Re: Armor

Date sent:  5-NOV-1996 08:55:20 

>Thanks everyone for your great responses!

No problem.

>Here was my thinking:
>  Level 1 screens on a cruiser size ship saves the ship between 15-25
damage
>points in the typical games I have run.
>  Level 2 screens on a cruiser saves the ship between 20-35 damage
points.
>  Level 3 screens on a cruiser saves between 25-45 points of damage.
>  Escorts have lower averages and capitals higher.
>  This averages to between 5 & 6 points per ton. Cost average is
between 0.4-1.0
>cost per point. 
>  Add to this that screens do not decrease in effect, and they are
>omni-directional. And I limited the amount of armor a ship can carry.
>  This is why I suggested 1 ton and a cost of 5 for 5 points of
protection.
>Level 1 screen is 3 tons, costs 25 and provides 15-25 points of
protection
>(average). 3 tons of armor cost 15 and provide 15 points of protection.
5 tons
>of armor cost 25 and provide 25 points of protection.
>  
>  If you have differnet averages for the amount of damage screens
absorb, I
>would love to know (everyone has a different level of luck).

Do your calculations take into account lost screens at threshold checks?
This significantly reduces the amount of damage screens can adsorb. Add
in weapons that ignore screens, and you can see that armour will have
it's
advantages.

Also, under clever command, level1 armour as you propose gives 20 points
of
protection, not 5. (or did you intend to have the 5 points distributed
over
various facings, which would be roughly equal to the 4 points over 4
facings
I suggested).

In addition, armour always protects, where screens still depend on a
great
deal of luck. Removing a luck factor is always advantageous.

And as the new armour idea is not a 'ships hull as screens', then you
should
not exclude the possibility that screens and armour may be combined, 
particularly on a valuable asset such as a carrier.

And one last observation, the armour has to be breached before any
threshold
checks must be made. 4 extra damage on the first row is far more
valuable
than 1 extra damage on each row for a capital ship, or any other class
for that matter.

>  What would you suggest as a good average for 1 ton? Remeber, they
only cover
>one arc, do not regenerate, and are usually gone by the time you have a
>threshold roll.

>  Someone suggested 1 point per ton (and cost of 1?). Would you trade 3
tons of
>level 1 screens for 3 tons of armor for 3 armor points? Would you buy
level 1
>screens that weigh 25 tons? While I disagree with your suggestion,
thanks for it
>anyway!

I think we are at a slight misunderstanding here. 3 armour points on
every
side of the ship. This is valuable, especially if you can maneuver well.
I'm unclear as to wether you meant 5 points on EVERY side, or that you
have
to allocate all the points you buy. Remember also that the only way in
the
core rules to increase your damage capacity is to buy a bigger hull.
That
is extreamly expensive.

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