Homing Laser

[Batman]

Were, exactly, does it bend? It fires slightly off-axis, that is all.

[StarSword]

It doesn't bend in the image, no, but that's a stationary target. If I remember gameplay (and it's been a few years, I'll admit), if you target other players it bends to follow them.

[Connor MacLeod]

what he means is: "does it come from the barrel off axis, but stay essentially straight from gun to target, or does it actually curve in the air or bend in any obvious way like a projectile or reflected beam would?

[Darth Wong]

I used to play UT a lot, and the link gun is just a skittish particle beam. It doesn't bend around corners or change direction significantly, but it looks "jumpy", ie- it fluctuates and wiggles a bit like a stereotypical Hollywood directed-lightning weapon. It still basically goes straight.

[Connor MacLeod]

It can be hard to judge visuals 100% sometimes when it comes to this. There's a few cases where it looks like there might be "curving' TL bolts in ROTS but I can't be 100% sure because of the way the scene is organized or set up. There's also cases in the OT where beams appare to be shifting direction magically at random points, but it could just simply be an invisible beam tracking across a fixed path or something like that.

The human eye seeing stuff that may not really be there or other visual fuckups are quite possible as an explanation for "bending lasers" as well.

[StarSword]

I used to play UT a lot, and the link gun is just a skittish particle beam. It doesn't bend around corners or change direction significantly, but it looks "jumpy", ie- it fluctuates and wiggles a bit like a stereotypical Hollywood directed-lightning weapon. It still basically goes straight.

My mistake.

[Ford Prefect]

The human eye seeing stuff that may not really be there or other visual fuckups are quite possible as an explanation for "bending lasers" as well.

The human is capable of some fascinating visual misinterpretations, but I think you're missing the forest for the trees here. You're not going to hallucinate the sort of 'homing lasers' we're talking about here unless you're on LSD.

[avatarxprime]

It can be hard to judge visuals 100% sometimes when it comes to this. There's a few cases where it looks like there might be "curving' TL bolts in ROTS but I can't be 100% sure because of the way the scene is organized or set up. There's also cases in the OT where beams appare to be shifting direction magically at random points, but it could just simply be an invisible beam tracking across a fixed path or something like that.

Does any of that have to do with something I read before about turbolasers being able to produce "flak" bursts?

Also incase anyone actually wants to see what the Link Gun level of bendiness is here's a video. I have it set to the relevant portion, the earlier stuff involves the primary fire mode of the gun where it fires bolts instead of a stream.

[Stark]

The link bending is just a visual effect though; it's still working on a straight line, just arced to a side. It doesn't let you maintain link on something around a corner etc (although it will bend to hit things behind you once linked).

[SAMAS]

No matter what rationalizations you need to make it into a missile, it still works better than a winding force-fist tunnel that chokes the chicken at long range until it spooges on the target.

I think that imagery just hurt my brain.

How about then, rather than all the way to the target, just far enough to turn in the target's direction (and clear the path(s) of the rest of the battery), like they do in Gall Force?

[Connor MacLeod]

The human is capable of some fascinating visual misinterpretations, but I think you're missing the forest for the trees here. You're not going to hallucinate the sort of 'homing lasers' we're talking about here unless you're on LSD.

If the human eye can see a "homing laser" bending in midair in any meaningful way I kind of doubt it really is a laser or travelling as lightspeed, so I don't think I am leaving out anything. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong though.

Does any of that have to do with something I read before about turbolasers being able to produce "flak" bursts?

Flak bursts were smething else entirely, and more associated with whether or not they were exploding bolts or shield interactions. Maybe you're thinking of the supposed "damage before contact" phenomenon.

Also incase anyone actually wants to see what the Link Gun level of bendiness is here's a video. I have it set to the relevant portion, the earlier stuff involves the primary fire mode of the gun where it fires bolts instead of a stream.

Is that supposed to be the green beam thats striking around at random locations?

[Darth Wong]

Also incase anyone actually wants to see what the Link Gun level of bendiness is here's a video. I have it set to the relevant portion, the earlier stuff involves the primary fire mode of the gun where it fires bolts instead of a stream.

Is that supposed to be the green beam thats striking around at random locations?

It's not exactly random. It's being fired by another player who's running around and who often shoots the floor for some bizarre reason. In the game, it's a gun like any other: you have a crosshairs on the screen, you aim it at people, and you shoot. If the beam didn't go more or less straight, it would be utterly useless as a weapon.

[Connor MacLeod]

Well I was asking if the random flickering was supposed to be the "bending" or whatever. If that's the case it's rather simple to explain, since it looks alot like a beam of lightning, and wouldn't require any bizarre mechanisms to explain.

[avatarxprime]

Well I was asking if the random flickering was supposed to be the "bending" or whatever. If that's the case it's rather simple to explain, since it looks alot like a beam of lightning, and wouldn't require any bizarre mechanisms to explain.

Eh, yes and no. The beam is essentially "searching" while it's skittering along like that. Once it actually "locks on" to a target the beam becomes thicker and smoother. It will also bend a bit to allow for movement of the target or user without breaking the beam, kinda like a proton beam from Ghostbusters now that I think about it. You can see the effect here, the beam starts in lockon mode and then is broken and returns to normal.

[Connor MacLeod]

Well I was asking if the random flickering was supposed to be the "bending" or whatever. If that's the case it's rather simple to explain, since it looks alot like a beam of lightning, and wouldn't require any bizarre mechanisms to explain.

Eh, yes and no. The beam is essentially "searching" while it's skittering along like that. Once it actually "locks on" to a target the beam becomes thicker and smoother. It will also bend a bit to allow for movement of the target or user without breaking the beam, kinda like a proton beam from Ghostbusters now that I think about it. You can see the effect here, the beam starts in lockon mode and then is broken and returns to normal.

You mean something like this? That's normal lightning btw, and it looks pretty much like what is in that video you posted. I'm still not seeing a problem.

[avatarxprime]

Well I was asking if the random flickering was supposed to be the "bending" or whatever. If that's the case it's rather simple to explain, since it looks alot like a beam of lightning, and wouldn't require any bizarre mechanisms to explain.

Eh, yes and no. The beam is essentially "searching" while it's skittering along like that. Once it actually "locks on" to a target the beam becomes thicker and smoother. It will also bend a bit to allow for movement of the target or user without breaking the beam, kinda like a proton beam from Ghostbusters now that I think about it. You can see the effect here, the beam starts in lockon mode and then is broken and returns to normal.

You mean something like this? That's normal lightning btw, and it looks pretty much like what is in that video you posted. I'm still not seeing a problem.

The part I was focusing on though is that once its "locked on" the beam can be bent so as to stay on a target. I've seen video of the laser guided lightning, but I've never seen it bend like in the video I linked. I was under the impression that creating a channel with the laser was to prevent the lightning from arcing so as to prevent that kind of bending the Link Gun performs. That behavior still seems quite strange, but meh, the Link Gun isn't really what I'm after in terms of a homing laser anyway.