Some HG Questions

[cmdrx]

First let me say that aside from the printing errors (I got the one with the Mercenary ToC. I am pleased with High Guard. Well done guys.

I do have a few questions however.

First, what is the advantage of a Particle Beam Barbette? From what I can figure, the turret mounted versions are superiour as you can mount 3 to a turret and only use 1dt of hull volume (or none if you go with a fixed mount) as opposed to 5 tons of hull volume and only mounting one weapon. You get 2 or 3 shots of 3d6 as opposed to one of 4d6.

The weapons advancements would seem to indicate a maximum of 3 upgrade "slots" so a TL15 beam laser is no better than a TL12 one in terms of upgrades or size changes, correct?

How would a high-tech or low-tech hull work out for small craft?

More questions as they arise.

 

[SSWarlock]

First, what is the advantage of a Particle Beam Barbette? From what I can figure, the turret mounted versions are superiour as you can mount 3 to a turret and only use 1dt of hull volume (or none if you go with a fixed mount) as opposed to 5 tons of hull volume and only mounting one weapon. You get 2 or 3 shots of 3d6 as opposed to one of 4d6.

Armor. The max armor value allowed for any ship design is equal to the TL. The 2-3 shots from a turret are not added together but are instead considered separate attacks (at least that's how I interpret the rules). So one 4D6 attack has a better chance of punching through armor than 3 individual 3D6 attacks. Of course, if you're going up against multiple lightly-armored opponents, the 2-3 3D6 attacks are better.

The weapons advancements would seem to indicate a maximum of 3 upgrade "slots" so a TL15 beam laser is no better than a TL12 one in terms of upgrades or size changes, correct?

That's the way I read it as well.

How would a high-tech or low-tech hull work out for small craft?

The same as they would for non small craft? What issue(s) have you found?

 

[Allensh]

Looking forward to seeing what evil stuff X-Tec comes up with now that HG has arrived on Planet X

Allen

 

[SSWarlock]

Heh. No kidding.

Any easy way to expand upon shipboard weapons design is just to ignore the "3 slot max" rule for anyone who really, really wants to pay the money for R&D. You could get something like...

TL15 Pulse Laser (damage 2D6)
- Accurate: +1 DM to all attack rolls
- Resilient: The first hit on weapon is ignored.
- Variable Range: Optimum Range increased by one band in either direction
- Very High Yield: any damage rolled as ‘1’ or ‘2’ becomes a ‘3’
- Easy to Repair: +1 DM to all repair attempts

 

[qstor]

I'm trying to convert the GT 101 Starships p. 62 Intrepid class 10,000 ton cruiser to MGT.

It has a 570 GJ Spinal PAW.

The "smallest" one is 5000 tons (p. 66 HG) and even at TL 11, (which I'm assuming the ship is built at) its still 3500 tons. I don't own CT HG. Does the weight seem right? I haven't done the crew quarters yet. With a Jump 3 drive and fuel for 4 weeks, I'm not sure if I can keep the ship at 10,000 tons.

thanks

Mike

 

[cmdrx]

First, what is the advantage of a Particle Beam Barbette? From what I can figure, the turret mounted versions are superiour as you can mount 3 to a turret and only use 1dt of hull volume (or none if you go with a fixed mount) as opposed to 5 tons of hull volume and only mounting one weapon. You get 2 or 3 shots of 3d6 as opposed to one of 4d6.

Armor. The max armor value allowed for any ship design is equal to the TL. The 2-3 shots from a turret are not added together but are instead considered separate attacks (at least that's how I interpret the rules). So one 4D6 attack has a better chance of punching through armor than 3 individual 3D6 attacks. Of course, if you're going up against multiple lightly-armored opponents, the 2-3 3D6 attacks are better.

Ah I see. Target saturation vs. Armour penetration. For some reason I had the idea of adding dice together, perhaps a throwback in my mind to an earlier rules system...

The weapons advancements would seem to indicate a maximum of 3 upgrade "slots" so a TL15 beam laser is no better than a TL12 one in terms of upgrades or size changes, correct?

That's the way I read it as well.

I thought as much. Still, I will possibly houserule it so you can go beyond 3. Also add the houserule that once you go beyond 3 , you can reduce the price as well as the "state of the art" becomes "old hat" again. Why should I pay 200% for a TL12 upgraded Beam laser at TL12 when I can go to a TL15 shipyard and pay less for the same thing? maybe -50% per "slot?"
Uber weapons are going to be uber pricy. Maybe an additional 100% tacked on the price per slot beyond 3.
And why stop miniturization at 60%. Imagine TL15 bays at 10dt! Bwaa haha! :twisted:

How would a high-tech or low-tech hull work out for small craft?

The same as they would for non small craft? What issue(s) have you found?

Actualy I may have found out how hull is figured for small craft. Looks like a case of rounding when figuring hull points and a minimum of 1 set for structure.

No to go back and create some diabolical designs!

 

[cmdrx]

I'm trying to convert the GT 101 Starships p. 62 Intrepid class 10,000 ton cruiser to MGT.

It has a 570 GJ Spinal PAW.

The "smallest" one is 5000 tons (p. 66 HG) and even at TL 11, (which I'm assuming the ship is built at) its still 3500 tons. I don't own CT HG. Does the weight seem right? I haven't done the crew quarters yet. With a Jump 3 drive and fuel for 4 weeks, I'm not sure if I can keep the ship at 10,000 tons.

thanks

Mike

Remember that GURPS Tech levels are different from Core Traveller TL, so the ship you describe (I have the book too!) is GTL10 which is most likely TL13. (Although it could also be TL12, but why sell yourself short?)

Smallest spinal PAW is the Type-B which is 3000dt at TL12.
(You might have been looking at Meson Spinals)
At TL13 it will be 2700dt and do 15 more points of damage.

By comparison, Classic HG PAW Spinal-F is 3000dt at TL13 With the smallest ones at about 2500dt

Looking at my GURPS:Starships book, the spinal they're using is about 1500dt! This may be a GURPS Specific weapon so conversion may be challenging.

The only way may be to bend the rules a bit and extend the TL progression. Even then You get a TL15 version of the Type-A PAW Spinal with a -70% volume (5000 -70% =1500). But then thats outside the TL range of this ship...

Another way is to shrink one of the existing ones in half, also halving the damage done and the cost. The TL-12 Type B is 3000dt, half that is 1500dt but it also only does half the damage.

These are but a few tricks I learned over the years to make things fit. If you don't mind bending rules a bit you can make anything fit. It's your game.

 

[qstor]

Oh I misread the TL conversion chart on GT 2e p. 107 so GT TL is is CT tech level 12. So that should fit....

Mike

 

[cmdrx]

Heh. No kidding.

Any easy way to expand upon shipboard weapons design is just to ignore the "3 slot max" rule for anyone who really, really wants to pay the money for R&D. You could get something like...

TL15 Pulse Laser (damage 2D6)
- Accurate: +1 DM to all attack rolls
- Resilient: The first hit on weapon is ignored.
- Variable Range: Optimum Range increased by one band in either direction
- Very High Yield: any damage rolled as ‘1’ or ‘2’ becomes a ‘3’
- Easy to Repair: +1 DM to all repair attempts

Already there chaps! X-TEK has weapons of this type for a mere 4Mcr each (thats 800% of the original price!)

Wait until you see the awesomeness of our XTA-P(t)/15 "Sniper" style Particle Beam turret weapon. Accurate, Resilient, Very High Yield, and Long Range. Blast your enemies at Very Long Range and with precision. Reach out and vape someone! Yours for only 28Mcr each (700% markup!)

Ditzie, eat your heart out...

 

[Allensh]

Have the engineers at X-tec worked out what the cost of torpedoes are?

12 missles take up one ton and cost Mcr 0.015

ONE torpedo takes up 2.5 tons. They are sold in 2-shot loads and take up space equivilent to 30 torpedoes. Does this then mean that one torpedo load costs Mcr 0.9 each? Would nuclear torpedoes (and presumably bomb-pumped laser torpedoes - and why aren't there bomb-pumped laser missles?) cost Mcr 2.7 each?

Also...if one torpedo takes up the space of 15 missles...why can a bay fire half as many torpedoes as it can missles?

Allen

 

[cmdrx]

Have the engineers at X-tec worked out what the cost of torpedoes are?

Allen

See here: http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=37921

 

[SSWarlock]

I don't suppose anyone has been able to find the cost and tonnage requirements for a stealthed jump drive? I've looked throughout HG (where it's mentioned right after the Fast-Cycle Jump) and even posted this question to the forum previously but no joy.

This one is really driving me nuts because I need to design a stealthed scout ship but can't without the drive stats.

 

[Allensh]

well the torpedo thing has been dealt with...Cr. 60,000 per torp for basic torps, Cr. 90,000 for nuclear torps (and I would presume for bomb-pumped laser torps as well).

Now we just need the reaction drive and stealth drive thing dealt with and we should be good to go

Allen

 

[cbrunish]

Question on designs:

In the weapons it states that a weapon at higher tech levels get bonus upgrades. For example a beam laser (normally tech 9) at tech 12 or higher gets three upgrades. This I understand.

Problem is that for example in the design of Cruiser (HG pg 119) it shows a Triple Particle Beam-11 with Accurate, High Yield and Triple Beam Laser-10 with Accurate, High Yield. The problem is that Accurate is a double upgrade and High Yield is a single upgrade.

For the Particle Beam-11 (tech 8 base) this is fine. But for the Beam Laser-10 (tech 9 base) this is not fine. It should only have one upgrade (probably the High Yield). I have seen this through out both HG and Traders and Gunboats.

Can anybody tell me what the deal is? Or am I not understanding the rules right?

 

[SSWarlock]

The builders of those ships with more than 3 enhancements apparently fell under military contracting unconcerned with cost of R&D rather than civilian contracting where profit margin is the overriding priority. :wink:

 

[SSWarlock]

I don't suppose anyone has been able to find the cost and tonnage requirements for a stealthed jump drive? I've looked throughout HG (where it's mentioned right after the Fast-Cycle Jump) and even posted this question to the forum previously but no joy.

And thanks to Traders and Gunboats, I now have an answer. A quick reverse engineering of some of the "criminal" designs proves the stealth option for a jump drive adds 50% to the cost with no tonnage requirement.

Woot! Now I can finish that stealthed scout design. 8)

 

[SSWarlock]

While designing some ships with missile bays, I started wondering about just which upgrade options are available for missiles. Looking over all the options, none of the descriptions state any of the options are unavailable for missiles but I realized that some just didn't make sense to me, at least for missiles.

For example, those options affecting range (i.e. Long Range and Variable Range) seem to be worthless, given that missile range is itself variable.

I'm also not sure if the Accurate option can apply to missiles. "Smart" missiles, by definition, must roll 8+ to hit while standard missiles use the gunner's skill level. If the option is available, does it affect the cost of the launcher, the cost of each missile, or both?

Finally, how can the yield-improving options (High Yield, Very High Yield) apply to missiles when the weapon itself is destroyed in use? If they can apply, then is it assumed that doing so increases the cost of each missile and not the launcher/bay?

As a side note, long range missiles with the High Yield and Accurate options turned out to be rather effective in my combat tests.

Anyone have any thoughts they'd like to share?