More things that dodge armour

Beth Fulton wrote (in reply to FT-HET Laers):

> G'day guys,

>
> For the non-mechanically minded in the audience, what would be the PSB
for
> something that can ignore armour?? I can understand things that burrow
> through armour, but not one that skips it all together. Drawing on my
> biological knowledge the only things I could think of would be things
that
> work like microwaves <popping the ship from the inside... start on the
> bottom hull box and work up maybe ;)> or sonics which disable the
internal
> delicate mechanisms but not the external - mind you with no atmosphere
in
> space sonics as such aren't going to work, but I'm guessing your
shockwave
> is the interstellar equivalent?

Since the shield generators and the FTL drive can have an effect on
objects
outside the ship, it is not unreasonable to propose esoteric weapons
that
can damage or suppress these systems without affecting the rest of the
target. At a simpler level, if the separation in MU is exceeded by
shield
rating, why not have a rule that the higher shield suppresses the lower
one?

Since Greg has raided the GDW arsenal, how about looting that old FGU
offering, Space Opera? (At least I think it was by them. Never having
owned
a copy I'm going on dim and distant memory.)

Yes folks, to add to our list of wacky weapons I can proudly contribute
the
Hyperspace Torpedo. I believe the nearest equivalent would be our
modern-day salvo missile launcher. The launcher itself would need to be
larger
and more expensive than the conventional system, though the missiles
would
only take up the usual magazine space. It would not be possible to
install
the
weapon on a rack basis.

Despite the name, the range is not fantastic. An HTL fires a salvo of
torpedoes
into hyperspace rather than at the target. Each torpedo is programmed to
emerge from hyperspace as part of a coherant spread intended to place
one
or more rounds inside the target's shields and point defences, and
ideally
inside the target's hull.

There are quite a few important variables (target size and acceleration)
that
we will have to ignore because FT weapons in general do not take
cognisance
of them. This will leave us with chance of hitting not dissimilar to
that of
a
pulse torpedo. Damage will be highly variable, with three possible
outcomes:
1) The first or last torpedo scores a near miss, 1D damage
2) Two torpedoes straddle the target, 2D damage
3) One torpedo penetrates the target, 6D damage

Like meson guns, hyperspace torpedo launchers can be placed deep within
the hull of the firing vessel and are not as vulnerable to damage as
most
other
weapons. In FB terms they would merit a core systems box rather than an
ordinary threshold test (as should the FTL drive?)

Theoretically both weapons fail to meet the original criteria because
they
ignore shields as well as armour. However, no-one seems to object to FT
shields acquiring the properties of meson screens for free and I think
that
with a little extension to the FT background we can say that screens
make it
more difficult for a torpedo to emerge on target. The firing ship must
either
momentarily drop shields to fire or must not carry a working shield.

Now ICE are defunct, can any of you young whippersnappers on the list
scavenge anything from that upstart system SpaceMaster? All I can recall
is our club SpaceMaster GM getting excited about a Mark #999 Zap
Cannon or somesuch.

Nathan