Optional Rules For Ground Weapons VS Starships [Revised]

[Solomani666]

Ground Forces VS Starships Optional Rules:

1. Based on a unanimous vote by members of this forum, damage to starships from ground based weapons is damage POINTS / 50 and not damage DICE /50.

2. When firing at a starship, every additional ground weapon beyond the first can add its full damage points if its primary damage radius is 5 meters or more, before dividing the total damage points by 50 in order to calculate the total damage.

3. Starship weapons firing more than once every 6 minutes (every 3 combat rounds as per Mercenary) are assumed to be firing in a 'low power' setting and only do 20% of their normal damage.

4. Beam lasers have an Auto rating of 4 during ground combat. (The beam is continuous for several seconds and can be traversed onto the additional target.)

Thus a starships single beam laser will do 1d6 x 50 x .20 = 10d6 of damage per shot every three combat rounds when fired in this mode. The gunner could elect to wait a full 6 minutes for the capacitors to recharge and unleash the weapons full 50d6 capacity. If the weapon is fired before the full 6 minutes are up, it will still only fire at the low power setting.

A triple beam laser will do 3 x 10d6 of damage in low power mode and 3 x 50d6 in full power mode. (Ignoring the probable plasma detonation of the atmosphere that would blow up the turret and do an additional 1/2d6 damage the ship.)


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[rust]

Why do we need a rule to make starship weapons less efficient and the
weapons of ground forces more efficient in this kind of combat ? :?

 

[Solomani666]

Why do we need a rule to make starship weapons less efficient and the
weapons of ground forces more efficient in this kind of combat ? :?

If a starship pulse laser can fire every 3 combat rounds (18 seconds) and do 100d6 damage with each shot then why can't a ships gunner fire 60 times during normal ship combat.

The additional 1/2 damage from additional weapons when firing at a ship is probably due to all the weapons not hitting the ship in the same spot. A weapon with a 5 meter damage radius should not have this problem.

Since meson weapons ignore the ships armored hull and explode inside, they should do considerable damage even to a starship.

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[barnest2]

why can't a ships gunner fire 60 times during normal ship combat.

he/she can. and does. The fact its fired once represents many firings across a number of trajectories that the computer spews out based on enemy speed and possible manoeuvres. So yeah, a pulse laser probably does fire every 18 seconds, but it will only hit once or so per 6 minutes because of ranges and speeds involved...

probably due to all the weapons not hitting the ship in the same spot

Or how tough a starships skin is compared too a normal armoured...thing... Even I think this needs some changes though (the amount of damage personal hevay weapons do too starship I mean)

 

[DFW]

A weapon with a 5 meter damage radius should not have this problem..

You think that ships weapons (larger & more powerful) have a smaller damage radius?

 

[barnest2]

A weapon with a 5 meter damage radius should not have this problem..

You think that ships weapons (larger & more powerful) have a smaller damage radius?

I think he is saying the half damage that each personal scale weapon adds should be increased too full if the blast radius is over 5 metres... I don't think it affects starship scale weaponry...

 

[Solomani666]

A weapon with a 5 meter damage radius should not have this problem..

You think that ships weapons (larger & more powerful) have a smaller damage radius?

I never said that they did.

But since you asked, some weapons, yes.
A Fusion Y gun will have a larger damage radius than a ships pulse laser.

 

[Solomani666]

A weapon with a 5 meter damage radius should not have this problem..

You think that ships weapons (larger & more powerful) have a smaller damage radius?

I think he is saying the half damage that each personal scale weapon adds should be increased too full if the blast radius is over 5 metres... I don't think it affects starship scale weaponry...

Exactly. The rule, as it stipulates, is meant to be applied to ground forces firing at ships.

 

[rust]

A Fusion Y gun will have a larger damage radius than a ships pulse laser.

I doubt it, mainly because a ship's laser fired through an atmosphere will
have a beam which will get wider with the distance to the target. If you
are looking for a way to reduce the damage of starship lasers, you could
rule that the damage declines with the atmosphere's density and the dis-
tance to the target.

 

[DFW]

But since you asked, some weapons, yes.
A Fusion Y gun will have a larger damage radius than a ships pulse laser.

Doubt it considering the minimal spread that occurs with a laser over 10's of thousands of kilometers.

 

[Solomani666]

A Fusion Y gun will have a larger damage radius than a ships pulse laser.

I doubt it, mainly because a ship's laser fired through an atmosphere will
have a beam which will get wider with the distance to the target. If you
are looking for a way to reduce the damage of starship lasers, you could
rule that the damage declines with the atmosphere's density and the dis-
tance to the target.

1. No, lasers do not defocus that much through a atmosphere with relatively clear weather. Even a simple laser pointer will still make a small dot after travelling miles. Very powerful lasers cause their own atmospheric turbulance and are more likely to defocus. Which is a very good reason for a starship to use a lower power setting in an atmosphere.

2. If a ships laser beam got to be 5 meters wide at the target, it might be able to give a few troopers a tan at best, but it would not do any damage.

 

[Solomani666]

But since you asked, some weapons, yes.
A Fusion Y gun will have a larger damage radius than a ships pulse laser.

Doubt it considering the minimal spread that occurs with a laser over 10's of thousands of kilometers.

Are you even READING the posts before replying?


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[rust]

2. If a ships laser beam got to be 5 meters wide at the target, it might be able to give a few troopers a tan at best, but it would not do any damage.

If you put 400 MJ into a radius of 5 m, the result is very different from a
tan. :lol:

 

[Solomani666]

2. If a ships laser beam got to be 5 meters wide at the target, it might be able to give a few troopers a tan at best, but it would not do any damage.

If you put 400 MJ into a radius of 5 m, the result is very different from a
tan. :lol:

A 5 meter beam would most likely defocus. Skattering would be terrible. Atmospheric turbulance and sheering effects would be multiplied. It would attenuate so badly that you would be lucky to get a fraction of the energy to the target. It would be utterly, utterly, utterly worthless in bad weather. So yeah, a tan. Note that I did not rule out a nasty case of melanoma.

It certainly won't go through tank armor.

The optimal aperature for a laser in an atmosphere is about 11cm, and this you would probably focus to about 1cm at the target.


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[rust]

A 5 meter beam would most likely defocus ...

Are you even READING the posts before replying?

I wrote about 400 MJ on a 5 m wide area, almost 5,000 kcal per square
meter, sufficient to raise the body temperature of anyone there by more
than 5° C in an instant, so the troopers would die immediately of brain da-
mage.

 

[Solomani666]

A 5 meter beam would most likely defocus ...

Are you even READING the posts before replying?

I wrote about 400 MJ on a 5 m wide area, almost 5,000 kcal per square
meter, sufficient to raise the body temperature of anyone there by more
than 5° C in an instant, so the troopers would die immediately of brain da-
mage.

Read my post again.

Most of the energy would go to heating the atmosphere between the laser and the target. I listed a bunch of other reasons why this won't in the previous reply.

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[rust]

Most of the energy would go to heating the atmosphere between the laser and the target.

Just in case you really have a problem to understand this: I mean 400 MJ
of energy arriving at the target, not 400 MJ of energy entering the atmo-
sphere. Got it now ? :lol:

 

[Solomani666]

Most of the energy would go to heating the atmosphere between the laser and the target.

Just in case you really have a problem to understand this: I mean 400 MJ
of energy arriving at the target, not 400 MJ of energy entering the atmo-
sphere. Got it now ? :lol:

How are you going to get a 5 meter beam to actually deliver 400 MJ at the target. Silly me, I understand now. You could have saved a lot of confusion if you just said "Deathstar" in your origional post!


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[Solomani666]

why can't a ships gunner fire 60 times during normal ship combat.

he/she can. and does. The fact its fired once represents many firings across a number of trajectories that the computer spews out based on enemy speed and possible manoeuvres. So yeah, a pulse laser probably does fire every 18 seconds, but it will only hit once or so per 6 minutes because of ranges and speeds involved...

probably due to all the weapons not hitting the ship in the same spot

Or how tough a starships skin is compared too a normal armoured...thing... Even I think this needs some changes though (the amount of damage personal hevay weapons do too starship I mean)

If that is the case then a chacter with say Gunner 4 should be able to inflict a total of 40d6 of damage with a single pulse laser turret on any orbital facility or any ship that has lost it's M-Drive per each combat round.


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[rust]

How are you going to get a 5 meter beam to actually deliver 400 MJ at the target.

You are aware that 1 Gigajoule, 1,000 Megajoules, is the equivalent of
only 250 kg of TNT ?

One really does not need a Death Star for a laser powerful enough to
transfer the energy of 100 kg of TNT through the atmosphere to a target.