Re: Ion Cannons

Mike Miserendino wrote:
 
>Dean Gundberg wrote:
>> One of the weapons often mentioned in this universe is the Ion
Cannon. I 
>> have not seen a FT conversion of an Ion Cannon that fits my vision of
>> this weapon that damages systems but not structure, so I created the
my
>> own.
 
>The needle beam seems to do a good job of representing this.  Paul
Neher 
>has used three needle beams, each covering one arc (fore, port,
starboard) 
>on his Star Destroyers.  The design works well, but it is represented
by 
>three systems versus one and only damages one system per ship as per
normal 
>needle beam rules.

The problems I have with needle beams representing Ion Cannons are that
they 
can only destroy one system with a hit and you have to specify what
system 
you are firing at.  I was trying for random damage to multiple systems.
 
>:
>> Firing is handled the same as beam batteries.  Hits are calculated
the 
>> same as beams (1-3 no hits, 4-5 1 hit, 6 2 hits).  Armor and screens 
>> do not reduce hits.	Hits calculated do not mark off damage boxes but

>> instead are the potential number of systems destroyed by threshold 
>> rolls caused by the Ion Cannon hit.	A threshold roll of 5-6
indicates 
>> the system was destroyed.  Once the number of systems destroyed 
>> equals the total number of hits rolled, no more threshold rolls are 
>> made.
 
>Seems like it would be easier to just roll as per the EMP missile rule
with 
>one threshold roll.
 
 But then there would be no difference between a light hit from a single

 ion cannon and hard hits from multiple cannons.  I wanted to vary the 
 maximum number of systems damaged by the intensity of the hit or hits
from 
 the same ship.  I don't want a single roll of 4 for 1 hit of damage on
an 
 undamaged capital ship to cause threshold rolls that gut the ship.
 
 
 Dean Gundberg
 dgundberg@bcbsnd.com