On 3/15/07, James Moore <jmooreou@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
One of the reasons I gave the beams so many arcs is due to the fact that the ship is not very manueverable, and will potentially be fighting highly manueverable opponents (i.e.e Kra'Vak). At 12", it can put out 29 beam dice in any arc except for directly aft. I've also thought about dropping the fighters for more beams and possibly an AFDC- I can see NSL fleets having a nasty "network" of PDS fire among ships of cruiser size and larger, with their escorts destroying enemy "swarm" units at range.
I personally find beam weapons larger than class 4's to be examples of the law of diminishing returns (Grasers have the same problem, IMHO). A class-5 beam that fires through two arcs is 20 mass- you could get two two-arc class 4's for the same mass and have almost twice the firepower (albeit not out to 60"). I see the Neu Swabians as being just as efficient as modern day Germans and Austrians, they'd have figured this out too.
So there you have it, my rationale for building the ship the way I did. Also keep in mind that a Kra'Vak superdreadnought could conceivably destroy this ship in two salvos if it lucks out and does max damage with it's K6's twice in a row (Not hard to do when they only do 6 damage on a 6). I've never fought a Yu'Kas, but that seems a bit excessive to me.
One of the things that bothered me about the ships in FB1is that they make much more sense in vector than they do in cinematic. Long range weapons in a single arc, forward, force the vessel to close with the enemy-- significantly reducing the value of the extra range. Given that a three arc beam-3 is only better than three three arc beam-2's at more than 24mu, you need some way to keep the range open. As cinematic requires you to move in the direction that you are pointing, a centerline arc is truly aweful for keeping the enemy at arms length.
The aspect of the Kra'Vak that bothers me is that the k-5 and k-6 are overkill. They are only useful as elephant guns (hunting phalon pachyderms). Against human ships and Sa'Vasku constructs, the k-3 has the best bang for the mass point and the k-4 will poke holes clear through to the innards of all but the largest phalon warships. What really limits the desireability of k-5's and k-6's is that they have exactly the same range as a k-1 (not that 30mu is anything to sneer at). If you thought the stock Yu'Kas was a fright, try fighting it with a non-phalon after the four k-6's have been swapped out for eleven k-3's and another scattergun.
You solve the problem of too many arcs by making them asymmetrical. The weapons are mounted to fire forward, forward port, and aft port. If you need to fire to the other side, you roll the ship. The only problem becomes when the enemy will move past you, but that puts your vessel in his aft arc.
As for designing a heavy ship for the NSL to face the Kra'Vak with, they will probably have to finally bite the bullet and kick the thrust up to 4.