- Edited
TurboTwinky28 I figure you could still destroy the mirrors (which would probably be very fragile), so I don't think it would lead to unkillable ion beams (not any worse than they are now at least). But either prisms or mirrors will probably shake up the large ship meta (e.g. 5m+) quite a bit.
Since there's been a lot of interest, what do you all think about this:
Mirrors reflect ion beams and small lasers (both friendly and enemy). Beams/lasers that get reflected by an enemy can damage either player. 15/16 of the damage is reflected and the other 1/16 is absorbed (absorbing enemy lasers/ions will damage the mirror).
1x1 half-block mirror (180 degree reflection) - $600, 1000hp
1x1 triangle mirror (90 degree reflection) - $600, 1000hp
1x2 triangle mirror (45 degree reflection) - $1,200, 2,000hp
1x3 triangle mirror (15 degree reflection) - $1,800, 3,000hp
Lenses refract ion beams and small lasers (both friendly and enemy). Same damage and absorption rules as for mirrors. Lenses will reset the range on allied ion beams and small lasers (as if the lens itself was shooting).
2x8 concave lens - $10,000, 8,000hp, 5 density
2x8 convex lens - $10,000, 8,000hp, 5 density
The edge blocks are mounting and the inner 2x6 section is the lens itself. Ideally the focal point would be near enough that mirrors could be used to converge ions onto the focal point (so that they'd come out of the lens going straight). Maybe 20 blocks out for a ~15 degree max angle, which would be achievable with the 1x3 mirror.
It would probably need to be a very simplified lens system, but I'll bet it could work well.