More ideas on B5

Date sent:  21-AUG-1996 09:57:03 

I've just been looking at those great counter sheets (Something to
'test' our new colour printer 8-)  ) and have been inspired to
rework some ideas on weaponry in B5.

Try these for size. (Shields are totaled, fractions rounded down,
max 3)

PDAF. Normal rules OR 0.5 shields 360
ADAF. Normal rules OR 1 shields 360 OR 1 die vs ships within 6"
C.    Normal rules OR 0.5 shields in specific arc OR anti fighter
				    (needs a 5 or 6 to kill 1 fighter)
B.    Normal rules OR 0.5 shields in specific arc
A.    Normal rules OR 0.5 shields in specific arc

Weapons may fire through any three (or fewer) adjacent arcs, with
the exception of *daf which fire through 360 (as they represent
multiple smaller guns)

Using specific arcs for shields means that angle of engagement becomes
important (especially when you start to loose multi arc weapons). I
think
Marks idea of using weapons in an alternate 'shield' mode is great.
However, I am concerned that by dividing shielding into arcs, it may
make things too complex. Note also that a small ship can have great
shields, but should it be outnumbered and surrounded, it's toast.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Big beam weapon.

This is the sticky one which IMHO no one has sorted yet. Here is an
idea.

Fit is mass 4 for cruisers and mass 6 for capital ships (Capitals can
fit
the cruiser version but not visa versa). The weapon may fire through
a 45 arc to the front. Capitals may also fire to the rear. Only one
per ship max.

The gun charges by d6 (as per a wave gun) at the start of a turn (after
orders are written) to a maximum charge of 6. In any subsequent turn,
the
player may declare that he is discharging his BREW (Big red energy
weapon).
He must do this BEFORE orders are written. The energy signature of a
weapon discharge is quite large, and you can bet everyone will want to
a.) get out of the way and b.) throw everything into defensive fire.

Now the fun bit. How much damage does it do? Well, 3d6 seems about
right.
No not a 3 dice attack, but 3d6 totaled. The target ship, however, does
get to defend itself. It rolls 1 dice for each shield factor, plus
another
dice for each 12" of range. At 6" range or less, the defender gets NO
shields (can't fire plasma into the beams path fast enough to make a
difference) You subtract this result from the firers damage. So against 
well defended ships, that don't have their interceptors down, you have
to get right down their throat.

A ship that fires a BREW can not fire any other weapons in the same
fire arc (Front or Rear). Note that although the weapon itself can
only target in a 45 arc, the entire 90 arc is off limits, for both
offensive and defensive fire (so shield factor is ZERO)

Fighters can play with BREWs too. You can sacrifice a fighter from
a group between the firer and target to give the defender an extra
dice in defence. If the firer wants to, he can target a fighter group
and destroy a single fighter automatically.

A couple of final things. The power is provided by the jump point
generator. If the jump drive is disabled, the beams will no longer
charge.

Worse, if it is carrying a charge, and the BREW itself is hit, BOOM.
The ship takes 1d6 damage for each point stored.

So wadayaallthink?

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| Adam Delafield, I.T. Officer	      | Bolton Institute,  |
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