Do[es] VO really need [an] energy lance weapon...

(1) In VO, you can (at least in many situations) safely close to melee distance and safely remain there. *You can attack with a melee weapon and have a reasonable chance of successful use, defining success as damaging your target while avoiding damage yourself.*

(2) While you are within that distance, no current weapon, even AGT and gauss, is very effective. *If you had a weapon like this, and your opponent didn't, you would very much want to get stabbing close and stay there.*

QED, there's a "need" in the sense that tactically, there are significant reasons for its existence. Whether the changes this sort of weapon would cause in combat are a sufficient net positive that it should be called a "need" is another matter: I'd still say yes, since it would add depth to load-out selection, a new genre of dueling, and force the development of a very novel piloting concept.

I'm with Cannibal Hannibal on this one...

and melee weapons always have a use. The question isn't whether to apply them, but when, where and how. Melee weapons have superior kiling power in close quarters, and with the stealth and agility to get within that range... guns are no contest.

Yer all off yer rockers.

Well, 'LeberMac', they aren't actually melee weapons, they are just close range weapons. They still fire, and behave the same way as normal weapons, but have a very limited range, and are probably stronger than the average mid-range weapon.

If you think that ships will have a big mechanical sword and slice you, that is not the concept discussed here.

Instead, it is the ability to fire close range weapons that have a higher probability of hitting the target from close range than normal weapons do.

Ramming Spikes would be kind of cool, but in VO reality, it wouldn't matter what shape you collide with.

I think you may be incorrect J. Tiberus. Technically, because they're fixed to the hull and do not travel to target, I'd say they're still melee. I think we also hadn't fixed them as a "fire" to use weapon; the possibility was that they're always lit up and the damage is proportional to the % of max power delivered. Think idle versus max power on an engine.

Oh, ok so you mean it's always on? Won't that look a little silly?

And a weapon that's always on, wouldn't that drain energy?

I think it turns on when it's in range, right lecter?

At idle, it's less than significant in terms of energy usage, so no it's not a drain. When turned up to max damage, yes, it's a drain.

The main issue is that it not be something you have to "fire". Instead, it should be running at low damage/low energy usage when engaging, and you would ramp up the power curve once in range. Or it could be an on/off thing, or it could be fired. Whatever, as long as we get one.

PUI!

So how would it be attachable to a ship? Wouldn't it make sense to have it as an add-on?

Uh, yes. The OP suggestion was for an S-port energy beam, with a possible L-port variant.

Just because it plugs into an add-on port doesn't mean it has to function in any particular way.

It should use another key then the primary just so that you aren't firing your ranged weapons at long range and a lance firing in front of you, wasting energy, while doing nothing particularly useful but alerting your enemy that you have one.

Ryan, I'm going to tell you a secret that will make you one of the greatest pilots in VO. You can set yer guns to fire on whatever key you please. Now at least, you finally have the knowledge to conquer the universe.

These would be fantastic. It irks me off that pilots can lock themselves in such defensive backrolls that the auto-aim isn't intelligent enough to work out. I would never leave home without one of these suckers.

I'd like to be able to fully control the beam, i.e. 'fire' it, for the following reasons:

I don't like to turn my weapons off in possibly hostile territory, while I'd like them not to harm players I feel friendly, or neutral towards if I'm floating close to them (I'm a terribly flippy person, dodging around in space all the time. Guess I'm paranoiac).

I hate things on my ship I cannot control fully. If it's a weapon, even more so.

So long as it has variable drain/damage ratios, I'm cool with whatever triggering default.

Alright, so a gun that fired a couple dozen times a second and left that same sort of stream as swarms do would look very much like a beam weapon.

Some stats:

Damage: 100
Velocity: 1000m/s
Energy: 5
Delay: 0.05
Mass: 500kg
Targeting: None
Fuel: .05s
Thus Max Range: about 50m

alot of people are on about beam weapons. but it would take forever to implement them the right way...

I was thinking about only attaching them to cap ships as in like a star trek PHASER beam.

just my idea

This could be an extremely good idea, and if done right it would not be very hard to implement. i don't think. I'm not a programmer or anything, but it sounds pretty simple. This is basically what im getting:
The Energy Lance- large Variant
Damage: 100 PER SECOND
Velocity: 1000m/s
Energy: 10 PER SECOND
Delay: 0.05
Mass: 500kg
Targeting: None
Fuel: .05s
Thus Max Range: about 50m
like Lakche said.or something like that. not i did make a few changes to the #. im pretty sure this is what it would be like. and it would be trigger-able.
Also, though this may take longer to implement, it could be configurable in some different ways as well. actually just damage and range, and if you have the settings figured with it would effect the drain, so you could play with it until it was how you wanted it.Just an idea, im no expert!!

VO already has beam weapons. The cap ships used to have them, and mining beams are beam weapons that don't do damage.