Re: [FT]Variable Fire Arcs...

Donald Hosford wrote in a HTML-ized post:

>>This is an ascii text file I typed up on my laptop.  It has some
drawings in it.>>

Hm... HTML =|= ASCII. Fortunately the text appeared in my reply, but
when I looked at your post directly it showed 18 kB of pure emptiness.

The second attempt was only 15 kB of pure emptiness :-/

[badly scrambled ASCII graphics snipped]

>>Buying a weapon:

1) Add up the "Arc Values".

2) Index the Arc Value, and Weapon on the table.  Result is the mass of
the weapon.

Weapon Mass Table  (Numbers in ()'s are original values from the Fleet
Book.)
				Arc Value
Weapon		    2  3  4  5	6  7  8  9 10 11 12

>>Class 2 Beam	      1     -	 (2)	-     -    (3)>>

Balance problem here. Single-arc (60-degree) Class-2 batteries are
*very* good if they only cost 1 Mass in my experience :-( (I have
several models with medium-sized guns in fixed-forward mountings, so
I've tried reduced-Mass Class-2s quite a bit. I wouldn't go below Mass
1.333 for a single-arc Class-2 - 1.5 seems to play OK for a 120-degree
broadside arc... but both of these require Mass fractions, and I don't
want that at all.)

>>Class 3 Beam	     (4)   (5)	 (6)   (7)   (8)  (10)>>

A 6-arc Class-3 beam is 9 Mass in FB1, not 10.

>>Submunitions pack  (1)    1	  1	1     1     2>>

No way. In this way a 5-arc sub-pack (which is very nearly identical to
a 6-arc sub-pack in capabilities, except when you don't maneuver) costs
exactly as much as a 1-arc sub-pack (which is quite a bit harder to hit
with). Balanced, you say?

>>Needle Beam	     (2)    -	  2	-     -     3>>

Same comment as for sub-packs.

>>Nova Cannon	    (20)   25	 30    35    40    45>>

The NC is a supposed to be a spinal mount. 'Course, I suppose you
*could* mount the keel of your ship in a turret if you really want
to...

>>  NO ship may carry NO MORE than 2 weapons with 12 arc value! >>

and

>>(A note...never tell someone that something isn't possible...they
will often prove you wrong the moment you turn your back...8D)>>

Which John Leary promptly did  <G>

>>
(A note to Jon (GZG):  It isn't possible to abuse these arcs by buying
all 360 degree weapons...First the weapons would be very large, so a
ship couldn't carry more than a few.
>>

It is of course quite legal to build all-360-degree-weapon designs
using the FB1 design system. The official NAC carrier designs are
examples of this.

Regards,

Oerjan Ohlson
oerjan.ohlson@telia.com

"Life is like a sewer.
  What you get out of it, depends on what you put into it."
- Hen3ry