil]

i support any sort of muzzleflash, it just looks cooler:

[Tachyon Blue]

In my opinion, In terms of the sound of the weapon (something I think it far too important to let slip by unnoticed), it should be a sharp, metallic bang, almost a crack. This signifies the extremely rapid acceleration of metal-on-metal, and also gives the impression of a heavy weapon.

As for the appearance, I think it should be a visual shockwave, showing the disruption of the air surrounding the muzzle of the weapon. It's hypersonic, so there wouldn't be much to see for the projectile.

Just throwing that out there.

[Gorthaur]

agent_cooper, on 05 November 2011 - 09:57 AM, said:

I believe the whole blue spiral rings thing came thanx to that horrible Schwarzenegger movie Eraser. Those hand held rail guns feature that very effect.

i had to look this up when i read this. i never noticed that before, that is hilarious. this brings the matrix to mind as well.

Razor Kotovsky, on 05 November 2011 - 11:53 PM, said:

Probably because gauss rifle doesn't fire 30 ton jet fighters?

still, i think it would sound more like that than what we get in the games now. actually, MW3s gauss sound wasn't that bad.

Edited by Gorthaur, 07 November 2011 - 10:37 AM.

[Gaius Cavadus]

It should look this:

Navy Gauss Gun on Discovery's "Future Weapons"

[Aidan Mcfay]

I think the picture on wiki says it all. Round traveling so fast that it ignights the air around it... yeah. Oh and the navy rail gun is just in testing phase..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railgun

[Gaius Cavadus]

Aidan Mcfay, on 07 November 2011 - 11:11 AM, said:

Oh and the navy rail gun is just in testing phase.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railgun

Gee whiz, ya think? The video makes that abundantly clear.

[Aidan Mcfay]

Can't watch the video, im in the middle of the ocean. Thanks.

[Wraith 1]

While not technically accurate to real life, I thought the mass driver from Descent3 was pretty cool http://youtu.be/eLsS8G0jfR8

[Kalunta]

woodstock, on 06 November 2011 - 03:27 AM, said:

I always felt the blue swirly look was a bit contrived.

I like the silver meteor idea though.

I think I concur with this. However, why does everyone think they are going to see something that size travelling that fast through the air... hmmm... Trace, perhaps, but the actual slug?

More importantly, how does it feel to shoot and be shot by one? Hehe....

[Legionn]

Cavadus, on 07 November 2011 - 10:36 AM, said:

It should look this:

Navy Gauss Gun on Discovery's "Future Weapons"

Aidan Mcfay, on 07 November 2011 - 11:11 AM, said:

I think the picture on wiki says it all. Round traveling so fast that it ignights the air around it... yeah. Oh and the navy rail gun is just in testing phase..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railgun

Unfortunately both of these are railguns, not Gauss guns. There is a significant difference.

[Kalunta]

Sound wise, I would love it if every time one was fired there was a crack-boom with the boom being heard for a great distance across the battlefield by all. I just think it would add to the battle atmosphere and make bring everyone's attention to the fact that someone is out there shooting a gauss.

[Aidan Mcfay]

Different yes, but velocity should be similar. We are just speaking about the look of the round post firing. A round from a coil gun or railgun would look similar I would believe.

[Kalunta]

I do believe that what we imagine a Gauss rife to be in BT/MW is a coil gun. A true Gauss gun transfers energy kinetically as well as magnetically. A rail gun is a related but a different animal.

[CaveMan]

Kalunta, on 07 November 2011 - 11:39 AM, said:

Sound wise, I would love it if every time one was fired there was a crack-boom with the boom being heard for a great distance across the battlefield by all. I just think it would add to the battle atmosphere and make bring everyone's attention to the fact that someone is out there shooting a gauss.

I hope there's a realistic sound engine with distance delay, like what DCS A-10C has. Seeing a teammate get pegged by a Gauss round from half a mile away and then hearing the thunderclap of it being fired a couple seconds later would be awesome.

[Gaius Cavadus]

Legionn, on 07 November 2011 - 11:36 AM, said:

Unfortunately both of these are railguns, not Gauss guns. There is a significant difference.

Not really. They both magnetically propel the projectile. The difference is in how they generate the magnetic fields but magnetism is magnetism is magnetism. It's universal.

Here's some reading for you:

Rail Gun
-Homopolar Motor
Gauss Gun

[PewPew]

Are people actually trying to find a realistic basis for this? On the field, any weapon that fires a piece of metal at supersonic speeds look pretty much the same, but at different scales. A puff of dirt/smoke and possibly a brief flash of light around the muzzle. As for the sound, a sonic boom pretty much drowns out whatever sounds produced related to the operation of the weapon.

Realism is boring. It's not like everyone gets permanent retinal damage every time a laser goes off, or deaf from rounds the size of bowling ball firing. Next thing you know, people will be demanding that mech pilots that haven't been killed in battle will suffer from cancer from inhaling all the burning carcinogens.

I think the artists and design teams will do a fine job in creating a rendition that works with the style of the new game.