Re: B5 BREWs update. (SPOILER warning)

HERE BE SPOILERS!

Adam Delafield <A.Delafield@bolton.ac.uk> wrote:
> Date sent:  22-AUG-1996 13:30:38 
> >THIS MESSAGE CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS FOR THE B5 EPISODE "Walkabout"
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> 
> >> So you still have a central power store[ can hold 6 pts]
> >> - Open a Jump Point cost 6. [...]
> >> - Fire a Beam. cost = Beam Class.
> 
> >Based on Walkabout, I'd say that the central power store holds enough
> >to open a jump point AND fire the BREW - how about assuming that
> >the jump drive holds 6 points, and each BREW holds its own class
> >(or possibly class * 2). 
> 
> No. I think the single power store is quite complex enough. We want
> to keep it playable as well as accurate. Also see below about
Hyperspace.

Well, you could just say that its one central store holding enough
energy
to open a jump point and fire the BREWs (ie it holds
6+2*total_of_BREW_sizes)

(it has to be larger than 6, otherwise firing the BREW at all would make
 it impossible to jump[*]. also it seems reasonable for ships with more
 BREWs to have bigger capacitors)

[*] although this might be the case on lower tech ships.

Here's a thought:

When the White Star had emptied its capacitor into the first Shadow,
Lenir said it would take 20 mins to recharge to a point where they could
jump. 10 mins later when the other Shadows turned up, they had sixty
something percent of the BGEW charge ("not enough to hurt them").
At this point they should have had about half of the charge required
to jump.

So, half of the charge required to jump is (roughly) 2/3rds of the
maximum
power of the WhiteStar's BGEW. So if it takes 6 points to jump, then the
WS' BGEW can use up to 4 or 5 per shot. This would give the WhiteStar a
capacitor of size 10 or 11 if the BGEW can only fire once, or 14 or 16
if they can get off 2 full strength shots - I'd go for 14 myself, with
the BGEW using 4/turn at full power. This would mean that they could
normally only get off 2 full strength shots, but could get an extra
1.5 by draining thier jump capacitors.

> Perhaps 1d6 back is too much. Perhaps 1/2 1d6 round down. And I'd
> say that using more power is simply sustaining the beam over multiple
> turns. I agree with the idea of firing at a lower setting though.
[...]
> >> Minbari BGEW (Big Green Energy Weapon)
[...]
> Good point. Recharge faster, say 1/2 1d6 round up. Maximum capacity 8.
> (Still only need 6 for a jump though.).

I'm not sure that makes much of a difference (2 vs 1.5 per turn on ave)

    Alun.
    ~~~~