Lots of traffic on the K'V over this long weekend for me to catch up on.
I
like some of the new mechanics I saw but overall, nothing seemed to fit my
view of the K'V. One thing I don't think works is giving them more hull boxes
and then better armour to boot! Couldn't their old style armor, now taking up
some hull space, reflect their toughness? They can take the same amount of
damage, it is just tougher to cause that damage. Also the railgun proposals
are going too far away from the MT versions for my tastes. Save all the good
ideas that were tossed around for additional races but update the K'V to FB
standards is my opinion. So how to do that?
Here is my version of the FB K'V, keeping it simple and similar the MT version
but updating it for the FB:
Hull integrity, same as humans. (I am not addressing their increased turning
ability in this post, though they should get it)
Level 1 armour 5% hull, Level 2 armor 10% of hull (reflects enhanced toughness
of K'V ships and their increased resistance to damage) Treat as equal levels
of screens vs. beam weapons. Cost is mass x 5?
Railguns
Class 1 RG - mass 1 - 4" range bands, 20" max (2 arcs)
Class 2 RG - mass 2 - 6" range bands, 30" max (1 arc)
Class 3 RG - mass 4 - 8" range bands, 40" max (1 arc)
Cost is mass x 5
Hits at 2+ in closest range band, increased by 1 each band out
d6 for damage 1-3 is RG class (all to Human armour), 4-6 is RG class x2
(1/2
to armour, 1/2 to hull). When fired declared as regular fire or
Shotgun.
K'V armor gives a -1 or -2 bonus to damage roll
Shotgun Fire Option - Roll to-hit as if 1 range band closer, damage is
equal to RG class, no chance for double damage. All damage to Human armor
first. (Yup, will lead to automatic hits at closest range band but damage will
be limited to class size).
I haven't run the numbers on the Shotgun Fire option yet and have not done any
ship designs with this yet but hope to later tonight unless someone beats me
to it.
> Dean Gundberg <dean.gundberg@noridian.com> wrote:
[snippety]
> Shotgun Fire Option - Roll to-hit as if 1 range band closer, damage is
I was right there with you until I hit this. This seems to go against the
"simple" aspect we were trying for. I'd rather see RGs with one mode of fire
only.
> Dean Gundberg <dean.gundberg@noridian.com> wrote:
I agree with schoon, lose the shotgun mode. Also you like the MT RG's but then
propose something different such as class based range bands. They can be used
to model the different velocity envelopes of the different classes, but this
isn't in MT either.
Looks like the armor as% of hull is popular though. However my position is
that the FB now has a 'standard' armor mechanic so why translate something
completely alien from MT. KV armor is just more
dense/efficient
than human, so they get more per mass. If a beam ablates the armor then its
still going to fry their ship as any other armored ship. Same for penetrating
shots.
Using the standard armor rules might also balance KV invunerability, because
their MT armor can never be ablated. These alternatives need testing.
> On Mon, 30 Nov 1998, Sean Bayan Schoonmaker wrote:
> Dean Gundberg <dean.gundberg@noridian.com> wrote:
I agree, The Shotgun mode is the scatterguns.. If their is a lot of call for
this type of weapon, I would suggest scaling up the Scaterguns..
SA
> >Dean Gundberg <dean.gundberg@noridian.com> wrote:
I added this because someone mentioned having multiple fire modes for
railguns, both 'trash can' and the 'shotgun' modes, and it seemed to be a neat
idea. If at long range and you want a better chance to hit but are willing to
lose the possibility of higher damage, its an option. I'm not
married to this additional fire mode, its just a simple variation (+1 to
hit, no double damage) to the current mechanic where damage potential is
traded for an increased chance to hit.
> I agree with schoon, lose the shotgun mode. Also you like the MT
But the MT railguns (like FT2 beam weapons) need some fix, in this case, why
use a class 3 when 3 class 1's work just as well? My spin on the railguns is
that the larger ones have higher velocities so the class 3 has a longer range
than a class 1, so now there is a reason to mount them.
> Looks like the armor as % of hull is popular though. However my
It depends on how you see the K'V's toughness related to armor. With FB armor
they basically have a very hard shell which when breached lets fire get to the
soft and squishy insides of the ship (think a medieval knight). On the other
hand there is the MT version of armor which doesn't give the ship a outer
shell but instead makes each hull box harder to damage, plus this ability is
never lost (maybe an ogre or troll that is just tough to hurt). The hard outer
shell thing can be done by humans like the NSL (and maybe some future aliens
;). I would like the K'V to be different, and by using armor levels like they
had in MT, I think it works and it fits my view of their overall toughness.
> Dean wrote:
> I added this because someone mentioned having multiple fire modes for
We really must be careful about functionitus. As you aren't married to it, we
can probably deprecate it.
> But the MT railguns (like FT2 beam weapons) need some fix, in
Yes, the other proposed system, uses the same bands as MT and varys damage on
class and uses a single roll. So its simpler and just as close to the MT
mechanic as this one. It also fixes the RG equivalent class problem as a class
1 always has a single multiplier while a class 3 has a potential of a treble
multiplier.
> It depends on how you see the K'V's toughness related to
> On the other hand there is the MT version of armor which
Basically in the MT model every bulk-head and partition in the ship is
armored. The effect would have to apply to all weapons fire. Penetrating shots
wouldn't count, so no rerolls against it.
Also this type of armor may be easier to implement in the design system to
prevent cheese designs.
> Basically in the MT model every bulk-head and partition in the ship is
Penetrating
> shots wouldn't count, so no rerolls against it.
In fact, we might even want to consider limiting the K'V to the structural
variety of armour only. No add on stuff like the humans.