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[PTTG??]

Mesons travel a distance as WIMPs before decaying into dangerous particles, so they go through atmosphere.

I think.

[JacenHanLovesLegos]

I believe they are the only energy weapon that works in Earth's atmosphere. Here's my latest ship design:

Code: [Select]

Argentina II class Cruiser    8,000 tons     182 Crew     1391 BP      TCS 160  TH 400  EM 0
2500 km/s     Armour 10-35     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 4     PPV 39.68
Maint Life 5.37 Years     MSP 1435    AFR 128%    IFR 1.8%    1YR 83    5YR 1248    Max Repair 210 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Spare Berths 1   

T250 E80 Magneto - Plasma Drive (5)    Power 80    Fuel Use 76%    Signature 80    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 500,000 Litres    Range 14.8 billion km   (68 days at full power)

Quad 15cm C3 Visible Light Laser Turret (2x4)    Range 120,000km     TS: 8000 km/s     Power 24-12     RM 2    ROF 10        6 6 4 3 2 2 1 1 1 1
15cm Laser Fire Control (1)    Max Range: 256,000 km   TS: 8000 km/s     96 92 88 84 80 77 73 69 65 61
PDC Meson Reactor (4)     Total Power Output 24    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Large Active Sensor (1)     GPS 21000     Range 126.0m km    Resolution 100

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

From my encounter with them in what I believe to be their home system, I was hit by an anti-ship missile presumably from another ship, which was detected before my active sensor went out. I plan to add a thermal sensor and a jump ship to transport them all, as well as a dedicated anti-missile ship. If the cruisers fail to work in a defense of Earth, I also have some test ships that launch geosurvey probes that can also launch missiles at short range in a pinch.

EDIT: Ninja

[Jacob/Lee]

Do Mesons even work on Earth? With the atmosphere and all...

Mesons are the only beam weapon that will work on a world with atmosphere, IIRC.

EDIT: Ninjas.

[Another]

It may be offtopic in this thread but all mesons are in reality Strongly Interacting Massive Particles. (They also interact weakly (and gravitationally and many of them - electromagnetically)). All normal matter is in fact quite good at stopping mesons.

I doubt that it would be worth to write Steve that muons would be much better candidates for the game mechanics he currently calls mesons. Trans-Newtonian fluff and all that. (Pre-Newtonian or Aristotelian being more accurate name.)

[Mini]

You're trying to apply physics to video games. Stop being ridiculous.

[Flying Dice]

Frankly, I've always visualized them as being Starfire primaries: incredibly concentrated beams only a few millimeters in diameter. The damage model would be pretty much identical; in-universe they're strong enough to completely ignore armor, but the beam is so narrow that the only damage really dealt is to delicate internals, whatever it happens to intersect. That, and opening a bunch of compartments to vacuum.

[Girlinhat]

It wouldn't take much engineering at all, and indeed perhaps just proper spaceship protocol, to make the innermost layer of armor filled with a foam.  When you poke a needle hole into the armor, the foam just expands.

[Flying Dice]

Still doesn't prevent it from also poking holes in, say, electronics or a reactor. 

[Girlinhat]

No, but it does prevent rapid spacing, as mentioned above.

[EuchreJack]

So I've got some cargo ships pushing facilities to an asteroid rich in Corundium, which I need to produce more mines.  Only issue is, my cargo ships are all "Whaa, we've been out in space too long" and morale and shit.  I've got 3 ships and need to move like 100 automines.  How do I fit it into their cycle orders to take shore leave?

I understand your problem.  There is no "wait till shore leave completes" command, so you really just have to stop the cycle and hang out at some populated colony every once in a while.

Hence why my cargo ships typically have over a year's worth of crew quarters.

As for other solutions, I'd suggest issuing civilian ships contracts to ship the automines, then dump money into the shipping companies, preferably one that already has a cargo ship: it seems some companies won't do both cargo and passengers, and the names are downright misleading (cargo company only ferries colonists?  settler company only does cargo? WTF???).

I'd also suggest redesigning your cargo ships to add more crew quarters.  You should be able to retool them at the same shipyard the made them, if it's still tooled to make cargo ships.

I *think* cargo ship crews get shore leave when the ship is loading and unloading from a minimally-populated world.  If so, it might be worthwhile to rip out those cargo handling modules that would ordinarily be highly useful (10 days of shore leave should covers most deployments).

[Girlinhat]

Yeah, I noticed that when the asteroid was near Earth, and the trip short, then the loading time was enough to refresh the crew.  Looks like I'll be toning down my number of cargo handling to enable cargo ships to perma-cycle.

[EuchreJack]

One other idea: You can issue an order delay.  I'm not sure on the specifics of it, and I realize it requires figuring out how many seconds are in a day, and how many days are needed for sufficient shore leave, but it's another tool you can use.

[nogoodnames]

I'm having a problem where my bombardment ship keeps saying it's preparing to fire but the weapons aren't ready when it's targeting ground troops. The first time it did this I had it target the population instead, and after one salvo destroyed the population I was able to have it re-target the ground troops and fire with no problem. Now after getting it reloaded at Earth it's having the same problem again. I'm not playing with inexperienced fleets so that's not it. Does anyone know why this is happening and how I can fix it?

Edit: Fiddling with the fire control seems to fix it.

[JacenHanLovesLegos]

A ship exploded due to neglect, and the fact I didn't realize ship's can explode when left with damaged modules. Ironic considering it was coming back to earth for a resupply/overhaul. I also learned that task groups with ships under construction can't leave port to rescue lifepods.

In other new, the 5th Argentina II class cruiser just left dock, and three more are the way. A new Rommel class heavy cruiser is also being designed, with more and longer ranged lasers.

[Flying Dice]

From what I recall, a ship has to be just about ready for the breaker's yard to explode from neglect. Might want to rotate them in a bit more often. 

Incidentally, you can deal with the second by shifting a ship into a secondary TG, doing whatever, then having it rejoin the waiting one. Or just use a "Shipyard Finishing" TG like I do to funnel all new construction into one place.