R&D Addition: Lasers & Laser Research

[mizolo]

So as a student in the field of science, particularly in the medical and electromagnetic sciences fields, you learn a LOT about lasers.

Sooooo I'm thinking.

There's a particularly, and commonly, abandoned part of R&D. You know what room I'm talking about, the EXPERIMENTOR or the sorry-as-fuck-excuse-for-a-testing-chamber-room above Nanites.

So, how would this work and what are the mechanics or cool devices and tools I could make?
Can it generate research?
Can I make the Death-Star laser beam with it? If I can, can I make it portable and one-shot the station or someone who tries to kill me with the power of a BB sized laser pointer.
Is it like a realistic Particle Accelerator and can you explain to me what the fuck a laser even is? I'm kind of lost here.

Let's answer ALL of these questions, and ask me if YOU have any more or comments/concerns.

A laser beam of Class 4 (and above???) is considered to be a mini particle accelerator, but accelerates photons rather than pure matter like engineering's one does.



In no particular order:


Can it generate research?

Spoiler:

In short, yes.

Alright, here's where some cool R&D stuff can come into play.
I was thinking of making some sort of laser contraption that had multiple pieces like engineering's particle accelerator, at least for the research generating lasers.
Here was how I was thinking it would work:

You have basically a big laser and a big receiver for the laser that basically feeds back into itself. This would kind of look like what you would get from linking two containment field generators from xenobiology. You would simply throw a material between the beam generator and the feedback.

At the beginning of the round, the server/universal controller would randomize numbers for 2 variables for you to 'discover' for each material.
Discovering/guessing the correct one will yield you research point rewards scaling from the lowest (plasma) to the highest (BS Crystals)
The prime test materials to spend research with lasers, or the ones you would actually get points out of would be (in order):
Plasma (roughly 10k)
Gold / Uranium (eh ... 20-30k)
Diamond (50k)
BS Crystal (around 80-100k)

You need to find both of the correct variables, them being the 2 main properties of lasers/energies WITHOUT destroying the target material, in which case you will have to get more of the same material if you destroy it.


The 2 main properties you will be looking for in the material are:

1: The wavelength
The wavelength (also known as the 'color') of the laser must be PERFECTLY BLOCKED by the material.
You will have several wavelengths to choose from before blasting the material.
These will be (starting from the top)
nm = nano-meters
UV Rays (invisible) (300nm wavelength)
Violet/Purple (420nm wavelength)
Blue (460nm wavelength)
Green (520nm wavelength)
Yellow (580nm wavelength)
Red (660nm wavelength)
Crimson Red (720nm wavelength)
Infrared (invisible) (900nm wavelength)

2: The maximum power of the dark side the material can resist (also known as the pinnacle/equilibrium point)
You will have several different kinds of power you can pump through the laser, these are separated according the laser classification system
Class 1, & 1M intensities do NOT apply, as that's typically the normal light level the station itself emits. Though the lightbulbs are around 20, 30, 60, 50, etc, Watt bulbs, they are NOT dangerous (of course) because they are NOT concentrated into a very high intensity, single colored, focused beam.
mw = milli-watts
Class 2 (.5 mw)
Class 2M (1 or 1.5 mw)
Class 3 (5 mw)
Class 3B-1 (10 mw)
Class 3B-2 (50 mw)
Class 3B-3 (100 mw)
Class 3B-4 (200 mw)
Class 3B-5 (500 mw)
Class 4 (1000 mw, or 1 watt)


Over-guessing the POWER the material can take will INSTANTLY disintegrate the material, no matter the wavelength it's on.
It's best to start with Class 2 while guessing the wavelength, as it will not heat up or destroy the material as fast while you're guessing colors.

Once both have been found out, the server / machine will auto-submit it's findings and bam, that material just generated research and is now removed from the game and that same material can no longer be analyzed again.

Ok, so it generates points ... but is that it? Can't I make a cool laser pointer or a mini death star laser in my pocket out of some high cap capacitors and a bunch of Q-switches

Spoiler:

This would fall more into a game BALANCE ISSUE than actual science. So I'm going to say THIS for now until admins/devs come up with a more balanced suggestion:

First off, you need to know how a laser is generated.
To spare you another entire paragraph of quantum-anti-theoretical-physics, this is how a BASIC laser is made:

Take a material that can absorb radiation (E.G ummmm ... Xenon or ... Neon and it's about the same process as making a 'neon sign').
Have it absorb radiation to move the electron to a more unstable state, but not that they break away from the atom (same way solar panels generate electricity)
Electrons of course want to always move to a more stable state, so it emits a certain wavelength or 'color' typically assossiated with that element, compound, and sometimes even a solution.

You CAN make a deadly laser pointer that DOES deal burn damage, but NOT a laser bazooka or a DEATH-STAR LASER that you can just whip out from a teeny little pocket and bap half the damn station with at a whim, that's just too overpowered.


Here is how I PERSONALLY would like it to work:

You have a workstation that can generate parts. Basically a fabricator.


You get to assemble a laser pointer using 5 parts:

The base container (Bigger means better and more powerful components can fit inside, but subsequently MUCH harder to carry because of the size)

A Capacitor to store charge (The better the capacitor, the better efficiency you can get out of your battery and the shorter the cooldown, but would take up more space in the base container the higher up you went)

A Battery (This determines basically how many times you can use your laser. But the better the battery ... the bigger the space it takes up in the base container)

A Material (The rarer the material, the deadlier the beam, but at the cost of more space, more energy, and longer cooldown between uses. Metal or glass is basically just a blinding laser pointer that does no eye or burn damage and is meant more for temporarily saying 'fuck off' to cyborgs.)

A coloring lens (This is basically for security's immediate information on your new death-star-in-a-pocket weapon when they find you one-tapping everyone on the station with a laser find you doing your job and want to know if it's a legitimate threat or just a nuisance that can be temporarily ignored in an emergency. The more damage your beam does PER HIT, the closer to purple light you get. Meanwhile if it's more docile, or is more like a rapid succession of small burns. You go from purple, to blue, to green, to yellow, to red, to crimson red.)


Base container sizes:
Tiny (a match stick)
Small (a typical laser pointer)
Medium (About the size of a large chem 'nade or a small pistol)
Large (cannot fit in a backpack and is roughly the size of a laser gun)

Capacitors:
The typical list that's already in game

Batteries:
All batteries and that includes yellow slime cores because you're a powergaming little bitch

Materials:
I left out some materials on purpose as I don't think they would be realistic catalysts or even applicable in a laser at ALL
Glass; no color / infrared laser fuck those cyborgs
Plasma; Red
Silver & Gold; Yellow (Gold is slightly stronger in terms of damage)
Uranium; Green
Diamond; Blue
BS Crystal; Purple

Any questions?
Comments?
Concerns? (You'll likely have a few of these)

[mizolo]

As for more practical uses, once you discover silver, gold, titanium, or something 'above' that rarity in terms of research points, a BUNCH of departments get cool shit:

Medical:
lasers are SO DAMN USEFUL in the medical field. Would make faster surgery tools or better / more accurate chemistry dispensers.

Security:
Security's job is to deal with crazy threats like this shit. They would get a film they can put over their armor that GREATLY nullifies energy-based weapons and projectiles.

Mining:
Instantly mine vast sections of lavaland anyone? ... a- anyo- no? ... ok

Engineering:
Would literally give them a blowtorch that runs off of a power cell's energy rather than fuel or the LUDICROUSLY EXPENSIVE experimental welding torch.

AI / Robotics:
Same thing as security, possibly enabling cyborgs to be immune to laser pointers (but NOT EMP's)

Research itself:
Research points and cool laser pointers

[Cobby]

laser doors that instead of denying entry, burn you UP!

[AnonymousNow]

I had a couple of ideas for continuous lasers. One was a power laser that uses any excess energy for the grid to ramp up its power and fires into a steady bluespace portal to "centcom" to be turned into a supply of points/money for cargo purposes, allowing engineering and cargo to handshake.
The other is a massive boring laser, set up like a far more complicated emitter, aimed in one of eight directions, thinned or widened and then fired. It's designed for Lavaland use, making straight corridors - if it's got a thin laser or a lot of power, it cuts through rock ridiculously quickly and makes a lot of noise doing so, but if its focusing lens is widened too much or if it doesn't have enough power, it's barely as fast as digging manually. Plus, you're firing it blind, which means any ruins in the way will get punctured, minifauna will get killed, megafauna will get pissed, gibtonite will explode etc.