re: Poll: HBs and Armour

heck, i forget to list the assumptions:

* no rerolls
* -1/die/6" range band (first ones have 8" range bands)
* shield-1 extra -1/die, shield-2 extra -2/die
* mass and cost about 2-2.5x equivalent FT beam of same class

dave

> normally, our HBW count 100% armor and hull.	although we are testing
> variant HBW (see below).
> 
> i like the raking concept that B5Wars introduced with their heavy
> beam weapons.  the way it works in B5W is the total damage is divided
> into groups of 10.  each group is applied to a random location, 
> representing a beam slicing across the ship's hull.  the purpose
> of a rake is to damage several systems enough to cause a critical
> malfunction. i puzzled for a while how to do this in FT, but i think 
> i had an idea last night.
> 
> how about this: armor affects a HBW, but damage to hull is applied 
> differently.	for each damage point, mark the first hull box 
> as destroyed and skip the second one, mark the third, etc. when 
> the end of the row is reached, roll a threshold for one random 
> system.  goto the beginning of the row and mark the first available
> hull.  when the hull row is totally destroyed, make normal threshold
> rolls.  this attempts to simulate to behavior above.	some HBW could
> be more effective at causing an early threshold by marking the first
> hull and skipping 2 hulls, etc.  some HBW may not have this ability
> at all. it really depends upon what your universe background dictates.
> 
> this IMO raises the cost of the HBW for this "raking" ability.  we are
> still testing this one for play balance/mass + cost.
> 
> HBW variants
> ------------
> we are also trying out other variants to determine extra mass
> and costs.
> 
> normal: armor counts 100%, count damage normally.
> raking: armor counts 100%, special hull damage & thresholds (above).
>	  (basic: skip every 2nd hull; advanced: skip every 2nd & 3rd
hull)
> piercing: [basic] - ignore 1/2 armor (rd up); [adv] - ignore all
armor.
> sweeping: hit multiple targets with one beam. targets must be withing
6"
>	    of each other.  divide dice between all targets.  penalty =
>	    -1 damage/die for each target > 1, but only 1 FC necessary. 
so
>	    2 targets = #1 no penalty, #2 -1/die
>	    3 targets = #2 -2/die, #3 -2/die
>	    this is useful for higher dice HBW where the ship has few
beams,
>	    like a Shadow cruiser.
> mega beam: combine HBW to form a larger one (Vorlon).  each HBW must
be
>	     fully charged.  extra! cost and some mass.
> anti-ftr/anti-missle: HBW1 already have this.  larger HBW must have 
>	    +1 mass, cost.
> EMP: extra threshold checks???
> 
> comments?