Re: Cosmic Balance + FT

On Tue, 19 Nov 1996, JAMES BUTLER wrote:

>     
>	  The plasma torpedo could be a seeking weapon that would move
like a
> missile (although it would probably be more maneuverable) but would
first
> require powering. It could either require three turns of charging or
use the
> existing wave gun charging mechanism. Plasma torpedoes would be most
> interesting if combined with the directional armor proposal as they
could
> damage not only the armor facings they hit but both adjacent ones as
well.
> 
>	  What do you think, sirs?
> 

This is what we are going to try for plasma torps in an upcoming
campaign:

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++++
General rules:
	Each torpedo moves and attacks in the same manner as a missile.
Damage from the torpedo ignores shields and Kra'Vak style armor.  The
torpedo has a seeking life equal to the number of dice of damage it has
(so a type 'S' will last for three turns on the board).  At the end of
each turn the torpedo loses one dice in damage strength so that on its
last turn it simply fades away (so that on the first turn an 'S' torp
would do 3 dice of damage and on the third turn it would do 1 dice of
damage).  PDAF and ADAF offer no defense against the Plasma Torpedo,
rather normal battery fire can be used to reduce the damage.  A ship
(any
ship, at any range) may choose to devote some of its battery (AA,A,B,C)
fire to destroy the incoming Plasma Torp.  For each point of damage done
to the torpedo by the battery fire it will do one less point of damage
against any target it may hit.	The arming of a torpedo is handled in
much
the same way as a Wave gun.  Each turn a dice is rolled for each torpedo
that is to be armed and a total is kept for each torp.	When the total
is
equal to the number of dice in that torpedo type then the torpedo may be
fired.	

Plasma Torpedo, type 'D':

Mass: 1 	Cost: 10, may only fire from 1 arc

The type D is a short range weapon.  It has a beginning strength of only
1
dice.  It may however target and destroy fighters and missiles.  If a
fighter or missile is within 6 inches of a type D then the torpedo may
choose to attack the missile or fighter(s).  A missile is automatically
destroyed on a roll of 5 or 6 on d6, in the case of a fighter group the
squadron will suffer d6 casualties (as per Kra'Vak Scattergun).  As the
D
has only 1 dice of damage no roll should be made for arming it, it may
fire each turn.

Note: the type D can be death for fighter wings and missiles.  It is
designed for a race that would have no other defense against such
weapons
and this ability should probably be deleted for races that have access
to other tech (PDAF, etc).  If you go this route I suggest that you
allow
the D to be given multiple arcs at a cost of +3 points per arc.

Plasma Torpedo, type 'S':

Mass: 3 	Cost: 20, may only fire from one arc 

The type S torpedo has a beginning strength of three dice.  

Plasma Torpedo, type 'R':

Mass: 5 	Cost: 30, may only fire from one arc

The type R torpedo has a beginning strength of 6 dice.	Only Capital
class
ships may mount a type R torpedo.  

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++++

I was thinking that the type R needs something to make it stand out.
Maybe the multi arc damage to armor that you mentioned.  Possibly adding
pseudo plasma torps is a thought also.

 Chad Taylor