I'm playing around with some Traveller conversions for DSII, and working on
artillery rules for meson guns. For the uninitiated, meson cannons project
particle beams that pass through solid matter until they reach their intended
target where the particles decay with explosive results. Although it's
technically a direct fire weapon, it's used as artillery because of it's
ability for it's beam to pass through hills, mountains, forests, structures,
etc..
Meson guns are nasty and the last thing I want is for this to descend into
munchkinism! They ignore armor and attack their target directly. In
Striker/Striker II any unit unfortunate enough to fall under bombardment
are instantly destroyed no matter what. For my conversion, I was thinking that
everything under the two inch beaten zone is KO just like a nuke round only
without the morale effects.
The trouble is, since meson guns are energy weapons, they don't need
ammunition. However, I was thinking using ammunition markers anyway. These
markers don't represent actual shells, but the time and resources needed to
charge, target, and fire the weapon. Also, in lieu of their destructive
capability, I'm making each marker somewhere around 500 points.
On the other hand, it seems rather arbitrary and unrealistic to put these sort
of limits on the gun even for play balance sake. Any comments or suggestions?
Later,
At the least they should require spotters. Might also require a LARGE and
VULNERABLE power supply vehicle nearby. Smaller, less vulnerable vehicles
lengthen the cycle time on firing.
> On the other hand, it seems rather arbitrary and unrealistic to put
So, not to make this any more difficult, but does the meson cannon *have* to
be that deadly? What I'm getting at is that if you're aiming through
hills and such, and especially at moving targets like tanks, would it be
more reasonable to expect that the gunners are actually popping the mesons in
near the ground surface or something, and that the resulting explosion does
the damage?
By defining it this way, you can make them deadlier than artillery (say,
ALL valid, with chits pulled per artillery class - Lt - 1, Md - 2, Hv -
3)
without making it an automatic kill weapon.
I'm mostly thinking about play balance, unless of course, you just make them
ungodly expensive...
J
--On Saturday, March 06, 2004 9:31 PM -0600 "Mark A. Siefert"
> <siefertma@wi.rr.com> wrote:
> I'm playing around with some Traveller conversions for DSII, and
> Mark A. Siefert wrote:
Meson screen projectors? Nuclear damper fields can be projected to points over
the horizon in Traveller, so it doesn't seem too far fetched.
Sort of like artillery, the player could place the vehicle on the board and
take the risk of having it blown out from under him, or could pay some cost
for each screened area projected from off-board and set aside some
points
to have the screens re-targeted during play.
The topic of battlefield meson screens came up on Citizen's Of The Imperium,
and it was pointed out that there are no battlefield meson screens in
Traveller due to the massive amount of equipment needed. Nuclear dampers, yes;
meson screens, no.
Mark A. Siefert
[quoted original message omitted]
> From: ~ On Behalf Of Mark A. Siefert
> The topic of battlefield meson screens came up on Citizens Of The
Surely just land a ship equipped with such a screen and you've got a defended
area?
I wouldn't bother working out ways to deal with these dinky tactical guns;
your real problems start when you have to take a port defended by a deep meson
battery or two. Even special forces can't be sure of
gaining access / identifying all the relevant observation sites. The
only solution* is to infiltrate a spy (or carpet-bomb the planet).
There doesn't have to be an answer. Don't forget Striker's advice to forces on
an airless world facing an orbital PA.
* Unless of course you happen to be a Traveller ET, in which case:
Zhodani: "Now concerning your latent psionic ability, battery-
commander. Have you considered training?"
Vargr: Swarm the port with commandoes to sniff out every air vent.
K'kree: Carpet-bomb the planet anyway on the grounds that omnivores
live on it.
Droyne: "We left ours at the planetary core. The asteroid belt two jumps away
was the result of target practice".
Aslan: Attack someone else until this part of the Imperium has fallen into
disorder, then come back when the power is off.
Hiver: "What makes you think the battery is under human control?"
Nathan "where's that Striker conversion table gone to?" Girdler
In article <NHBBIDCHMLLCHKKJHGEFAEPKDBAA.siefertma@wi.rr.com>, Mark A. Siefert
<siefertma@wi.rr.com> writes
> I'm playing around with some Traveller conversions for DSII, and
This is what I have. It may be nastier than you are looking for.
Meson Artillery
First available at TL 5, Meson Artillery is available in Medium, Heavy and
Superheavy configurations and requires space equal to three times its Class.
Meson Artillery is used as more conventional Artillery with notable
exceptions. Firstly, meson Artillery takes effect in the turn it is called,
there is no delay. Secondly, it receives an advantage in both
defeating CBR and performing Counter-battery Fire. Thirdly, Meson
Artillery has no munition options nor does it require Ammunition Chits.
Finally, Meson Artillery can be used as Ortillery and still lands without
delay. Meson Artillery is generally fired in an open Sheaf as everything
within the beaten zone is destroyed in a manner similar to the inner zone of a
nuclear strike.
Type TL Size Cost Sheaf Diameter Medium 5 12 500 1" Heavy 6 18 750 2"
Superheavy 7 24 1000 3"
Cheers
[quoted original message omitted]