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The UK's high-energy lasers could zap drones and missiles out of the sky
The UK wants to take down enemy drones and missiles with high-energy light beams. The Ministry of Defense (MOD) announced that it's developing laser and radio frequency weapons. Referred to collectively as Direct Energy Weapons (DEW), they're powered by electricity, operate without ammunition and are fueled by a vehicle's engine or a generator.
US' new stealth destroyer may finally have affordable ammo
To put it mildly, the US screwed up when it decided to carry on with its Zumwalt-class stealth destroyers when they depended on smart ammo the Navy couldn't afford. However, it might have a clever workaround. Officials speaking to USNI News say the Navy is looking at Raytheon's Excalibur, a GPS-guided artillery round, as a substitute for the custom LRLAP (Long Range Land Attack Projectile) shells the Zumwalt's main guns were designed to use. Excalibur has roughly half the range at about 30 miles, but it costs much less -- about a quarter of the $800,000-plus cost per round of LRLAP. It can also hit moving targets where LRLAP couldn't.
The USS Zumwalt can't afford its own $800,000-per-round ammo
The USS Zumwalt, America's newest stealth destroyer packs some impressive firepower but there's just one problem: the US Navy can't afford the ammunition for the vessel's 155-millimeter Advanced Gun Systems. These weapons are designed to fire a GPS-guided shell, dubbed the Long Range Land Attack Projectile, up to 60 miles where it strikes with unprecedented accuracy. What's more, the Zumwalt can lob up to ten of these shells every minute. But while the LRLAPs are quite lethal, they're also ludicrously expensive at $800,000 a pop.
Former Apple CEO John Sculley launches a line of stylish smartphones
Like most consumer items, the lower the price point of a phone, the less exciting the design. Obi Worldphone co-founder (and former Apple CEO) John Sculley and Ammunition design founder Robert Brunner decided to challenge that by creating mid-level, inexpensive international smartphones that look -- if not cool -- at least unique. The new Obi Worldphone SF1 and SJ1.5 both start off at under $200 ($199 and $129 respectively), will be available in October and target buyers 25 years old and younger in emerging markets in Asia, Africa and Middle East. The phones are filled with components from the usual suspects (Qulacomm and MediaTek processors, Sony camera, Corning Gorilla Glass and Dolby sound), but it's the look of the phones and their skinned version of Android that matters to Obi. "We are committed to being a design-led company," Sculley told Engadget.
DARPA's steerable bullet proves it can hit moving targets
DARPA announced that its self-steering bullet program, dubbed the Extreme Accuracy Tasked Ordnance (EXACTO), passed another developmental milestone in late February. Per an administration release, and the video below, experienced and novice shooters alike were able to strike moving targets. And, in the case of expert shooters, able to hit actively evading targets as well.
There's now a steel-reinforced bullet for 3D-printed guns
Despite all the hype surrounding 3D-printed guns (good and bad), they still haven't truly taken off outside of enthusiasts. A reason for this is, perhaps, the lack of powerful ammunition -- something that's not 3D-printed or, put simply, generally made out of plastic materials. But, as Wired reports, a gentleman from Pennsylvania has already started working on a solution, for those who were looking for one anyway. Michael Crumling, a 25-year-old machinist, recently designed bullets that use a rather thick, steel shell, strong enough to keep a hold of the blast from inside without spreading any force to the weapon.
The Daily Grind: Are MMO class consumables due for a revival?
While most MMO players are probably familiar with consumables in MMOs like food and drinks or even enchantments and gems, class consumables like spell reagents and ammo are now fairly rare but used to be a lot more common. Ultima Online, EverQuest, and Asheron's Call, for example, all included a reagent mechanic. For many years, Ultima Online's mages carried sacks of such reagents required and consumed by each spell they hoped to cast. High-end raid-related spells in EQ ate expensive gems, and AC1's reagents had a chance to go up in a puff of smoke each time your cast fizzled. Themeparks like Guild Wars 2 and World of Warcraft have veered away from this design path. In fact, WoW itself started life requiring reagents for special spells and ammunition for bow- and gun-wielding classes, but Blizzard removed them several years ago in the pursuit of both simplicity and class balance. After all, it wasn't very fair to require only some classes to spend extra gold and take up weight or inventory space on consumables. Still, such mechanics added a level of immersion as well as annoyance. What do you think -- do class consumables deserve to make a comeback in MMORPGs? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
The Daily Grind: Do you want to worry about ammunition?
Despite the fact that my thief in Guild Wars 2 carries pistols which appear to be capable of holding one shot at a time, I don't recall her ever reloading. Nor do I recall ever having to buy the oxcarts full of ammunition that she apparently has at all times, because it has to come from somewhere. Like many games, Guild Wars 2 does away with worries about ammunition and focuses instead on just giving you weapons that fire when you want. On the one hand, this makes sense -- ammunition in World of Warcraft was such a hassle that the designers eventually did away with it altogether. It's a break in verisimilitude for ease of play. On the other hand, removing the need for ammunition removes the possibility of special types of ammunition, and the ease of play issues could be addressed in other ways. So do you want ammunition in your game? Or would you prefer to just have an infinite quiver and focus on shooting arrows? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Wasteland Diaries: PvE like a boss
Fallen Earth PvE can be anywhere from laughably easy to downright frustrating. I guess that's a good thing since you get a gamut of difficulty levels, but much of the leveling span leans toward the easy end of the scale. I tend to get bored with PvE combat fairly quickly in MMOs (not just Fallen Earth). Other people love to struggle against the environment. Some even refuse to do anything remotely akin to PvP. I'll only throw the term "carebear" at those who think all PvPers are maladjusted psychopaths. I'm not talking about them; I'm talking about regular hardcore PvEers: players who would rather play against the NPCs than against other players. Many of my posts center around PvP. If I didn't PvP (and since I'm not a big roleplayer), I doubt I would still be playing Fallen Earth. That's just what I spend most of my time doing in the wastelands. So I tend to write a lot about it. But all PvPers have to PvE. PvE has its own set of challenges for the player. Granted, these challenges are quite static, and once you find a way to overcome them, you are done. But they are challenges nonetheless, and knowledge is power as much in PvE as it is in PvP. In this post I will give you some tips and tricks that might help you get through that next tough mission. Much of this stuff is common sense, but it may not occur to you until it's too late. So click past the cut and let's get started.
Wasteland Diaries: Apocalypse DIY
A few weeks back I did a piece on crafting, covering the basics of Fallen Earth's crafting system. In this article I want to focus on the early part of a crafter's career. If you only play one clone, I strongly suggest you make that clone a crafter. If you are an altaholic like I am, you should have a dedicated crafter, and that dedicated crafter should have his Social skill maxed out (eventually). If you don't have a crafter and you have an empty character slot, you need to create one post-haste. It's a little extra work that will pay off a lot later. In Fallen Earth, if you put in the time, you can make everything. If your crafter and your main happen to be the same, be sure to grab every resource within reach while you run missions. If you find a good spot, mark it with a waypoint (ALT+P) for future reference. Scavenging profusely will help keep you from being perpetually broke. If you have a dedicated crafter, don't bother running missions with him; just harvest and craft. He should level slowly but surely by simply harvesting and crafting. Send all of the materials that your other clone(s) harvest if you have the vault space. That covers the basics. The road to self-sufficiency continues after the cut.
Ghostcrawler on hunter ammo replacement
As you may recall, Blizzard announced their intent to get rid of consumable ammo in Patch 3.1, only to withdraw the change a short time later, with the promise of reimplementing it at a nebulous later date. Now, it's been more or less assumed that said later date is Cataclysm itself, or at least Patch 4.0. In a general forum post created to discuss ammo replacements, Ghostcrawler piped in to remind us that the only change announced for Cataclysm was the removal of ammo, with nothing else yet decided (or, more accurately, announced). While he did acknowledge the possibility of adding in new situational ammo, he did observe that the hassle of collecting and swapping different ammo types might grow old pretty quickly, especially for a class like the hunter that already needs to push a lot of buttons to play at peak potential, in addition to already having a pet to manage.
Insider Trader: Patch 3.2 profession change analysis
Insider Trader is your inside line on making, selling, buying and using player-made products.Over the past few days, some upcoming professions changes for Patch 3.2 have been announced, and although they are not as detailed as they could be, several of the changes will have quite an impact. First and foremost, every profession-specific buff is being upgraded. This includes an Enchanter's ability to enhance their own rings, a Leatherworker's bracer enchants, and more. For a complete list of the current profession bonuses, check out Insider Trader's guide to Profession-Specific Buffs, parts one through three.These buffs also answer some of the concerns surrounding the upcoming Jewelcrafting nerf that epic gems might be introduced without a buff to the Dragon's Eyes, which, in combination with the fact that these gems will no longer be prismatic, would effectively squash the Jewelcrafting bonus.Jewelcrafters will also do well to note that they will be able to acquire epic gems by prospecting Titanium. Combined with a Blacksmith's two extra prismatic sockets, this powerful duo is one of the most popular profession combinations.In addition, Engineers will be seeing some welcome changes to their profession that may make it more appealing. Unfortunately, some of the details have not been made public, so the competitiveness of their self buffs, for example, remains to be seen.
The Queue: Strategery
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.Good afternoon, everybody! I apologize for missing yesterday's edition of The Queue, I sort of forgot about it in my rush to get our April Fool's joke pieced together. The entire team got together to bring that little joke to life. Getting it all put together was like assembling a jigsaw puzzle. Fun, but it took awhile! Hopefully you guys enjoyed it. If not, oh well! We had a good time bringing it to life.I don't think you want to listen to me ramble about that, though. Onto the Q&A!Ghola asked..."Why would the Argent Tournament set up camp in Icecrown, at the back end of the glacier? This makes absolutely no sense to me. Crystal Song seems way better: no quests there, plenty of space, and much better weather!"
Northrop Grumman creates 100 kilowatt laser, could usher in World War III
Northrop Grumman's been plugging along on this little project for years now, and at long last, the company has surpassed the milestone that it's been striving for. According to a new release that's just beaming with pride, the defense company has reportedly achieved 100 kilowatts from a solid-state laser. For those unfamiliar with the back story, 100 kilowatts is the level needed to create a laser gun that could actually do more than cause temporary blindness on the battlefield. Sadly, it seems that lethal laser pointers are still a good ways away, with Dan Wildt, vice president of Northrop's directed energy systems program, noting that "it is still a little heavy and a little big." It's all good, Northrop -- we're down with backpack weapons, too.[Via CNET]
Ammo changes MIA in the 3.1 PTR
We posted the patch notes as soon as they dropped, and our new Hunter writer, Jessica (a.k.a. Lassirra) did a great job of breaking down exactly what's new with Hunters, but you may have noticed, as a few of our tipsters did, that consumable ammunition was still in the game. There was no sign of the upcoming changes in the patch notes at all.Which isn't exactly unexpected (in fact, we have already heard that it wouldn't make the 3.1 PTR), but even the things that were promised to be in the PTR (no need for ammo pouches or quivers, bigger stacks for ammunition) still don't seem to be there. We still believe that Blizzard has this on the to-do list, but it looks like this change has been put aside for now.Too bad -- that was a pretty exciting adjustment for Hunters. But Blizzard seems hard at work on things like the Argent Dawn Tournament and the Dual Spec system. We'll get the ammo changes when they get around to them.
Tips from the manual
Guynumber from Area 52 brings up a good point: why did Blizzard even bother putting game information in their original manual? Surely, they must have known that they'd be changing the game quickly, and while of course they'd have had no more idea than we had that some things so big would change (no ammunition, anyone?), they could have at least kept in mind that patches were coming.Curious, I pulled out my old original manual. Here's some tips straight from the original release of World of Warcraft, when Magister's Terrace was a twinkle in a dev's eye, and Icecrown was just a level in Warcraft III, that aren't applicable any more: Pallies are only available to Alliance races and Shamans are Horde only. As Guymember points out, the manual says you will lose significant experience on death (but not so much as to lose a level). Only the Priests, Shamans and Paladins have resurrection spells. Attack Rating increases your chance of hitting a target with a weapon. As a first level priest, your maximum skill level in holy magic is five. As you cast holy spells, your holy skill will max out until you level up and the cap increases.
Breaking: Consumable ammunition will not be removed in patch 3.1
Ancilorn, a new blue community team member over on the EU forums, just posted that despite the recent announcement, patch 3.1 will not remove consumable ammunition.According to Ancilorn, they "still fully intend to move forward with this change when the additional functionality becomes available." To me that means Blizzard needs to do some serious recoding to make the change work, and it's cool that they're letting us know they're still going to do it.Ancilorn also lets us know the following points: Patch 3.1 will remove the need for pouches/quivers Arrows and Bullets will have their stack size greatly increased. Haste bonuses from pouches/quivers will be preserved in another fashion. We have no additional information other than what's been said above, but we're anxiously on the lookout now for the patch 3.1 PTR.Angry baby called. He wants his change back! Patch 3.1 brings us Ulduar, dual specs, significant changes to all the classes, and more! We've got you covered from top to bottom with our Guide to Patch 3.1.
Breakfast Topic: Turning our world upside down
How about that. Blizzard dropped bombs of announcements yesterday with the proposed changes to Patch 3.1. Yesterday, I asked what changes you expect or foresee with the new patch, but I don't think any of us seriously expected the huge changes that they announced. Wished for, maybe, but didn't really think it would happen.In fact, some of these changes were more unthinkable than the fake patch notes we had posted earlier. I mean, no more ammunition for Hunters? Wasn't that one of the most wished for wishes in the history of wishland? The closest thing Blizzard ever came to fulfilling this wish was with Thori'dal, the Star's Fury (which I hear is a Rogue weapon). Now, everyone and his uncle can have their own version of the legendary bow. Kind of.Oh, and guess what? Blessing of Kings is baseline now. Take a moment to reflect on that a moment. It's freaking trainable! The best raid buff in the game is available to all Paladins now, regardless of spec. After years and years of the Paladin community whining asking for it, it might actually become reality. Blizzard seems to have a knack for turning our worlds upside down. I mean, I wouldn't actually be surprised anymore if BigRedKitty's *ahem* "patch notes" actually come true now. Alright, probably not that far out, but you know what I mean. What about Patch 3.1 has knocked your socks off so far? What other changes do you expect?
Big changes for Hunters in patch 3.1
No more quivers, no more pouches, no more bullets to make us slouches. Ok, so I'm terrible at poetry, but you get the picture. This has been on a lot of Hunters' wish lists for a long time, but it's finally here. No more ammo. Or rather, ammo will be an item more like a relic or a wand that modifies our ranged weapon damage without being consumed. Engineers, that means you better make hay while the sun shines. Soon, we'll be buying our last crate of Mammoth Cutters ever.This is far from the only changed announced tonight -- or this morning, depending on where you are. Let's look at them all one by one.
Scattered Shots: Wrath of the Hunter
Welcome to Scattered Shots, where Daniel Whitcomb is totally making plans to walk with rhythm so that he can attract the worm.So with Wrath less than a week away, we got our work cut out for us, so to speak. Luckily, 3.0's early release has given us time to learn to handle our pets and respec to take advantage of new talents, but now the big push is upon, as 10 levels and a whole slew of new zones opens up for us. When you step off the boat or zeppelin in Borean Tundra or Howling Fjord, where will you go? What will you do? Here's a few quick Hunter specific tips to getting started in the Wrath of the Lich King.
