Hardpoints

[DickNervous]

I know that the ship design rules will be in High Guard, but I have a question regarding arming ships where the standard design does not include weapons. In the 1st Edition ships that didn't have weapons (like the Type-R Subsidized Merchant) still had hardpoints listed where you could add weapons in the specifications.

It is also stated that a ship has a hardpoint per 100 tons. So that you could mount weapons even on ships that didn't list hardpoints (such as a lab ship or yacht).

In the new rules hardpoints are not listed for any ship. Does this mean that you will not be able to add weapons to ships like the Type-R Subsidized Merchant?

If this is all detailed in High Guard the only drawback I see is that you can't even add a weapon to a standard ship without being required to buy a 2nd book.

 

[AndrewW]

That hasn't changed. You still get one hardpoint per 100 tons.

 

[DickNervous]

That hasn't changed. You still get one hardpoint per 100 tons.

That's good news.

 

[Condottiere]

Firm points seem an interesting option.

 

[allanimal]

That hasn't changed. You still get one hardpoint per 100 tons.

Will it be mentioned in the core book?

 

[phavoc]

It's mentioned as "1 turret per 100 tons". But the concept of 1 hardpoint isn't mentioned.

 

[Condottiere]

It's a hard rule, probably could have a more flexible interpretation in High Guard.

 

[Reynard]

I haven't heard any official reason to drop the hardpoint designation. Seems though that, as in the past, hardpoints were a bit confusing. Some saw the term as an abstract placeholder for future weapons while some read it as a specific structure that turrets are attached to. Could be just saying "One turret per 100 tons of ship" cleared the confusion. Buy a turret, have it mounted (installation included with cost) and add weapons when you're ready.

 

[arcador]

Also hardpoints counted for bay and barbete weapons, although the weight of those could read 100t.

 

[MongooseMatt]

I haven't heard any official reason to drop the hardpoint designation. Seems though that, as in the past, hardpoints were a bit confusing. Some saw the term as an abstract placeholder for future weapons

This is pretty much how we have gone in High Guard. A Hardpoint is a potential, nit a physical thing. That said, if you want it as a physical thing in your universe, nothing will stop you.

 

[-Daniel-]

This is pretty much how we have gone in High Guard. A Hardpoint is a potential, nit a physical thing. That said, if you want it as a physical thing in your universe, nothing will stop you.

I always thought of a hard point as both.

In my garage there is a set of pipes against one wall. They are a water line and a gas line. There is also a set of electrical plugs. Right now I have nothing hooked up there, but clearly the previous owner had a washer and dryer set up there. So the space has the potential to be a home laundry space and it has the physical set up to be used that way, but at the moment it isn't.

I always pictured a hard point as a space that has the right set up so a turret could be mounted there, but isn't. It has the right hardware interfaces needed for power etc if a turret was to be mounted there, but for now they are just capped off just like the water and gas lines in my garage.

 

[Condottiere]

The hard point is strengthening the structure so that it can be physically stressed, in our case it's a convenient method of allocating surface area.

Whether or not I disagree depends on the rules implementation.

 

[phavoc]

This is pretty much how we have gone in High Guard. A Hardpoint is a potential, nit a physical thing. That said, if you want it as a physical thing in your universe, nothing will stop you.

Remember that previous rule sets called for hard points to be set aside during the construction phase and were not easily retrofittable.

I do understand where you are going with this. But you need to balance the explanations so that they are clear to new and old players alike. Efforts to streamline things can do wonders, but they can also cause additional problems.