Fluff Gamma Burst Party Poll 2

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What name should the Gamma Burst Slingshot get

Poll ended at Fri Mar 20, 2020 1:10 pm

Arc Disruptor (AD)
5
45%
Gamma Burst Shotgun (GBS)
2
18%
Gamma Burst Slingshot (GBS)
1
9%
Relativistic Sandblaster (RS)
3
27%
 
Total votes: 11

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Ophiuchus
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Fluff Gamma Burst Party Poll 2

#1 Post by Ophiuchus »

Due to new entries, we do a second poll. The Sandblaster won the last poll, Directed Energy Burst and Gamma Burst Shotgun went in second place.

Nobody championed entries for Burst Railgun (BR), Directed Energy Burst (DEB), and Good Ole Burst Shotgun (GOBS) so those are out. New entry is Arc Disruptor (AD). While I find Arc Disruptor a bit generic it conveys the multiple-shot idea, also I like that AD pronounced in German is the same as "ade" (a variant of adieu) which in some parts is used to say Good-bye (so a good-bye weapon :lol: )

Here comes the short fluff (better fluff always welcome):
  • Arc Disruptor - Charged polaron capacitors are discharged through a positive emitter coil, and the resulting disruption flux arcs though space between several ships before returning to the negative coil. The disruption flux can be substantially deflected around ship ship shields, however.
  • Gamma Burst Shotgun - A partly-chaotic release of gamma energy is able to hit multiple targets at once, doing significant damage to unshielded ships.
  • Gamma Burst Slingshot - The slingshot combat system catapults multiple precharged single-use medium range gamma laser into combat range. An autonomous targeting system aims and triggers the gamma ray before point defense can take down the weapon system.
  • Relativistic Sandblaster - A mass driver system accelerates a volume of sand to relativistic speed. Ships caught in the slowly expanding cloud of sand get thoroughly damaged. Shields are known to be effective at deflecting the sand particles.
Any code or patches in anything posted here is released under the CC and GPL licences in use for the FO project.

Look, ma... four combat bouts!

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Oberlus
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Re: Fluff Gamma Burst Party Poll 2

#2 Post by Oberlus »

I don't like the fluff of the Arc Disruptor (why would the arc go thousands of kilometers away from the positive pole before getting back to the negative poll, instead of going directly to it? it really makes no sense at all).
If it is finally selected, I'd like it to change to something about a reaction between the two poles that expand away from the weapon until it loses strength, like the Plasma Arc trope from novels in the Vorkosigan series.

Ophiuchus
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Re: Fluff Gamma Burst Party Poll 2

#3 Post by Ophiuchus »

Oberlus wrote: Fri Mar 20, 2020 6:53 am I don't like the fluff of the Arc Disruptor
I think the current fluff explains the randomness, the gunner-skill independence, the multi-shot and the bad effectiveness against shields. Better fluff would have to cover that points as well. Else I am all eyes.
Any code or patches in anything posted here is released under the CC and GPL licences in use for the FO project.

Look, ma... four combat bouts!

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Oberlus
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Re: Fluff Gamma Burst Party Poll 2

#4 Post by Oberlus »

Maybe this:

Arc Disruptor - Charged polaron capacitors generate a molecular disruption flux wave that arcs through space hitting several ships before dispersing. The disruption flux can be substantially deflected around ship shields.

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Geoff the Medio
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Re: Fluff Gamma Burst Party Poll 2

#5 Post by Geoff the Medio »

Oberlus wrote: Fri Mar 20, 2020 11:28 amArc Disruptor - Charged polaron capacitors generate a molecular disruption flux wave that arcs through space hitting several ships before dispersing. The disruption flux can be substantially deflected around ship shields.
Fine with me.

That said, the objection assumes something about how polaron flux arcs would behave, but in this context they are a made up particle with whatever properties we want. That said, removing the "positive" and "negative" from the description is probably better anyway.

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