more graser stuff (no sheep, just statistics)

> Oerjan, your statistics are lying to you.

You want to know what? Me, too.

You needed to also quote the following paragraph where I talk about using
statistical analysis based on actual ranges that the game is played in. Ranges
1-3 is hardly every seen, but ranges 12-24 seem
to happen very often.  Those 4x Class-1 Beams
have no chance to hit anyone at ranges 13-18,
where the Class-1 Graser does.  How does this
figure into the statistics?

I got an A in the college course Probability and Statistics, but that is the
extent of my education. I can number crunch, and in fact just put numbers into
a spreadsheet to do some weapon analysis. I broke down the damage into 6mu
range bands, and did an average for 6 range bands together (out to 36mu). But
then we've all heard the cliche about statistics.
:D

The Graser-1, for its mass and within its range band,
is the best weapon against any target ship with screens 0 or 1. Notice I said
"ship". Grasers cannot attack fighters, missiles, or plasma bolts. How does
this figure into statistics? But I feel that the
Class-1 Beam is like the jack-of-all-trades weapon,
so-so at all things (not against plasma bolts, though)
and not as good as the specialized systems (i.e., main weapons, PDS,
Scatterguns).

The Class-2 Beam comes close.  The 3-arc Beam2
beats out the 6-arc Graser1, but not the 3-arc Graser1.
The 1-arc Pulse Torpedo Launcher also ranks right
in among them, but then you have to consider the number of firing
opportunities for each weapon.

The 3-arc Graser2 is comparable to the 3-arc Beam3.
The Graser3 though drops off rapidly in comparison for close range fire power
but I suppose that is offset by its much longer range. I didn't analyze
anything beyond 36mu.

What I found strange is that the 3-arc PTL has the
same damage numbers as the same mass of Class-1
Rail Guns, and the Rail Guns have the added
benefits of all-arc fire and anti-fighter and anti-missile
defensive capabilities.  No wonder my PTL-armed
ships do poorly against Steve's ships; besides him rolling better.:( Our main
weapons are equal and because of his arcs and his slower MD he packs
more punch with secondary weapons and/or
has more defenses (mostly stronger hull).

I'm relooking at 1-arc PTLs and class-2/3/4 Rail Guns.
They have some awesome numbers. The higher rail guns would seem better versus
armored targets.

FYI: my numbers are in an MS Excel 2000 spreadsheet.

Glen

> Glen Bailey wrote:

> The Graser-1, for its mass and within its range band,

This is part of your problem. You're consistently looking at the G1's MASS,
when you should be looking at its COST.

If you, as you did in one of your previous posts, compare 1x G1-6 (4
MASS)
with 1x B2-6 + 1x B1-6 (also 4 MASS), then the Graser costs about 20%
more than the weapons you compare it to (when you include the costs for
weapons' respective fractions of the ships engines, screens etc.; on a
straight
weapon cost comparison the G1 is of course 33% more expensive - 16 pts
vs 12).

If you compare the Graser with weapons of equal COST instead, the
comparison becomes 1x G1-6 vs 1x B2-6 + *2*x B1-6 - and in this
comparison
the G1 is outgunned at range 18-24 (of course, since it can't reach that

far), wins big at range 12-18, and is outgunned again at range 0-12. It
has
a sweet spot at range 12-18, but if it strays outside that range band it
is in trouble.

> The Class-2 Beam comes close. The 3-arc Beam2 beats out the 6-arc

Same thing here. Sure, if you compare 2x G1-3s (6 MASS) with 3x B2-3s (6

MASS) the G1-3s looks superior - but once again the G1s cost about 20%
more
than the B2s. For equal COST, pit 4x G1-3s against 7x B2-3s instead:
evenly
matched at range 0-12, the G1s win at range 12-18, and are rather badly
outgunned at range 18-24. 'Course, if you have banned ships with nothing

but B2s it isn't very surprising if you don't like the G1s either :-/

> What I found strange is that the 3-arc PTL has the same damage numbers

Again you're comparing the same MASS instead of the same COST. This
comparison is also muddled a bit by the P-torp's better armour
penetration and the K1's PD capability, of course.

Regards,