Orbital death

I've been a big fan of laser satellites for a long time and I would love to see something similar to the Ion Cannon used by GDI from the Command & Conquer series

I give my "thumps up" for this idea

But I don't want this superweapon to be cheap and easy to get.
I want to work hard to get my cool space weapons of mass destruction ^^

Personally I think large ballistics are way cooler than lasers. I'd much rather have an orbital artillery. Which launches HUGE shells down to earth at ridiculous speeds (think Halo MAC cannon), and then has to use thrusters to move itself to it's previous orbit (since the recoil from launching the shot is so much)

End result is the same regardless, also then that dis-qualifies your James Bond Example.

Mike

...

So it disqualifies it, it was damn close enough. :roll: Perhaps I should have said "Icarus works very similarly to bobucle's idea", for the sake of being ridiculously specific and making everyone happy.

I would still dare say that a bunch of these in space is more interesting, and less cliche than a laser.

But again, the fact remains whether it's a series of mirrors, or a cliche laser, the result on the target is functionally the same given the context of the game. (From what I know about such systems)

Mike

I was overly rude there, I apologize.

The end result would be the same, but the means of achieving that result is what interests me. Since, for the sake of simplicity, this is basically a solar powered satellite, it could only operate on one side or a certain area of a planet due to its need for sunlight. My memory escapes me, but I don't know if the dark side of a planet causes any effects on solar stuff, due to Uber not commenting on it. By all means, correct me if I am wrong.

It could also be designed such that it doesn't fire a death beam, but just illuminates your solar collectors all day long. Since the satellite is made of mirrors, it wouldn't be difficult for your enemy to destroy. Though I do suppose that at this stage of the game you already have a higher end pgen, and don't need solar collectors to run your economy anymore. Hell, dumb it down a lot and bam, orbiting solar collector.

Going even further, some excuse could be made to make the satellitte only reflect microwaves, and is therefore an orbital EMP (read stunning) weapon. Physics aside, that is a potental use.

The end result of any system is really the same. You want to blow things up from space. The implementation only matters for various balance perspectives.

A beam weapon is clearly unblockable. It can not be defended by any kind of ordnance defense. By comparison, a projectile weapon might be blockable by tactical defense or SMD-style defense.

A weapon that provides its own energy is easier to use. It might be more useful for attacking enemy targets. One that demands extra E could end up more difficult to use. One that demands physical production (like missiles/nukes/etc.) would be most difficult of all.