Re: Vertical Damage (was: [FT] nasty idea for spinal mounts)

Alex Kettle wrote:

>>Hull damage alone doesn't cripple a ship - it will *destroy* it
>>eventually, but unless that ship also takes threshold checks it'll be
>>fighting at its full strength right up 'til the second it blows up.
>>Threshold checks do cripple ships, diminishing their combat power
>>before they die.
>
>I know, and I agree totally (heh you guys are the real experts on
this, I'm
>still pretty new to FT). But what I was thinking was more of a support
>weapon. Make it a long range weapon- and use it as I described to hit
>ships at extreme ranges. Have damage set at maybe 2-3 d6s, and use
>the weapon while your other ships with more traditional beam and
>Ptorps all close range. Those ships that take hits now could have
>significantly fewer columns left for the other ships to have to
destroy to >force those threshold checks.

A horizontal-damage weapon inflicting the same amount of damage on
those target ships will already have inflicted some of those threshold
checks *before the targets get to fire back at your close-range
sluggers*.

>I wasn't suggesting a weapon to force checks with one shot, I was
>more aiming for a support weapon, that could be used to weaken ships
>at long range for the rest of the fleet to make quick work of. Imagine
>smaller ships taking a heavy hit from it, it may not cripple them on
it's >own, but now that ship could have only a couple blocks in each
row >left- easy pickings for other ships.

But even though it only has a couple damage boxes left in each row,
*all of its weapons and systems are still operating and can fire at
your close-range ships*. Since moreover you keep part of your fleet
back, the enemy most likely outguns your close-range ships, so unless
you win the initiative you're in for a rough ride.

If the target ship had taken the same amount of "support fire" damage
in the normal (horisontal) fashion, it would most likely have lost
50-75% of its weapons and other systems to threshold checks - so it
*couldn't* fire those weapons at your other ships.

It doesn't matter which combat role you envision for the weapon, it
doesn't matter at which range intend it to fight: when employed *in
that role*, *at that range*, it must at least match a beam's ability to
knock out enemy weapons. This is why vertical-damage weapons need to
inflict either more damage per cost overall than horizontal-damage
weapons, or inflict extra threshold checks: if they don't, you're
better off simply using long-range beams which can destroy enemy
weapons before they can shoot back. 

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