So....does anyone else hate the beam aesthetics?

lordkhorak

Ok, this sounds ranty, but I'm not going for rabblerousing mob raising here. I'm curious how other people see this. It's just I'm rather florid and forthright in the way I present my 'argument'. Oh, and sorry if the YouTube videos don't embed, I'm used to the latest VBulletin which just takes the link and sorts it out itself.

So, going with the most iconic weapons, in terms of aesthetics the phasers in this game....aren't really very good phasers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d734afLFPds

There's phasers. The only time they're even vaguely like the ones in this game, it's the really early TNG ones. The ones we get are fatter than a kid who found the Twinky warehouse, with a gigantic bloom around them, which is WAY worse at the point of origin.

It gets even worse, because the only shots vaguely like the ones in this game are the single ones. You know, when they fire a shot once in a blue moon, when the phaser bank does its dramatic charging all the way around. That way, it isn't weird to have the protracted beam duration and noise.

....but in this game you're throwing out beams non-stop. The long beam duration, fatness, and noise all blobs together into a horrible mess. The Cryptic version in the game works great if you've got one beam bank. Three shots, it all looks and sounds like a lot of the actual series. Very dramatic, oh yes. But we never have one beam bank. I've got eight. It's carnage.

Know what it looked like when Star Trek went absolutely balls to the wall with phasers? Like we do absolutely non-stop in this game? Like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXK2vzHOEoI

Why didn't we get THAT!? Reduce the beam durations big time, with the sounds to match, put the beams on a damned diet and let our ships go ape**** the same way the Enterprise-E did eight years before this game came out.

Oh and make all the other beams to match. :P Ner. Do my will Cryptic! Obey! Obey!

YOU MAY NOW SHOUT ANGRILY AT ME.

hojain2020

The second vids phaser fire is pretty awesome.
I agree would be cool to see that in STO. Im just wondering whether the new type of fire might strain the game engine though.... last i heard they updated the Physx engine just to make sure we see all our outgoing damage and shields in crowded instances and so on.

commanderkassy

The second one is Beam Fire at Will. Which looks pretty much like that minus the intense bloom in game.

onerats

I want the size of my beam to reflect the amount of damage it's causing. More damage leads to a larger diameter beam. That way everyone in the group will know to bow down to my clearly thicker than average beams. Oh, and it'll pretty much redefine the meaning of e-peen while it's at it too.

Honestly though, that second one is effectively exactly what we have. FAW in action right there. You can also TRIBBLE with your graphics settings to alter the bloom and whatnot.

hyperionx09

The only things I agree with is changing the sound effects of some beam weapons, and maybe reducing the duration a little bit (not as much as portrayed in the live series). We do see the current long duration beams as being used in the last part of the cube battle in First Contact, alternated with some shorter duration beams. The beam thickness can remain; if only because it's easier to see for players with vision issues (cannon shots and torpedo shots are thicker in-game too compared to their series/movie portrayals).

If the game engine or coding was more flexible, I'd suggest that the beam length and duration be tied Weapon power levels. Strong, long beams at maximum power with improved damage potential, down to short, weak, but faster firing beams (that we see in the Galaxy and Nemesis clips) meant to take out smaller ships. Alternatively, tie them into new beam-oriented abilities.

I do not suggest altering FaW I to represent the short beam multi-target attack we see the Galaxy do though, on the grounds that it would be too similar to Cannon Spread Fire (what with having a single emitter firing at multiple targets one after the other rather than at the same time). Instead, they can just cut beam length of FaW I to match the shorter beam length and it's lower attack bonus compared to FaW II (with beam lengths halfway between the short beam and the current long beam) and FaW III. All without changing the existing values beyond the visual.

The stealth-discovering attack in the second video would be interesting to implement, though realistically it'd be impossible since rarely do players or NPCs attack on the same level as the player's ship, unless Cryptic embellishes it to firing a vertical zigzag firing pattern of 3 rapid fire shots within a narrow 15-25 degree vertical arc. And even then, it'd really only be useful against the Borg Scimitar in Khitomer Vortex.

Some of the attacks like the Galaxy delivering a Double Beam attack using an Array could serve as an alternative to Beam Overload; fire two beams from an Array at once at one target, dealing 75% of the damage x2, with the rare possibility of either or both beams to activating their proc, but possibly extending the recharge duration of that one Array.

daveyny

Don't forget that all the beams start at the Enemy and come back to Your ship in the game.

Not sure if there's a way to finagle their width values with that kind of interaction.

:cool:

jocelyn2

Did you ever thought that those ''Beam Charging'' animations were in slow motion?

onerats

I don't think I never didn't thought nuthin.

annemarie30

I think they could certainly back down the bloom, and instead of the current effect of beam overload, they could shorten the duration of a normal beam attack, and overload be an extension of duration, 1/4 longer for BO1 1/2 for BO2 and 3/4 duration longer for BO3

lordkhorak

commanderkassy wrote: »

The second one is Beam Fire at Will. Which looks pretty much like that minus the intense bloom in game.

I never thought so. Since the beam duration is noticeably longer in the game you end up with each bank in FAW looking like you've just become attached to the enemy ship by a pole.

daveyny wrote: »

Don't forget that all the beams start at the Enemy and come back to Your ship in the game.

Not sure if there's a way to finagle their width values with that kind of interaction.

:cool:

.....you have got to be kidding me. Say you're just playing around.

jocelyn2 wrote: »

Did you ever thought that those ''Beam Charging'' animations were in slow motion?

No? Because they're not? Everything else would have to move in slow motion for that to be the case.

onerats wrote: »

I don't think I never didn't thought nuthin.

So! We meet at last for the first time for the last time! Before you die there is something you should know about us onerats. I am your father's, brother's, nephew's, cousin's room mate! :mad:

cbrjwrr

commanderkassy wrote: »

The second one is Beam Fire at Will. Which looks pretty much like that minus the intense bloom in game.

Actually the second one is firing a full 360 degree spread to try to find a cloaked ship, not Fire at Will.

lordkhorak wrote: »

.....you have got to be kidding me. Say you're just playing around.

He isn't, they are actually drawn target to you.

psyloaf

Notice also how the phaser arrays charge up and meet in the middle, and the beam then moves along the array to get optimal firing position. Especially noticeable on the Enterprise-E in the Sector 001 clip. I'd love it if Dual Beam Banks worked like this, charging at the end of an array (instead of from hardpoints on the hull) meeting and firing

noroblad

Beams eh? lol.

You fly a ship that banks in space as if there were air, and that is OK.
Your weapons make sounds in space, and that is ok.
Shockwaves propagate in space, and that is OK.
Space is effectively 2-d, and even THAT is OK.
Laser bolts track the target, curving in space, and that is OK.

But the beams are no good, and that is just over the top?

dalolorn

noroblad wrote: »

Beams eh? lol.

You fly a ship that banks in space as if there were air, and that is OK.
Your weapons make sounds in space, and that is ok.
Shockwaves propagate in space, and that is OK.
Space is effectively 2-d, and even THAT is OK.
Laser bolts track the target, curving in space, and that is OK.

But the beams are no good, and that is just over the top?

1. *shrugs*

2. Well, that's classic sci-fi by now. Besides, handwave it away with some kind of sound simulator for the benefit of the crew.

3. *shrugs*

4. Regrettably, can't be helped right now.

5. The engine's fault. Also can't be helped.

Besides, I agree that weapons in general need some working on. And by 'some', I mean 'a lot of'.

cmdrscarlet

To answer the subject line: no.

induperator

noroblad wrote: »

Beams eh? lol.

You fly a ship that banks in space as if there were air, and that is OK.
Your weapons make sounds in space, and that is ok.
Shockwaves propagate in space, and that is OK.
Space is effectively 2-d, and even THAT is OK.
Laser bolts track the target, curving in space, and that is OK.

But the beams are no good, and that is just over the top?

One other thing Lasers =/= Phasers, Particle weapons function differently to Lasers

variant37

Don't really have a problem with the aesthetics. It would be cool to be able to choose your beam color and sound effect though, rather than having them locked down to specific weapon types.

alpharaider47

The other thing to keep in mind is that when they were trying to find the Scim with the phaser spread, they weren't really aiming to do damage with the phasers- just find the impact against the cloak and have torpedoes do the real damage.

guilli88

I just wish Anti-proton beams looked a bit better. The beams look distorted/low quality.

rekurzion

I turn bloom down in my video settings but I've always been in favor of upping the damage of a single beam and taking away the 4 hit cycle in place of a single hit.

alpharaider472 wrote: »

The other thing to keep in mind is that when they were trying to find the Scim with the phaser spread, they weren't really aiming to do damage with the phasers- just find the impact against the cloak and have torpedoes do the real damage.

Which wouldn't work in this game.

zarxidejacko

Better question, why we didn't get brand NEW nemesis cloak sound for romulan warbirds and same visauls ?:D