Re: Vertical Damage - Radiation

From: <agoodall@canada.com>

> I've been following the vertical damage discussion. The problem I have
with it is that it seems like a game mechanic in search of a
justification

I agree. But see below....

> If you REALLY want to simulate weapons that punch deep holes without
doing
THAT much hull damage, you have to go back and re-think the weapon
system.
What is it, and what does it do? Is it a B5 Shadow-style huge cutting
beam?
Is it a big rock fired at hyper velocity? Is it a big pulse of energy
fired
from a HUGE spinal mount weapon? Consider what it's supposed to be, and
what
the damage is supposed to do. Small hole that goes all the way through
the
ship? BIG hole that goes all the way through the ship? What does it do
to
the hull and what does it do to the systems in front of it?

Again, agreement. But given that "simple is best", I feel the options
are:
a) A beam that does Xd6 damage
b) A beam that does Xd6 damage to a particular row:
1: 1st row of armour/hull
2: 2nd row
3: 3rd row etc

For example, roll 1 D6, getting a 3. On a non-phalon ship, this will
either
hit the 2nd row of hull boxes (if armoured) or a 3rd row of hull (if
not).
Then roll again for the amount of damage.

> But personally, I think "vertical damage" goes against the design of
the
game system.

I don't, but you need the right PSB for it. It's basically an anti-crew
weapon, you see. It screws up the damage control parties, and also means
that multiple thresholds become easier - though the next threshold isn't
affected (much)

A good, simple mechanic is that it does 1 box of damage to every row -
armour, hull, whatever. If there's nothing left on that row, you can
either
a) ignore it or b) carry over. I prefer a) myself. Call it a slow
Neutron
beam, that causes radiation casualties and little structure. It weakens
armour, especially organic armour a la Phalons, by damaging its limited
self-repair capability. Average damage on a non-armoured ship will be 4,
on
an armoured ship 5, so should be sorta kinda similar in price/effect to
a
1D6 hit (Av 3.5). I'd keep it at about that price because it only does 1
pt
against the next row. It's certainly less effective than a 2D6 hit.
Really
nasty against Phalons though.

You could even have this as a standard rule for taking Rad damage, from
a
Pulsar ( the stellar object that is), Humungous Great Nuke, or whatever.