Hey, does anyone remember how fast the BETA could dig a tunnel?

Just a question: how tough and heat resistant is a Destroyer class armour?

Not entirely clear; we never get a clear explanation of how they do it, except maybe that the Megaworm/Carrier class are the ones who dig.

Basically, they dig as improbably fast as the plot demands. What's really impressive is how anyone with a seismic sensor ever misses a ~20m diameter tunnel being dug at those speeds.

All we know is that Destroya Armor (and Grappler Klaws) is made from a material with 'Moh 15 Hardness', which doesn't actually mean anything. The Moh scale is a relative index, not a actual measurement, and it only goes up to 10.

Also, high-hardness materials are not necessarily desirable as armor. While a harder material can better resist deformation by an applied force, it also looses some ability absorb that force (or, technically its energy) by deforming. Worse, a harder material also becomes less able to disperse the energy of an impact, making it brittle and actually reducing it's toughness (technical term, seriously, basically the amount of energy something can absorb without fracturing). This is why, even if you could actually shape dimond into armor, it really wouldn't be very good armor. It would actually be terrible armor.

And none of that has anything to do with it's thermal properties. The most pertinent question, though, is how you are delivering the heat; Laser? Nuke? Super Napalm? The end result and relevant properties are pretty different, depending.

Well, my theory is if a Destroyer's armour is so strong, why not plunder some corpses and use that to improve TSF arm shields?

Um... Weight or decomposition, probably, if I had to guess. The primary advantage of super carbon in TSF construction is it's high streagth-to-weight ratio; it's strong enough to serve while having minimal weight. We really have no idea what kind of density Destroyer armor has. If it's too heavy, the shield would be a lot of weight on one side of the body, which could cause all kinds of in-flight problems.

Also, you'd need to find a workable method to recover it for machining; a Destroyer carapace is probably going to be too big for a TSF to handle, and bringing heavy construction equipment ahead of the MLR onto a recent battlefield involves some challenges. Then you need to get to a safe area to machine it into a usable shape... ad your probably good.

If you want to look into this, Grappler Claws might be better for shields. They seem to already be almost the right size/shape, and would be much easier to recover.

When it comes to Laser Defense, you want a material that's fairly reflective on the frequency of a Laser-class beam at all solid-state temperatures and a high specific heat capacity, meaning that it takes a lot of energy to raise it's temperature. There are a lot of other things to consider, but given that we know absolutely nothing about the beam characteristics of a Lux unit, it's hard to say anything. TO wit:

What is the wavelength of the electromagnetic radiation used? This determines how the laser interacts with all sorts of things, and what might be used to stop or disperse it.

If the beam is a single 'flash' or a sustained briefly. Basically, if the amount of time that the laser is emitting light is effectively instantaneous, or a relevant period. This matters because it largely dictates how much the point of the target being struck can 'drift' during beam exposure.

If it's a continuous beam or pulse laser.

Are all Beta Hives the result of meteor impacts?

http://en.rocketnews24.com/2016/04/1...-event-report/
https://sociorocketnewsen.files.word...ng?w=580&h=330
Hmmm...seems like AGE is trying to bring their brand of PTSD to a whole new level. Would YOU like to live life as an infantryman fighting off Tank-class?

Any ideas on proposed new Beta classes? And any new ones introduced in strike frontier?

Some form of noncombat or support strain, prehaps serving as a mobile recharging point for other organismism to resupply with Hive Reactor energy. Judging by the limits indicated during/following the attack on Yokohama Base and the duration of operations the BETA maintained during, say, the Invasion of Japan in '98, I almost think something of this sort must exist.

In terms of combat, something with tentacles, or some other method of gaining reach beyond grappler claws. Maybe something like this guy: