Re: Vacuum

C. Downes-Ward wrote:

>I did some thinking on this some time ago, based on the way that
atmosphere
>affects wepaons in Striker and Striker II, the best I could come up
with
>was treating all hits from projectile weapons as if they happened at
close
>range

one range band closer would be more accurate. Gravity has as much affect
on
a modern projectile as air resistance, maybe even more. Oerjan Ohlson
probably would know more specifics on that than me.

>and HEL's as if they were one size class bigger.

changing the validities to: red and yellow (red v.s. abalative) would
produce a more consistant increase in power. The class 1 HEL using the
previous suggestion would gain 100% of it's firepower while a class 5 
would
gain only 20%

>Using the Striker figures it suggested increasing the range of DFFG's
by a
>factor of 1000, this would probably convert into treating all combat
with
>DFFG's as being close range in a vaccum. This really depends on what
your
>PSB for DFFG's is.

DFFGs as the PSB in DSII goes atmosphere dosen't affect range, magnetic
containment does.

*As a sidenote I've been soing some research on the Railgun (see thread
on
"Weapon Naming Madness"). The scientific device (a one farad or larger
capacitor, two stainless steel rails, and a copper wire for ammunition)
can
fire plasma: the superheated copper wire, two ways: The first is to use
a
nozzle that will accellerate the plasma to supersonic speeds. This gets
the
plasma out to range before it dissipates using speed instead of
containment(this more or less fits the PSB and the range/damage profile
for
the DFFG)
    The second way (as far as I know is HIGHLY theoretical) is to use
three
microwave horns (one for each axis) and pulse microwaves at the plasma
just
as it leaves the rails. The plasma should develop a circular orbit to
the
pulse, generating it's own magnetic field. Multiple shells of plasma
will
exist each containing the others. This is a very large weapon,
definately
NOT man portable, the generators alone would take a single truck to
carry.
It is quite possible that the only "practical" thing that could carry
such
as device would be as starship designed for planet destroying (and
strangely
enough the Death Star's main gun looks like how such a railgun might
work.)
    Oerjan Ohlson I know that you use the term railgun to mean something
like DSII's HKP (using a plasma accellerant to throw a slug at
hypervelocities) but my background is in science, I use railgun to refer
to
the plasma accellerator, because there are at least three ways to make
one
work as a weapon.
    In any case they are a moot point as far as modern military
practicality. The energy requirements are too great and the recharge
times
are unacceptable in combat. Maybe in 200 years the technology will be
there
to make them viable.

The original post from Laserlight said that Alarshi troops prefer DFFGs,
they might also use the HKP for longer range fire as they use similar
ignition sources.

anyways back to the vacuum problem:

>Other thoughs:
>Infantry should be more vunerable.

-1 to the required damage points?

> CFE and HMT powerplants are non-starters
>too.

CFE and HMT engines can be space profed easily enough. All it requires
is a
LOX tank (1 capacity or 1 x class capacity?, points = 20 x class? This
is a
suggestion I just came up with 30 seconds ago, it needs some analysis
and
feedback. Maybe no capacity requirement?)

>How much does it cost to vaccum proof a turret ring? or in other words
I
>suspect that vehicles will cost more.

Turret rings will probably already be space profed. The treatment of
biochemical weapons in DSII assumes that all AFVs are airtight. The
expectation of firing and impact stresses on AFV subassembalies will
probably require that the AFV is spaceproof in order to not become
unsealed
on a contaminated battlefield

>I could not decide what happened to conventional artillery, especially
HEF
>rounds, presumably any shrapnel will travel further and won't slow down
but
>the blast effect will be very restricted.

The game effect on MAK is negligeable, MAK's don't rely on explosive
shrapnel but area saturation with shaped charge warheads (even on SGII a
2
yard HEAT warhead explosion will only affect one target) HEF explosions
may
or may not be affected depending if they can gain more than 100 yards in
range (1 inch at scale) The explosion itself probably won't change as
the
energy released will travel farther, but there will be no superheated
air to
cause burns evening out for game statistics

>If you use the optional abandoned vehicles rule from p45 I can see the
crew
>being less likely to bail out if they can't breathe outside.

agreed. 1 in 6 instead of 3 in 6 (infantry crews will probably be
equipped
with thin space bodysuits for such emergencies.)

>Should there be a possibility of any "Damaged" result being converted
into
>a knockout due to life support comprimise

Life support comprimise isn't the first thing to worry about. Simply
unsealing the AFV is very likely to cause explosive decompression,
reducing
the crew to a fine red (or green depending on blood color) paste near
the
impact site. All the more reason that a crew might choose to evacuate
(optonal evac rule modification above) is the threat of being violently
sucked through a hole the size of a football, lined with hot jagged
edges,
..... I think that we don't need to visualise the end of THAT outcome...

okay that's my $0.02 plus inflation, tax, and intrest

Jim Whitehead

"Flying is easy, just throw yourself at the ground and miss."