Future Weapon Ideas???

[Skrim]

The Scourge missile, Angel and Archangel rockets are all fitted with a nuclear warhead, and designed by NEXUS.

Almost all Project weaponry is reverse-engineered from NEXUS designs, with the exception of the MGs, Flamers, Hurricane AA turret, the 155mm Howitzer, and the rotary Howitzer.

Meh.

It's just flavor text. The Angel and Archangel actually use HE blast fragmentation warheads(i.e, HE-Frag) and the Scourge uses a very heavy tandem-charge HEAT(it's also a rather large missile when you compare the size of it's launch tube to a Scavenger human). That's just what they feel like - they're definitely not nukes.

Yeah, Project weapons are almost entirely reverse-engineered.

The Machinegun was a Project design entirely. The Flamer was recovered from the Scavengers, and the Twin MG, Heavy MG and Mortar were recovered as Artifacts before any enemies using them were encountered. Most other T1 weapons were stolen from Scavengers and New Paradigm forces - though the Heavy Cannon is recovered before the Paradigm gets a chance to implement it during the valley chase in Alpha 11. The Hurricane, Ground Shaker and Hellstorm are also Project designs. The rest of the T2 weapons are stolen from the Collective. The T3 weapons are stolen from NEXUS.

So, yeah, the Project was really late in getting started, and hardly developed anything themselves or recovered any artifacts that had not already been taken by someone before them. The Synaptic Link had already been taken by the New Paradigm and VTOLs and heavy artillery had already been recovered by the Collective. Of course, they both had NEXUS' support helping them.

Which brings up an illogical storyline flaw - the New Paradigm apparently recovered the Synaptic Link and sent it to NEXUS. But NEXUS was developed by the Reed Corporation, makers of the Synaptic Link. Seeing how Dr. Reed and NEXUS were behind the entire Collapse business, they should never have lost the Synaptic Link technology in the first place that they need a puppet organization to recover it for them. :-S

[themousemaster]

They were behind the collapse, but if you watch the playback of the "after the attack" history video, it says the resultant EMPs from the plethora of nukes "fried whole segments of his consciousness". The design schematics for Cyborgs may have been part of what he lost... and given the type of nuts-oid person he is, I can see him not having a hardcopy backup that "someone might steal from him" to just read later.


Granted, everyone who knows anything about programming knows that you cannot lose "parts" of a program, whether said program is an AI routine or not, but... it's just one of those breaks from reality that are necessary for science fiction. As far as some breaks go in other stories, this one is much less... infuriating to a logical mind .

[elio]

Granted, everyone who knows anything about programming knows that you cannot lose "parts" of a program, whether said program is an AI routine or not, but... it's just one of those breaks from reality that are necessary for science fiction. As far as some breaks go in other stories, this one is much less... infuriating to a logical mind .

i have to disagree.. i compare NEXUS with a linux kernel. there you can load and unload modules (e.g. drivers) when it's running or a program that use dynamically loaded dynamic libraries is the same

topic: are the EMP weapons really used? emp-bomber is really slow, i have no clue what i should do with it..

[Skrim]

are the EMP weapons really used? emp-bomber is really slow, i have no clue what i should do with it..

As far as I've seen, the EMP Cannon is useless in numbers greater than one tank/structure mixed in with a regular group of tanks/structures, because the EMP effect doesn't stack. One EMP gun will prevent the enemy target from retreating. Any more than that is just pointless.

The EMP "Missile Launcher" is just a repainted HEAP Bomb Bay that disables the target for a few seconds, does no damage, and has no splash radius whatsoever. IMHO, it's just plain useless.

The EMP Mortar looks useful from the stats, but I've never used it in game, so I can't say. It also doesn't seem to be available in vehicle-mounted form in a non-modded game. The variety of mortar flavors is fun though - regular, heavy, rotary, incendiary and EMP.

[themousemaster]

i have to disagree.. i compare NEXUS with a linux kernel. there you can load and unload modules (e.g. drivers) when it's running or a program that use dynamically loaded dynamic libraries is the same

As NEXUS is an AI, I'm assuming he doesn't have his "being" in separate modules. He probably is paranoid enough to want all functions available at all times, just in case... I mean, would you want to remove the "math" parts of your brain just because you happened to be in English Lit class at the time?

Unlike, say, GLaDOS and a "morality core" .

[new paradigm leader]

instead of just weapons how bout exploring space with ablative vehicle armouring pulse jazers (extreme laser) carbon-carbon missiles IOS propulsion (interplanetary operations ship) and dark matter missiles (which cause large amounts of damage and power and visibilty loss in the target area) also force shields to counter-balance defence with offence and holographic diversion troops to use to distract defences while the real army goes in a less detectable way and destroys everything. maser strike and the good old captain trips, yes BIO WEAPONS!!!!! also i believe nexus is akin to skynet in that it did the exact same thing for almost the exact same reason only a few years before they came up with skynet and with a different response from us humans

[Phoenix666]

For all!!!
don't forget, what all new weapons need to be usefull in game
don't need to import in WZ weapons from other!
WZ have own world

We can develop existing technologies in game
can create new faction...

[Skrim]

IMO, Phlebotinum/Explodium/Handwavium should be kept out.

Here's a good link to a website full of cool real-science future weapon ideas.

Basically, here's what I think further progression should be like:

Lasers & Directed Energy:
Lasers develop from regular Pulsed Lasers into Free Electron Lasers, and then Phased Array Lasers. X-Ray/Gamma Ray Lasers can also be added, but I don't know how well they'd work in a terrestrial setting.

All lasers would have Electrolaser variants that are devastatingly effective against cyborgs, somewhat less effective against tanks and ships and ineffective against hovers, and unable to attack airborne jump cyborgs and VTOLs. Electrolasers would do equal damage to normal lasers but would have better damage multipliers against cyborgs, tanks and ships and a slight disabling effect, but they would be heavier and more expensive. X-Ray/Gamma Lasers wouldn't need an Electrolaser variant since they can screw electronics on their own.

Lasers would generally get better in raw damage output with higher tech. The Stormbringer anti-aircraft pulsed laser would continue on as a dedicated air-defense laser weapon.

As for the existing Plasma Cannon and EMP weapons... meh. The above stuff described leaves off from the Pulse Laser and follows the Flashlight/PulseLaser philosophy instead of the confused HeavyLaser/PlasmaCan/EMPCan nonsense. As far as I care, they could just be removed. The Heavy Laser and Plasma Cannon have pretty good PIEs which can be recycled for the FE Laser and Electrolaser, though. The EMP Cannon PIE is just plain fugly.

Mass Drivers & Hypervelocity Kinetic-Kill:
Well, we've already hopped and skipped through RailGuns in the existing game and end off with Gauss Cannons. I'd go further by developing Gatling Gauss Cannons, by applying the tried-&-tested philosophy of Moar Dakka to increase ROF at a slight cost of accuracy. Further developments would be even-more-amazingly-dense anti-tank slugs, hypervelocity fragmentation rounds that can scrag large groups of cyborgs or VTOLs, and scramjet-assisted homing slugs for extra awesomeness.

Offshoot weapons of this technology branch would be very high-tech anti-aircraft defenses firing those scramjet-assisted homing hypervelocity fragmentation slugs, and of course, various artillery weapons.

Mass drivers would generally get better in damage and ROF with higher tech.

Missiles & Explosive Warheads
Missiles have a hard time here. The current warheads used in reality is the tandem High Explosive Anti-Tank(HEAT) shaped charge, which creates a focussed blade of liquified metal using a conventional explosive, which can cut through steel like a (very)hot knife through slightly melted butter. In Warzone, the Scourge Missile seems to use a very low-yield nuclear explosive to generate it's shaped metal jet(thus not making it an er... "actual" nuke).

Apart from using bigger nukes(which is a no-no for the Project), the only way ahead from here seems to be nano-gimmickery and antimatter. My idea for an extremely high-tech missile warhead would be for a small nuclear warhead to drive a shaped-charge jet of a specially-engineered nanomaterial, containing some kind of antimatter-containment nanoparticle(say for example, an antiproton stored inside a fullerene) that loses containment under the extreme heat and pressure it faces in the shaped-charge jet, leading to an annihilation reaction that would...

It would be a really, really high-tech weapon. If combined with a mass-driver as a launcher and scramjet propulsion, it could be a very, very expensive, very long-ranged, very accurate, and very, very powerful weapon with moderate ROF(whew, that a lot of 'very's). It would of course be counterbalanced with low durability(justified, there's antimatter on board).

The generic 'bigger warheads', 'more missiles', and 'more range' is just boring compared to zany engineering. The above idea also borders on the edge of Applied Phlebotinum, because even if you do store antiprotons inside fullerenes, they might just quantum-tunnel through the electron cloud, blast some nucleus and cause the entire molecule to fall apart in the ensuing carnage. And that's not considering how hard it would be create so many antiprotons, and then store them inside nanoparticles of regular matter. Of course, a conventional magnetic bottle could also be used to store antimatter, but I don't like the notion of having to constantly waste energy just to prevent your own bomb from exploding in your own face.

That wore me out, so I think I won't be talking about futuristic flame weapons, armor, active defenses, stealth, or anything else related to this until tomorrow.

[themousemaster]

IMO, Phlebotinum/Explodium/Handwavium should be kept out.

The only problem with having 0% Phlebotinum in a Science Fiction type story is that, usually in just a few years, you end up finding out that the "Sci-Fi" terms you had been relying on were either mis-used, or just outright wrong. See the Original Star Trek's communicators, for example (or for that matter, the Deuterium they use as fuel... 1-neutron Hydrogen being rare and a source of Antimatter? News to me ).

[rkhayrov]

Well, I think desire for Big Explosions is undeniable But immense destructive power should be leveled with some drawbacks: no uber-weapons in Warzone. It looks like we only have two options today: slow ROF and prohibitive research and/or production cost. It would be nice if not only producing, but also using weapon will cost energy. (IIRC this was already discussed a number of times.)
I won't go all futuristic, but suggest long existing real world weapon instead — cruise missiles. Essentially a one-time VTOL in-game. With TERCOM/GPS guidance system they can only be targeted at structures (or maybe even arbitrary point on map), and not moving targets. Cruise missiles can be shot down just like VTOLs, but AA weapons have much lower hit probability for them because of lower RCS. They carry very large conventional warhead with significant splash damage (or something like oversized Bunker Buster... but did we start from Big Explosions? ). Rather costly to produce. I don't even think cruise missile technology should be placed very deeply in research tree. VTOL propulsion, some advanced engine technology (for fuel effectiveness), Scourge missile, and TERCOM guidance system would be enough for prerequisites. Missiles warhead upgrades apply.
Weapon for spectacular beheading strike, but definitely not something you can't protect from

[Mysteryem]

I think that instead of just adding new weapons we should combine weapons aswell, imagine weapons that are good against bunkers and tanks -I'm thinking of a scourge missile bunker buster combo- or things like an incendiary hellstorm.

[TVR]

Possible Warzone 2100 techtree

Three distinct weapon types: LASER, Projectile unguided, and Projectile guided, with upgrades in one weapon type that benefit another weapon type.

[Skrim]

The only problem with having 0% Phlebotinum in a Science Fiction type story is that, usually in just a few years, you end up finding out that the "Sci-Fi" terms you had been relying on were either mis-used, or just outright wrong. See the Original Star Trek's communicators, for example (or for that matter, the Deuterium they use as fuel... 1-neutron Hydrogen being rare and a source of Antimatter? News to me ).

Few years? The only thing that I seriously doubt that won't happen in reality is the antimatter-based missiles, purely because of how astoundingly difficult it is to make and store antimatter, and also because present nanotechnology is nowhere in the territory needed to create an antimatter-containment nanomaterial of any kind, let alone weapons-grade.

Right now, our war machines are using 120/125mm cannons(Heavy Cannons, but with the ability to change damage type depending on the kind of ammo used), anti-tank guided missiles(like Scourge, but with TK-level warheads), 25/30mm Gatling guns(Assault Guns), light SAMs to defend against attack helicopters(like Avengers/Vindicators vs. WZ's VTOLs), 20/25mm chainguns as heavy anti-infantry weapons(Heavy Machineguns), 12.7mm machine guns as somewhat lighter anti-infantry weapons(Machineguns), 120mm mortars as light artillery(Bombards), 155mm howitzers as heavy artillery(Ground Shakers), and very long-ranged guided multiple-launch rocket artillery(like Archangel Missiles). Smaller weapons like 7.62mm machine guns(think one half of a Twin MG) and RPG launchers(think cyborg-grade Lancer) are infantry weapons. Modern incendiary weapons are thermobaric-warhead missiles and bombs(think Plasmite Bomb at 1/10th the weight).

The progress from now will probably be in mass drivers(railguns and Gauss coilguns) as future tank guns and ground/naval artillery. "Scram Cannons" with guided scramjet-assisted mass driver projectiles are not impossible, no way. Pulsed Lasers and their derivatives would be more of anti-aircraft or ultra-precision-kill weapons. And I doubt whether nuke-based shaped charges like Scourge will begin appearing unless something happens so serious that nukes are needed so desperately - although it is possible to make it happen if need be. Shaped charge technology would have to adapt in a way I haven't been able to foresee yet if they are to counter ingenious advances in armor technology like the British-invented electromagnetic reactive armor*. A Whipple shield(well, spaced armor to put it simply) followed up by electric reactive armor should be able to stop even a tandem-charge warhead. And since I had no better realistic missile warhead idea than a nuke-driven shaped charge(already found in Scourge), I had to invoke a bit of improbably high technology(though not quite Phlebotinum).

*Electric reactive armor works with a heavily-charged inner armor plate and a grounded armor plate, with both plates being separated by an insulator. When a shaped charge metal jet impacts the armor, it effectively connects the circuit, causing a massive electrical current to flow down the metal jet, disrupting it, slowing it, dispersing it and mitigating the damage caused by it. The armor can then be recharged by the tank's engine, and the damaged section can be replaced, thanks to modular design. It would be used in conjunction with spaced composite armor to handle tandem charges.

[Skrim]

I think that instead of just adding new weapons we should combine weapons aswell, imagine weapons that are good against bunkers and tanks -I'm thinking of a scourge missile bunker buster combo- or things like an incendiary hellstorm.

Real tanks can fire a variety of ammo using their main cannon, depending on what the situation is:

HEAT - High explosive shaped-charge shell, useful for taking out vehicles of all sorts. Only main battle tanks can really stand up to it.
HE - High explosive blast-fragmentation shell, useful for taking out dug-in infantry, machine gun nests, light vehicles, other soft targets.
APFSDS - Kinetic-energy penetrator slug, optimized for taking out main battle tanks and other heavy vehicles like APCs and IFVs.
HESH - High explosive squash-head shell, perfect for crushing structures and fortifications of all kinds, including bunkers.
ATGM - Anti-tank guided missile with a shaped-charge warhead. Long-ranged and accurate, but slow-moving, and packs less punch than a HEAT shell.

Yes, tanks can fire missiles from their main gun, like the Israeli LAHAT and various Russian missiles. Tank-launched missiles have a rather big limitation in that their warhead size is small, since the missile has to fit inside the barrel but still have it's motor and guidance equipment on board.

Warzone 2100's tanks do not have this ammo-switching ability. So they serve only one kind of damage, a generic "anti tank" damage type.

[TVR]

... The only thing that I seriously doubt that won't happen in reality is the antimatter-based missiles ...

Not missiles relying on antimatter as the primary warhead, but to initiate nuclear fusion.

"... Scram Cannons" with guided scramjet-assisted mass driver projectiles are not impossible, no way. ...

Scram cannons are not guided projectiles, rather a distinct type of launcher similar to a scramjet, much simpler to implement than electromagnetic launchers, and capable of firing at a sizable fraction of the velocity.

... And I doubt whether nuke-based shaped charges like Scourge will begin appearing unless something happens so serious that nukes are needed so desperately - although it is possible to make it happen if need be. ...

Using antimatter to initiate nuclear fusion, it IS possible to create nuclear warheads with less than required critical mass, and therefore lesser yields.