Has Anyone given any thought to my idea to enable ships to buy armor by the
box? Basically you buy damage boxes and place them in their rows so that no
row is greater than the one below it.
Structural Armor: Mass: 1 Cost: 2 Place an additional damage box in the rows.
No row can have more damage boxes than the one below it. These boxes increase
the amount of damage that a ship can take overall and may increase the amount
of damage absorbed before a threshold check is conducted.
I'd apreciate your thoughts, Phil P.
> At 03:04 PM 5/8/97 -0400, you wrote:
I've seen similar workings of this rule, myself. In fact, here's what I
have in my house rules--
Armor
Mass 0 Cost 50% hull cost/Level
Every level of armor adds additional damage points to the ships first row of
damage boxes, equal to 15% of the total number of damage points for that ship
(rounded down, but never less than 1 box per level). These extra damage points
should be shaded to distinguish them as armor, as they do not count towards
determining crew as regular damage points do. Cost is 50% of the hull cost per
level, with a maximum of 2 levels. Every level of armor reduces the maximum
thrust of that ship by 1, but does not subtract from the ships actual thrust
rating (e.g. A ship with two levels of armor may have a maximum thrust of 6).
(Note: these rules completely replace the Kravak Armor rules on MT p. 25;
armor no longer gives bonuses to manuvering, nor does it convey any special
resistance to any particular weapon).
These rules were a modification of an idea stolen from somebody else on this
list, to whom I would gladly give credit if I could remember who they were.
Take care,
> Phillip E. Pournelle writes:
@:) Has Anyone given any thought to my idea to enable ships to buy @:) armor
by the box? Basically you buy damage boxes and place them @:) in their rows so
that no row is greater than the one below it.
I'm pretty sure something along these lines has been mentioned before, but I
don't know what the general consensus was. This is pretty much how I've always
imagined armor should work. It would be
worth doing a cost-benefit analysis on this armor and comparing it the
the MT armor rules. Your armor sounds like it might be a bit too heavy to be
workable, but.5 mass per point is probably too light.
> Phillip E. Pournelle wrote:
Phil,
I like this a lot better than the current armor rules. No special immunities
given, but used judiciously, could add a great deal of survivability to ships.
The main problem with the armor as given in the MT book, as I understand it,
is it gives the effect of screens, but without the threshold checks. (I don't
have the book in front of me, so forgive my spotty memory). Perhaps allowing
the Kr'Vak to get a special type of armor(different from this type to make
them different from Human forces) that halves railgun hits(makes sense they'd
have some defense from their own weapons) but does nothing for screens. This
would, it seems to me, make more sense with the background. Essentially, the
Kr'Vak, not having fought humans, only have defenses against their own type of
weapons, and not weapons they haven't faced before. After all, that's what's
happened to the humans in this background.
> Gary A. Ballard wrote:
:
> weapons) but does nothing for screens. This would, it seems to me, make
Good point. However, it could be reasoned that the armor is a special alloy
not previously available or known to humans that has strong ablative
properties.
> Has Anyone given any thought to my idea to enable ships to buy armor by
We've already kicked this one around in the primary playetest draft material
for FTIII; I feel it works well, but we're going to wait for the playtest
stuff to get wider response before making any firm decisions
(no,
the full draft hasn't been posted to the list - at present it has been
circulated in hardcopy to a few selected testers). There are a number of
aspects in the draft that have since been discussed (quite independently)
on the list, which I find very encouraging - it hopefully means we're on
the right lines:) I am definitely in favour of armour as extra hull boxes, and
agree with most of the above; we have also experimented with allowing an
armour box to take TWO hits to kill it rather than one, though this may prove
to be TOO good. More on this soon!
> Armor
Great minds think alike, these rules are very close to the B5 armor rules I
wrote up, except they don't reduce thrust (makes the math a wee bit difficult)
Armor Cost:.5 ship mass per level Each level of armor adds 1 row of damage
boxes to the ship; these boxes must be destroyed before the normal boxes and
don't count for threshold checks.
> We've already kicked this one around in the primary playetest draft
would this mean you would get 2 rows of armor for the price of one or would
you have to mark every box twice (a little confusing).
> Has Anyone given any thought to my idea to enable ships to buy armor by
I use the following. It is different in that it provides more protection
(to smaller ships) and "armor points" only protect one arc of fire.
Updated 1.11.97
Ablative Armor Rules by Brian Bell
Ablative Armor Rules (non-standard)
Tons: 1 Cost: 5 Provides: points of protection in a single arc. 4 for Escorts
3 for Cruisers 2 for Capitals 1 for Superships Ablative Armor is a a sandwich
design comprised of layers of aligned crystal sheets interlaced with a
superconducting lattice. This design is
effective against both kinetic and energy attacks. The aligned crystal spreads
the kinetic energy laterally throughout the armor plate. The superconducting
lattice spreads energy attacks throughout the armor plate burning off the
crystal. In both cases, damage to the underlying hull is
avoided or reduced. On larger ships armor provides less protection per ton.
This is because it becomes thinner as it is spread over a larger surface area.
Armor is purchased as other systems. For every ton of armor purchased Escorts
get 4 armor points. Cruisers get 3 armor points. Capitals get 2 armor points.
And Superships get 1 armor point. These armor points must be applied to a
specific firing arc. When the ship recieves damage to an
armored firing arc, the damage is removed from the armor points first. Place
armor points around the edge ship diagram seperating them by the arc they
cover. Armor points tons are purchased just like other systems and apply
agianst the tons that systems can use. Armor is not subject to Threshold
rolls. A needle attacks ignore armor
(the armor itself may not be attacked by a needle gun/missile). Screens
levels greater than 1 and/or a reflex field may not be used on armored
ships (Not enough access points to generate that strength of shield). Ships
that carry the Wave Gun or Spinal Mount Nova Cannon may not armor the Forward
section of the ship. Total number of armor points may not exceed 4 times the
number of rows of damage points a ship has in a given arc. Example: An escort
may have upto 8 armor points in any one arc (max 32 total armor points). A
Crusier could place upto 12 in any one arc (max 48 total armor points). A
Capital could place upto 16 in a specific arc (max 64 total armor points).
Armor
points may be divided throughout the ship. (i.e. if you only by 1 ton, it does
not all have to all go into one arc). Armor is not as cost effective as
screens, on larger ships, but provides protection for smaller ships.