Missiles redux

Digging through my enormous collection of FT-related email for a "value
added archive" I turned up some old material that needs to see the light of
day again. I originally sent these to the list a while ago, but since we're
talking about missiles (again) I thought I'd post 'em again.

***  1  *** originally posted 2/25/96 ***

A suggestion for missiles:

To allow for a greater utility for missiles and to increase their range:

1) Missiles have unlimited endurance in terms of turns in play.

2) Missiles are launched from a ship, and assume the ship's velocity

3) Movement is plotted at launch and hence in the normal movement plot phase.

4) Missiles have 54 units of fuel. Each unit of fuel is worth one unit of
thrust, as for ships. A maximum of 18 units of thrust may be applied in a
single turn.

6) Missiles may be attacked by ADAF's on turns they are not attacking a ship.
The normal proximity rules (6") and accuracy (6 on a d6).

6) Missiles manuever as in MT.

7) Missiles attack as in MT.

8) All other rules, including cost and mass remain as in MT.

Balance:

a) The fuel allowance may be too high. 36 and 27 suggest themselves as likely
numbers.

Coming soon

a) Smaller missiles (1d6 damage)

b) magazine fed missile bays. Small missiles with similar range, but
limited supply (6 per mass used) and lower damage (1-4 dice rolled as
fighter damage and beam weapons) would apply. This will give ships a longer
ranged punch, and keep a requirement for lots of defenses.

c) long-range anti-fighter missiles.

d) ECM and sensor rules to balance with a) above. Inspired by the previously
mentioned book, "Winning Colors" and Traveller: BattleRider.

Your comments and discussions welcome. Playtest notes would be phenomenal.

***  2  *** originally posted 2/25/96 ***

New Weapon: Missile Battery Mass: 1 Cost: 15

The missile battery is a launcher for 6 small missiles. These smaller missiles
are as distinct from those in MT as a Harpoon is distinct from a Tomahawk in
the US Navy. These smaller missiles roll three dice for damage, but function
as beam weapons and fighters do. Shields WILL protect against
damage from these missiles. Under normal FT/MT rules small missiles move
as normal missiles do, but only have an endurance of TWO turns. If using my
optional rules for missiles (posted 2/24/96) assign them approximately
half of the fuel a "cruise" missile has and similar maximum thrust:

Normal Missile Cruise Missile
Fuel/MaxThrust        Fuel/MaxThrust
______________        ______________
 54	18	       30     15
 36	18	       18     18 (awfully low)
 27	18	       15     15

Note that each battery is a seperate system for purposes of threshold checks.

This system should prove useful for converting Traveller (BL/BR) to
FT/MT rules.

As with the previous post on missiles, this is playtest material... not
finished work.