RE: Re:Armor

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Oerjan Ohlson [SMTP:oerjan.ohlson@telia.com]
> Sent: Friday, October 13, 2000 2:17 PM
> To:	gzg-l@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU
> Subject:	Re: Re:Armor
> 
> Bell, Brian K wrote:
> 
> >'Real Armor':
> 
> This is a bit easier to balance, yes:
> 
> >Armor masses 1% of ship mass per arc covered 
> >  - armor mass = arcs covered * (ship mass * 0.01)
> >  - Minimum mass of 1
> >  - Must be purchased in 1 mass units (no fractions).
> 
> Sounds very low for the effect it has. See below:
> 
> >Effect:
> >  - Against attacks that have a combined to-hit and damage roll,
> >subtract 1 from the to hit roll of each die. A roll of 6 always hits.
> >  - Against attacks that have a seperate roll for damage, subtract 1
> >point from each damage die.
> 
> [rest snipped]
> 
> Compare this with level-2 screens:
> 
> * Effect vs beams is identical (-1 to the die makes rolls of "5" and
> "6" cause 1 pt of damage; natural 6s always re-roll), EXCEPT that the
> armour is considerably less likely to be degraded by threshold checks
> * Armour seems to stop Needle Beams from taking out systems (they'll
> still inflict hull damage on rolls of "6" though)
> * Degrades D6-damage weapons more than level-1 screens degrade beams
> * Can be combined with screens to give the same effect as the hated
FT2
> level-*3* screens - but with less vulnerability to thresholds
> 
> All in all, this armour is *much* more powerful than level-2 screens,
> so needs to cost correspondingly more, or use more Mass. (Except
> against K-guns, of course - reducing their "damage rolls" by 1 makes
> them *more* likely to inflict double damage, not less.) 
> 
> If you retain the Mass values given above, it's worth over 20xMass -
> the protection given is massive, and the armour Mass over which you
can
> distribute this cost is very small. I haven't had time to look at what
> it'd be worth if it used more Mass, sorry.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Oerjan Ohlson
> oerjan.ohlson@telia.com
> 
> "Life is like a sewer.
>   What you get out of it, depends on what you put into it."
> - Hen3ry
---End Original Message---

Sorry, I was unclear in my statements.
When I stated that a "6 always hits" I was trying to 
state the following:
  A roll of a '6' is always treated as a roll of a '6'.  
So a roll of a '6' with a beam weapon does 2 points of
damage and allows for a penetration roll; a roll of a '6' 
with a needle beam still destroys the targeted system; 
etc.  I was unclear.
When I stated 'Unaffected by needle beams' I meant to say cannot be
targeted
by needle weapons'.
Your comment about combining with screens is correct. 
There would have to be a prohibition against combining 
with screens (PSB, not enough emmiters can be mounted 
with 'real' armor???).
I also forgot to address K-Guns. For K-Guns damage, treat
K-Guns as 1 class less than thier rating (minimum of 1).
Do not subtract 1 from the damage roll. 

Your estimate of 20xMass cost value seems high. Remember
that we are addressing limited arcs of protection.
Assume for argument sake that an average pilot can 
maneuver so that he can place 3 arcs between his ship
and the enemy forces, while still bringing 66% of his 
weapons to bear. 

A mass 100 ship has armored 3 arcs (using 3 mass). The 
effects of an ememy weapon through the armor would be:

Weapon		      Roll (per die)
Weapon		 1   2	 3   4	 5  6
Beam		 -   -	 -   -	 1   2p
Salvo Missile	 -   1	 2   3	 4   5
Submunition Pack -   -	 -   -	 1   2p
Needle Beam	 -   -	 -   -	 -   1n
P-Torpedo	 -   1	 2   3	 4   5
Nova Cannon	 1   2	 3   4	 5   6
Wave Gun	 1   2	 3   4	 5   6
Fighter (Most)	 -   -	 -   -	 1   2p
Fighter, Attack  -   -	 -   1	 1   2p
Fighter, Torp	 -   1	 2   3	 4   5
MT Missile (Std) -   1	 2   3	 4   5
K-Gun, C1	 2   1	 1   1	 1   1
K-Gun, C2	 2   1	 1   1	 1   1 
K-Gun, C3	 4   4	 2   2	 2   2
K-Gun, C4	 6   6	 6   3	 3   3 
K-Gun, C5	 8   8	 8   8	 4   4
K-Gun, C6	10  10	10  10	10   5	
MKP		 -   -	 -   -	 4   8
Scatterpacks	 -   -	 -   -	 1   2
Stinger 	 -   -	 -   -	 1   2p
Lance Pod	 -   1	 2   3	 4   5
Pulser		 -   -	 -   -	 1   2p
Plasma		 1   2	 3   4	 5   6

-----
Brian Bell
bkb@beol.net 
The Full Thrust Ship Registry:
http://www.ftsr.org	
-----