UGV Equipment/Proposed/Tri-Laser Module

Description

Pre-Research Draft Example:

Commander, by not having the severe restrictions in bulk of a soldier, UGVs offer an excellent opportunity to field a larger laser weapon system than our previous man-portable designs. We've made some preliminary calculations and I see no need to develop a totally new Continuous Wave Laser for our UGVs. We believe we can best achieve a working UGV Laser by utilizing components from our existing Laser Rifle and Heavy Laser designs. This will help lower costs and it should allow us to get a design to you in substantially less time than it would take otherwise.

We've already considered a twin Heavy Laser configuration and discarded it in favor of the more efficient Laser Rifle emitters in a triangular configuration, with various components from the Heavy Laser to handle the high power output. These would be capable of firing in Wave Fire and Pulsed Fire modes. We also believe it should be possible to add an additional focusing lens, which would allow the three emitters to combine into a single beam. It would be similar in appearance to the one fired from our Heavy Laser, but more powerful. Further testing will be necessary to determine just how powerful or if we can even get the focusing lens to work properly.

After-Research Draft Example:

Commander, I am pleased to report that the latest prototype of what is now called the UGV Tri-Laser has passed preliminary trials without any difficulties. At your request, we added a rapid-fire mode that fires each of the emitters independently in quick succession rather than simultaneously. We were also successful in incorporating the focusing lens, which enables a single shot with longer range and high damage.

I will briefly list the several firing modes available with this weapon:

Firing Modes (In order of TU usage):

• Simultaneous Wave Fire (One shot, three perfectly parallel beams - All three hit or all three miss for 225 damage)
• Independent Wave Fire (3 shot rapid-fire burst, one from each emitter - 75 damage per shot)
• Focused Fire (One shot, Heavy Laser beam - 360 damage. Uses Range and Spread of Heavy Laser. Highest ammo cost.)
• Simultaneous Pulsed Fire (3 shots of three perfectly parallel beams - chance to hit or miss with each shot for 120 damage per shot)
• Independent Pulsed Fire (9 shot rapid-fire burst, 3 from each emitter - 40 damage per shot)

Note: Rapid-fire as used above means that the burst fires in less real-life time than other weapons (think minigun-style). It is not an indication of TU usage. All modes other than Focused Fire mode use Range and Spread of the Laser Rifle with comparable ammo costs. Possibly could remove the Simultaneous Wave Fire mode. Possibly could change Independent Pulsed Fire to Independent Pulsed Sweep. Possibly could reduce damage somewhat and say it was done for overheating reasons in the text. Currently all damage values are based on the Laser Rifle's damage.

Further possibilities include making a Mk. I and a Mk. II version, with the Mk. II being designed with the Phoenix in mind and improving on deficiencies in the Mk. I version. The Mk. II could potentially draw some power from the Phoenix's engines, thus decreasing the "ammo" used per shot. If this was done, the Mk. II would not be installable in the Ares.

There is one other thing, Commander. Although we planned on linking several D-F Cartridges together to provide power for this weapon, and we can, I am also submitting plans for a larger D-F Pack that would neatly fit within the UGV's storage compartment. It should enable us to increase the ammo capacity of the Tri-Laser and overall it should take less time to produce one D-F Pack than several D-F Cartridges. (If battlefield reloading of UGVs is available in the game, then I imagine one D-F Pack would take up a 3x3 or 4x2 space in a soldier's backpack.)

Battle Implications

Adds a powerful new laser weapon to the team and allows UGVs to cause Laser damage.

Research Tree Data

(This information for reference only; do not translate or include in-game.)

Prerequisites:
 Laser Rifle researched
 Heavy Laser researched
 D-F Cartridge researched
 Player must have used a UGV in at least one mission

Opens:
 Enables production -- Tri-Laser Module
 Enables research -- D-F Pack