Slaving Weapons

[Supplement Four]

Here's another little ditty for those of you who like to ponder things like this (like I do) in the Traveller universe....


Right now, in my game, I've got a 5000 ton Type AH Hercules class freighter about to enter space combat (There's a small 400 ton ship, grappled to an asteroid, that just fired a nuke at it...but we won't tell my players where the missile came from just yet).

Now, the Type AH has four turrets on her, each with dual beam lasers. It's a pretty doggone good bet that the Hercules is going to pop that missile before it does any damage in the Return Fire phase.

But, this leads me to my pondering question...

Let's say there's only one gunner aboard the Type AH. He'll be the operator for one of the turrets.

Do you think he can slave the other three turrets to his board so that all eight lasers fire at whatever target he selects?

Or, do you think a turrent absolutely cannot be used without a local gunner operating it?

 

[Supplement Four]

Here's another little ditty for those of you who like to ponder things like this (like I do) in the Traveller universe....


Right now, in my game, I've got a 5000 ton Type AH Hercules class freighter about to enter space combat (There's a small 400 ton ship, grappled to an asteroid, that just fired a nuke at it...but we won't tell my players where the missile came from just yet).

Now, the Type AH has four turrets on her, each with dual beam lasers. It's a pretty doggone good bet that the Hercules is going to pop that missile before it does any damage in the Return Fire phase.

But, this leads me to my pondering question...

Let's say there's only one gunner aboard the Type AH. He'll be the operator for one of the turrets.

Do you think he can slave the other three turrets to his board so that all eight lasers fire at whatever target he selects?

Or, do you think a turrent absolutely cannot be used without a local gunner operating it?

 

[mike wightman]

In CT it was one gunner per turret. I've always enforced this.
But saying that, I don't require the gunner to be in the turret - they could use a bridge workstation instead.
And I allow the pilot to fire one turrets worth of weapons at -1...
and the navigator isn't really doing musc during ship combat, so he may as well have a go as well

By the way, does the Herc have anti-missile or ECM programs available ?

 

[mike wightman]

In CT it was one gunner per turret. I've always enforced this.
But saying that, I don't require the gunner to be in the turret - they could use a bridge workstation instead.
And I allow the pilot to fire one turrets worth of weapons at -1...
and the navigator isn't really doing musc during ship combat, so he may as well have a go as well

By the way, does the Herc have anti-missile or ECM programs available ?

 

[Supplement Four]

Originally posted by Sigg Oddra:
In CT it was one gunner per turret. I've always enforced this.
But saying that, I don't require the gunner to be in the turret - they could use a bridge workstation instead.
And I allow the pilot to fire one turrets worth of weapons at -1...

We think alike. That's where I was headed too.

and the navigator isn't really doing musc during ship combat, so he may as well have a go as well

In my games, the Navigator is the sensor operator--so, he's quite busy during ship combat.

By the way, does the Herc have anti-missile or ECM programs available ?

I haven't decided yet. With it's Model 2bis, I'm sure it's got one of them. The computer's got the space, and the ship was sent ahead expecting trouble (which means, on a ship with 8 beam lasers, some type of missile defense was probably thought of by the Herc's captain--or they need to fire that guy).

==============


So, back to the original question--about slaving weapons....

Your thought is that each turret must be manned in some way (either at the gunner station or one of the stations on the bridge) by an actual person. The computer can't do this job, and none of the empty turrets can be slaved to a gunner operating another turret.

Hmm...

 

[Supplement Four]

Originally posted by Sigg Oddra:
In CT it was one gunner per turret. I've always enforced this.
But saying that, I don't require the gunner to be in the turret - they could use a bridge workstation instead.
And I allow the pilot to fire one turrets worth of weapons at -1...

We think alike. That's where I was headed too.

and the navigator isn't really doing musc during ship combat, so he may as well have a go as well

In my games, the Navigator is the sensor operator--so, he's quite busy during ship combat.

By the way, does the Herc have anti-missile or ECM programs available ?

I haven't decided yet. With it's Model 2bis, I'm sure it's got one of them. The computer's got the space, and the ship was sent ahead expecting trouble (which means, on a ship with 8 beam lasers, some type of missile defense was probably thought of by the Herc's captain--or they need to fire that guy).

==============


So, back to the original question--about slaving weapons....

Your thought is that each turret must be manned in some way (either at the gunner station or one of the stations on the bridge) by an actual person. The computer can't do this job, and none of the empty turrets can be slaved to a gunner operating another turret.

Hmm...

 

[Golan2072]

HG requires only one gunner per battery - so if all of your laser turrets are linked togather as a "battery" they require one gunner (two to be exact to the HG rules - one to control the battery and one chief gunner).

 

[Golan2072]

HG requires only one gunner per battery - so if all of your laser turrets are linked togather as a "battery" they require one gunner (two to be exact to the HG rules - one to control the battery and one chief gunner).

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

Judging on the sophistication of today, Now's, weaponry such as the Phalanx, Javelin, etc. (I exclude the Patriot) It would stand to reason that an infant could feasibly fire an entire gun deck from his or her crib by the 57th century or earlier.

Gun crews, imtu, take a page from Hornblower. They are surly, callous men, working in a part of a ship that is more often than not a target, and among the first features destroyed in combat. They do man workstations, but they will also knuckle up and manually load missiles if the need should arise.

On the bridge or in the turret, for me, no penalty. Most times the Gunner is the Human element to the system that pushes a button. The tedium of lining a shot on a pitching ship against a moving target is given to machines, but it is the Human that makes the decision.

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

Judging on the sophistication of today, Now's, weaponry such as the Phalanx, Javelin, etc. (I exclude the Patriot) It would stand to reason that an infant could feasibly fire an entire gun deck from his or her crib by the 57th century or earlier.

Gun crews, imtu, take a page from Hornblower. They are surly, callous men, working in a part of a ship that is more often than not a target, and among the first features destroyed in combat. They do man workstations, but they will also knuckle up and manually load missiles if the need should arise.

On the bridge or in the turret, for me, no penalty. Most times the Gunner is the Human element to the system that pushes a button. The tedium of lining a shot on a pitching ship against a moving target is given to machines, but it is the Human that makes the decision.

 

[parmasson]

Yes if . . .

The other turrets are configured for it ahead of time. It should be a simple matter of point and click.

If not he can get up, run down the hall and pop in the other seat (1000 second turn) if there is enough time.

 

[parmasson]

Yes if . . .

The other turrets are configured for it ahead of time. It should be a simple matter of point and click.

If not he can get up, run down the hall and pop in the other seat (1000 second turn) if there is enough time.

 

[Whipsnade]

Gents,

Tooting my own kazoo here, but you may want to look at my 'Flexible Batteries' rules at freelancetraveller.com

The rules were designed with players and play effect more in mind, but they do discuss gunners, gunnery stations, battery controls, and other bits.


Have fun,
Bill

 

[Whipsnade]

Gents,

Tooting my own kazoo here, but you may want to look at my 'Flexible Batteries' rules at freelancetraveller.com

The rules were designed with players and play effect more in mind, but they do discuss gunners, gunnery stations, battery controls, and other bits.


Have fun,
Bill