Lasers vs Turbolasers + ion

[Calis]

How effective are regular lasers at blasting capital ships (shields and hull) when compared to turbolasers? Why do some of the ships I fire at get this blue sphere around them (ion?) when none of the ships firing has any ion cannons?

[DarthTofu]

Alrighty then, laymens terms time! Lasers are not very effective against capital ships unless in fairly large numbers, though they can sometimes take down the shields (For instance two squadrons of A wings against a carrack, the A wings will win with minimal losses) Lasers are very good for killing fighters, hense the need for lancers and such. The blue ball that you see around ships is the result of a rather odd system which is used to display damage being done. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that there's a sort of pattern in which there are a certain number of explosions and a certain number of ion looking things. It could also be ships losing systems.

[PHSYCOBOB]

Well, mostly right, M'Lord. The blue sphere is the representation of a tractor beam hindering movement speed. If the only opposing side ship with a a tractor beam has it's beam disabled, the blue shere on your one ship it is targeting will go away and your movement speed on that ship will go back to normal. (it is used to help do extra damage to a ship running away before it can make it to the hyper point)

 

Ions are best against shielding, lasers are no substitute for good turbolasers.

[Calis]

I know that turbolasers are more effective vs capital ships, I was interested in knowing how much say 100 turbolaser damage the hull strength compared to how much 100 laser damage the hull strenght, the ratio of effect.

[DarthTofu]

I know that turbolasers are more effective vs capital ships, I was interested in knowing how much say 100 turbolaser damage the hull strength compared to how much 100 laser damage the hull strenght, the ratio of effect.

 

Umm... A lot to a little?

[Calis]

Ok, thanks for the effort it's nice to know about the tractor beam

[CommanderDevers]

There is also another way to be sure about which is stronger. But it Takes some time to do.

 

Set up a new game as the rebels and put all of your ships together. Go in with everything you have, except one ship, to Couruscant. Send that ship, that you set aside 2 days later to Couruscant. The game automatically gives the Empire a Ship, A Victory or Imperial, usually, but in order for this to work there can be only one Capital Ship arround Couruscant. When your first, main fleet gets there you take out all of the fighters and then withdraw. Then save the game. Exit the game and Go to rebed and change the values for the Capital ship you have comming to Couruscant, for turbolaser or Laser cannon. You can also set the ship with a gravity well so the Emperial ship can't escape. Then you can Set the enemy ship to 0 shields and a low hull value so you can test individual tubolaser and Laser values at your own descression. You need a stopwatch or clock and set a list of variables, Like at 200 turolaser it takes 70 seconds to distroy the ship. from there you have a very mathmatical aporach and you can load the save game over and over, until you have what you need.

 

In my experiance though, If you want to maximize Firepower with speed, set your weapon recharge rate needs to be at 40 percent of the maximum value of the main weapon. For instance if your Imperial has a forward Turbolaser of 100 then set your weapon recharge to 40. At values higher than 40 percent the game won't respond any faster to the firepower. I have tried it won't work.

[Darth_Rob]

I always thought the blue sphere represented an ion attack making contact against the ship, depleting the ships systems.

[DarthTex]

PHSYCOBOB has the correct answer

The blue sphere is the representation of a tractor beam hindering movement

 

Ion attacks are the "blue bolts" from the capital ships (Imperial or Alliance), and of course the Turbolaser/laser attacks are color coordinated (green = Imperial, red = Alliance). Missile attacks by starfighters (bombers) are white. Why missile attacks happen only after shields are down confuses me though .

[DarthTofu]

Missile attacks by starfighters (bombers) are white. Why missile attacks happen only after shields are down confuses me though .

 

I never noticed missiles... I'll have to check for those in the future...

[Aenivae_Ikeda]

I would think that missles would disintegrate if they hit shields, although none of the movies or games support this. Who knows?

[Calis]

Why would the missiles disentigrate? I would think that they'd be triggerd by the proximity thingy...

@ CommanderDevers That sounds like a good idea, unfortunately I'm cramped with schoolwork in the forseeable future (exchange program)

[DarthTofu]

Ah, that sucks. But yeah, missiles would not dissintegrate on the shields since they, supposedly, can unbalance shields with two strikes one right after the other to the same coordinates as seen in X-wing Rogue Squadron: The Phantom Affair

[DarthTex]

In one of the later X-wing series books (can't remember which one ... just yet. I'll research later if necessary), Booster Terrik (prior to getting the Errant Venture, but I do think he got it in this very book) was put in charge of a Space Station that was used as a base for strikes by Rogue or Wraith squadron. Anyway, he also installed some tractor beams and concussion missile tracking/firing computers (but not the missiles launchers themselves, just decoys). When one of those Imperial Warlords (Zsinj?) came to attack the station he held them (an SSD no less) with the tractor beams and turned on all the concussion missile tracking/firing computers. On the SSD they were stuck due to the tractor beams and FREAKING out because they thought they were being targeted by a huge amount of concussion missiles (like 80 or 200, supposedly even enough to severely damage an SSD). The idea was to get them to surrender the SSD intact. Anyway in the story, some underling captain in his Victory? SD interposed his ship between the Space Station and the SSD, getting caught in the tractor beam but releasing the SSD so it could escape. That made me think that a large number of concussion missiles must pack a serious wallop, even enough to wipe out an SSD's shields with enough punch left to cause massive structural damage. So missiles and torpedoes must be good for help in knocking out shields.

[DarthTofu]

In one of the later X-wing series books (can't remember which one ... just yet. I'll research later if necessary), Booster Terrik (prior to getting the Errant Venture, but I do think he got it in this very book) was put in charge of a Space Station that was used as a base for strikes by Rogue or Wraith squadron. Anyway, he also installed some tractor beams and concussion missile tracking/firing computers (but not the missiles launchers themselves, just decoys). When one of those Imperial Warlords (Zsinj?) came to attack the station he held them (an SSD no less) with the tractor beams and turned on all the concussion missile tracking/firing computers. On the SSD they were stuck due to the tractor beams and FREAKING out because they thought they were being targeted by a huge amount of concussion missiles (like 80 or 200, supposedly even enough to severely damage an SSD). The idea was to get them to surrender the SSD intact. Anyway in the story, some underling captain in his Victory? SD interposed his ship between the Space Station and the SSD, getting caught in the tractor beam but releasing the SSD so it could escape. That made me think that a large number of concussion missiles must pack a serious wallop, even enough to wipe out an SSD's shields with enough punch left to cause massive structural damage. So missiles and torpedoes must be good for help in knocking out shields.

 

/me bangs hea on wall. Sorry, I rather recently read the book, but still, you got way too many details incorrect there! It's the Bacta War that you're thinking of, and the SSD is the Lusankya, Ysanne Issard's flag ship. The Star Destroyer which shows up to interpose is the Virulence, an Imperial Mark II Star Destroyer, which Booster convinces the CO to surrender when three squadrons of Alliance A wings show up and are pulled from hyperspace by a gravity well. Booster then renames the Virulence the Errant Venture and most of it is taken into custody for re-outfitting of the Freedom, but it is left with something around 5 tractor beams, ten turbo laser batteries, ten heavy turbolaser batteries, and 10 heavy ion cannons... I think. Good book- pay attention when you read it!

[Defender_16]

In the ensuing battle at Thyferra it took about 80 Torps and Missiles to heavily damage the shields on the SSD Lusankya. They did get the shields on that side of the ship back up but with their overall shield power greatly reduced.

 

( It must have been an 8km SSD for that many missiles to have taken down the shields. lol! )

[DarthTofu]

Imagine how bad it would suck if you were at the fore end of the ship, communications were out, and you had to relay something to the bridge! Somehow I think that beats the whole battle of marathon.

"Rejoice, for we have the turbolasers back on-line!" then keel over and die.

[DarthTex]

DarthTofu wrote:

 

... I rather recently read the book, but still, you got way too many details incorrect there! ... Good book- pay attention when you read it!

 

 

My memory for exact details ain't what it used to be (*** mumbling under my breath "young whipper-snapper" ***), especially when I read that book several years ago (*** mumbling again "when you were probably still learning how to read" ***).

 

As soon as I dig all of my books out of storage, I'll research my answers before posting, OK? (*** mumbling again "As if!" ***)

 

[DarthTofu]

My memory for exact details ain't what it used to be (*** mumbling under my breath "young whipper-snapper" ***), especially when I read that book several years ago (*** mumbling again "when you were probably still learning how to read" ***).

 

Uh, let's see, the book was published in 1997, which would place me at about seven years old, an age at which I was a rather good reader and an extreme Star Wars fan. My sister started me on the books in about third grade which would place me at about eight in 1998, so I actually knew how to read. I would direct you to my "W00T" topic to get an idea of how owned you have just been, old man!

[bofkentucky]

That just gave me an idea, how about an O'reilly safari not for tech books but for the various and sundry star wars novels over the years, there is a subset of the population (like me) who would love to have HTML-ized copies of all my star wars novels for reading/seraching.

[AdmiralToguroAni]

Copywrite issues aside, I'd like to see anyone willing to type all that up.

[bofkentucky]

the ORA folks just grab the quark/aldus/TEX files and do a HTML conversion, surely the publishers retain them for later printings.

[DarthTex]

DarthTofu wrote:

 

Uh, let's see, the book was published in 1997, which would place me at about seven years old, an age at which I was a rather good reader and an extreme Star Wars fan. My sister started me on the books in about third grade which would place me at about eight in 1998, so I actually knew how to read.

 

 

See Luke.

See Darth Vader.

See Luke run.

Luke runs fast.

 

Yes, quite the reader in 1998. My compliments

 

 

DarthTofu wrote:

 

I would direct you to my "W00T" topic to get an idea of how owned you have just been, old man!

 

I direct you to the bull joke, youngling. Younglings with big egos usually get burnt (lava flows are especially HOT ).

[DarthTofu]

Try I was reading The Swiss Family Robinson at the time, cow mollester. Try I was reading White Fang and Call of the Wild, old cow-fart!

[AdmiralToguroAni]

I was reading comic books

[DarthTex]

DarthTofu wrote:

 

... I was reading The Swiss Family Robinson ... I was reading White Fang and Call of the Wild

 

What a literary genius you must be Let me know if/when you finish reading "Crime and Punishment", "War and Peace", "The Tale of Two Cities", "The Heart of Darkness" and "The Count of Monte Cristo". Then I'll give you a "dewey" button.