Weapon toggle thoughts

posted on April 28th, 2010, 3:17 am

Well I've been reading around and noticed a good idea about the vorcha and dderidex.

We've all seen both pulse and beam weapons used in the show, so I was wondering if they could possibly get a toggle ability alternating between pulses and beams. Ditl.org has an article suggesting that disrupters could be interchanged from pulses to beams. This may or may not be canon but it's an interesting thought. I think that the interchanging ability could make both vessels good at attacking one chassis size or the other. Pulses aren't very good against battleships but are against smaller vessels, the beams would be good for taking on battleships but not as good against small crafts. Ironically it should be the other way around atleast logically speaking but that's neither here nor there. I'm more interested in other peoples thoughts as to how interchanging between pulses and beams could have + or - benefits for combat scenarios.

posted on April 28th, 2010, 4:27 am

I have not read the article you referenced citing that beam and pulse type disruptors are interchangeable but I doubt interchangeability highly. Take for example Federation Pulse and Beam phaser types. They are based on entirely different emitters. Pulse phasers generally being 'fixed' unidirectional firing like a cannon. While beam phasers come from strip emitters allowing for an increase in firing angles. Yes disruptor and Phaser are not exactly the same but essentially they are both energy weapons and we never see the Enterprise D firing pulses. or the Defiant firing beams from its phaser cannons. Also B'rel class BOP are only ever seen firing pulses. If they were interchangeable we might see them firing beams from time to time.

posted on April 28th, 2010, 4:57 am

Well you do have a point about the bird of prey, however (personal Opinion) but I see those cannons on the wings as being of a singular type of weapon pulse configuration only. The same could be said about the under wing canons on the negh'var as well.

I looked up the article on Ditl.org, it does seem to support your thoughts:

Also known as a Phase Disruptor, these weapons are in common use throughout the alpha quadrant.1 They follow the same basic principle as the Federation Phaser in that they cause the target to transition violently out of this continuum. But the Disruptor uses slow nadions rather than rapid nadions in generating the energy beam. This gives the disruptor a considerably lower energy conversion efficiency than the Starfleet phaser. This is partially offset by a moderate reduction in the size of the hardware required for the weapon itself - the space freed up by this allows a higher power weapon to be installed in the same space. The Federation phaser is therefore considered to be more sophisticated and generally more effective than the disruptor, which relies on brute power to overcome its efficiency failings.
Like phasers, disruptor weapons can fire sustained beams or pulses depending on the exact configuration of the hardware.1 One major drawback to this type of weapon is that no user has been able to develop the efficiency of the system to a point where individual emitters can be linked via force coupling. This makes it virtually impossible to construct a linear disruptor array along the pattern of Starfleets phaser arrays. Since these weapons entered Federation service on board the Ambassador class there has been massive investment by the Klingons and Romulans to overcome this deficiency, but neither power has been able to field such a weapon. Recent warship designs by these two powers have instead concentrated on building ever larger and more powerful single emitter weapons, culminating in the two giant disruptor cannon fitted to the Klingon Negh'Var class. The linear phaser array thus remains a significant advantage for Starfleet.


However when going to the pictures associated with this topic I found this caption beneath a pic:

A pair of Romulan warbirds fire their forward disruptors. These weapons can also be set to fire rapid pulses for maximum effect against shields.

There are images of both the vorcha and d'deridex firing beams and pulses.

posted on April 28th, 2010, 5:06 am

having the toggle option might be a nasty little surprise, but I don't have strong feelings for or against it.

posted on April 28th, 2010, 12:22 pm

The Vor'cha and D'deridex Class firing pulses are likely different varients of the standard. I think a D'deridex has also fire Plasma torps from the Disruptor array before.

posted on April 28th, 2010, 12:45 pm

yep the big D has fired beams and torps from the same spot in different episodes, which only confuses further.

for evidence that disruptors can switch between beam and pulse mode easily, we can look to enterprise where Birds of prey were seen firing pulses sometimes and beams other times.

i personally think switching easily would be bad for gameplay.

i would like the idea to be implemented as a refit system, kinda like the rhienn's system. i'll suggest some in another thread.

posted on April 28th, 2010, 3:27 pm

I dont really see any point too it but it could be used a special weapon e.g. a ship switches from beams to pulses and gains a rate of fire increase.

posted on April 28th, 2010, 11:38 pm

I dont really see any point too it but it could be used a special weapon e.g. a ship switches from beams to pulses and gains a rate of fire increase.

That's pretty much exactly what the Norexan already gets of course 

posted on April 29th, 2010, 12:36 am

Well setting the issues aside like: "theres already a vessel filling that role"

Im well aware its more of a "visual" thing to have the ability to do so. Im a very visual person and since Im not compiling a massive book on the innner workings of each and every vessel in flops Im not really the best candidate to try and force this idea into an already well rounded tech tree. my original intent was to pose the thought and hopefully generate ideas on how it could be implemented and worked into the balance of the game, most have expressed the D'deridex is lacking in some way, albeit defensively. So this idea doesnt address that issue.

Heres my thoughts a little more fleshed out:

The toggle should have a cool down, say 10 seconds, before being able to switch back.
The pulse version should fire several rapid succession pulses at initial strike and gradually decrease in frequency, this plays to the hit and run tactics of the romulans. It should also follow the same guidlines that pulses do less damage to battleships, but could in turn do more to destroyers and cruisers.
The beam version could remain much as it is with its strengths in engaging battleships but not being good against destroyers and cruisers.

Thoughts on this, Im not as familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of vessels in flops so Im hoping someone can help flesh out this idea and correct any assumptions ive made with facts.

posted on April 29th, 2010, 3:18 am

That's pretty much exactly what the Norexan already gets of course 

Never though about that...

posted on April 29th, 2010, 6:40 am

It should also follow the same guidlines that pulses do less damage to battleships, but could in turn do more to destroyers and cruisers.
The beam version could remain much as it is with its strengths in engaging battleships but not being good against destroyers and cruisers.

Thoughts on this, Im not as familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of vessels in flops so Im hoping someone can help flesh out this idea and correct any assumptions ive made with facts.

  Beams are "good" against everything in the sense that they don't suffer any penalties.  Overall in comparison to pulse's and torpedoes they aren't generally as powerful, but that depends just on which ship it is.

  The Big D has a very powerful beam along with it's powerful torpedoes.  Giving it pulse weaponry would really only hurt it as the beam is not "not being good against destroyers and cruisers" like you said.  It's very good because it suffers no penalty and hits everything always.


  Again I like the innovation and your perserverance, but there is really no reason to do this, especially when another ship fills the role.

posted on April 29th, 2010, 8:30 am

Of course, not every role in-game is delegated to only one specific ship.  In some cases, multiple ships can fill the same roles (sometimes there aren't really that many roles - "Fire everything" etc...)
Being able to switch a specific ship from one role to another, especially if your opponent cannot easily determine just what the heck you're up to, makes for a little less 'by the book' gameplay.  And if that's a bad thing, then let's mothball the mod and play the star trek paper rpg.  (Wikipedia informs me that such a thing exists)

posted on April 29th, 2010, 7:57 pm

Romulan ships of course are supposed to be very specialized and have very specific roles... unlike, say, the Federation