I know there`s people who don`t like the wave gun, but I don`t think of this
gun as too overpowered for a FT game, and it does appeal to me from the
anime ships seen in various films/comics/serieses. I did have 2 ideas
for
wave guns that I`d thought I`d share-
1-Scaleable wave guns
The wave gun is scaleable just like phalon plasma bolt launchers. My idea is
that the wave gun consists of two components, the gun and the power generator.
If the gun givern in the book is a class 2 wave gun, my sugesstion is that a
class 1 wave gun masses 7 mass, and requires 3 power
points to be generated before it can fire. The power packs/generators
would mass 2 and be able to generate 1D6 power points for the purpose of
recharging the gun. This is suggested so you can have a large wave gun
(say,
a class 8 wave gun, 56 mass, 8D6 DP at close range), with a long recharge time
(1 mass 2 power generator, 1D6 power points per turn, gun requires 24 power
points before it can fire). The power points required would be worked out from
the level of the wave gun divided by the number of power packs. By this I mean
that a class 4 wave gun (x2 the one in the book) with 2 power generators would
only require 6 power points, and recharge at a rate of 1D6 power points per
turn (instead of requiring 12 power points and recharging at the rate of 2D6
per turn). Hope this makes sence?
2-Focusable wave guns
A wave gun with a focusing device fitted onto the emmiter end of the gun, that
instead of firing a expanding beam in front of the ship, instead can focus the
beam just like a normal beam weapon, through it`s fore arc, and cause a large
ammout of dammage to it`s target. My proposal would be the wave gun must
recharge as a normal wave gun, and on firing it would roll to hit just like a
p.torp on a target. The dammage I would place at 6D6 DP to the target (if you
compair to a p.torp, the wave gun masses the same as 4 p.torps, but the
p.torps don`t require a recharge, so could fire every turn). Just a rough
idea, that I thought I`d put out there to see if anybody has any ideas or
comments that would allow development of this idea?.
A a aside, does anybody else out there consider wave gun not too OTT
compaired to normal FT guns/ships, and should be allowed in FT games? Or
am I just totally off course in my thinking? (what I`m asking is has anybody
compaired wave guns, with their disadvantages/advantages, to normal FT
weapons, and tried balancing them? I know if they were allowed as standard,
they would probably become standard fit on capitol ships <HE,HE>).
G'day Bif,
I haven't had a chance to look over your ideas as yet, but was wondering if
all classes in version (1) all use the same "cone of fire" template and if
in version (2) you meant they only hit one ship/
> A a aside, does anybody else out there
Yep, though I haven't done the work to make them completely sounds as yet. I
also think it has to do with whether you play vector or not. In vector
you see a lot more damage faster and the wave gun pails in comparison in my
experience, while in cinematic I think it has the potential to have a much
larger impact on a game as damage is spread over many more turns and isn't as
concentrated.
> I know if they were allowed as standard,
I'd doubt that actually;) You have to power them up, they cost a lot and weigh
a fair bit (as far as I can remember) and they effect what other systems can
fire, its just not worth the effort in most cases.
Cheers
Beth
BIF said:
> >I know if they [Wave Guns] were allowed as standard,
Beth said
> I'd doubt that actually ;)
I agree with Beth. Wave Guns as written would do best in a
cruiser--actually several cruisers with overlapping fire. Below are
specs for the Alarishi Empire's wave-gun system defense vessels:
AE Tunguska CSW 68m 228pt Thrust 6 FTL No
[OOOOOO] (armor)
[oooo* ]
[oooo* ]
[oooo* ]
[oooo* ]
2 FC 4 Beam 1 1 Wave Gun (Forward Line)
[quoted original message omitted]
In message <000901c099a6$9249b9e0$20b6893e@inty>
> "Bif Smith" <bif@bifsmith.fsnet.co.uk> wrote:
> I know there`s people who don`t like the wave gun, but I don`t think
[snip]
IIRC similar ideas have been suggested before (including by me - but my
current idea on this subject, the Spacial Discontinuity Cannon - is a
bit of a departure in that it is powered of the ship's FTL drive - see
the Weapons Archive for details). Thinking about it, I'd increase the mass of
the generators relative to
the mass of the whole system - my reasoning is this:
Take a Wave Gun with a standard generator - ie. it requires 6 power to
fire, and the generator produces 1d6 charges per turn - it will be able
to fire about every second turn, usually.
Give it doubled generator capacity, ie. 2d6 charges per turn - it will
be able to fire almost every turn - this is a large increase in
capability - almost double that of the first example.
Something you omitted from your description was how the weapon
effectiveness increases with class - one idea I'd use is this:
Range is 12 mu times the class Damage is 1d6 per class, minus 1d6 per full 12
mu of range
area affect is a path, 1 mu wide for 0-12 mu, 2 mu wide for 12-24mu etc.
(yup, this isn't quite like the MT wave gun - but its close enough)
Under this scheme, the mass of the weapon should progress like that of beam
batteries, ie. each class is twice the mass of the previous one.
So we could have the following
Class MASS of emitter MASS of generator
1 1 2
2 2 4
3 4 8
4 8 16
If you stick a smaller generator onto an emitter, double the number of charges
needed to fire for each point of difference in class (ie. a
class 3 emitter with a class 1 generator requires 24 charges to fire -
and is likely to be used once at best) Likewise, a larger generator on a
smaller emitter, double the number of dice rolled for every point of
difference in class.
Personally,! don't like the random charging, and would set the charge rate to
3 per d6 (ie. assume all dice roll a 3).
Hmm.. question - can a 'classed' wave gun fire at a reduced power level?
(ie. class 3 has half the needed charge, 3 points - can it be fired as
a class 2?) - this would make the higher powered ones more versatile.
> 2-Focusable wave guns
IIRC one of the websites has a 'wave beam' which is a similar idea - its
on:
http://web.missouri.edu/~pjs7f1/ft/ftindex.html
if you want to have a look.
As regards your suggestion - firstly, a wave gun has the mass (and cost)
of _three_ P-torps, but has a longer range, more limited fire arc, needs
to recharge - and is an 'exclusive' weapon - on the turn it is fired,
nothing else can be (and that includes PDS) - so your proposal is
probably not unbalanced (I'm guessing here :-).
You could combine the two, say a focussed, classed wave gun has the following
stats:
Fires as P-Torp (when charged), but range band is 2 mu per class, damage
is 1d6 per class.
> A a aside, does anybody else out there consider wave gun not too OTT
Or am
> I just totally off course in my thinking? (what I`m asking is has
I've yet to try one of these out, but the limitations on it are quite
nasty - for instance, you cannot fire it in the same turn you use PDS (I
assume that wave guns fire during the normal fire phase).
[quoted original message omitted]
G'day Bif,
> I`ll post my idea for the
So you haven't found the restriction on use of other weaponry an issue? How do
you use it?
Cheers
Beth
BIF
> Snip wave cruiser bit-
Um, putting a wave gun on a capital is a good way to take out everything else
on your own capital for the turns in which it can't
> Laserlight wrote:
> BIF
The wavegun penalizes placing it on ships that logically have enough power to
fire it. Introduce a power rating. Each ship produces energy