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Post by n2maniac on Dec 24, 2016 20:40:21 GMT
Thoughts on the applicability of chemical lasers anyone?
In particular, HF crossed my mind given that 1) the military has designed and flown weaponized (MW range) items and 2) HF fuel sources do not scare the shipbuilders in CDE. Might be most useful on drones (rather than having a GW-sized reactor and radiators to run continuously, have a few fuel tanks that get depleted in a few minutes).
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Post by fenrin49 on Dec 24, 2016 21:00:25 GMT
flash or continuously pumped? i do like the idea would be good for missile interceptors fly into good laser range to counter diffraction possibly flash laser war heads for sniping components and other disposable uses or if your running your capital on the same chemical fuel it could just be practical use of extra fuel.
thermals though chemical light sources are not terribly eficient
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Post by n2maniac on Dec 25, 2016 8:09:03 GMT
Probably continuous so that aiming is easier. And so anti-laser armor is slightly less effective. And so the laser cavity is not just a bomb. But for missile counters, I am not sure...
I am talking about lasers that are pumped chemically rather than with photo-stimulation, as the latter still requires a large reactor to power the light source (and I think ultimately ends with something that, in terms of inputs and outputs, is close to an ingame laser but cooled with 1-time use -> vented coolant).
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Post by dragonkid11 on Dec 25, 2016 9:58:59 GMT
I can see chemical laser being useful for drones.
I mean, do you want to strap an expensive hundred megawatt or even gigawatt reactor to something that's really expendable?
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Post by caiaphas on Jan 10, 2017 19:44:03 GMT
I can see chemical laser being useful for drones. I mean, do you want to strap an expensive hundred megawatt or even gigawatt reactor to something that's really expendable? YES.
To hell with cost-effectiveness, give me gigawatt laser drones or give me death!
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Post by coaxjack on Jan 10, 2017 23:16:48 GMT
Not only will you vaporize your enemy with coherent light, you can insult them by flashing your money at them at the same time.
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Post by caiaphas on Jan 10, 2017 23:36:00 GMT
Not only will you vaporize your enemy with coherent light, you can insult them by flashing your money at them at the same time. ...screw it, I'm gold-plating my next warship.
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Post by apophys on Jan 11, 2017 1:07:58 GMT
Chemical lasers will most likely have much higher mass, due to chemical fuel (nuclear power is much more energy dense). They will also still need cooling (unless you're doing one-shots for some reason), meaning most of the radiator area is still needed to get the same power output.
I'm not expecting much from it; FELs and combining fiber lasers are more interesting.
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Post by n2maniac on Jan 12, 2017 5:40:51 GMT
Chemical lasers will most likely have much higher mass, due to chemical fuel (nuclear power is much more energy dense). They will also still need cooling (unless you're doing one-shots for some reason), meaning most of the radiator area is still needed to get the same power output. I'm not expecting much from it; FELs and combining fiber lasers are more interesting. What? The chemicals that reacted to generate the laser are dumped overboard after use. No radiators needed. Nuclear power is more dense, but again, radiators and the associated fixed mass for a given power output. Chemical would probably scale closer to mass per energy output, and may be advantageous for a sufficiently short firing time. Though, not going to lie, the current meta has no place for brief laser usage given the damage model in armor.
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Post by dragonkid11 on Jan 12, 2017 7:48:07 GMT
I doubt chemical laser would require as much radiator as a nuclear powered laser.
And while chemical laser probably can't scale up to gigawatt level. I hoped that it can serve as a cheaper, short life spanned alternative to the nuclear powered laser.
And besides, the real role of laser is to target modules and shoot them till they are slag.
Using gigawatt laser to cut down spacecraft is kinda overkill.
So I hope to use chemical laser for that purpose effectively and cheaply.
Besides, we already have a ingame effect on what a power but short burst of high powered laser would do.
It's called nuclear weapon.
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Post by caiaphas on Jan 12, 2017 8:02:23 GMT
...dude. Coilgun-fired chemical laser-armed missiles as disposable munitions.
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Post by dragonkid11 on Jan 12, 2017 8:26:16 GMT
...dude. Coilgun-fired chemical laser-armed missiles as disposable munitions. No, not even missile would be needed. Just fire the chemical laser turret with a small reactor to power the turret as ammunition.
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Post by caiaphas on Jan 12, 2017 11:56:56 GMT
...dude. Coilgun-fired chemical laser-armed missiles as disposable munitions. No, not even missile would be needed. Just fire the chemical laser turret with a small reactor to power the turret as ammunition. I figured you could use it as a two-stage munition. First some laser fire to soften up the target, destroy Whipple shields, exposed weaponry, et cetera, then follow it up with the laser as a KKV once the reactants are expended.
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