Disrupter Scout

[Rakaydos]

While more comprehensive modifications to the scout chassis for combat capability are on hold, basic efficency changes are simple enough. The goal is to make a scout that has as much improvement over a TSN Light cruiser, as the classic scout had over the now aged Artemis Class light cruiser. Whether we can make that benchmark or not is a matter of testing.

On a more interesting note, many of you may recall Kralien Research stations that disabled our warp systems in missions. While we are not yet in position to guard against such attacks, a subscale demonstrator of a similar weapon has had success in the lab, and a proposal has made to install this subscale System Disrupter in the revamped Scout chassis for field testing.
This Disrupter does no damage to hull or shields, but can disable systems at beyond normal beam ranges, even through shields if properly aimed. It also drone-clearing functions- Disabling the energy containment on a drone tends not to leave a drone chasing you.

Proposal is open for comment.

[Thomas Avirson]

Without details on a proposed cycle time or range, I can really only think of a two use-cases for such a device at the moment:

1. Disabling vessels when you want to reduce the risk of significant damage or casualties. This use-case isn’t particularly common, but it certainly does come up now and again.
2. Running continuous disables to assist another vessel engaged in Delta maneuvers; ideally, disabling beams on enemy vessels before they get within firing range and/or their impulse drives to prevent clustering when you intend to clear with beams (IE helping the lead vessel avoid engagements in multiple enemy arcs). In this use-case I’d recommend against such a lightly equipped vessel engaging in operations against certain strong “loners” with strong weapons and/or special modules, as getting tango could quickly prove disastrous for said lightly equipped vessel (even with another friendly vessel to assist it). This isn’t too different from certain TSN ships having “bad match-ups” against specific types or enemy craft, but the danger may be relatively higher for it.

The worth of that second use case, at least when compared to another fully-equipped vessel, is debatable – at a glance maybe it’s great for reducing the fleet’s rate of attrition and recovery times, but then time-to-kill is comparatively increased so it might not break even in terms of energy expenditure.

Drone clearing is largely a limit of cycle time and quantity, while range is typically less relevant until you get to the extremes. For a supporting craft the range is likely instrumental to helping it avoid a pitched engagement but is not, ultimately, a good metric of its drone-clearing capacity.

On a note relating to the previous section, I haven’t personally witnessed drone clearing being a significant issue unless they’ve been ignored for too long (built up to extreme amounts) or were being handled ineffectively (slow targeting, beams not cooking, helm not scraping on asteroids; IE operator errors). Even vessels with below-average beam cycles can deal with drone clouds if handled correctly – in my opinion, it’s more of an officer skill/experience issue than one that requires a design-end solution… but, I’ll get off this soap box for now.

In summary, while the weapon sounds interesting and does have niches it could fill, there are a lot of factors that could determine its relative worth. For a support craft, it is, in concept, a great method for it to contribute without being too strong in its own right.

[Rakaydos]

Flight testing.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/506244818

[Rakaydos]

Timestamps:
10:05 Launch
11:45 single krailen dreadnaut engagement
14:25 Light Krailen fleet
23:20 Grey mode first energy test
27:00 Normalized, low energy operation
27:55 Grey mode in nebula
31:40 Heavy Kralien fleet
42:45: long duration scouting cruise through multiple sectors.
52:20 Mine clearing tests
59:00 Disrupter scout and discussion
1:02:58 Disrupter scout vs heavy fleet
1:16:00 Ship role discussion
1:17:30 “Id rather this ship (specifically Disruper Scout) than Viper or Saber. (or probably horizon)” Commander Donovan

[Rakaydos]

Timestamps:
10:05 Launch
11:45 single krailen dreadnaut engagement
14:25 Light Krailen fleet
23:20 Grey mode first energy test
27:00 Normalized, low energy operation
27:55 Grey mode in nebula
31:40 Heavy Kralien fleet
42:45: long duration scouting cruise through multiple sectors.
52:20 Mine clearing tests
59:00 Disrupter scout and discussion
1:02:58 Disrupter scout vs heavy fleet
1:16:00 Ship role discussion
1:17:30 “Id rather this ship (specifically Disrupter Scout) than Viper or Saber. (or probably horizon)” Commander Donovan

[Rakaydos]

<vessel uniqueID=”18″ side=”0″ classname=”Orion Modified Scout” broadType=”player”>
<art meshfile=”dat/artemis-scout.dxs” diffuseFile=”dat/artemis_diffuse.png”
glowFile=”dat/artemis_illum.png” specularFile=”dat/artemis_specular.png” scale=”0.2″ pushRadius=”150″/>
<internal_data file=”dat/OrionScout.snt”/>
<!– Weapons and Shields modified (1/4)–>
<shields front=”15″ back=”15″/>
<performance turnrate=”0.006″ topspeed=”0.8″ shipefficiency=”0.42″ warpefficiency=”0.21″ jumpefficiency=”1.0″/>
<beam_port x=”0″ y=”17.8″ z=”289.0″ damage=”0.25″ playerdamage=”3″ arcwidth=”0.4″ cycletime=”6.0″ range=”1000″/>
<beam_port x=”0″ y=”8.35″ z=”1″ damage=”0.00001″ playerdamage=”0″ arcwidth=”0.05″ cycletime=”3″ range=”2200″/>
<torpedo_tube x=”0″ y=”8.35″ z=”258.74″/>
<torpedo_storage type=”trp” amount=”6″/> <!– Homing”–>
<torpedo_storage type=”nuk” amount=”0″/> <!– LR Nuke–>
<torpedo_storage type=”min” amount=”2″/> <!– Mine”–>
<torpedo_storage type=”emp” amount=”2″/> <!– EMP”–>
<torpedo_storage type=”shk” amount=”1″/> <!– Plasma Shock”–>
<torpedo_storage type=”bea” amount=”8″/> <!– Beacon”–>
<torpedo_storage type=”pro” amount=”8″/> <!– Probe”–>
<torpedo_storage type=”tag” amount=”8″/> <!– Tag”–>
<engine_port x=”0″ y=”-9.22″ z=”-300″/>
<engine_port x=”0″ y=”29.64″ z=”-300″/>
<drone_port x=”0″ y=”8.35″ z=”258.74″ damage=”20″ cycletime=”30.0″ range=”5000″/>
<impulse_point x=”0″ y=”-9.22″ z=”-300″/>
<impulse_point x=”0″ y=”29.64″ z=”-300″/>
<long_desc text=”Orion class Modified Scout^1 forward beam, 1 Focused Ionic Disruter^1 Torpedo tube^Stores for 6 homing, 2 mines, 2 ECM, 1 PShock.”/>
</vessel>

[Matsiyan]

Hi, Rakaydos,
I have taken up this vesseldata entry for inclusion in an upcoming dev version.
Please note that comments begin and end with DOUBLE hyphens, not single ones.
It would be most helpful to take an existing vesseldata file entry and edit it and submit it (or indeed the whole file) as a plain text file attachment.

Let me know if this is still correct for testing.

#33038

[Rakaydos]

This was a straight copy/paste from a functional vesseldata file. I suspect WordPress sanitizes their inputs, mangling any code posted.

It is the approved version, though if we’re including the NPC stats enable, the primary beam’s damage should be about the same as the playerdamage. (the disrupter has a token damage in order to trigger node damage, since NPCs cant manual target)

[Author]

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