Re: A Call to Arms (Spoilers)

>Hello Everyone:
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>Spoiler Space for those who gotta wait:
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>	OK, just a few FT/EFSB related thoughts on A Call To Arms:
>
>The Victory Class Destroyer:
>
>	Armor:	I would say this thing would use the KV armor rules. 
Level 2
>for pulse weapons.  Adds an additional -2 to HBW and Minbari beam
weapon
>rolls.

You have a complication with the armor rules here. They only specified
that
it deflected 80% of energy weapon damage. Never said anything about
direct
physical damage (eg, missiles, et al). You can presume it gives some
protection
to direct physical damage, but any guess you make is going to be pretty
much
speculation.  :-/

>	Maneuvering:  Pretty good for a capital ship.  Thrust 5-6
perhaps?

Oh?? I thought it manuevered like a pig stuck in mud.  :-/  The *only*
time we saw it MOVE was when it left the black cloud (and that was as
faster as she could go) - and along with it were some Omegas and at
least
one other new ship. The rest of the time it just seemed to pokily move
along. We already know the maneuverability potential of Omegas. This has
got to be the fastest we've *ever* seen them move!

At least that's the impression I got from watching it a few times.
Granted,
it *did* manage to s-l-o-w-l-y overhaul the Drahk lighter ships, but as
for
actualy *maneuverability*, I saw nothing that gave me any impression
beyond
the pig-stuck-in-mud bit.

Remember, don't take everything you see in the show as It(tm). JMS does
exercise his 'creative license' from time to time to get cool effects.
I would caution and suggest you wait for Crusade to air for a while
before
you start trying to nail down the Victory-class destroyer's stats.
Other-
wise you're setting yourself up for disappointment and undue hardship.

>	Minbari Neutron Lasers:  This appears to be the standard
armament of
>the Victory.:	Four cannons in front, at least two turreted fore and
>aft.  Rear weapons were mentioned though we didn't see what kind they
>were.	

They appeared to be similar weapons all around. Each had basically the
same damage potential as a White Star.

>	THE BIG HONKIN' GUN:  A nasty looking weapon.  I'd say it was a
level
>10 (!) EFSB HBW, recharge rate is the same as a non-minbari beam
>system.  The gun can't be fired until it  The ship can not do ANYTHING
>(maneuver, use weapons/systems) the turn
>after it was fired.  It's a sitting duck.

Rules for the NovaCannon/Wavegun could be modified to fit this idea
here.

And mind you, we know it is a powerful weapon, but we do *not* have a
good
gauge of it's destructive capabilities. Yeah, they blew away a 'big
asteroid'.
How *big* was the asteroid? What kind of asteroid was it? Carbonaceous,
silicate, basaltic chondrite, iron-rich/poor? How much damage could said
asteroid have taken from the 'level 1 guns' before being destroyed? We
don't
have a good feel for how powerful this new weapon is yet. We've seen it
fired
3 times in the movie: once at an asteroid, once into a hyperspace
transition
device, once into the structure of the Black Cloud (minimal effect,
really).
When we see it fired at something we already *know* the kind of damage
it
can sustain, then we'll have a good idear of how powerful this new gun
is.

I seriously doubt it is on par with Vorlon weaponry because it was
'based
loosely on Vorlon tech'. It's more powerful than anything in the
Alliance,
I've no doubt about that. But I don't think in 5, 6 years they've
managed to
come up with something that'll rival the Vorlon's weaponry.

And if you make the new gun a level-10 EFSB HBW, where do you put Shadow
and Vorlon weaponry at? Level-15? 20??

>The Warlock:
>	Where's the Warlock?  There was supposed to be a Drahk
shattering
>Warlock?

Dunno. Maybe EarthGov opted out of continuing the development of those
ships since they *are* based partly on Shadow tech - and I'm *sure* the
Alliance wouldn't be too keen on any of it's constituent members
building
ANYthing using Shadow tech!

Or you can assume they were all too far away to get to Earth in time to
help in the defense.

>	We got a glimpse of an unfamiliar missile firing ship and an new
ship
>racing out of the Death Cloud with the Omegas and the Excaliber. 
>However, we don't know if these were the same ship, much less the
>Warlock.

I missed seeing the new missile ship firing. I did see a couple new ship
types out there in the fleet, but never noticed them really do anything
to even start to think about their capabilities. Maybe they are 'medium'
sized ships, larger than White Stars, smaller than Omegas.

Mk
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
I'm not giving in to security under pressure,
I'm not missing out on the promise of adventure,
I'm not giving up on implausible dreams -
Experience to extremes...experience to extremes....
					   Rush - "The Enemy Within"