armor / defence question

[Jak Nazryth]

You are a group of adventure seeking travellers with a small ship.
200-400 tons max. (most likely 200 or 300)
You are going where you know there will be trouble.
What is most cost effective while allowing enough weapons to hit back?

Reflec coating?

Armor (knowing that space is a premium for cargo/staterooms "virtually the only way to help pay for your ship"

Lots of sand casters?

Or what combination?

Tomorrow I want to give my players some options and want to pick the brains of those on this board.

Thanks.

 

[DFW]

It depends on what weapons you are attacked by.

 

[Jak Nazryth]

Standard pirate / vargr / crooked smugglers / any kind of threat under 1k tons that a small ship would tangle with.

What kind of defenses would you design into your ship on the fringes of the Emperium?
I'm getting after most cost effective "band for your buck"

Is Reflect worth the price? Or is 5% to 10% taken out of your hull more cost effective with armor? Is it better to save money on armor and put it into sand casters? Is stealth worth the money?

That sort of thing.

 

[DFW]

6 pts of bonded superdense. Takes the same tonnage as 4 pts worth of crystaliron armour.

 

[Egil Skallagrimsson]

Standard pirate / vargr / crooked smugglers / any kind of threat under 1k tons that a small ship would tangle with.

What kind of defenses would you design into your ship on the fringes of the Emperium?
I'm getting after most cost effective "band for your buck"

Is Reflect worth the price? Or is 5% to 10% taken out of your hull more cost effective with armor? Is it better to save money on armor and put it into sand casters? Is stealth worth the money?

That sort of thing.

DFW is right, there is a lot of "paper, rock, scissors" about these design choices. To get the best fit you have to think though exactly how you are going to make money, and so what dangers your ship is likely to be exposed to (of course, it could all go pear shaped anyway :twisted . If you are going to do a lot of combat, get lots of armour, as this will protect against partical beams as well as lasers. Get some radiation shielding as well. Sandcaster have their uses, but use up weapon mounts that might be better employed with a serious punch.

Remember, if you can cut your opponet in half before he can burn through your armour, you win, so plenty of partical beams may be useful.

Egil

 

[Jak Nazryth]

That's what I had in mind. Even with the extra cost of a TL 14 hull, I think that is the most cost effective.
But the only real issues is servicing the ship or repairing damage. True with older components like Jump, maneuver, etc.. you can service at any average place (TL 12) but what about higher tech components?

I have always gone by rule of thumb that a Class A high port can service TL 16 and lower, a Class B can service TL 14 and lower, and an class C can "sometimes" service TL 12 and lower.
Any truth to that? Or do you have to search out individual worlds with the appropriate tech level regardless of the type of High port in orbit?

 

[DFW]

That's what I had in mind. Even with the extra cost of a TL 14 hull, I think that is the most cost effective.
But the only real issues is servicing the ship or repairing damage. True with older components like Jump, maneuver, etc.. you can service at any average place (TL 12) but what about higher tech components?

For repair, it is a GM call. Design & manufacturing is different that repairing though. My local garage doesn't have the required TL to manufacture an engine but, he CAN replace damaged parts and repair as he can stock the parts and be trained in that.

 

[Jak Nazryth]

Just got a not-so-strange but little thought of question.

What are starship windows made of?

How tough would it be to shoot one out? Armor points? And would it fall under the same rule as ship sized weapons vs personal sized weapons when dealing with the (multiples of 50 rule) etc..

Can you fire a laser weapon )rifle or pistol) through a ships window without effecting the damage and range?

My players are keeping me on my toes!
Any thoughts?

 

[rust]

I have always gone by rule of thumb that a Class A high port can service TL 16 and lower, a Class B can service TL 14 and lower, and an class C can "sometimes" service TL 12 and lower.
Any truth to that? Or do you have to search out individual worlds with the appropriate tech level regardless of the type of High port in orbit?

Most starports within the Imperium are Imperial property and run by an
Imperial organization, therefore I would expect them to be able to repair
all standard vehicles used by the Imperium, up to and including TL 15. All
common standardized spare parts for the Imperial ships should also fit in-
to ships of other designs, although some tinkering may be necessary to
make them work.

 

[barnest2]

Windows will probably be made of the equivalent of star wars's transparisteel.
Add in to this the high likelihood of combat shutters for them, and there is not going to be a real difference.
As for aiming at them? Try aiming at something that will take less than 1% of the ship from 20,000 kilometres away...
(even short range is over 1000km)

 

[rust]

Can you fire a laser weapon )rifle or pistol) through a ships window without effecting the damage and range?

Yes, if you remove the glass (or whatever is used) from the window be-
fore the laser shot. Otherwise you would have to hit at exactly the right
angle, or the shot would vaporize the glass (or whatever) or would be re-
flected sideways. Besides, there is a high probability that the glass (...)
is treated or coated in some way to keep intense light and especially ul-
traviolet radiation out whenever the ship is comparatively close to a star,
and this could also interfere with a laser beam.

 

[DFW]

Just got a not-so-strange but little thought of question.

What are starship windows made of?

Star ships in my game (and in GUPRS Trav) don't have windows. Not one good reason for them and, many reasons to not have them...

 

[Jak Nazryth]

Windows will probably be made of the equivalent of star wars's transparisteel.
Add in to this the high likelihood of combat shutters for them, and there is not going to be a real difference.
As for aiming at them? Try aiming at something that will take less than 1% of the ship from 20,000 kilometres away...
(even short range is over 1000km)

What I was getting at is (and their question) is if they have landed and are sitting on the bridge, or in the air lock looking out a small glass window, can they fire through the window with a personal sized laser weapon at a bad guy, while safe inside the ship? And... can someone outside on the ground (or in a EVA suite) fire a laser weapon inside the ship?

Also, if they wanted to bust in a ship, would it be easy to shoot an ACR or some other slug thrower at the bridge glass and crawl in?
That sort of thing.

I know we've had discussions on the mining laser thread in regards to personal vs ship sized weapons... I was just wondering if this sort of thing has come up in any other situations?

Like I said, my players are keeping on my toes! :?

 

[barnest2]

I would say no. You'll just damage the glass if it isn't super strong transparent materiel.
Equally, the glass will be thick enough (I would hope) that a slug round will just bury itself in it.

 

[DFW]

What I was getting at is (and their question) is if they have landed and are sitting on the bridge, or in the air lock looking out a small glass window, can they fire through the window with a personal sized laser weapon at a bad guy, while safe inside the ship? And... can someone outside on the ground (or in a EVA suite) fire a laser weapon inside the ship?

Even todays military lasers are used outside the visual EM spectrum. The "glass" would melt. Free Electron lasers would be what Trav ships would be using.

 

[barnest2]

Even todays military lasers are used outside the visual EM spectrum.

yay for YAL-1!!!

 

[rust]

Also, if they wanted to bust in a ship, would it be easy to shoot an ACR or some other slug thrower at the bridge glass and crawl in?

The bridge window is designed to withstand both the impact of meteoritic
dust and the heat and air pressure of an atmospheric entry, so anything
short of a plasma bazooka would hardly be able to cause enough damage.

 

[DFW]

Even todays military lasers are used outside the visual EM spectrum.

yay for YAL-1!!!

That's a chemical laser. The newest ones aren't. MUCH more advanced than YAL-1

 

[barnest2]

That's a chemical laser. The newest ones aren't. MUCH more advanced than YAL-1

I know, but having a flying laser cannon, is still very awesome...

 

[Jak Nazryth]

Also, if they wanted to bust in a ship, would it be easy to shoot an ACR or some other slug thrower at the bridge glass and crawl in?

The bridge window is designed to withstand both the impact of meteoritic
dust and the heat and air pressure of an atmospheric entry, so anything
short of a plasma bazooka would hardly be able to cause enough damage.

Plasma Bazooka? They have those?
I want one.... 8)