FT: Graser-1 to Beam cost comparisons

I had written:
>>The Graser-1, for its mass and within
>>its range band,
>>...

Oerjan had written:
>This is part of your problem. You're
>consistently looking at the G1's MASS,
>when you should be looking at its COST.

Fair enough, I'll look at it from a cost
angle.	But, you cannot just look at weapon
systems alone, especially when it comes to
cost.  They do not operate in a vacuum.  :)
The mass matters on how much you can put into
a given ship's space, which is why the mass
vs. mass comparisons were done.  Now it's
time for a cost comparison, but the cost is
also reflected in the support system:  the
entire ship.

I wasn't sure how to do this, except to go
ahead and design two ships with the same cost
of Beams and Graser-1s (G1).  The ship armed
with Beams is designed with a mix of Class-1
(B1) and Class-2 (B2) Beams.  I tried to keep
them as similar as possible (i.e., hull
size).	Total cost of the weapons for each
ship, not counting PDS, is 108.  Comparing
the effectiveness of each weapon grouping for
mass had the two types of weapons being
nearly equal.

"Beamster"
Mass: 99; NPV: 342; Hull: 27, 4 rows;
FTL; MD 4; FC: 3; PDS: 3; Armament:
8x B1, 8x B2 (3-arc), 4x B2 (6-arc).

"Grazoriani"
Mass: 86; NPV: 321; Hull: 27, 4 rows;
FTL; MD 4; FC: 3; PDS: 3; Armament:
5x G1 (3-arc), 3x G1 (6-arc).

To be fair, since "Grazoriani" does not have
the defensive capability similar to class-1
Beams, I also made a design with 3 additional
PDS which is well more than the number of PDS
on a similar-sized Fleet Book 1 ship.

"Grazoriani 2"
Mass: 90; NPV: 336; Hull: 27, 4 rows;
FTL; MD 4; FC: 3; PDS: 6; Armament:
5x G1 (3-arc), 3x G1 (6-arc).

"Grazoriani" is 21 NPV cheaper than "Beamster".
"Grazoriani 2" is 6 NPV cheaper than "Beamster".

So, in conclusion, the Graser is cheaper than
the Beam with the same damage potential.

I also designed a ship with the G1 having
masses of 3/4/5 and costing 3 per mass.  But
the cost change also affects the larger class
of Grasers which is probably not a good thing.	
This design has 105 cost in Grasers.

"Grazoriani X"
Mass: 98; NPV: 338; Hull: 27, 4 rows;
FTL; MD 4; FC: 3; PDS: 3; Armament:
5x G1 (3-arc), 3x G1 (6-arc).

I think I'd rather stick with the the current
Graser masses and cost.  But, my main complaint
is really about the 6-arc G1.  So I made a
design with the 6-arc G1 having a mass of 5.
It looks like "Grazoriani" with one less
3-arc G1.  Yes, a little less damage
potential than "Beamster", but also 21 NPV
cheaper.

I still would like to see the mass of the
6-arc class-1 Graser be increased to 5. Right
now I do not see an incentive to use a 3-arc
class-1 Graser.  For 1 more mass, (I'm sorry,
for a 33% increase in mass one gets 50%
increase in arc), you have a powerful weapon
system that can fire in any direction.

Glen