[FT] Action At A Distance

I always wanted a weapon that could be strong at a distance and weak close in.
There have been a number of good attempts at this in the past (e.g. Schoon's
Fusion Flare), but I've finally come up with one that has

the feel I want and looks like it balances pretty well. I don't yet know

if it needs tuning. My gut says no. Setting this up and making comparisons
made me realize just how strong M and L pulsers are in a
Dice-per-area-covered vs. Mass-and-Cost sense.

Action At A Distance Device (A3D)

Mass/cost: 3Mass*Class; Cost 4pts/Mass
Effect: Projects 2 beam dice at a distance from the firing ship depending on
class:
Class I: 12-24 MU ring (all arc); Class II: 24-36 MU ring; Class III:
36-48 MU ring, etc.
The A3D has no rear-arc firing restrictions, and can not fire in a PDS
role.

An A3D-I + 2 class 1 Beams directly compare with a Pulser M-6. Both
cover 2 beam dice over the same area, but the Pulser is Mass/Cost 4/20
while the A3D/Beam combo is 5/18. The Pulser is a single system with PDS

cabability and aft fire restrictions. The combo is 3 systems with PDS
capability (from the C1 Beams) and reduced aft restrictions (from the A3D).
That appears a pretty even match, perhaps the edge to the A3D combo because it
could fire at both ranges (if targets and firecons permitted).

An A3D-II + A3D-I + 2 class 1 Beams directly compare with 2x Pulser L-6:

2 Beam dice over the same area. Pulsers cost 8/40, combo costs 11/42.
Similar PDS cabailities, 4 systems vs. 1, rear arc advantages and multiple
targeting for A3D combo. Here the Pulser has the edge, but it's

pretty close.

PSB: The device tears space at a distance determined only by its mass. The
resulting interdimensional burst of energy can damage ships in the vicinity of
the rip.

Symbol: 3-D shaded ring with roman numeral class inside

On or about Wed, Nov 14, 2001 at 10:51:41AM -0500, Noam Izenberg typed:
> Action At A Distance Device (A3D)

Erm... presumably at a single target, not everything in that range bracket! I
assume this, but saying "ring" threw me slightly.

The numbers seem to make sense... but whose tech is this intended to be? If
human, I suspect it would make sense to compare against purely human systems.
(My books aren't immediately available.)

> PSB: The device tears space at a distance determined only by its mass.

Hmm. How about some targeting PSB? Something like meson guns?

> Symbol: 3-D shaded ring with roman numeral class inside

You just want me to learn more Postscript, don't you? :-)

> On Wednesday, November 14, 2001, at 07:51 AM, Noam Izenberg wrote:

> Action At A Distance Device (A3D)

I hate the name, but that's just a personal bias.

> Mass/cost: 3Mass*Class; Cost 4pts/Mass

> role.

I can't say that I agree with the lack of rear-arc firing restrictions.

Are the higher Classes also (all arc), or do they have the same tiering
systems as Beams?

> Erm... presumably at a single target, not everything in that range

Yes. Single target. I used ring since it's not a simple fire-arc
coverage.

> The numbers seem to make sense... but whose tech is this intended to

I didn't have any particular tech in mind. It does lend itself to
non-human (or at least non-standard) tactical thinking, however. A fleet

that had only A3D's and point defense capability (basically nothing
effective antiship from 0-12", would be a different challenge to play
and play against. I am thinking of an alien fleet at the moment, but have not
fleshed them out yet.

> Hmm. How about some targeting PSB? Something like meson guns?

Or something like the rips being statistically more probable where space

is already strained by grav wakes, so aiming requirements not particularly
stringent.

> Symbol: 3-D shaded ring with roman numeral class inside

It's good for you. It'll put hair on your chest.  ;-)