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Post by Pttg on Nov 13, 2016 7:20:58 GMT
Why are we trying to mask nuclear reactors with chemical reactions?
I'm thinking a simple "nuclear flare" could consist of two subcritical lumps that get knocked together with a simple explosion and just reach criticality without exploding. It'd quickly melt and maybe vaporize, but it'd for sure be hot enough to confuse a few sensors, and it'd last for a long dang time.
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Post by dragonkid11 on Nov 13, 2016 7:22:18 GMT
Hmmmm that...
MIGHT works if we can math it out.
It's kinda like radioisotope thermoelectric generator without the generating electricity and more generating HUGE AMOUNT of radiation part.
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Post by amimai on Nov 13, 2016 7:31:22 GMT
Just make a tiny drone with a 1 tone nuclear reactor and a 2900k thermocouple to toss it out as a decoy... instant multi-gigawatt flare
You can even give it a thruster so it can dodge missiles... considering my usual missile counter is launching 10MT nuclear bombs its possibly even cost effective...
That being said realistically if you are using flares you are already dead in this game, weather the nuclear anti-battleship missile goes off on target or 200m to the left does not much matter for the warhead, you are still in its 1km kill radius... only time I think a flare libber is useful is when it's on a drone ore something equally tiny.
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Post by goduranus on Nov 13, 2016 8:11:34 GMT
even though we can make nuclear heat sources, the game doesn't recognize them as flares. So missiles already locked on won't go after the nuclear heat sources you launched.
I think this should improved do that any heat sources can be considered a flare.
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Post by jonen on Nov 13, 2016 16:39:00 GMT
Just make a tiny drone with a 1 tone nuclear reactor and a 2900k thermocouple to toss it out as a decoy... instant multi-gigawatt flare You can even give it a thruster so it can dodge missiles... considering my usual missile counter is launching 10MT nuclear bombs its possibly even cost effective... That being said realistically if you are using flares you are already dead in this game, weather the nuclear anti-battleship missile goes off on target or 200m to the left does not much matter for the warhead, you are still in its 1km kill radius... only time I think a flare libber is useful is when it's on a drone ore something equally tiny. Drone Decoy. Hm. Since it's going to have power, may as well put something that'll draw power to increase the odds of it surviving longer. |
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Post by magusunion on Nov 13, 2016 18:12:35 GMT
Just make a tiny drone with a 1 tone nuclear reactor and a 2900k thermocouple to toss it out as a decoy... instant multi-gigawatt flare You can even give it a thruster so it can dodge missiles... considering my usual missile counter is launching 10MT nuclear bombs its possibly even cost effective... That being said realistically if you are using flares you are already dead in this game, weather the nuclear anti-battleship missile goes off on target or 200m to the left does not much matter for the warhead, you are still in its 1km kill radius... only time I think a flare libber is useful is when it's on a drone ore something equally tiny. I have one of these already. If you can force an intercept with the ship using its own delta-v against an engagement of missiles, your main battle group won't be anywhere near the detonating warheads I've found that these guys have made my intercept engagement ranges much closer than when I was first playing the game, lol... |
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Post by leerooooooy on Nov 13, 2016 18:16:46 GMT
To be honest missiles are a non-factor in this game, since drones can do everything missiles can (including carrying warheads) and have quite a few bonuses, like being immune to flares
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Post by tessfield on Nov 13, 2016 19:17:05 GMT
To be honest missiles are a non-factor in this game, since drones can do everything missiles can (including carrying warheads) and have quite a few bonuses, like being immune to flares Are you saying that a missile with a weapon using homing comand has immunity to flares?? |
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Post by jonen on Nov 13, 2016 20:09:45 GMT
Funny thing that may be relevant - order a ship to use homing (say after all weapons have been disabled), the AI will start launching flares if they've got them, even with no missiles on the field.
Unsure if they affect the targeting of the ship.
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Post by leerooooooy on Nov 14, 2016 9:55:40 GMT
Are you saying that a missile with a weapon using homing comand has immunity to flares?? AS far as I can tell, yes |
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Post by wafflestoo on Nov 14, 2016 16:32:48 GMT
Are you saying that a missile with a weapon using homing comand has immunity to flares?? AS far as I can tell, yes Considering how we're being told targeting and target tracking work, maybe guns should be (momentarily) distracted by flares. |
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Post by tessfield on Nov 14, 2016 17:53:38 GMT
AS far as I can tell, yes Considering how we're being told targeting and target tracking work, maybe guns should be (momentarily) distracted by flares. I believe the game assumes there's a descent amount of human-interaction when pointing guns. I'm making this assumption based on guns being able to target specific modules, which of themselves may be producing negligible or no heat at all. It's definitely a system that needs some looking into... |
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Post by wafflestoo on Nov 14, 2016 18:00:37 GMT
Considering how we're being told targeting and target tracking work, maybe guns should be (momentarily) distracted by flares. I believe the game assumes there's a descent amount of human-interaction when pointing guns. I'm making this assumption based on guns being able to target specific modules, which of themselves may be producing negligible or no heat at all. It's definitely a system that needs some looking into... That's why I was thinking it'd be a momentary distraction instead of being bullet-proof. I know it wouldn't mask the ship perfectly, but it would certainly muddy the image making it more difficult to land hits or to target modules with any precision. It would also complicate the issue of "how hot is too hot" as far as radiators go. The current meta simply encourages maximum output-side with little-to-no regard for thermal signature since flares only offer some protection against missiles (and there are plenty of other counters to those anyway). |
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Post by tessfield on Nov 14, 2016 19:22:35 GMT
I believe the game assumes there's a descent amount of human-interaction when pointing guns. I'm making this assumption based on guns being able to target specific modules, which of themselves may be producing negligible or no heat at all. It's definitely a system that needs some looking into... That's why I was thinking it'd be a momentary distraction instead of being bullet-proof. I know it wouldn't mask the ship perfectly, but it would certainly muddy the image making it more difficult to land hits or to target modules with any precision. It would also complicate the issue of "how hot is too hot" as far as radiators go. The current meta simply encourages maximum output-side with little-to-no regard for thermal signature since flares only offer some protection against missiles (and there are plenty of other counters to those anyway). It comes down to "How are they targeting". If it's a human looking at a composite image from all the drones's cameras and keeping a dot over where you want the shots to be, then a flare is just an annoying bright spot. On the other hand, if a drone/missile is targeting 'hottest spot' then yeah, definitely. Though, question, why would a flare momentarily distract a drone instead of making the full spread of that drone useless? (Kind've like missiles already since they just point at the flare and waste all the dV and such.) |
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Post by wafflestoo on Nov 14, 2016 19:33:56 GMT
That's why I was thinking it'd be a momentary distraction instead of being bullet-proof. I know it wouldn't mask the ship perfectly, but it would certainly muddy the image making it more difficult to land hits or to target modules with any precision. It would also complicate the issue of "how hot is too hot" as far as radiators go. The current meta simply encourages maximum output-side with little-to-no regard for thermal signature since flares only offer some protection against missiles (and there are plenty of other counters to those anyway). It comes down to "How are they targeting". If it's a human looking at a composite image from all the drones's cameras and keeping a dot over where you want the shots to be, then a flare is just an annoying bright spot. On the other hand, if a drone/missile is targeting 'hottest spot' then yeah, definitely. Though, question, why would a flare momentarily distract a drone instead of making the full spread of that drone useless? (Kind've like missiles already since they just point at the flare and waste all the dV and such.) I guess it comes down to how much autonomy the drones (and a ship's guns for that matter) have. I was assuming a momentary distraction to simulate the human operator intervening (you're wasting space and life support for that set of cheeks-in-the-seat so they might as well earn their keep ;p ). The way Q described gunnery working made it seem to me like they're fairly autonomous during the engagement with the operator there mostly to cross-check and make corrections as needed. |
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