Quote:
Originally Posted by Varyon
This is the way it works in Spaceships, albeit the other way around - an RoF 1 (per 20 seconds) beam weapon can be exchanged for an RoF 10 (per 20 seconds) beam weapon that has exactly the same weight and cost, but 1/10th the output per shot (and thus ~1/2 the damage) - or even one with RoF 100 (per 20 seconds) and 1/100th the output (and thus ~1/4 the damage). That's not the only way it could work - as you note, you could have the bit that "recharges" the system (which would necessarily include cooling systems as well) be only a small factor in the total weight, and thus be able to increase RoF markedly with only a modest boost to weight. If that's the case, however, the RF and VRF options for the Spaceships beam weapons should make the weapon cost and weigh markedly less (probably just in the form of giving cargo space for the weight reduction).
I should note I was comparing different weapons, not saying that any given beam weapon should be able to freely adjust output and RoF. I can see where the confusion could come from, however, as I suggested a weapon in a previous post that could indeed switch between two RoF's (with different outputs for each) - that was meant to be a specific, purpose-built weapon. It wouldn't have as good of performance as a weapon of equal weight that is only RoF 10 (and 1/10 output) or only RoF 1, and may not be available in certain settings, but could be an interesting weapon in a setting with fully ablative force shields.
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I'm not really sure what laser engineering could justify a constraint of one shot per 20 seconds, and am
definitely not going to take it as a given that such a justification actually exists. For a different angle of attack this is equivalent to saying that there is no way to make a rapid fire laser that is more efficient than simply strapping together 'single shot' lasers equal to the desired ROF, which seems highly implausible. In conclusion Spaceships is sort of okay for what it's supposed to be but not a solid foundation for such extrapolation. Further work: Pyramid 3/37's Laser and Blaster Design article would agree that weight and cost go with the cube of damage, but says that you can go from RoF 1 to RoF 10 (real per-second RoF, not Spaceships per 20s) for only a 25% increase.
Side note: recharge and cooling are actually significantly separable concerns. They wouldn't be for a weapon intended for indefinite continuous firing. But few if any weapons are so intended. If you assume that lasers need cooling to support that level of use, you should be subjecting firearms to the same demands. At which point they'll be quite different, much more cumbersome, and pay a crippling price for autofire!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Varyon
This depends on a lot of variables to determine if it's worth it.
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It could, obviously. But just throwing out 'half the damage' is highly misleading - it's got half the penetration, but is far more destructive in many cases.