PA vs Meson

[skyth]

I was thinking about the PA vs Meson spinal (Looking at T guns primarily)

Might a T-PA be worth it? I know they don't have the kill potential of a Meson, but they might be worthwhile...

PA's hit on a 5 (Assuming 6 agility and target being 20ktons) (83% hit rate)

Mesons hit on a 9, Pen a 9 Screen on a 5, and a needle config on a 3...22.5% hit chance

Meson will almost surely be a mission kill if it hits.

PA will do 19 Surface and 19 Radiation hits. Against AV 15, Each one has a 41.7% chance to do damage (most cases a weapon-1)...So you are looking to reduce the weapon USP of the target by around 15, which will do some serious damage to a fighting ship.

A PA is 4000 tons smaller and uses 200 points of energy less (So really 4400 tons smaller). Same price though. I could mount a PA in a 12,500 ton Battle Rider, whereas the Meson requires at least a 22k ton ship. Cost-wise the ships end up with a similar ratio of costs.

Granted, in 'real' warfare the Meson is better for the simple fact of it nailing drives/crew/etc...Whereas the PA only pulls teeth. But it does pull teeth rather well. Combined with Meson-armed ships for the actual kills...Might be useful to include them in fleets.

 

[flykiller]

Combined with Meson-armed ships for the actual kills...Might be useful to include them in fleets.

perhaps backwards - a fleet of mostly paws, with a few meson guns thrown in to kill the crippled ships.

 

[DeusX]

perhaps backwards - a fleet of mostly paws, with a few meson guns thrown in to kill the crippled ships.

I'd agree with that, and argue it depends on your ship's design objective and fleet strategy. While a heavy meson spinal makes a better ship killer, the PA definitely has it's place if you only want to degrade and declaw the target before a boarding and capture. Also the PA's higher hit chance is better for long-range hit & run

IMTU I design my defensive planetoid monitors with Meson to get surprise kills, for post-invasion guerilla strikes, while my light/strike/rift cruisers who specialize in raiding and screening the battle fleet use PA for raiding rear areas, or degrading an inbound Batron at long range before retreating out of range. A BatRon who has lost fleet escorts and surface laser batteries to cruiser long-range PA hit&run strikes is much more vulnerable to a massed missile Alpha Strike before the fleet's close to brawling range.
(At least that's how I read it in Power Projection & Brilliant Lances)

DX

 

[flykiller]

Also the PA's higher hit chance is better for long-range hit & run

(smile) a factor T sniper gun ....

A BatRon who has lost fleet escorts and surface laser batteries to cruiser long-range PA hit&run strikes is much more vulnerable to a massed missile Alpha Strike before the fleet's close to brawling range.
(At least that's how I read it in Power Projection & Brilliant Lances)

yes, ruleset does have an effect, as does the battle space depiction. for example, if agility deducts from maneuver (e.g. an M6 ship in transit at m3 has a maximum of A3 available) then approaching an enemy fleet that has good long-range weapons becomes exceedingly difficult.

 

[The Oz]

Spinal PAs are also excellent for killing lightly protected targets that have good meson defenses.

 

[DeusX]

Spinal PAs are also excellent for killing lightly protected targets that have good meson defenses.

Good point. Keeping the opponent's naval architects guessing seems a reasonable reason to maintain a less optimal weapon family in the arsenal.
It forces them to spend volume and cost on armor instead of more guns/fuel/marines/whatever the design is really for...

The 500 year 5 war rivalry along the Marches would certainly drive linked evolutionary cycles in ship design far beyond any arms race we've seen.

DX