Rewriting Mayday
- Thread starter infojunky
- Start date
Thinking of this still but using 1st edition HG.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
Some additional thoughts. (I settled with PA turrets getting +1 to hit and causing 2 hits plus a radiation hit.)
Plasma and fusion guns will be useless at ranges of over 1 hex. I have seen data that suggests a modern plasma weapon would fire a plasma bolt at around 100km/s, even assuming an order of magnitude increase due to TL that is still only 1000km/s - it takes 10 seconds for the plasma bolt to hit something 10,000km away.
As a pulsed weapon it would get the pulse laser -1DM to hit, and I would also grant the 2 damage, 3 for a fusion gun.
Rapid pulse plasma and fusion weapons would make for excellent anti-missile point defence so a bonus for anti-missile fire would be in order.
Plasma and fusion guns will be useless at ranges of over 1 hex. I have seen data that suggests a modern plasma weapon would fire a plasma bolt at around 100km/s, even assuming an order of magnitude increase due to TL that is still only 1000km/s - it takes 10 seconds for the plasma bolt to hit something 10,000km away.
As a pulsed weapon it would get the pulse laser -1DM to hit, and I would also grant the 2 damage, 3 for a fusion gun.
Rapid pulse plasma and fusion weapons would make for excellent anti-missile point defence so a bonus for anti-missile fire would be in order.
Spinward Flow
SOC-14 5K
There's a reason why energy weapons (plasma and fusion) are short range only weapons in LBB5.80.
They can still be used for anti-missile defense (and fusion guns are really good at anti-missile defense!), but Long Range is "right out" for them. They are offensive weapons only at Short Range.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
Even short range in HG is ridiculously long when you look at the Mayday/HG conversion notes...
in HG energy weapons should be contact range only if the ranges are as Mayday suggests.
in HG energy weapons should be contact range only if the ranges are as Mayday suggests.
The Mayday hexes are pretty huge -- 300Kkm.
Lunar orbit is just one hex, 100D from Earth is 5 hexes. Basically, inter system transit (to/from jump) battles are pretty much right on top of each other, deep in the planetary gravity wells.
Brilliant Lances uses a 30KKm hex size.
Lunar orbit is just one hex, 100D from Earth is 5 hexes. Basically, inter system transit (to/from jump) battles are pretty much right on top of each other, deep in the planetary gravity wells.
Brilliant Lances uses a 30KKm hex size.
kilemall
SOC-14 5K
I would think short range is more like 250,000km, assuming you are using the -2 DM as the boundary like I am.
kilemall
SOC-14 5K
The site Tough SF has justifications for long range fire that makes me feel good about the old CT ranges. Good enough for me, and some hardcore visualization goodness about what is involved with some of our cherished weapons-
ToughSF
A blog dedicated to helping Science Fiction authors create and discuss worlds where a realistic setting can still serve the fiction.
toughsf.blogspot.com
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
You can't justify hitting something that can maneuver/evade at 1g minimum at a range of 10,000 km when your weapon takes 10 seconds to get there - unless of course you can saturate the entire 'future history cone' of the target. Atomic rockets does a much better job of explaining this than ToughSF.
That I can use a calculator reliably is now a question, dropped a zero in there.
25 hexes instead of the 2.5….
kilemall
SOC-14 5K
I'm aware of the math involved. I also know that maintaining target solution is going to be relatively easy and the multiples our PA weapons cost in energy over light speed lasers strongly suggests there will be multiple endpoints covered.
