hi Bob,
we discussed Heavy Beam Weapon (HBW) stats for B5 heavy lasers, etc about 1
year ago. I believe we kicked around a couple of versions. here's a short
version of my latest version.
HBW
power: 1 Energy Point (EP)/HBW level (HBW2 = 2 EP)
range: 12"/HBW level (HBW3 = 36")
-1 EP/range bracket > 1 (>12" <=24" = -1 EP, >24" <=36" = -2 EP)
FT dice: 2 dice/EP (HBW3 = 6 dice upto 12", 4 dice upto 24", 2 dice
upto
36")
recharge: 1 EP/turn
mass: 2x equivalent beam? (needs more test) cost: 2x equivalent beam? (needs
more test)
unlike our previous ideas, I dropped the recharge capacitor of earlier
versions. it was en extra component and complication to track. essentially,
the HB is twice as powerful as a normal FT beam weapon.
one caveat: when I test the above, I test with the FT B5 rules that I have
written over the past year and tested. I have made a more radical departure
from the base FT rules. for example, all weapons have some sort of recharge
rate (versus fire every turn). so, YMMV with the HBW above --
specifically, your first shot has an advantage in doing all its damage up
front versus a
normal beam weapon. however, you get pounded by every-turn beams while
you wait for the HBW to recharge.
if you are interested, I have also converted other B5 weapons.
Dave
My comments below are based upon the assumption that FT dice are using the
standard FT beam resolution, not the mechanism some HBW systems used
of d6 and counting the straight pip count for total damage.
> On Monday, March 4, 2002, at 08:29 AM, David Reeves wrote:
> HBW
= -2 EP)
> FT dice: 2 dice/EPÂ (HBW3 = 6 dice upto 12", 4 dice upto 24", 2 dice
Since the usual thing with cost on many of the weapon systems is to multiple
cost by the mass since the mass is already being double that
probably takes care of the extra cost too. I'd be tempted to drop the
cost but I'm unsure how to price weapons that recharge like this, especially
since it isn't a straight recharge across all size variants of the system (ie.
HBW3 takes 3 turns, while the HBW1 takes essentially
1/none). The PBL are all inactive for one turn after firing regardless
of the size.
> unlike our previous ideas, I dropped the recharge capacitor of earlier
> versions. it was en extra component and complication to track.Â
As you mentioned below it's twice as powerful on the first shot. But with the
recharge rate this weapon is potentially weaker than the normal
FT beam weapon (especially for the larger systems).
> one caveat: when I test the above, I test with the FT B5 rules that I
> sort of recharge rate (versus fire every turn). so, YMMV with the
I don't see any advantage this system should have over normal beam weapons.
Since the mass is twice normal we need to compare it to two normal beam system
of the same size classification. Two B3 are going to
average the same results as one HBW3 on the first shot as they both fire
the same number of dice initially. However, after the first turn of fire the
HBW3 (for example) will require 3 turns to fully powered again while the B3's
can continue firing away.