New Ship Guns

[Geesuv]

So I've been using the Traveller system for a few months and I'm mostly happy with it. One of the things that has bugged me is the Ship weapons in the core game. So for various reasons, I've come up with my own set of ship guns that have the kind of character I'd like to see.
The things I hope to do with these new guns are...

1. Move away from Multi-Turrets. I find Multi-Turrets a bit of a needless complication with more dice rolling than is really necessary. So all the Turret weapons here are intended to be used on single mounts only.
2. Remove Sandcasters. This is just a thematic thing with me. I like their role, I just don't like the idea of ships spewing dirt. Not sci-fi enough.
3. Make gun comparisons less cut and dry. I don't like that Traveller has some weapons which are better than others in every way without having any real trade-off.
4. A move Towards Barbettes. I think that barrettes should be the mount of choice for small combat ships, So I've got a better choice of Barbette Weapons.

This is the first draft of the stats but I think I've got some decent balance. Let me know what you guys think!




Deflectors – Deflectors are turreted defensive devices that produce a brief, but intense, burst of gravatic energy. This can disrupt or deflect some types of incoming fire. Plasma and Mass Driver fire can be deflected. Missiles produced by a factory with access to gravatic technology is also unaffected (Breacher Gravatics are simple to produce and counteract Grav Shields) otherwise missles can be “shot down” as with point defences.

Deflectors work just like sandcasters except they do not use ammunition and reduce damage by 2d6. Deflectors do not work on Lasers. Each deflector can only be used on a single attack per combat round.

Plasma Weapons – Plasma Accelerator Cannons (PAC) work by propelling packets of supercharged particles at enemy ships. This plasma transfers massive amounts of energy on impact, this can damage internal systems even if the bolt itself does not penetrate. These weapon systems are amongst the most devastating in wide use today.

Plasma Weapons ignore the armour of the target ship by a number of points equal to the number of damage dice. E.g. A 4d6 Tactical-PAC ignores 4 points of armour.

Laser Weapons – There are two primary types of Laser Weapon. The Point Defense Laser and the Laser Cannon.

The Point Defence Laser (PDL) is a light, short ranged laser. Primarily used to shoot down incoming missiles. It is also used as an anti-fighter weapon.

A PDL can be used for Point Defence.

The High Energy Laser Cannon, (HELC) while not as devastating as PACs, are powerful weapons in the own right. They focus a cutting beam of light at their target, directly causing damage. They are accurate at longer ranges and Deflectors do not disrupt their fire due to the fact that it does not use any physical medium.

A HELC cannot be used for Point Defence and is not affected by deflectors.

Rail Guns – A Rail Gun (RG) is a mass driver weapons that operates by fires metal at extremely high velocities. These weapons work on pure kinetic energy to cause damage. Rail Guns can be more compact that other weapons but they have much shorter range. Their strength lies in their high rate of fire, delivering a withering hail of fire that devastate under defended ships.

Rail Guns have auto-fire ratings and require ammunition to fire. Each ton of Light Rail Gun Ammo contains 80 shots. Each ton of Rail Gun bay Ammo contains 40 shots.
Note: The range of these Rail Guns is not capped at short like in the High Guard rules.



Weapon, Dam, Range, Mount, Tonnage, Special

PDL, 1d6, Short Turret, 1, Ignores Deflector, Can Counter Missiles
Heavy-PDL, 2d6, Short, Turret, 1, Ignores Deflector, Can Counter Missiles
Tactical-HELC, 4d6, Long, Barbette, 5, Ignores Deflector
HELC, 6d6, Long, Bay, 50, Ignores Deflector
Heavy-HELC, 9d6, Long, Bay, 100, Ignores Deflector

Tactical-PAC, 4d6, Medium, Barbette, 5, Armour Piercing
PAC, 6d6, Medium, Bay, 50, Armour Piercing
Heavy-PAC, 9d6, Medium, Bay, 100, Armour Piercing

Light-RG, 2d6, Short, Turret, 1, Auto 4
Tactical-RG, 2d6, Short, Barbette, 5, Auto 8
RG, 3d6, Short, Bay, 50, Auto 8
Heavy-RG, 3d6, Short, Bay, 100, Auto 12

 

[AndrewW]

Deflectors – Deflectors are turreted defensive devices that produce a brief, but intense, burst of gravatic energy. This can disrupt or deflect some types of incoming fire. Plasma and Mass Driver fire can be deflected. Missiles produced by a factory with access to gravatic technology is also unaffected (Breacher Gravatics are simple to produce and counteract Grav Shields) otherwise missles can be “shot down” as with point defences.

Might give details on the gravatic missile type, like cost and TL, other differences from the standard missile.

Plasma Weapons – Plasma Accelerator Cannons (PAC) work by propelling packets of supercharged particles at enemy ships. This plasma transfers massive amounts of energy on impact, this can damage internal systems even if the bolt itself does not penetrate. These weapon systems are amongst the most devastating in wide use today.

Could use details on the damage to internal systems. Does EMP shielding protect against this?

The Point Defence Laser (PDL) is a light, short ranged laser. Primarily used to shoot down incoming missiles. It is also used as an anti-fighter weapon.

Since fighters can use longer range weapons just like other ships with short range they may not be very effective against fighters.

 

[phavoc]

So I've been using the Traveller system for a few months and I'm mostly happy with it. One of the things that has bugged me is the Ship weapons in the core game. So for various reasons, I've come up with my own set of ship guns that have the kind of character I'd like to see.
The things I hope to do with these new guns are...

1. Move away from Multi-Turrets. I find Multi-Turrets a bit of a needless complication with more dice rolling than is really necessary. So all the Turret weapons here are intended to be used on single mounts only.
2. Remove Sandcasters. This is just a thematic thing with me. I like their role, I just don't like the idea of ships spewing dirt. Not sci-fi enough.
3. Make gun comparisons less cut and dry. I don't like that Traveller has some weapons which are better than others in every way without having any real trade-off.
4. A move Towards Barbettes. I think that barrettes should be the mount of choice for small combat ships, So I've got a better choice of Barbette Weapons.

This is the first draft of the stats but I think I've got some decent balance. Let me know what you guys think!




Deflectors – Deflectors are turreted defensive devices that produce a brief, but intense, burst of gravatic energy. This can disrupt or deflect some types of incoming fire. Plasma and Mass Driver fire can be deflected. Missiles produced by a factory with access to gravatic technology is also unaffected (Breacher Gravatics are simple to produce and counteract Grav Shields) otherwise missles can be “shot down” as with point defences.

Sounds more like magnetic shielding than the black globes that exist in the current Traveller universe. One thing you might consider is to adapt the existing screens into your mix.

Deflectors work just like sandcasters except they do not use ammunition and reduce damage by 2d6. Deflectors do not work on Lasers. Each deflector can only be used on a single attack per combat round.

Plasma Weapons – Plasma Accelerator Cannons (PAC) work by propelling packets of supercharged particles at enemy ships. This plasma transfers massive amounts of energy on impact, this can damage internal systems even if the bolt itself does not penetrate. These weapon systems are
amongst the most devastating in wide use today.

Plasma/Fusion weapons exist now. The issue is that they are shorter ranged than energy weapons. But if you can get close enough to you target they can inflict a great deal of damage

Plasma Weapons ignore the armour of the target ship by a number of points equal to the number of damage dice. E.g. A 4d6 Tactical-PAC ignores 4 points of armour.

Laser Weapons – There are two primary types of Laser Weapon. The Point Defense Laser and the Laser Cannon.

The Point Defence Laser (PDL) is a light, short ranged laser. Primarily used to shoot down incoming missiles. It is also used as an anti-fighter weapon.

A PDL can be used for Point Defence.

The High Energy Laser Cannon, (HELC) while not as devastating as PACs, are powerful weapons in the own right. They focus a cutting beam of light at their target, directly causing damage. They are accurate at longer ranges and Deflectors do not disrupt their fire due to the fact that it does not use any physical medium.

A HELC cannot be used for Point Defence and is not affected by deflectors.

It has never made a lot of sense to me that anti-starship weapons are equally useful in the anti-missile role. Point defense is one of the areas that Traveller has been lacking in for a very long time. You might also think about adding in counter-missiles and breaking your missile tech up into small counter missile/anti-fighter, standard ships, and capital ships.

Rail Guns – A Rail Gun (RG) is a mass driver weapons that operates by fires metal at extremely high velocities. These weapons work on pure kinetic energy to cause damage. Rail Guns can be more compact that other weapons but they have much shorter range. Their strength lies in their high rate of fire, delivering a withering hail of fire that devastate under defended ships.

Rail Guns have auto-fire ratings and require ammunition to fire. Each ton of Light Rail Gun Ammo contains 80 shots. Each ton of Rail Gun bay Ammo contains 40 shots.
Note: The range of these Rail Guns is not capped at short like in the High Guard rules.

Rail guns are going to not be as effective at longer range because your projectiles are not light-speed weapons like energy beams. Ships are travelling at high speeds, and whenever you do shoot at a ship more than light-second distant, you are essentially trying to figure out where that ship will be when your beam/projectiles hit. With slower-speed weapons, rail guns and mass drivers can only really count on stationary targets to remain stationary. Larger ships, like a 500,000 battleship will be easier to hit, but a small 50ton ship, or even a 200ton free trader is going to be hard to hit at a distance with tiny metal objects.

Weapon, Dam, Range, Mount, Tonnage, Special

PDL, 1d6, Short Turret, 1, Ignores Deflector, Can Counter Missiles
Heavy-PDL, 2d6, Short, Turret, 1, Ignores Deflector, Can Counter Missiles
Tactical-HELC, 4d6, Long, Barbette, 5, Ignores Deflector
HELC, 6d6, Long, Bay, 50, Ignores Deflector
Heavy-HELC, 9d6, Long, Bay, 100, Ignores Deflector

Tactical-PAC, 4d6, Medium, Barbette, 5, Armour Piercing
PAC, 6d6, Medium, Bay, 50, Armour Piercing
Heavy-PAC, 9d6, Medium, Bay, 100, Armour Piercing

Light-RG, 2d6, Short, Turret, 1, Auto 4
Tactical-RG, 2d6, Short, Barbette, 5, Auto 8
RG, 3d6, Short, Bay, 50, Auto 8
Heavy-RG, 3d6, Short, Bay, 100, Auto 12

 

[Geesuv]

The Gravatics on the missiles are just a reason why the Deflectors don't work on them. I probably should have made that more clear
What I was trying to get across was that the, lets call it the Gravatic Breacher Module, Its built in as standard on all missiles. Only low-tech missiles don't have them included.

The internal Damaged mentioned with the PACs is how they reduce armour. Its not a piercing effect, The bolt burns right through.

Good point on the anti-fighter bit. I probably should have wrote that its equipped onto fighters...

I don't have cost or TL sorted yet.

 

[phavoc]

Missiles might be moving too fast/be too massive for the defelctors to work against them. If you consider them to be more like particle shielding to protect the ship against fine particles while it fly's about in space, you could say that it also gives (with the appropriate increase in power to increase field strength) 'some' defense against weapons. But shapes that are too massive (like a missile moving at high velocity) are not affected by it.

Thus you've explained away the discrepancy and don't have to modify your rules any.

 

[Geesuv]

I think you're right. I'll just say that Deflectors are ineffective against Self-propelled munitions.

In regards to the Rail Guns, yeah I can see where they were coming from, capping the range. I just like to imagine that the bolts are going extremely fast and, with enough shots being thrown out, still have a decent chance of hitting the target.
But I just like to have Rail Guns... ^^;

 

[phavoc]

I think you're right. I'll just say that Deflectors are ineffective against Self-propelled munitions.

In regards to the Rail Guns, yeah I can see where they were coming from, capping the range. I just like to imagine that the bolts are going extremely fast and, with enough shots being thrown out, still have a decent chance of hitting the target.
But I just like to have Rail Guns... ^^;

Well, actually... that's not quite the case. Unless you can put out like a quadrillion shells or some obscene and impossible number. The farther the distance the target is, the more rounds you need to put downrange to counter any possible position. Think of it like a cone... you will know, basically, where the ship will be when the rounds you fire are going to arrive at the target. But, the farther away it is, the more of the larger end of the cone that you will have to fill with rounds to possibly hit your target. And this assumes that you accurately know the maximum agility of your target to evade your fire.

And... of course, using objects that are NOT travelling at light speed, you have to factor in the course and direction of your target. If you are chasing it, it gets even harder to predict because you have to overcome velocity. If its coming at you, you have to factor the additional speed in...

Basically it's prolly a good thing Trav ship combat rules are very, very simplified.

 

[Mithras]

I understand the range limit on railguns. Could a submunition system mitigate the awful chance of a hit?

A single railgun slug could carry 20,000 tungsten or DPU submunitions that create that cone effect. Being hit by one submunition might compare with a micrometeorid strike.

The ultimate shotgun?

OR

Could the slugs have a powered terminal stage? This would make them more efficient and faster than a missile. The railgun propels the slug into the vicinity of the enemy craft, on-board rockets use thermal tracking to get onto the target in the final approach.

Faster than a missile? Harder to evade?

 

[phavoc]

I understand the range limit on railguns. Could a submunition system mitigate the awful chance of a hit?

A single railgun slug could carry 20,000 tungsten or DPU submunitions that create that cone effect. Being hit by one submunition might compare with a micrometeorid strike.

The ultimate shotgun?

OR

Could the slugs have a powered terminal stage? This would make them more efficient and faster than a missile. The railgun propels the slug into the vicinity of the enemy craft, on-board rockets use thermal tracking to get onto the target in the final approach.

Faster than a missile? Harder to evade?

You would be better off using the railguns to accelerate the round towards the target, and then have some sort of propulsion system (say a solid rocket engine) being engaged at the appropriate time. 'Steerable' rounds such as that would be next to impossible to hit with starship lasers.

Though you'd have to factor in exactly how the round was moving (as in coming in obliquely, from the front or rear), and then how 'smart' you wanted the tracking system, so that the ship could try to use decoys or whatnot to evade/confuse the round.

That's why for most space battles you see its either guided weapons or light-speed weapons. But there's no reason why you can't add to the underlying game.

 

[locarno24]

A mass driver missile launcher isn't a bad idea - it's been discussed before - essentially it would jump a missile straight to a very high base velocity before its drive began accelerating it (since it's sufficient to get out to short range less than 6 minutes after firing).

At longer ranges it wouldn't matter much, but at close/short and possibly medium it would reduce the flight time (and the defenders reaction time) quite a bit.

Of course, the launcher would have to be much bigger. A railgun barbette flings a single railgun slug (volume 1/20 dTon) so asking it to fling missiles (volume 1/12 dTon) is going to significantly cut into its muzzle velocity.