With all these variations floating around, I've been having a few thoughts
myself.
The closest analogy to the desired effect I can see is the Primary Beams from
Weber's "In Death's Ground" which punch a 2" hole through most ships
(regardless of size). I see it more as firing once in the turn (like
Pulsetorps) with extreme penetration than as a multiple pulse beam trying to
"shotgun" the target area to increase hit potentiol (normal beams). The
primary effect is to kill DCPs and I have included an option for critical
damage.
*****
Cutter Beam
Mass/cost: same as Pulsetorp
Symbol: Pulse torp with bottom half enclosed in a circle. Effect: same as
Pulsetorp except damage is marked vertically from the topmost undamaged box of
armour or hull. Any damage in excess of the current number damage rows is
wasted. If the last box of a row is destroyed, this has no effect unless ALL
boxes in that row have been destroyed (similar to Sa'vasku expending their own
hull). Note that no row can be hit more than once due to the nature of damage
distribution.
eg 1: Unarmoured ship taking 5 damage (1 is wasted): before after
[xoooo] [xxooo]
[*oooo] [*xooo]
[o*oo] [oxoo]
[ooo*] [oxo*] Kills 1 DCP
eg 2: Armoured ship taking 5 damage (none wasted):
[XOO] [XXO]
[ooooo] [oxooo]
[*oooo] [*xooo]
[o*oo] [oxoo]
[ooo*] [oxo*] Kills 1 DCP
[option 1]: Increase the mass by 2; damage that penetrates past the last
damage row, make an immediate Core System check against 1 random system at
current value +1 per point of penetrating damage. In example 1, one
core system would fail on a roll of 6; in example 2, there is no roll, as it
failed to penetrate past the last row.
This makes it very difficult to inflict critical damage on an undamaged ship
(there is still potential), but the chances increase as damage accumulates,
due to various sections of the hull missing.
Neath Southern Skies -http://home.pacific.net.au/~southernskies/
[Pirates] Dame Captain Washalot
[NPJB] Absorbent Sponge Sheesh'Ka'Baab
> -----Original Message-----
The comments to Brian's post are mostly requests for clarifications :-/
> Bell, Brian K wrote:
> Cutter Beam A
Ie., "Mass/Cost as P-torp" :-/
> Dice: 3 hit on 4+
Is this 3 "straight" beam dice, 3 beam dice after you've rolled 4+ on a
4th die, or something else?
> Range: 36tu
> Cutter Beam B
See comment to Cutter Beam A.
> Range: 36tu
> Cutter Beam C
See comment to Cutter Beam A.
> Range: 36tu
> Cutter Beam D
Roll on a separate die (as P-torp) or the to-hit roll (as Torp
Fighters)?
> Range: 30tu
This weapon is considerably more powerful than a P-torp (better armour
penetration, possibly higher average damage, and occasionally inflicts
extra threshold checks), yet costs exactly the same as the P-torp.
> Cutter Beam E
How many dice does it fire? If it is as many as the B3, it effectively gets
the extra "threshold checks" for free.
If it can only take out one system per check, the order in which you roll for
each system is critical. Who determines which system to check for when?
> Robertson, Brendan wrote:
> With all these variations floating around, I've been having a few
Primaries in Starfire (on which game "In Death Ground" is based, to the extent
that Weber wrote (his part of) the game scenario module several
years before he and White finished the novel - some of the battle
descriptions in the novel are slightly fleshed-out turn-by-turn
Starfire battle reports) are relatively short-ranged, inflict minimal
hull damage but have a fair chance of destroying more or less important
systems - though very rarely "core" systems, unless the target has
already taken heavy damage from conventional weapons... or is really poorly
designed, eg. the way Weber deliberately designed the Bug SDs to make them
vulnerable to the TFN primary buoys. (The same deliberate design deficiencies
should also have made the Bug ships prone to blowing up as soon as their
armour was breached by other weapons, eg. fighter strikes or starship beams or
missiles, but for some reason this never seems to happen in the novel.)
I'd equate the basic primary beam (used in the TFN's buoys and the
Bugs' Cleaver-class WP assault cruisers) with FB1's Needle Beam, and
the capital primary beams arming the Bugs' Auger-class SDs with Noam's
"Heavy Needle Beam" (currently undergoing playtesting). The weapon you
describe below (with its option used) sounds more like the "wide-arc
primaries" (2nd generation capital primary beams) used by the Terran
Republican Navy in the battle of Zapata in Weber/White's
"Insurrection"; this weapon slices a 2" wide but several meters long gash
through the target ship.
> *****
Without the option below, this is considerably weaker than the P-torp -
lower average damage except against Phalon cruisers and capitals, and almost
unable to inflict threshold checks. With the option, it might be worthwhile.
> [option 1]: Increase the mass by 2; damage that penetrates past the
> example 1, one core system would fail on a roll of 6; in example 2,
> damage accumulates, due to various sections of the hull missing.
Regards,
> -----Original Message-----
[Bri] Sorry. Beam dice, no rerolls (3 at 0-12, 2 at 12.x-24, 1 at
24.x-36).
> >Range: 36tu
[Bri] Sorry. Beam dice, no rerolls 2 dice for whole range
.>Range: 36tu
> >Screen Effect: As Beam
[Bri] Sorry. Beam dice, no rerolls 2 dice for whole range
> >Range: 36tu
[Bri] Seperate Roll.
> >Range: 30tu
[Bri] True. Arcs are a little limited, but not enough to make a
difference. This should probably be limited to 1 arc instead. More effective
than 1 arc PTorp, but less effective as a 3 arc. Or Increase the Mass to 5
(same as C3KG), but allow upto 3 arcs (at 25% base mass per extra arc brings
it to 1 mass each OR 1 mass each for upto 2 arcs
and 2 mass each for 3-5 arcs OR 2 per extra arc, depending if you round
normally or round up, each arc or total arcs)
> >Cutter Beam E
[Bri] 3 dice at 0-12, 2 at 12.x-24, 1 at 24.x-36. One or more 6s will
cause 1 threshold check (i.e. 1 check regardless of number of 6s rolled per
shot). Each threshold check can take out a maximum of 1 system. Order would
have to fleshed out, but I would suggest start with highest mass and work
down. Order of system check could be worked to increase or decrease
effectiveness
of weapon. While not play-tested yet, I would think that it compares to
a
Class-3 beam as follows:
# Cutter Beams: 1-2 per ship at same target.
Target Size: Small Medium Large Very Large # Dice:
1 More More More Equal
2 Equal Equal More Less
3 Less Less Equal Less
# Cutter Beams: 3-4 per ship at the same target.
Target Size: Small Medium Large Very Large # Dice:
1 Less Less Equal Less
2 Less Less Less Equal
3 Less Less Equal More
# Cutter Beams: 5+ per ship at the same target.
Target Size: Small Medium Large Very Large # Dice:
1 Less Less Less Less
2 Less Less Equal More
3 Less Less More More
[snip]
> Regards,
My comments marked by [Bri]
I haven't read Insurrection yet. I only included it as an option as some
players might not like having their SDN taken out by a runaway powercore on
the first turn. It's actually the version I prefer. It's not really effective
against undamaged ships (although you could get lucky & roll a 6 on damage,
followed by a 6 for the threshold check) and as soon as the enemy find out
your ship has these things, it will have a minimum life expectancy.
Neath Southern Skies -http://home.pacific.net.au/~southernskies/
[Pirates] Dame Captain Washalot
[NPJB] Absorbent Sponge Sheesh'Ka'Baab
> -----Original Message-----