Re: [FT] WotW #4: Railguns

Noam wrote:

>WotW #3 is, I think, now closed. 

With my latest comments of today, yes <g>

>The next WotW is some unfinished business from several weeks ago.
>Hopefully this can be a quick one, since we've already had a
reasonable >amount discussion on it on a few threads.
> 
>WotW #4: Railguns
> 
>Matthew Smith Brought up the "OUDF railgun" (plus there's an "Earth
>Allieance Railgun" on the WDA list). Here's the orginal Smith post and
the
>last part of the discussion (omitting quite alot) from early March.
The WDA
>entry follows:

Essentially, Matthew wanted a long-range K-style weapon with mechanics
"different enough" to feel like a different weapon. His mechanics work
(roll to hit as P-torp but with 12mu range bands, roll to damage as
P-torp but max damage equals class of weapon, inflict damage thus
generated as K-gun hits), but the masses and costs need more work.

The debate then argued whether or not the mechanics *need* to be
different from K-guns in order to give a different feel, or if it is
enough to rename the K-guns and/or stick them into a
different-engined/protected/ whatever hull is enough. No conclusion was
reached on this point.

>BR>Another easier variant to make human rail guns feel different would
be 
>BR> to have them double on a roll OVER the class level (roll of 6
always
>BR>doubles).
>BR>This would make a bell curve for the weapon and larger class
>BR>railguns less effective (but still dangerous) with the best mix in
the 
>BR>Class 2-4 range.
>BR>Same mass as KV K-Guns. Costing them would be tricky,

Costing them is very tricky if you want them to have the same mass as
the KV K-guns, since their powers relative to each other are completely
different from the K-gun classes. You end up with the BR-1 being almost
60% more powerful than the K1 (it needs to cost 8xMass to balance
against the K1 if both are the same Mass), whereas the BR-5 has just
over 60% the power of the K-5 (so would be overpriced even at 2xMass,
unless you also reduce its Mass).

>BR>PSB: KV gravitic
>BR>technology is supperior allowing them to fire the heavier guns with
>BR>greater efficiency (i.e. Human railgun projectiles slow as the mass
of >BR>the projectile goes up, so the kinetic energy transfer curve
flattens). >BR>Human long-range targeting systems are better
(cross-bred from >BR>Class-3 and 4 beams).

I don't see the better Human long-range targetting systems being
reflected in these mechanics, though... if they were, why not apply
them to the higher-velocity slow classes as well, to give them longer
range bands?

One fairly simple way to modify K-guns is the "9mu range bands for
twice the Mass, 4mu range bands for half the Mass (round up)" one. IME
this works OK for P-torps, and K-guns are similar enough to the basic
P-torps that it should work well for them too. (I haven't had time to
use modified-range K-guns much yet, but so far they haven't caused any
balance problems.)

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."