Trillion credit squadrons equipment questions

[tuz_sen]

So I have a few:
1) Do Missile packs need 1 ton of fire control or not. I think they wood else you have 1 ton of missiles to be launched taking up one tone of space with nothing allotted to what is aiming. Which you could argue that the bridges computer does but then why does any other weapon need fire control.

2)Plasma guns in barrages
---2d6+4 becomes 3D or 2D with a +4 DM?
---3d6+5 becomes 4D or 3D with a +5 DM or a 4D with a +1?
--Reference on the matter
---Long range missiles which start 1d6-1 become 1D with a -1
---Sand doing 1 damage becomes 1D per 4 sand rounds

3)EMP torpedoes How do EMP hits work
--I would think there should be a table like for radiation hits with total EMP hits converting to a number of EMP "crits"

If anyone has experience with these rules and can weigh in on how you played it or how you think it should have been played it would be much appreciated.

 

[phavoc]

So I have a few:
1) Do Missile packs need 1 ton of fire control or not. I think they wood else you have 1 ton of missiles to be launched taking up one tone of space with nothing allotted to what is aiming. Which you could argue that the bridges computer does but then why does any other weapon need fire control.

Since they replace a weapon/hardpoint, then I would say yes. The book should have explicitly called that out. Missile packs are essentially a VLS system that shoehorns in TL7 tech into Trav. While the rules state they can only be reloaded at a starport, there shouldn't be any reason why you could not reload in space outside of combat situations. It's nothing more than putting new missiles into the launch tubes. There's also the tonnage mis-match. 12 missiles take up 1 Dton, but a missile pack takes up TWO tons. So either there is a launching mechanism that holds and fires the missiles, or the designers included the always-required 1 ton of fire control in the displacement of the mount. In either case it really should be clarified. Yay! More errata!

3)EMP torpedoes How do EMP hits work
--I would think there should be a table like for radiation hits with total EMP hits converting to a number of EMP "crits"

EMP only affect electronics, and the effect is temporary. The rule states that you should roll normally on the section hits table (but ignore "hits" that are things like crew, cargo, fuel, etc). I do see your point though, as maybe there should be a EMP table to stop needless re-rolls till you land on the appropriate types of hits. Easiest way to do this would be to eliminate non-EMP targetable systems on the existing table and go from there.

 

[tuz_sen]

3)EMP torpedoes How do EMP hits work
--I would think there should be a table like for radiation hits with total EMP hits converting to a number of EMP "crits"

EMP only affect electronics, and the effect is temporary. The rule states that you should roll normally on the section hits table (but ignore "hits" that are things like crew, cargo, fuel, etc). I do see your point though, as maybe there should be a EMP table to stop needless re-rolls till you land on the appropriate types of hits. Easiest way to do this would be to eliminate non-EMP targetable systems on the existing table and go from there.

I was referring to in barrage combat where 3 emp hits per torpedo seams like a real easy way to disable and entire ship in one barrage.

So I have a few:
1) Do Missile packs need 1 ton of fire control or not. I think they wood else you have 1 ton of missiles to be launched taking up one tone of space with nothing allotted to what is aiming. Which you could argue that the bridges computer does but then why does any other weapon need fire control.

Since they replace a weapon/hardpoint, then I would say yes. The book should have explicitly called that out. Missile packs are essentially a VLS system that shoehorns in TL7 tech into Trav. While the rules state they can only be reloaded at a starport, there shouldn't be any reason why you could not reload in space outside of combat situations. It's nothing more than putting new missiles into the launch tubes. There's also the tonnage mis-match. 12 missiles take up 1 Dton, but a missile pack takes up TWO tons. So either there is a launching mechanism that holds and fires the missiles, or the designers included the always-required 1 ton of fire control in the displacement of the mount. In either case it really should be clarified. Yay! More errata!

The missile pack only needs one ton for itself (unless the current TCS download is wrong and needs updating) that's why I think it should have a second ton for fire control.

 

[Galadrion]

I couldn't find any rules for formatting barrages with off-standard-dice damage weapons, so I'd probably house-rule the situation. Something along the lines of "The damage a barrage rates is one per damage die, modified by one for every full four points of damage modification." So, for example, a battery of ten plasma gun barbettes (3D6+5 damage each, medium range) would have thirty dice and fifty points of damage modification, for a total of 30+12. The barrage winds up looking like this: 42 - Plasma Gun Barbette - Medium - 4. (I would treat individual weapon damage - that last number - the same way as the total barrage damage: for every four full points of modification, the die total gets modified by one.) As another example, a battery of four fifty-ton missile bays loaded with decoy missiles (twelve missiles per bay, for a total of forty-eight missiles, 1D6-1 each and long range) would format out to 36 - Decoy Missile - Long - 1, with a further note that point defense suffers a 2-point penalty against the barrage.

Again, this would be a house ruling, but it looks to me like it'll scale close enough to work. You could probably fiddle with the adjustments a bit, but to me this strikes a reasonable balance between mathematical accuracy and simplicity.

I was referring to in barrage combat where 3 emp hits per torpedo seams like a real easy way to disable and entire ship in one barrage.

It would probably be highly disruptive, yes, but not necessarily game-breaking. Several points to remember: first, EMP hits are temporary; the systems hit recover in 1D6 turns. Second, there's nothing in the RAW about multiple EMP hits on systems - personally, I would rule that, since the affected system is now off-line, redundant hits are the same as hits on a non-vulnerable system; that is, no effect for that hit. Third, a barrage is only going to hit one section, plus one adjacent section of the attacker's choice, split up evenly between the two. So unless the attacker is going after a small capital ship, where he's got a good chance of taking out the engineering section, he's probably not going to shut down the entire ship with a single barrage. Seriously disadvantage it, sure, maybe even temporarily cripple it, but not shut it down completely. And even if he does manage it, he's still got to take advantage of it; torpedoes are normally used from longer ranges, so by the time the attacker closes in (if he's going for a boarding action) those EMP'd systems are going to be coming back online... if they're not already there.

Best way to use EMP torpedoes, in my opinion, would be to knock down the defenses to allow a couple of nasty undefended attacks.

 

[locarno24]

http://forum.mongoosepublishing.com/viewtopic.php?f=89&t=55241

Author opinion on the topic in the attached thread.

 

[tuz_sen]

2)Plasma guns in barrages
---2d6+4 becomes 3D or 2D with a +4 DM?
---3d6+5 becomes 4D or 3D with a +5 DM or a 4D with a +1?
--Reference on the matter
---Long range missiles which start 1d6-1 become 1D with a -1
---Sand doing 1 damage becomes 1D per 4 sand rounds

Looking in the post linked above 3D and 4D are the correct answer

3)EMP torpedoes How do EMP hits work
--I would think there should be a table like for radiation hits with total EMP hits converting to a number of EMP "crits"

And as pointed out with multiple sections larger EMP spreads are not nearly as deadly or unbalanced as I first thought

1) Do Missile packs need 1 ton of fire control or not. I think they wood else you have 1 ton of missiles to be launched taking up one ton of space with nothing allotted to what is aiming. Which you could argue that the bridges computer does but then why does any other weapon need fire control.

Leaving only the question of to add fire control or not to add fire control I going to say yes unless some one can come up with a compelling argument otherwise.

 

[Nerhesi]

EMP Torps:

Any Radiation Shielded ship (Armor/Hull Option) is also immune, as per the description in High Guard under Hardened Bridge (Obscure I know..).

Page 44, High Guard:

Hardened Bridge: A hardened bridge is shielded against radiation attacks. The ship’s computer systems are immune to EMP and the number of rads absorbed by the bridge crew is reduced by 1,000. Hardening a bridge adds 25% to the cost of the bridge. If a ship has radiation shielding installed, it is assumed to be hardened.

 

[tuz_sen]

Also looking at the fire control grid how does fire control and in the program apply to ships using it. The lowest among them or the highest? This comes up because I am thinking a capital ship coordinating fire from a squadron of fighters/bombers. And fire control adds up when deploying in numbers. Same question on crew skill although that costs less.

 

[locarno24]

The fire control software of the co-ordinating ship; you're essentially firing the other ship's weapons remotely.

A squadron of fighters firing as a group without fire control would use the worst fire control in the group.