I'll try to make this a short one because its a kinda simple concept for a weapon..
Essentially i have been playing a lot of Gratuitous Space Battles II and thought about how good the anti-fighter Limpet launcher would be against the airships (from Airships) because they need to watch their weight a lot more closely than the spacecraft of GSBII!
The idea of the limpet mine from Gratuitous Space Battles was to attach itself to fighters to slow them down enough to be hit by the more sluggish weapons on destroyers.
This concept would work REALLY well in Airships Conquer the Skies by having a projectile that launches (maybe in the same firing arc as flak guns) and instead of exploding attaches itself to the hulls of enemy ships, increasing their weight and thus lowering their move speed and more importantly service ceiling!
I can see this being a great way to save your more heavy ships from being effectively useless in a battle against super-light enemies or even a method of dragging other heavy ships into the dirt creating a new way to do combat!
Although this could be a little overpowered if someone decides to make a ship that essentially launches so many that its like a guy just tied a twelve story brick building onto your lightest ship sending it smashing into wooden splinters! So, maybe marines can clamber onto the outside of a ship to dislodge the mines and regain buoyancy, giving them a new use instead of only for boarding and defending from boarding attacks!
Overall i think this could be a cool new thing to consider when doing combat as it provides a new set of strategies involving making enemies too sluggish to fly which can cripple them without destroying them/open them up for easier boarding as well as a new thing any defending players will have to worry about when creating new airships!
Never played Gratuitous Space Battles, but the way you describe those limpet mines make me think about some kind of time distortion mines attached to fighters to slow them down...
It's totally irrelevant in a steampunk context... In this game, the best solution to obtain this result should be a giant grappling hook to link ships together forcing ships to stay in fixed range, or you have to think about a weapon that nullify Suspendium effect...
The limpet mine (in the game at least) is just a piece of self propelled metal (like a rocket) that's really heavy and sticks to things (thus increasing their mass to make them harder to move) so there's no wibbily wobbly timey wimey stuff to worry about!
I think a self attaching hunk of metal is well within the range of relevance when it comes to Airships Conquer the Skies, right?
So... Where the weight before you shoot it ? 1 ton to shoot is 1 ton more on your ship at the beginning of the combat... Want to add 5 tons on the enemy ship, your suspendium chambers need to lift 5 tons more...Really inconvenient, except if it's a ground weapon only with huge rockets to lift the weight... Not sure they're ready for space program yet ! lol
Yeah now that you mention that it seems more like a building weapon..
OR! A landship weapon (i can assume because it actually touches the ground 'lift' modules are more powerful)!
And if heavy cannons can launch heavy cannonballs which are pretty much steel shells filled with high explosives i think a similar weapon can launch a ball of self propelled steel with some sort of attaching mechanism. Maybe the module could utilize a top-mounted trebuchet like method of launching projectiles because trebchets were the masters of lobbing heavy objects over great distances!
That might mean Limpet launchers would probably be more of a Landship/Building special though..
but that's just two methods out of many! You could still go for conventional cannon, long slingshots might work (probably not), a balista like device could also work and im sure im missing a lot because my knowledge in this department is more around medieval siege weaponry at the moment but there still are a lot of options for shooting stuff into the air reliably!
-edit- Limpets could also use the Human Torpedo method like the real ones that were used in actual wars (dont worry its not as gruesome as it sounds) by having a marine somehow launch himself/parachute down onto enemy vessels with the weight attached to him and then he can just unclip and attach it onto the enemy ship, from there he could board or find a way off said ship!
Yes, but we speak about BIG weight... Don't think a marine could transport 100 or 200 kgs on his back ! ^^ Explosive mines, yes... Like the real limpet mines used during WWII.
Hm... Yeah good point, non-airship a cannon/slingshot/launcher-thingy would probably be the best bet for a weapon like this..
Actually, what if we forget about airships and move to landships and buildings (unless you have an airship built specifically for the weapon) and use a type of large mortar tube! Think a heavy cannon on its side in the form of a mortar. Its easier to use, more conventional AND should be able to launch a projectile with enough force and accuracy to reliably hit a target!
And for covering the physics of it to make it make sense it could use just a lot of explosives or it could also take advantage of the repulsive force of suspendium an have a charged disc in the launcher tube as well as a on/off switch an another charged disc at the base. That should launch things far if you turned them on i think since charged crystals seem to have a lot of power but probably not that much, but its stronger closer to ground right?
Or just keep it more simple because i don't think we need to discuss the physics of launching metal spheres into the air..
I don't think anyone's ever going to go into this much detail if we just say stuff goes 'boom' and the mortar launches the projectile and its somewhat reasonable!
I fundamentally like the idea of some kind of slow-down or drag-down weapon, but I'm also struggling to figure out how to explain it, hmm. One thing I might add are aerial mines, which float above buildings to prevent ships moving above them.
If you look at the game Stormwinds (a free flash game on armorgames i think but it might not be there anymore) they have a type of mortar weapon that launches a kind of 'robot' esque thing that attaches to balloons and hulls to drag them!
I think aerial mines would be a superb idea! its a great way to stop low-altitude bombers from sitting on your buildings!
Could you try to do this with landships too if you decide to implement them (the mines, i mean)? since they are mobile it would create wider fields and make a cool support vessel design (i think we had a discussion about the implications of non-direct combat vessels/support ships)!
I tend to use low altitude bombers as a multi-role kind of design (i still use high altitude ones don't get me wrong they are also very useful).
Having a heavier armoured ship that can sit ontop of buildings during a siege and still be able to use weapons with small firing arcs (like cannons) to hit enemy aircraft is really useful because you can slowly wither down buildings while still being on the offensive against aircraft (this also makes them a big target so they can also be a meat shield at times when versing players. as most people will go "holey crap!" and attack the most damaging thing).
And the very beginning post pretty much is about a weapon that sticks to ships to slow them down (because its extra weight). But i think the idea of magnetically charged mines would work well in the world of Airships, just because its a fictional universe with suspendium does not mean other forces simply don't exist!
The limpet mines (and explosive ones that Musickiller suggested) could be described in the game as being small gun tube launched suspendium charged mines which also have strong magnets in them (neodinium?). This removes the fact that they are heavy blobs of metal and gives an easy way to code in a weapon that attaches to ships (because magnets attract, making homing mines to some extent).
That way they can be implemented without saying "ITS JUST MAGIC" and gives an easy way to attach limpets to ships without being accurate. The suspendium will just lose its charge after a bit dragging the enemy ship down!
-edit- Also on a side note did any avid Doctor Who fans catch the reference i planted somewhere in here?
slowing down? no, that's crap. Z was asking you how do you describe this slowing down. And he's right. Weight is not an option, coz it would also be applied to a mine carrier and the mine itself. Not smth I would ever use.
Instead a good option is grappling hooks. (Yes, I watched Captain Harlock Space Pirate again.. Plus redisigned my ship.) Shoot 'em in the same way grenadiers shoot their ropes, but after hit, they stay attached and hold 2 ships together. This way one could build a tow-ship and hold another ship in position. More than that, u could drag other ship where you want to to be (floating chunk of earth, tree, ram, firearc?).
I would start a new topic about it, but I think there should be one about it already and I don't want to read the whole forum.
Doc..? No, never saw it. But I guess u mean "it's just magic" no?
Weight is a valid option, just not for airships.
Something connected to the ground like a building (land ship?) could work with lobbing something heavy like a limpet mine easily without weight being a problem.
I've got to go do other things at the moment so I'll finish the rest of my thought as soon as I can sorry (just wanted to start that so I'll remember wth I was taking about without re reading).
-edit- OK im here!
ah, where was i? Oh yeah so continuing from the above:
Just because its heavy does not mean it wont work, as long as you put enough force behind the projectile to get it airborne is all that really matters (heavy cannons are pretty big but have no problems flying when strapped to a medium suspendium chamber, same thing but with a lighter gun and a heavier bullet, and more black powder probably).
And if the only-useful-for-ground-constructables displeases ya then think about how suspendium works: if its charged it flies and if its not it flies a lot less. What stops engineers form making a limpet weapon that has a little bit of charged suspendium before launch, it will easily get airborne when charged (not fly by itself but be light enough to shoot out of a upwards cannon/mortar easily), attach to a ship and lose its charge after a while (and because suspedium repels other suspendium the forces of the uncharged projectile balances out with the ships own generators) and the weight is transferred to the enemy ship, fire enough of these and it adds up and brings stuff crashing down! Simple!
-edit the sequel-
Also if the suspendium is somehow timed to lose charge (which can easily be done) after launch but before contact then the projectile path will not be affected by the enemy ships suspendium.
-edit, the prequel-
The Dr. Who reference was on my second comment regarding space-time.
You could make it a sail or something like that to catch the wind and slow them. I know that the wind wouldn't always blow in the right direction, but the same goes for the sails on airships.
@Djbigsmth.. Yea, cool. And then we'll have a sail sysytem on a single ship that catch the wind that goes 2 ways st the same time. VERY NICE!
@Firebird, sorry, will read you next time. Just finished all 3 years of Injustice comics, won't be reading anything as long as your posts any time soon.
@Z what about making sails "damageable"? Not really, just a trick: Let's say that when sails module is being damaged,the speed is decreased? And when module is repaired, speed return to its maximum! That should not be hard at all.
As an addition, you may draw some textures for damaged sails?))
@Djbigboybugle, The sails idea would work for messing around with navigation by pushing the ship left/right or just making it more susceptible to air currents (which don't exist yet/ever). But it leaves the problem with how will you unfold them?
I don't think shooting a sail at someone will work plus it does'int really give the desired effect of lowering a service ceiling, right?
@Musickiller, Alright ill try to just shorten what i said above for ya'!
The basic concept was that weight is still valid but just not for airships, weight is of no concern to a building and of little concern to a tank/walker.
Another point is that ships don't need to be the only suspendium charged object, you can lighten your ammo with it too!
Or just have it if you can fire a high explosive cannon shell from a heavy cannon than you should be able to fire a metal sphere from lighter launcher (like a mortar or something)!
Well, as far as a weapon carried by your airships that makes enemies heavier, without weighing itself down, you could say the shot is made out of suspendium and a small electric battery. While on the ship, the battery is constantly charged, negating the weight of the shot, and once it is fired, it quickly loses its charge, becoming heavy again.
Though I think I'd prefer mines that just explode.
I was thinking on it, but there is already a lot of buttons... Start a new topic if you think "focus on..." order is a good idea... I'm going to bed now.
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
I'll try to make this a short one because its a kinda simple concept for a weapon..
Essentially i have been playing a lot of Gratuitous Space Battles II and thought about how good the anti-fighter Limpet launcher would be against the airships (from Airships) because they need to watch their weight a lot more closely than the spacecraft of GSBII!
The idea of the limpet mine from Gratuitous Space Battles was to attach itself to fighters to slow them down enough to be hit by the more sluggish weapons on destroyers.
This concept would work REALLY well in Airships Conquer the Skies by having a projectile that launches (maybe in the same firing arc as flak guns) and instead of exploding attaches itself to the hulls of enemy ships, increasing their weight and thus lowering their move speed and more importantly service ceiling!
I can see this being a great way to save your more heavy ships from being effectively useless in a battle against super-light enemies or even a method of dragging other heavy ships into the dirt creating a new way to do combat!
Although this could be a little overpowered if someone decides to make a ship that essentially launches so many that its like a guy just tied a twelve story brick building onto your lightest ship sending it smashing into wooden splinters! So, maybe marines can clamber onto the outside of a ship to dislodge the mines and regain buoyancy, giving them a new use instead of only for boarding and defending from boarding attacks!
Overall i think this could be a cool new thing to consider when doing combat as it provides a new set of strategies involving making enemies too sluggish to fly which can cripple them without destroying them/open them up for easier boarding as well as a new thing any defending players will have to worry about when creating new airships!
Captain
Never played Gratuitous Space Battles, but the way you describe those limpet mines make me think about some kind of time distortion mines attached to fighters to slow them down...
It's totally irrelevant in a steampunk context... In this game, the best solution to obtain this result should be a giant grappling hook to link ships together forcing ships to stay in fixed range, or you have to think about a weapon that nullify Suspendium effect...
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
The limpet mine (in the game at least) is just a piece of self propelled metal (like a rocket) that's really heavy and sticks to things (thus increasing their mass to make them harder to move) so there's no wibbily wobbly timey wimey stuff to worry about!
I think a self attaching hunk of metal is well within the range of relevance when it comes to Airships Conquer the Skies, right?
Captain
So... Where the weight before you shoot it ? 1 ton to shoot is 1 ton more on your ship at the beginning of the combat... Want to add 5 tons on the enemy ship, your suspendium chambers need to lift 5 tons more...Really inconvenient, except if it's a ground weapon only with huge rockets to lift the weight... Not sure they're ready for space program yet ! lol
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
Yeah now that you mention that it seems more like a building weapon.. OR! A landship weapon (i can assume because it actually touches the ground 'lift' modules are more powerful)!
And if heavy cannons can launch heavy cannonballs which are pretty much steel shells filled with high explosives i think a similar weapon can launch a ball of self propelled steel with some sort of attaching mechanism. Maybe the module could utilize a top-mounted trebuchet like method of launching projectiles because trebchets were the masters of lobbing heavy objects over great distances!
That might mean Limpet launchers would probably be more of a Landship/Building special though..
but that's just two methods out of many! You could still go for conventional cannon, long slingshots might work (probably not), a balista like device could also work and im sure im missing a lot because my knowledge in this department is more around medieval siege weaponry at the moment but there still are a lot of options for shooting stuff into the air reliably!
-edit- Limpets could also use the Human Torpedo method like the real ones that were used in actual wars (dont worry its not as gruesome as it sounds) by having a marine somehow launch himself/parachute down onto enemy vessels with the weight attached to him and then he can just unclip and attach it onto the enemy ship, from there he could board or find a way off said ship!
Captain
Yes, but we speak about BIG weight... Don't think a marine could transport 100 or 200 kgs on his back ! ^^ Explosive mines, yes... Like the real limpet mines used during WWII.
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
Hm... Yeah good point, non-airship a cannon/slingshot/launcher-thingy would probably be the best bet for a weapon like this..
Actually, what if we forget about airships and move to landships and buildings (unless you have an airship built specifically for the weapon) and use a type of large mortar tube! Think a heavy cannon on its side in the form of a mortar. Its easier to use, more conventional AND should be able to launch a projectile with enough force and accuracy to reliably hit a target!
And for covering the physics of it to make it make sense it could use just a lot of explosives or it could also take advantage of the repulsive force of suspendium an have a charged disc in the launcher tube as well as a on/off switch an another charged disc at the base. That should launch things far if you turned them on i think since charged crystals seem to have a lot of power but probably not that much, but its stronger closer to ground right?
Or just keep it more simple because i don't think we need to discuss the physics of launching metal spheres into the air..
I don't think anyone's ever going to go into this much detail if we just say stuff goes 'boom' and the mortar launches the projectile and its somewhat reasonable!
Captain
I think we need to wait for landships first ! ;p
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
Naww.. lets have all of the landship specific modules and THEN the landships!
Also where do you stand on the limpet idea if it was implemented in a way that made sense, good or bad for a gameplay mechanic?
Aerial Emperor
I fundamentally like the idea of some kind of slow-down or drag-down weapon, but I'm also struggling to figure out how to explain it, hmm. One thing I might add are aerial mines, which float above buildings to prevent ships moving above them.
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
If you look at the game Stormwinds (a free flash game on armorgames i think but it might not be there anymore) they have a type of mortar weapon that launches a kind of 'robot' esque thing that attaches to balloons and hulls to drag them!
I think aerial mines would be a superb idea! its a great way to stop low-altitude bombers from sitting on your buildings!
Could you try to do this with landships too if you decide to implement them (the mines, i mean)? since they are mobile it would create wider fields and make a cool support vessel design (i think we had a discussion about the implications of non-direct combat vessels/support ships)!
Commander
@Firebird who builds low altitude bombers? they need extra defences... Extra expenses. My bomber fly at top height. Fast. And long.
What about magnetic flying mines? Mine layer/disarmer? Kamikazze mines with a mine-launcher weapon?
P.S. was to lazy to read the beginning, started with Zarkonnen post. Sorry if I repeat smbd else's idea. 38 Celsium, u know...
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
I tend to use low altitude bombers as a multi-role kind of design (i still use high altitude ones don't get me wrong they are also very useful). Having a heavier armoured ship that can sit ontop of buildings during a siege and still be able to use weapons with small firing arcs (like cannons) to hit enemy aircraft is really useful because you can slowly wither down buildings while still being on the offensive against aircraft (this also makes them a big target so they can also be a meat shield at times when versing players. as most people will go "holey crap!" and attack the most damaging thing).
And the very beginning post pretty much is about a weapon that sticks to ships to slow them down (because its extra weight). But i think the idea of magnetically charged mines would work well in the world of Airships, just because its a fictional universe with suspendium does not mean other forces simply don't exist!
The limpet mines (and explosive ones that Musickiller suggested) could be described in the game as being small gun tube launched suspendium charged mines which also have strong magnets in them (neodinium?). This removes the fact that they are heavy blobs of metal and gives an easy way to code in a weapon that attaches to ships (because magnets attract, making homing mines to some extent).
That way they can be implemented without saying "ITS JUST MAGIC" and gives an easy way to attach limpets to ships without being accurate. The suspendium will just lose its charge after a bit dragging the enemy ship down!
-edit- Also on a side note did any avid Doctor Who fans catch the reference i planted somewhere in here?
Commander
slowing down? no, that's crap. Z was asking you how do you describe this slowing down. And he's right. Weight is not an option, coz it would also be applied to a mine carrier and the mine itself. Not smth I would ever use.
Instead a good option is grappling hooks. (Yes, I watched Captain Harlock Space Pirate again.. Plus redisigned my ship.) Shoot 'em in the same way grenadiers shoot their ropes, but after hit, they stay attached and hold 2 ships together. This way one could build a tow-ship and hold another ship in position. More than that, u could drag other ship where you want to to be (floating chunk of earth, tree, ram, firearc?).
I would start a new topic about it, but I think there should be one about it already and I don't want to read the whole forum.
Doc..? No, never saw it. But I guess u mean "it's just magic" no?
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
Weight is a valid option, just not for airships. Something connected to the ground like a building (land ship?) could work with lobbing something heavy like a limpet mine easily without weight being a problem.
I've got to go do other things at the moment so I'll finish the rest of my thought as soon as I can sorry (just wanted to start that so I'll remember wth I was taking about without re reading).
-edit- OK im here! ah, where was i? Oh yeah so continuing from the above:
Just because its heavy does not mean it wont work, as long as you put enough force behind the projectile to get it airborne is all that really matters (heavy cannons are pretty big but have no problems flying when strapped to a medium suspendium chamber, same thing but with a lighter gun and a heavier bullet, and more black powder probably).
And if the only-useful-for-ground-constructables displeases ya then think about how suspendium works: if its charged it flies and if its not it flies a lot less. What stops engineers form making a limpet weapon that has a little bit of charged suspendium before launch, it will easily get airborne when charged (not fly by itself but be light enough to shoot out of a upwards cannon/mortar easily), attach to a ship and lose its charge after a while (and because suspedium repels other suspendium the forces of the uncharged projectile balances out with the ships own generators) and the weight is transferred to the enemy ship, fire enough of these and it adds up and brings stuff crashing down! Simple!
-edit the sequel- Also if the suspendium is somehow timed to lose charge (which can easily be done) after launch but before contact then the projectile path will not be affected by the enemy ships suspendium.
-edit, the prequel- The Dr. Who reference was on my second comment regarding space-time.
Commander
You could make it a sail or something like that to catch the wind and slow them. I know that the wind wouldn't always blow in the right direction, but the same goes for the sails on airships.
Commander
@Djbigsmth.. Yea, cool. And then we'll have a sail sysytem on a single ship that catch the wind that goes 2 ways st the same time. VERY NICE!
@Firebird, sorry, will read you next time. Just finished all 3 years of Injustice comics, won't be reading anything as long as your posts any time soon.
@Z what about making sails "damageable"? Not really, just a trick: Let's say that when sails module is being damaged,the speed is decreased? And when module is repaired, speed return to its maximum! That should not be hard at all.
As an addition, you may draw some textures for damaged sails?))
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
@Djbigboybugle, The sails idea would work for messing around with navigation by pushing the ship left/right or just making it more susceptible to air currents (which don't exist yet/ever). But it leaves the problem with how will you unfold them?
I don't think shooting a sail at someone will work plus it does'int really give the desired effect of lowering a service ceiling, right?
@Musickiller, Alright ill try to just shorten what i said above for ya'!
The basic concept was that weight is still valid but just not for airships, weight is of no concern to a building and of little concern to a tank/walker.
Another point is that ships don't need to be the only suspendium charged object, you can lighten your ammo with it too!
Or just have it if you can fire a high explosive cannon shell from a heavy cannon than you should be able to fire a metal sphere from lighter launcher (like a mortar or something)!
Captain
Well, as far as a weapon carried by your airships that makes enemies heavier, without weighing itself down, you could say the shot is made out of suspendium and a small electric battery. While on the ship, the battery is constantly charged, negating the weight of the shot, and once it is fired, it quickly loses its charge, becoming heavy again.
Though I think I'd prefer mines that just explode.
Commander
@firebird thx, but Clock is right. It's better to keep things simple at this point.
The desired effect of shooting sails is slowing the ship down. You can already lower the service celling by shoting suspendium tanks.
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
Dang.. i thought this would have been a good addition but i suppose your right.
But yeah i can settle for shooting suspendium tanks, if only i could order my crew to focus fire on specific components that do the same function..
Commander
I was thinking on it, but there is already a lot of buttons... Start a new topic if you think "focus on..." order is a good idea... I'm going to bed now.
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
Good idea! I'll get right on that..
Commander
"I'll try to make this a short", he said...