| From: | Michael Orion Jackson <orion@****.CC.UTEXAS.EDU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Lasers (sights on th em and visibility thereof) |
| Date: | Tue, 3 Jun 1997 09:12:36 -0500 |
1) Sighting: Theoretically, lasers would be even easier to
smartlin/lasersight that projectile firearms. Lasr beams travel in
perfectly straight lines unaffected by wind, gravity, etc. Thus, where
the laser beam lands (for a laser sight) or where the dot in your vision
is projected (by a smartlink) is _exactly_ where the beam will go. At
close ranges, this won't be _that_ much off from a firearm, but at long
range (say, greater than 100 meters) teh difference in precision will be
significant because wind, gravity, microimperfections in the bullet and
barrel, etc. will have added up to a greater degree. From a realism stand
point, lasers ought to get a +1 to any other targeting modifier ( i.e., +2
laser sight, +3 smartlink) because of this heightened precision. But from
a game balance standpoint, they're disgustingly deadly already, so... :)
2) Visibility: You can't see laser beams. The photons in the beam are
perfectly coherent (all of the same frequency and and travel in parallel
lines to infinity (theoretically true, some wayward sheep may leave the
flock, but not very many)). In other words, the photons (represented by
dots, would look like this: (laser>):::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: .
So called "visible" lasers merely use light frequencies in the visible
spectrum of the human eye. The most you could see in that case would be
the dot of the laser's impact point, which wouldn't be around long for a
(non-targeting type) laser (weapon lasers have very short discharge times,
becauyse they put _som much_ energy into the lasing element to reach
damage-inflicting thresholds that a discharge time higher than a fraction
of a second would melt the element). This does assume no particulate
matter in the atmosphere. :) In the presence of an aerosol (smoke, fog,
whatever) the photons bounce off of the particles, causing some to be
visible along the path of the laser (if an eye is there to catch the
wayward photons and they are in the visible spectrum). That's why laser
shows typically involve a fog machine and visible spectrum frequency
lases. This scattering will also negatively impact the energy imparted to
the target, thus decreasing damage. ( Want to protect yourself from the
evil secguards firing MP lasers? Pop a non-thermal smoke charge in your
midst. Using IR sight, you can still target them, but their lasers won't
work as well or at all on you. They can still see you with their IR
sights, but nothing is perfect. :) Just hope they don't have any frag
grenades...).
Happy Lasing! ;)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Michael Orion Jackson~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~TAMS Class of 1996/UT Class of 199?~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~2112 Guadalupe, Rm. 409; Austin, Tx 78705 (The Goodall-Wooten)~~~~~~~
------------------<"Love kills the demon."~Mickey
Knox>--------------------
I agree. It seems to have killed most of mine, or at least cowed them into
temporary submission. For the first time in my life I feel a reason to go
forward, other than inertia. Now my only worry is that I'll fuck it up...
