6 réponses à ce sujet

[Willnukes]

I was thinking why do  Disruptor torpedoes warhead activate as soon as it is fired  seeing as it slows down the torpedoes speed dramatically. why not have a VI  set a timer off  on the warhead or have a proximity sensor when the  torpedoe gets close.

 

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Huh?

[Vazgen]

It does not? 

[MrFob]

I think I get what the OP is talking about. The codex states that Disruptor Torpedoes have to be fired from close range by fighters because they use an ME field to increase their mass to puncture kinetic barriers. That same ME field makes them sluggish, therefore the fighters and the close range.

Why not a Disruptor Missile that closes in without the ME field active, than activates at close range, goes through the barrier and hits? No need for a fighter -> no need to endanger a pilot.

 

Good question. I think we had a thread about this as far back as the old BW forums, even before BSN. I guess it may come down to what EDI and Joker say in ME2. If you pit one AI against another, the one with superior firepower will always win. The human pilot can introduce unpredictable variables, which may enhance the chances of fighter waves against missile waves.

 

Still, given the enormous cost of having a fighter with life support and a highly trained (hence expensive) human pilot vs. a missile, I am not sure I'd buy that argument myself. Especially given the fact that apparently, casualties in the rank of the fighters have to be expected because of the accuracy of GARDIAN lasers.

[Vazgen]

Well, Mass Effect 2 makes this addition to the codex:

To prevent damage to the parent craft, torpedoes must be "cold-launched," meaning they are released before their thrusters ignite. Aligning with its target's trajectory, a fighter releases a torpedo and immediately thrusts away, while the torpedo continues to coast towards its target. After the fighter is clear (no more than a second after launch), the torpedo activates its mass field and thrusters away from the fighter and towards its target.

 

As OP mentioned there needs to be some trigger mechanism to activate the fields. Proximity sensor makes the torpedoes dangerous to the friendly craft, VI control interface may be too costly and also susceptible to hacking by the enemy cyberwarfare suites. 

[KrrKs]

Are there even AA or anti fighter missiles in the MEU?

As I understand it, larger ships exclusively use GARDIAN batteries as defence. Interceptors would likely fare better equipped with small mass accelerators, than with (supposedly slower moving) missiles.

(Assuming of course, that a fighter long mass accelerator can bring small slugs to a sufficient velocity and energy to reach another fast moving fighter, before it manoeuvres away, and eventually penetrate it's barriers/armour.)

 

About the Disruptor's ME field:

I guess there is no way to fit a Sensor for mass effect fields inside the torpedo. Meaning the torpedo has no way to detect how far the target's shields extend around the ship's hull. So it has to have it's own ME field active all the time, giving it a chance to pass through the target's shields, instead of always being destroyed by them.

 

Awful lot of guessing in here again.

[bunch1]

If I remember right the reason fighters are used to bring in the missiles is because they can survive the guardian lasers and the missiles can't.  The lasers hit with near perfect accuracy but they are not powerful enough to destroy a fighter, only damage it and force it to return, either before or after it has dropped its missile, to it's mother craft.  If the missiles were just fired from distance they would likely all be shot down before they struck home, you would need to produce them in massive numbers and have dedicated systems, if not ships, solely for launching massive waves of missiles knowing most are just a waste of money compared to most fighter born missiles either striking home or being brought back for future use.