A few questions & suggestions

[Casinha]

I'll get right to the point and say that if you're going to go for a Sci-Fi environment then you need to explain the science and get it right.
For starters, I wouldn't mind knowing how on Earth the planet's suddenly got two suns. That kind of needs explaining.

Also, in one of the stories written, the character is almost beheaded by "polarized neutrons". Not being the science type myself, I Googled it and found that polarized neutrons are completely non-destructive. Whether I found the right thing or not I don't know, but it was pretty specific about polarized neutrons being "non-destructive and non-invasive".

Personally I'd recommend switching to a Steam-Punk environment rather than Sci-Fi, as it's not as restricting in the areas of realism and science. As well as that, today's technology is amazing enough as it is, which his why futuristic warfare cannot be portrayed effectively by miniatures.
The effective range of an m82 Sniper Rifle is 2km, and each shot can hit every time if given the time. That's today's technology. Imagine what future technology would be like.

If you really want to go for a futuristic world, then I recommend looking at current Sci-Fi tv shows for inspiration, as the science is normally worked out to a reasonable level of accuracy.

Anyhoo, didn't really want to put a shadow to your light, but there's always one there, just gotta look out for it sometimes. Hope I helped, and I'll always be glad to help, whatever you decide.

[Adam]

Oh, don't worry. There's a reason for the second sun, although of course the fluff won't reveal it explicitly, because that was part of the Cataclysm and nobody knows how it happened. I'll give you a clue though: it's referred to as 'Lunis'.

As to the polarised neutrons, er... I just wanted something cool sounding! I didn't expect that one. Although to my mind, the weapon most likely packs the neutrons full of energy and attempts to cause nuclear fission reactions in its target at short range. So I daresay they could be used offensively.

2 kilometres? That's nuthin'. Keep in mind that most wargames scale ranges back, otherwise Warhammer bows would have a range of about 144" and you'd have to play 40K on football pitches just to fit most weapons in! I'll be following the same principle myself with Duel of Steel, simply because it lets the game work on-table. In the current rules incarnation most weapons can reach somewhere between 48" and 60" if fully upgraded in that department; less for heat weapons, greater for ordnance weapons (which can hit 72") and indirect fire weapons (which double the max range when you're firing indirectly).

Fluffwise though, I daresay ordnance weapons, missiles, railguns and sniper weapons could easily travel a few miles before impact, with lasers and other energy weapons having 1-2km max ranges when really pimped out, miniguns and that being limited to about 500m-1km due to inaccuracy at long range, and the more focused heat weapons generally staying under the 500-750m mark. That's a rough guess though. There's all kinds of weird armaments out there. As to alientech weapons, well they could do nigh anything really. Yes, alientech... there's more to DoS than you know yet

I think the only game that doesn't scale ranges down is AT-43. In AT-43, if I remember correctly, there's no maximum range on most weapons, only an accuracy modifier as the target gets further and further away (which I think means you can auto-miss at long enough range anyway, so it kinda balances out).

Thanks for the input though: you've reminded me of the necessity of using Wikipedia before writing anything particularly "amazing" in case it's actually substandard compared to the norm!...

...And a random thought: In DoS, anti-gravity devices could theoretically be placed in large shells or missiles (normally they're used in constructing skimmers, but...) to give a near infinite range provided nothing gets in the way. (Air resistance could be combated via streamlining and a small thruster.) Imagine a shell which simply keeps going forever until it detects an enemy, turns off the antigrav and drops down to hit them!

In game you'd have to make do with a 144" indirect fire ordnance weapon, I guess. Only 12 feet of on-table range, what a shame.

[Casinha]

Jun 4, 2008 6:21:01 GMT -5 Adam said:

Oh, don't worry. There's a reason for the second sun, although of course the fluff won't reveal it explicitly, because that was part of the Cataclysm and nobody knows how it happened. I'll give you a clue though: it's referred to as 'Lunis'.

Please don't tell me the moon has turned into a sun.

Jun 4, 2008 6:21:01 GMT -5 Adam said:

...And a random thought: In DoS, anti-gravity devices could theoretically be placed in large shells or missiles (normally they're used in constructing skimmers, but...) to give a near infinite range provided nothing gets in the way. (Air resistance could be combated via streamlining and a small thruster.) Imagine a shell which simply keeps going forever until it detects an enemy, turns off the antigrav and drops down to hit them!

Yeah, they're called missiles, we already have them

Also, you need to let me in on this Cataclysm or it's just going to bug me I need to know why there's a second sun, damn it! Unless of course you put in the Cataclysm and second sun because you thought it sounded cool and haven't actually put any thought into it yet -_-

[Adam]

Oh no, I know how the Cataclysm happened, or at least I can if I think about it. As yet I haven't worked out exactly how it's happened because the whole point is that nobody knows, so maybe it's better if I don't know either. In a way. I can think of a few ways that the second sun might've happened, though... ;D