[DS] ZADS to ZADFC HR's Part II

First of all, thanks to those who provided input on
the House Rules modifications I'm developing for Zone
Air Defense/Area Defense in DS2.  I've pretty much
hashed out the basic rules, although another glitch
has popped up -one I foresaw (thanks to Oerjan warning
me about it), but waited until now to bring up since I
wanted to unkink the other issues first.

So here's what I've come up with so far:

Construction:  A ZADFC can be mounted to any vehicle
that has a Full Traverse Turret and a direct fire
weapon system.	The ZADFC replaces the standard
FireCon system in the vehicle.	It does not take up a
weapon slot, but does take up capacity - 4 Points of
Capacity for a Basic ZADFC, 9 for an Enhanced, and 14
for a Superior.  Cost for each is the same as for the
original ZADS, less the cost of a turret-mounted
RFAC-2 (Too lazy to do the math right now).  The
ZAD/AD function of the firecon can be applied to any
direct fire weapon system in the turret, but only to
one system in any given turn (remember multiple mounts
of the same class & size count as one system).	This
means that a vehicle with an MDC-4 and an RFAC-2 could
use either in ZAD/AD mode, but must decide at the
beginning of the turn which system is being used in AD
mode.  If the ZADFC is not activated, the weapons
follow all rules for direct fire.

ZADFC and Aircraft:

Normal rules for activation of ZADS apply.  the die
class is based on the quality of the ZADFC as modified
for range per weapon type and class.  Die Class for
the aircraft is based on signature.  VTOL's in Low
Flight and Aerospace fighters roll a secondary die,
based on unit quality - d4 for Green, d6 for Regular,
D8 for veteran.  VTOL's in High Flight do not get this
second die - they're too slow and exposed for evasive
manouvers to help much.

Damage and validities are per weapon Type/Class and
range band.

Multiple-Mount Systems and ZADFC:  Resolve separately
for each barrel.

ZADFC and AD/Anti-Missile Mode:

Any GMS passing through the Short range of the system
attached to the ZADFC can be attacked as per normal
ADS rules, however, ADFC quality dice are 8/10/12
instead of the standard 6/8/10

Multiple mount systems:
Multiple mounts in Anti-GMS mode effectively improve
the FireCon class of the ZADFC by one level for each
additional barrel beyond one in the system.  Any
remaining barrels after firecon is improved to
superior (or all additional barrels in the case of an
already- superior system) increases by 1 the number of
missiles the system can engage at D12 before quality
degradation begins.  

Example:  An enhanced ZADFC is mated to a
three-barreled weapon system.  The second barrel
improves it to a superior system for Anti-GMS use
only, and the third barrel means the system can engage
2 missiles at D12, a third at D10, a fourth at D8, a
fifth at D6, and a sixth at D4.

I'm pretty happy so far, even though it does make
multi-barreled ZADS' frighteningly powerful.

The two concerns that are still raised in my mind are:

1. This makes HEL's incredibly powerful, especially in
Anti-GMS ADS mode, given their ranges.	I'm
considering limiting the ADS range of HEL-Mated
ZADFC's, using the PSB that any missile beyond a
certain range will be too difficult for the ZADFC to
process properly because of the complexity of
calculating how it determines legitimate threats.  I'm
probably going to give the HEL's an ADS range that
matches the range for an MDC-5 in ADs mode, since
that's the longest range ballistic weapon, and if a
computer can use it to that range, it should be able
to use a laser to the same range.  Any alternate
suggestions?

2.  It's been pointed out that High-Velocity and/or
high Rate of Fire weapons (MDC's, RFAC's, HEL's)
should be more effective in this role than lower
ROF/Velocity weapons.  How should this be factored in
to the above system?

Thanks,

Brian B

=====
"Teach a man to make fire, and he will be warm for a day.  Set a man on
fire, and he will be warm for the rest of his life."   -- John A.
Hrastar

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