Does Size Matter?

[Ur Lord Tedric]

For the GM's

 

In the strive for game balance all weapons (and many defensive items) are rated Poor, Fair, Adequate, etc.

 

One has received hints before that these descriptions are meaningful and that, whilst people may follow different paths, weapons of the same level are pretty much the same.

 

However, they come in all different sizes.

 

Can we assume, please, that the size multiplied by rating becomes the equalising factor.

 

eg - 1 Fair weapon of 1000 tons is pretty equivalent to 5 Fair weapons of 200 tons each?

 

Chief Warmaster to Ur-Lord Tedric (who's been supervising all those LFE's, but doesn't know the answer)

[President Guztov]

I dont think size is a factor in space combat but it may play a larger role in ground combat.

The larger the lifeform the larger its weapons, be they laser rifles or whatever. lets say 2 races are fighting 1 tiny and 1 large. All things being equal in tech the larger race will enjoy a modifier to its firepower rating based on its size since it can carry a 'larger' laser rifle. the same can be said of the strength of the race.

[Clan Elder 'Keen]

I think he is asking if there is a consistant ratio of tonnage to firepower. I doubt it, otherwise there would be little reason to research weapons. Also, another variable to consider is range.

[President Guztov]

very true. There are many missle type weapons which seem to have extreme range as well as some of the fightercraft types. I think the trick though is to be able to take advantage of range by being able to detect your foe at range. Then there are the defensive measures of course which may affect range like the various cloak coatings and devices and ECM.

[WKE235]

I think range for weapons applies only to battles, while range for sensors applies to battles and for detecting ships in a system.

 

What I mean is, with Long range sensors, doing a SENS order may detect someone sitting at a WP while your sitting at a planet. But, I do not think any weapons will fire at that distance

 

Sir, we've detected an alien vessal at WP 93649.

Fire all weapons ensign.

Yes Sir, lasers away. At the current multiple AU distance, computer calculates weapons impact will occur in 1.3 months if the alien does not move, sir.

Fine. In the meantime, get me some dinner. It's going to be a long battle.

 

If true .. then when going into battle, your foe who will have short range sensors will detect you and battle will commence. Of course, if you have longer range weapons, you would fire first and more often. Selecting the right battle mode could keep the enemy our of his fire range for some time while you blast away. That's is where the advantage is.

[lugal]

I got a dumb question. Do the ships auto scan in a limited way for enemy ships or do I have to give orders? Reason: Long range sensors and missles give me the ability to reach out and touch someone before they can see me. Do I just need to adjust my ROE to xenophobic?

[President Guztov]

Not so dumb a question Lugal since we know not the answer. At this point its all conjecture

on what really happens in a space battle. Ive had a couple of skirmishes one with a pathfinder and one with Light cruisers against another pathfinder and both battles really didnt shed any light on how space combat really works. We did find out that pathfinders arent very good combat vessels and a hint that the destruction of one pathfinder took place before the shorter range(we assume) weapons could fire.

[hobknob]

I think this line of discussion also shows how little real information is to be found in the battle reports. After reviewing several I am no closer to determining what weapons worked well or poorly or how well or poorly any defensive systems worked. Having a listing of weapons present and that you won or lost doesn't do much. We really need much more detail than what we currently get.

Edited September 2, 2003 by hobknob

[RTGPete]

In the strive for game balance all weapons (and many defensive items) are rated Poor, Fair, Adequate, etc.

 

The ratings are essentially efficiency indicators - so two weapons that both read out as "Adequate" would, with all other things being equal, dish out about the same amount of damage per ton of the weapon. Weird weapon effects, favorite ranges and any other odd specifics about either weapon would be something else, but the "Adequate" would indicate that both are about the same when it comes to raw firepower. Size, therefore, doesn't matter as far as this is concerned: the larger weapon would dish out more firepower, but both would have the same efficiency per ton.

[lugal]

OK, I'm confused even more. The greater the weight the weapon the greater the the damage per ton of the target or the weapon itself? My head hurts. A 10,000 ton beam gun will do more than a 1000 toner of the same rank. Is that right?

[MadMartinB]

Yes. Assume a Average weapon does 10 points. Multiply it times tons for damage.

 

All Average weapons deal out the same damage per ton of weight...

 

100 ton 10cm Gauss Gun = 1000 (or 10 per ton). 1000 ton Medium laser does 10,000 damage but still 10 per ton. Cost is also 10x for the laser.

 

 

You see this alot...One thing to note is that weapons weigh more as they go up so a Medium Grapple does not do X more than a Light Grapple. Instead it does X/2 more since it weighs 2x the Light Grapple.

[RTGPete]

OK, I'm confused even more. The greater the weight the weapon the greater the the damage per ton of the target or the weapon itself? My head hurts. A 10,000 ton beam gun will do more than a 1000 toner of the same rank. Is that right?

The words "Adequate", "Good" and so forth are ratings of the weapon's overall efficiency. Two weapons, one small and one large, could both have "Good" ratings. The smaller one would dish out less damage, but both would have the same efficiency per ton of their size. Thus, a 1000 ton "Good" laser would dish out less than a 5000ton "Good" missile, but all other things being equal five of those lasers would punch out about the same damage as the missile. This completely ignores favorite ranges, damage type or any other weird effects that the laser and missile might have - just on pure damage calculation alone, five of those "Good" lasers would be about the same as one of the "Good" missiles when it comes to raw firepower.

 

The ratings are therefore efficiency-per-ton indicators, which is the key anyway: you can always put on more weapons, of whatever tonnage they might have--the more efficient weapons (everything else being equal) are generally the best choices per ton assigned to a ship.

[President Guztov]

And it goes without saying although Im saying that the most efficient weapons are the higher Mk number weapons or those further up the tech tree of a given branch.

[Emanon]

Hey Baby

 

Why did you bring your Mk II Weapon to a Mk VI Battle!

 

Size always matters along with Numbers

 

Long

Live Emanon