One shot-kill weapons

There are 6 weapons which can kill a ship of the same
mass that launched them in one shot:

Missiles, Submunitions, Scatterpacks, Torpedo Fighters,
Nova Cannon and Wave Guns.

Lets go over the damage/ship(damage points mass ratio:
Missiles: 7 damage/4(2) mass.  Missiles can kill a
ship 3.5 times as massive as the one that launched it.

Submunitions: (2/ 1.3 / .7 )Damage per 2(1) mass.
Submunition can kill a ship twice as massive as itself
if it get off all its shots within 6", and it can
kill a ship 33% larger if it gets off all its shots
with 12".

Scatterpacks: 3.5/ 2 (1) Mass within 12".  Like missiles,
Scatterpacks can expect to kill a ship 3.5 times
as massive.

Torpedo Fighters: 21/ 12 (6) mass, or 3.5 times as
massive.

For ease of comparison, all these weapons ignore
shields.  There is no defense at all versus Scatterpacks
or Submunitions.

Then we get to the weapons which can kill in one shot but
can be used again.

Consider the following two ships classes:
Wave Gun Cloaked Cruiser and Sub Space Bomber

Mass 26   WGCC
Thrust 8
damage 13
sys
Cloak
Wave Gun

and:
Mass 40  Sub Space Bomber
Thrust 5
Damage 20
sys
Cloak
Nova Cannon

At 12" and 24" respectively, each of these ships can kill
a ship of the same mass in one shot.

A beam-equipped Cruiser would inflict 8-9 points at 12"
if they bought no defense.  A WGCC would have the greatest
advantage in the 24"-36" range because its weapon damage
is only halved while the beam Cruisers are reduced by two
thirds.

A beam-equipped Battlecruiser would inflict 8-9 points
at 24" if everything they had was A Beams.

Lets compare defenses:
Versus Scatterpacks and Submunitions, all you can do
is to try to keep out of their arc or their 12" range.
How easy this will be depends on several factors:
1)  The relative thrust of the ships involved
2)  Whether you are using standard FT (cinematic) or
'realistic' Vector Thrust rules.
3)  How fast the ships are going/ how much time they have
to build up a vector before engaging.

Number three depends on such arbitrary things as the size
of the table, the maximum speed allowed, and whether you
have optional sensors rules that enable you to detect
the enemy at strategic ranges, or at least greater than
maximum weapons range.

Under standard Swoops in Space rules, the faster a ship
is going the greater the potential area it can dodge to
in a single turn.

Lets run down a couple examples for three systems:
1)  Standard FT rules
2)  Vector Thrust where one can spend 2 thrust for a
1 point facing change
3)  Vector Thrust where one can execute a facing change
of up to 1/2 the ships' Thrust with no thrust penalty.

Consider a Thrust 2 Dreadnought moving at 30".
There are 5 positions it can be in at the end of a turn:
P1, S1, +0, +1 and +2.	The separation between P1 and 0
is about 8" under (1).	

The dodge field consists of 3 hexes under (2)
and a triangle of about 6 hexes under (3)

The difference in the positional variation at the end of
the move makes a big difference in whether missiles and
fighter groups can be in range to engage.

A Thrust 8 Escort could generate enough positional sideways
thrust to dodge a missile under (3), but not under (2).

The movement system used and the house rules then play a
key role in determining the effectiveness of the one-shot
short range killers.

Also, a Thrust 2 Battleship is an easy target under
(2) and (3) for Wave Guns and Nova Cannons because its
location and course are predictable turns ahead of time.

My point is not to get people to tone done the oneshot
weapons but to provide an analysis so that everybody
has the same information to make decisions based on.

Also, I am working on some tactics and fleet doctrines
for Vector Thrust which I will post in a couple of days.
I have a few solutions to the Wall v Wall slugging matches
that some people dislike.  Part of strategy is building
a good fleet, and part is knowing how to use it.  If
you just don't like having to roll 6's all the time,
have a house rule that you can combine batteries and
say:
"The 18 d6 I could roll for damage requiring 6 to hit I
am actually going to roll and 6d6 requiring 4's."

What happens when you replace 4 A Beams with 6 Needle Guns?
Is 2 points of damage versus level3 shields worth an
average of killing a system a turn?  How close do your
Dreadnoughts get to the enemy Dreadnoughts?  One FCS
can fire all the Needle Guns, so 3-6 needle guns on a
Cruiser or Capital ship would really affect the final
clash, while still leaving FCS available for conventional
beams.

I'm not sure what some people actually object to about
Wall V Wall combat.  Is it that it takes about 6-8 rounds
for equal sized ships to cripple or destroy each other?
In that case, play with Wave Gun Cruisers and Sub Space
Bombers and each hit will take out a ship.  Very quick
indeed.  Is it that their 2 Thrust ships rely on
overwhelming firepower that you sacrificed in the name
of 'fleet flexibility'?  Hey, if you are paying to cover
every contingency then you will get hurt.  If you spend
1/4 your mass on anti-fighter defenses and your opponent
uses nothing but beams, he will have a firepower edge.
Develop your own attack strategy and force your opponent
to make the expensive changes to his ships.

Michael Sandy