Karagin
12/27/09 02:11 AM
72.178.75.99
|
Copy certain Clan weapons like the Heavy Lasers or applying the technology of Streaks to LRMs?
I am asking because it would seem that for them to gain more advantages and thus close the weapons gap, they would be looking into copying or improving upon Clan tech and what ever direction the R&D sends them. Similar events have analogs in real life as far as one nation copying another's tech and gain something else when the research went down a different path.
So what do you guys think, would they be doing this or has the idea of reverse engineering come to a halt?
Karagin
Given time and plenty of paper, a philosopher can prove anything.
|
Prince_of_Darkness
12/27/09 12:39 PM
205.202.120.216
|
That's an interesting question.
Of course, right now the weapons available that can really be copied would be the Heavy Laser and other Advanced/Expremental pieces of tech like the ER Pulse lasers, glider wings, ect. Heavy Lasers could be reverse-engineered, however the IS would have to change them a lot- the +1 to hit would have to be gotten rid of, the range would probably decrease to that of Pulse lasers... probably wouldn't be worth the investment.
Streak LRM's would also suffer from becoming much heavier, with their weights becoming comparable to that of autocannons. However, their damage would also be comparable, so those might actually work well.
Glider wings would be interesting.
Do you have anything specifically in mind?
|
Karagin
12/27/09 01:20 PM
72.178.75.99
|
No not really, just noticed the trend that was going on for awhile House XYZ would be working on reversing one or two Clan weapons and would get three new IS weapons out of the research, as for them being fully useful well that is another issue altogether.
I feel that even with the current issues, they would still be working on reversing things to give their house an edge and not re-inventing the wheel so to speak with dragging up older tech, that is most likely countered by something already out there, hence the reason it was no longer used mainstream.
Karagin
Given time and plenty of paper, a philosopher can prove anything.
|
Cray
12/27/09 02:53 PM
68.205.198.74
|
Quote:
Copy certain Clan weapons like the Heavy Lasers or applying the technology of Streaks to LRMs?
I'd agree certain weapons need to be copied, but the heavy lasers and Streak LRMs are not the most effective of Clan weapons to copy. Heavy lasers are less effective than the older Clan pulse lasers and Streak LRMs lack the core strengths of Clan LRMs: multiple ammo types, indirect fire, and light weight. Instead, I'd focus on duplicating Clan pulse laser range and Clan LRM minimum ranges (or launcher weights).
But, in principle, yes the Inner Sphere should be trying to copy some Clan tech.
Quote:
So what do you guys think, would they be doing this or has the idea of reverse engineering come to a halt?
They've been trying to reverse engineer Clan weapons since the 3050s, and can do so on a laboratory basis at astronomical costs. The delay now is getting industries up to speed to copy Clan equipment.
Mike Miller, Materials Engineer
Disclaimer: Anything stated in this post is unofficial and non-canon unless directly quoted from a published book. Random internet musings of a BattleTech writer are not canon.
|
Karagin
12/27/09 03:53 PM
72.178.75.99
|
I just picked two weapons systems at random...one would think all of the Clan tech would be under research and hoping to be copied...thus spinning off countless other tech break through.
Karagin
Given time and plenty of paper, a philosopher can prove anything.
|
Cray
12/27/09 08:38 PM
68.205.198.74
|
Quote:
I just picked two weapons systems at random...one would think all of the Clan tech would be under research and hoping to be copied...thus spinning off countless other tech break through.
Very good point. The bottleneck to mass production of Clan tech in the Inner Sphere is the supporting industries. Once you get everything from materials suppliers to tool makers up to the level of technology needed to supply parts inexpensively for Clantech items, they'll also be able to turn that technology to many civilian applications.
Like getting the US in 1930 to easily build microchips for 2000s smart bombs (and the epic industrial makeover that requires), you'll then have microchips for a multitude of civilian applications.
Mike Miller, Materials Engineer
Disclaimer: Anything stated in this post is unofficial and non-canon unless directly quoted from a published book. Random internet musings of a BattleTech writer are not canon.
|