***Immense snippage follows*** It also provides a good case for packing your
KV ships with
as many Class-1 RGs as you can stuff in: same firepower (if
it hits), but a lot more damage-tolerant design. You may
have to nibble the enemy to death rather than take one big bite, but it works
for rats and pirhana....
Phil, certain that someone's going to tell me that I got it wrong <g> ***Here
endeth the snippage***
Can't comment about your math, though I'd have thought it wasn't quite so
clear cut, or linear. Still, made sense to me. Also, if the class-1's
get
the class 1 beam advantage of missle/fighter suppression, then they DO
add to the defense, and certainly act as near (ok, they aren't armor, and they
don't multiply the range (not included in the above analysis)) complete force
multiplier.
The_Beast
Whoops, too much snippage:
Phillip said: It shows how long it's been since I looked at the KV rules that
I can't remember if RG units have different ranges,
but ISTM that they don't -- in which case, the above
calculation applies.
I said: they don't multiply the range (not included in the above analysis)
Sorry, Phillip. Both for missing your comment, and, I looked at MT, and your
memory is absolutely correct. Haven't seen the Bugs Don't Surf beta stuff. (I
could be upset that I didn't get a copy but someone else in town
did, but, hey, he asked, and I didn't. ;->= )
Now, by damage tolerant, are you speaking just of needle beams, or are you
speaking of threshold damage? Statistical likelihood of damage is same, as
more systems mean more system rolls, right?
See? I'm better at asking questions than answering them. ;->=
The_Beast
On Thu, 1 Oct 1998 17:21:55 +0100 Oerjan Ohlson
> <oerjan.ohlson@nacka.mail.telia.com> wrote:
> Chad wrote:
The Class 1 is no different from the Class 3. <<
> There are two differences:
> First, if you have 3 Class 1 instead of 1 Class 3, the
> Second, 3 Class 1 inflict the same *average* damage per
This is a good explanation of what is known in military circles as the "Fuzzy
Wuzzy Fallacy", i.e., if you take two
identical troopers/units and double the firepower of one of
them (but nothing else), what you get is not a unit that is twice as valuable
as the other one, because each unit is still equally vulnerable to an attack;
it has been worked out that the additional firepower only increases the combat
value of the "heavy" unit by a factor of the _square_root_
of 2 -- or approx 41%. To truly double the value of the
unit, its defences must also be doubled.
I've never seen this argument taken further than doubling
but, assuming that the principle holds good, then a Class-3
RG could be considered to be sqrt(3) (= 1.73) times as
effective as a single Class-1, all else being equal. It
shows how long it's been since I looked at the KV rules that I can't remember
if RG units have different ranges,
but ISTM that they don't -- in which case, the above
calculation applies.
It also provides a good case for packing your KV ships with
as many Class-1 RGs as you can stuff in: same firepower (if
it hits), but a lot more damage-tolerant design. You may
have to nibble the enemy to death rather than take one big bite, but it works
for rats and pirhana....
Phil, certain that someone's going to tell me that I got it wrong <g>
> On Fri, 2 Oct 1998 07:19:40 -0500 devans@uneb.edu wrote:
Quoting me:
> It shows how long it's been since I looked at the KV
> They don't multiply the range (not included in the above
> Sorry, Phillip. Both for missing your comment, and, I
'Sorright! Nice to know I remembered right.
[Snip]
> Now, by damage tolerant, are you speaking just of needle
I was really referring to threshold checks, but the
same consideration applies to needle beams -- three times
as many targets, and a given hit doesn't reduce your firepower by as much. Of
course, it's more likely that you'll lose at least part of the firepower at a
threshold
check, but _far_ less likely that you'll lose all of it.
Against that, the bigger RGs are more likely to put _all_
their firepower on target, so maybe it balances out. But
add to that any defensive capabilities for the Class-1s and
good KV design starts to look even more like the "bee
swarm" school of ship-building -- as many little stingers
as you can pack in, plus maybe a couple of big guns for a big punch. I would
expect all KV classes to have far more
Class-1 RGs than human ships have Class-1 beams.
However, put in a range difference and/or tinker with the
Mass figures (it's beginning to look as though there should
be a minimum mass for RGs -- more than 1 -- with smaller
increases for bigger classes than occur with beams) and the
calculations change completely. I'll wait to see FT3/FB
Vol.2 before I dare to comment any further.
Phil