On the sandcaster issue:
Why not make 'em single-use screens? Each "charge" is, say, 1 mass and
3 pts. You can check off one or two boxes per turn, giving the effect of level
1 or 2 screens, respectively, for that turn only. The "screens" would also
affect outgoing fire from the ship using 'em. It doesn't give the ability to
defend another ship, but I think the PSB might have to stretch a bit far to
fill even a 1" radius with the amount of sand one would actually want to carry
for defensive purposes.
However, it does provide a cheap way for ships like merchies to get one or two
turn's worth of screening (to avoid abuse on big ships where screens are very
massive and tons of sand would be more efficient than screen generators, the
mass of each "charge" might be 1 per 100 mass of ship, rounded up).
Keep 'Em Flying,
Or have them cover 2 arcs per shot (instead of a 1" radius). Disperses after 1
round. No template needed, just note in orders SC: F, FS (for Sand Caster
Forward and Forward/Starboard arc). And use 1mass 3cost (as suggested).
I
would make it like two points of armor instead of level-1 screen (makes
it easy to account for all weapons).
Tradeoffs:
vs Armor: Better protection/mass. Limited arc and endurance.
vs Screen: Reduced cost and mass for emergency use.
-----
Brian Bell bkb@beol.net
http://fly.to/fullthrust/
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> -----Original Message-----
> On 21-Sep-99 at 13:08, Kent Nordstrom (knord@qi.ucsb.edu) wrote:
1 mass and 3 points is too cheap, I'll put them on all my big boys because
they are MUCH less than the 5%. However, maybe with the stipulation:
Sandcasters may not be used if the ship thrusts at all.
Otherwise my SDN (250 mass) is going to rip out its level II screens (25 mass)
and replace it with 14 mass of sandcasters.
> On my "sandcasters as one-shot screens" idea, Roger Books wrote:
> 1 mass and 3 points is too cheap, I'll put them on all my big boys
At the end of my post you'll note I suggested having "charges" of sand cost 1
mass per 100 mass of ship, rounded up (to prevent just this sort of abuse). In
that case, your mass 250 SDN needs 3 mass per shot. Using 15 mass for
sandcasters, you'd get 5 shots. Since it takes 1 shot per level of screens,
you'd get level 2 screens for two turns, and level 1 screens for one turn.
If you only need screens for two turns during each battle, then you're right,
sand will be much better than screens. I think in most cases, sand
would be a last-ditch thing for the merchie dashing for the jump limit,
or for a suicide boat trying to last an extra turn on the way in (and in
either case, armor might be better anyhow...).
Keep 'Em Flying,
I'm just wondering why everyone seems to feel the need to PSB the sandcasters
into doing anything other than affecting beams.
If it just affects beams you help the convoy problem of people attacking just
the convoy. You can already deal with fighters and SML's, that's what ADFC's
are for. If it acts as cheap armor then all the small fry will carry them for
the approach. After all, they only need it for one turn (if the Admiral has
1/2 of a clue).
I still think the best idea is place your convoy 6 feet off the table and say
you are doing an intercept of the attackers. They need to get their force
across the table to get to the convoy. Also, in a 1 off you have to play with
victory conditions. The loss of a destroy will normally be worth more than
what the convoy is carrying.
My current cargo ship in our campaign is carrying extremely important
supplies, 2 fighter squadrons and 7 replacement salvo missiles. Is it worth a
destroyer to knock these off? I doubt it, but maybe...
> At 3:54 PM -0400 9/21/99, Roger Books wrote:
Well, if you're trading 1 DD for the listed cargo, plus the merchie hulls, I
think you'd come out ahead. The two fighter squadrons might be able to handle
a DD by themselves, and the 7 missile salvos can mangle a capital ship. And if
your fleet is SML heavy, then losing the ammo means you can't fight.