I used to play Classic Traveller many years ago. I’ve starting playing again using Mongoose Traveller 2e with the Update versions of the books. I’m reading through the Core Rulebook and Highguard and have some questions relating to weapons and large ships.
Hardpoints.
I know a ship gets 1 hardpoint per 100 tons. For my example, lets use the Mida Agasham destroyer (Highguard page 227), a 3000 ton military ship. It should get 30 hardpoints. This ship has a small particle beam bay, 20 triple turrets (6x missile, 8x pulse and 6x sand) and 2 point defense batteries. According to Highguard, a small or medium bay takes 1 hardpoint while a large bay takes 5 hardpoints. Our 3000 ton destroyer looks like it has used 23 hardpoints; small bay (1), turrets (20) and point defense (2). So does that mean that I still have 7 more hardpoints available? Assuming I am having this ship built, or one similar, and had the cash and available tonnage on the ship, could I add 7 more medium bays or 7 more regular turrets or even 1 large large bay? I realize that it would be difficult to have the tonnage and power available but I’m just looking at hardpoints. My issue is with the number of hardpoints a bay takes up. I would think that a small bay might be 5 hardpoints, a medium bay is 10 and a large bay is 15 hardpoints. In Highguard page 31, it shows small and medium bays take up 1 hardpoint each while a large takes up 5 hard points. Am I missing something or is the available tonnage of the ship and available power the biggest deterrents for not adding lotsof bays?
Damage from multiple turrets.
Using our destroyer above, if I shoot the 8 triple pulse laser turrets at a target, do I need to resolve each turret attack separately? I know that the 3 pulse lasers per turret are treated as one attack with one damage score. But can I calculate all 8 triple turrets worth of damage, assuming I hit? The Core Rulebook and Highguard state:
“For example, if a triple turret with three pulse lasers is fired, it will only make one attack roll but will deal 2D+4 damage (two additional pulse lasers each adding +1 per damage dice).”
The damage of one pulse laser weapon is 2D. If I add one for each additional pulse laser weapons, that should be a +2. So a successful attack should be 2D+2, not 2D+4. But I’ll use their modifiers for this.
There is no mention of a coordinated attack of similar turrets or linked turrets being an option. I would think there should be a way but maybe I just missed it. The reason I’m asking about this is that one triple pulse laser turret would do 2D+4 damage. If I roll a 4 and a 3 for a total of 7, my total damage for that turret would be 11. If I attack and hit a ship with high armor, I may not do any damage. If I was shooting a triple beam laser turret, my damage would be 1D+4. I couldn’t get through a target ship’s armor if it was 10 or higher. If I could link all 8 pulse beam laser turrets and using the same damage modifier, my damage might be 2D+46 (using their doubled add modifier). Or even 2D+23. Now I would be doing damage to the ship’s hull. Against our destroyer, critical hits are ignored from turrets and barbettes. So the attacker could only do a little hull damage from their turrets and barbettes.
I probably missed something but would appreciate some help. Thanks.
Hardpoints.
I know a ship gets 1 hardpoint per 100 tons. For my example, lets use the Mida Agasham destroyer (Highguard page 227), a 3000 ton military ship. It should get 30 hardpoints. This ship has a small particle beam bay, 20 triple turrets (6x missile, 8x pulse and 6x sand) and 2 point defense batteries. According to Highguard, a small or medium bay takes 1 hardpoint while a large bay takes 5 hardpoints. Our 3000 ton destroyer looks like it has used 23 hardpoints; small bay (1), turrets (20) and point defense (2). So does that mean that I still have 7 more hardpoints available? Assuming I am having this ship built, or one similar, and had the cash and available tonnage on the ship, could I add 7 more medium bays or 7 more regular turrets or even 1 large large bay? I realize that it would be difficult to have the tonnage and power available but I’m just looking at hardpoints. My issue is with the number of hardpoints a bay takes up. I would think that a small bay might be 5 hardpoints, a medium bay is 10 and a large bay is 15 hardpoints. In Highguard page 31, it shows small and medium bays take up 1 hardpoint each while a large takes up 5 hard points. Am I missing something or is the available tonnage of the ship and available power the biggest deterrents for not adding lotsof bays?
Damage from multiple turrets.
Using our destroyer above, if I shoot the 8 triple pulse laser turrets at a target, do I need to resolve each turret attack separately? I know that the 3 pulse lasers per turret are treated as one attack with one damage score. But can I calculate all 8 triple turrets worth of damage, assuming I hit? The Core Rulebook and Highguard state:
“For example, if a triple turret with three pulse lasers is fired, it will only make one attack roll but will deal 2D+4 damage (two additional pulse lasers each adding +1 per damage dice).”
The damage of one pulse laser weapon is 2D. If I add one for each additional pulse laser weapons, that should be a +2. So a successful attack should be 2D+2, not 2D+4. But I’ll use their modifiers for this.
There is no mention of a coordinated attack of similar turrets or linked turrets being an option. I would think there should be a way but maybe I just missed it. The reason I’m asking about this is that one triple pulse laser turret would do 2D+4 damage. If I roll a 4 and a 3 for a total of 7, my total damage for that turret would be 11. If I attack and hit a ship with high armor, I may not do any damage. If I was shooting a triple beam laser turret, my damage would be 1D+4. I couldn’t get through a target ship’s armor if it was 10 or higher. If I could link all 8 pulse beam laser turrets and using the same damage modifier, my damage might be 2D+46 (using their doubled add modifier). Or even 2D+23. Now I would be doing damage to the ship’s hull. Against our destroyer, critical hits are ignored from turrets and barbettes. So the attacker could only do a little hull damage from their turrets and barbettes.
I probably missed something but would appreciate some help. Thanks.
