 April 2, 2012 - 3:32pm | French scientists have shown in a series of lab experiments that they can exert long-range control over exactly where bolts of lightning hit using laser-induced plasma filaments. In your SF game, is technology advanced enough to make this happen? What other uses would you use this for? |
 April 2, 2012 - 5:59pm | Lot of power in a lightning bolt an if you can force the spot where it hits then you can tap that "free" energy. Besides, that level of power is what is required for time travel;) I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
April 2, 2012 - 6:27pm | Hah! I wonder if the bolt produces more power then is need for the laser. Perhaps a sun could charge a laser-satellite in orbit, fire and direct the lighting bolt to a power generation station on the ground. |
 April 2, 2012 - 8:28pm | The power loss in using the laser is all the wasted time it is firing waiting for the lightning to happen. The article does not say if the laser pulse induces the lightning strike or if they have to keep firing until one happens. Nor does it say how long the plasma filament lasts. -iggy |
 April 3, 2012 - 4:57am | Military applications? Well combat units move around a little to much and HQs tend to be protected against EMP attacks so lightning should not be a problem BUT supply depots? Big targets which stay put for a while and have lots of things which go BOOOOM so could work. Medical facilities would be nice to hit too. Forget your Geneva convention not that anybody remembers it anyway. Taking out medical facilities is a huge psychological blow to troops and let's face it Doctors today are pretty much lost without megawatts of electricity to do all their tests and things. Civilian hearts and minds. You can win every battle but if the civilians are not on your side its over. (Recent events in Afghanistan should have made this clear) So if you start randomly zapping school kids on their way home the other side will be hard pressed to stop it. Not to mention using lightning to burn down the new school the "good guys" just spent three months building. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
April 3, 2012 - 5:37am | I'm not even sure if there is a real need for this tech, perhaps its just one of those things that people will look at and go, "Huh." There is of course already an efficient and low tech counter against using this as a weapon: the lightning rod, plus since lasers are LOS it should be fairly straght forward to have a scanner that would detect the targeting laser and then send a response to the origination of the laser. There might be a entertainment value- show is being put on and its know that weather conditions are just right for lightning so they fire up the laser such that they are trying to induce lightning strikes behind the stage during the performance. Something on the order of 4th of July celebration in Boston where a lightning show during the Pops performace would be a nice compliment to the fireworks. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 April 3, 2012 - 10:37pm | If no one new about the laser, then it would be considered an act of God and then you could hit anywhere until someone figured it out. I thought Tesla was rumored to have invented a lightning weapon or something like that already? |
April 4, 2012 - 4:55am | If no one new about the laser, then it would be considered an act of God and then you could hit anywhere until someone figured it out. I thought Tesla was rumored to have invented a lightning weapon or something like that already?
Range war Lossend! One party is laser designating live stock and it seems unusual that there is an 800% increase in lightning strikes on just one rancher's kriks. When the nephew of the victim finds out he laser designates the offenders house and barn. Or was this the activity of the local Mega corp looking to drive ranchers off their land?I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
