Railgun house rule and question

[Jak Nazryth]

In High Guard it describes Rail Guns as large ship-sized Gauss weapons.
Even though it is not mentioned in the rules (that I can find), it is implied that a Rail Gun is armor piercing just like it's smaller cousin. They only do 3d6 (and can't even be fit into a normal 3 space turret, barbette is smallest version) and are only short ranged weapons to boot. They also run out of ammo unlike P-beams, that do 3d6 plus crew hits in a turret, and 4d6 + crew hits in a barbette.
I think this is only logical, so it is my house rule. A railgun barbette ignores the first 3 points of ship armor,

For bay weapons... I'm up for suggestions. One idea is that the armor piercing factor does not increase, there's just a lot more projectiles flying at you (x4 and X6). The other idea is to add the multiplier to the dice number, so a small bay ignores 7 points of armor and the large bay ignores 9 points of armor.

Here is my question though. Should you be able to get special rounds like DSAP, similar to the smaller versions, for the ship-sized weapons?

Thoughts? Comments?

 

[phavoc]

In High Guard it describes Rail Guns as large ship-sized Gauss weapons.
Even though it is not mentioned in the rules (that I can find), it is implied that a Rail Gun is armor piercing just like it's smaller cousin. They only do 3d6 (and can't even be fit into a normal 3 space turret, barbette is smallest version) and are only short ranged weapons to boot. They also run out of ammo unlike P-beams, that do 3d6 plus crew hits in a turret, and 4d6 + crew hits in a barbette.
I think this is only logical, so it is my house rule. A railgun barbette ignores the first 3 points of ship armor,

For bay weapons... I'm up for suggestions. One idea is that the armor piercing factor does not increase, there's just a lot more projectiles flying at you (x4 and X6). The other idea is to add the multiplier to the dice number, so a small bay ignores 7 points of armor and the large bay ignores 9 points of armor.

Here is my question though. Should you be able to get special rounds like DSAP, similar to the smaller versions, for the ship-sized weapons?

Thoughts? Comments?

There's a couple of problems with this. First is that the way damage is calculated in Traveller. Kinetic energy doesn't really translate for damage, thus railguns are, in my opinion, under-powered. Second, it's starship armor, not standard armor. With the damage variable of what a starship can take vs. a ground vehicle, its not a good comparison. A massive gauss cannon should, by default, be armor piercing to start (but they aren't). Finally, in the rule book a railgun bay is simply a group of linked railguns firing as one. Pretty stupid in my book... but eh.. I make that comment about a lot of stuff..

I would have railguns as short-range weapons, but massively powerful and damaging. Even giving ships the ability to have spinal gauss cannons that accelerate their 'slugs' to insanely high speeds and let physics take over once they impact their target.

 

[DFW]

Naw, starship weapons already have their power figured into their overall damage. That's why they all do huge amount more against vehicle size targets. Plus, railguns would be ineffective against a target that that was >20 kilometers distant that was also evading.

 

[phavoc]

Naw, starship weapons already have their power figured into their overall damage. That's why they all do huge amount more against vehicle size targets.[/quote

Never said they didn't. Just said that using the armor piercing for standard weaponry and comparing it to starship combat wasn't a good comparison.

Plus, railguns would be ineffective against a target that that was >20 kilometers distant that was also evading.

All depends on (a) the size of the target, and (b) the velocity of the round. If you boosted the round fast enough 20km is meaningless. 200,000km against a small target its going to be hard to hit a target that is evading. 200,000km against a 500,000Dton Tigress... well, something that big can only move so far.

Put a smart warhead on that round, with thrusters, and it becomes a kinetic-energy missile. There's lots that could be done, but not under how Traveller treats kinetic energy weaponry.

 

[DFW]

All depends on (a) the size of the target, and (b) the velocity of the round. If you boosted the round fast enough 20km is meaningless.

Just how fast do you think they go?