Traveller Mixed turret USP and small craft gunners

[snrdg082102]

Howdy all,

I am not sure of how a triple mount turret with two of the type of weapons, say two B-Lasers would calculate the USP code.

Would the USP 1 for each B-Laser or 2 in the similar manner as for a double/dual turret housing two B-Lasers?

IIRC there was a discussion about how many gunners would be required for a mixed turret. Unfortunately, I have once again failed to set up the right search criteria to find the thread.

My view is a single mixed turret has one gunner, however I vaguely recall from a topic thread that if three different weapons were installed three gunners was the requirement.

Of course I can't remember the resolution for Book 2 small craft gunners either.

Under the Ship Crews Gunner rule armed small require a gunner in addition to the pilot per Book 2 p. 16. In the Small Craft section on Book 2 p. 17 If the craft is armed, but carriers no gunner, the pilot may fire the weapon at -1 skill level.

Again my view/opinion is that all small craft can be operated by a single crew member who should be a pilot. Further, a pilot should be able to operate all weapons installed in the small craft, especially a fighter.

Once more I vaguely recall that my opinion was not the one in favor.

Can someone provide me with clarifications on how to

1. Calculate the USP code for mixed weapons in a triple turret with two of the same weapon installed.

2. How many gunners a mixed turret needs?

3. Do all armed small craft require a gunner, including the fighter, per the Ship Crews Gunner entry or the Small Craft crew list of not carrying a gunner and the pilot firing the weapon or weapons at -1 skill level?

Dazed and confused more than usual.

 

[atpollard]

Can someone provide me with clarifications on how to

1. Calculate the USP code for mixed weapons in a triple turret with two of the same weapon installed.

The rules as written require each weapon in a mixed turret to be its own battery ... so your triple turret has 3 batteries - beam, beam, missile (for example).

I was not happy with the rule, but that was the final consensus.

2. How many gunners a mixed turret needs?

Sorry, I don't remember this.

3. Do all armed small craft require a gunner, including the fighter, per the Ship Crews Gunner entry or the Small Craft crew list of not carrying a gunner and the pilot firing the weapon or weapons at -1 skill level?

Dazed and confused more than usual.

I think that turrets require a separate gunner, but small craft MAY mount forward firing fixed weapons operated by the pilot (at -1).

 

[atpollard]

From the CT Errata for High Guard:

Page 29, Batteries (clarification): The text is somewhat confusing. In order to use the HG Combat rules, all ships must organize their weapons into batteries. All turrets in a battery must be of the same type (single, dual or triple), and carry the same individual weapons. All weapons in a mixed turret must be organized as single weapon batteries, even if a mixed turret has more than one of the same weapon in it, and weapons in a mixed turret cannot be organized into batteries with weapons from other turrets (including other identical mixed turrets).

Required Gunners:

minimum 0
1 chief gunnery officer (if weapons installed)
1 petty officer per type of weapon on ship (meson, PA, energy, laser, repulsor, sand, and missile)
spinal weapon requires 1 per 100 tons of weapon
bay weapon requires 2 per bay
turret weapons require 1 per battery
screens (damper, screen, globe) require 4 each

[OOPS, that is only for ships > 1000 dTons.]

For ships <1000 dTons, Book 2 crew requirements should be used:

Gunner (Cr1,000 monthly): One per turret or per small craft if considered necessary. Highest skilled is chief gunner and draws 10% more pay.

So I guess, 1 gunner per turret.

 

[snrdg082102]

Howdy atpollard,

The rules as written require each weapon in a mixed turret to be its own battery ... so your triple turret has 3 batteries - beam, beam, missile (for example).

I was not happy with the rule, but that was the final consensus.

Well, I was hoping that my hazy memory was wrong about two weapon of the same type in a triple mount were single batteries. Of course I now recall that during the project Donald McKinney, titled HG3, ran over on ct-starships I strongly argued that two B-Lasers in a mixed turret would be 1 battery consisting of 2 B-Leasers since they can only fire on one target. Unfortunately, the consensus was the same. I still say the consensus doesn't make any sense, but what do I know.

Sorry, I don't remember this.

This is another item that I recall from the ct-starship project too. The vague memory that surfaces was that one of the suggestions was that a gunner was needed for each weapon installed. The discussion of separate gunners, if my foggy memory isn't playing tricks on me, for each separate weapon actually started with the small craft.

Maybe, I'll stumble over the topic thread on whichever board or forum soon.

I think that turrets require a separate gunner, but small craft MAY mount forward firing fixed weapons operated by the pilot (at -1).

As mentioned above my hazy memory for at least the HG3 project on ct-starship and/or another board/forum was a split between the small craft gunner requirement in Ship Crews and the crew list for small craft. I prefer the small craft crew list with the pilot handling the weapons at -1 skill too.

Thanks for the reply

 

[snrdg082102]

Nuts I didn't see this post until after I answered your earlier one. Then I had the additional weirdness of replying to this post and when I hit send was informed of not being logged in. In fact over the last week or so I have had to log-in even when I checked the box.

Here is try two and a silly question to boot. Why are the quotes quoted when I select quote?

From the CT Errata for High Guard:

Originally Posted by ConsolidatedErrata-page15
Page 29, Batteries (clarification): The text is somewhat confusing. In order to use the HG Combat rules, all ships must organize their weapons into batteries. All turrets in a battery must be of the same type (single, dual or triple), and carry the same individual weapons. All weapons in a mixed turret must be organized as single weapon batteries, even if a mixed turret has more than one of the same weapon in it, and weapons in a mixed turret cannot be organized into batteries with weapons from other turrets (including other identical mixed turrets).

Required Gunners:

Originally Posted by ConsolidatedErrata-page15
minimum 0
1 chief gunnery officer (if weapons installed)
1 petty officer per type of weapon on ship (meson, PA, energy, laser, repulsor, sand, and missile)
spinal weapon requires 1 per 100 tons of weapon
bay weapon requires 2 per bay
turret weapons require 1 per battery
screens (damper, screen, globe) require 4 each

[OOPS, that is only for ships > 1000 dTons.]

Digging into some archived material for the ct-starships HG3 project, which also had the same discussion on a couple of other boards/forums, some of the people interpreted "turret weapons require 1 per battery" to mean each weapon being a battery of one in a mixed turret required a gunner. They also extended the concept to small craft.

My opinion is that a battery of one turret has a gunner. Five turrets with the same weapons can be grouped into a single battery of five and can be operated by a single gunner.

Each mixed turret has a gunner.

For ships <1000 dTons, Book 2 crew requirements should be used:

Gunner (Cr1,000 monthly): One per turret or per small craft if considered necessary. Highest skilled is chief gunner and draws 10% more pay.

So I guess, 1 gunner per turret.

The "or per small craft if necessary" seems to support Book 2's Small Craft listed crew of "If the craft is armed, but carries no gunner, the pilot may fire the weapon at -1 skill level."

However, Ship Crews: Gunners says that Armed small craft require a gunner in addition to the pilot.

My vote is for a gunner being optional for small craft.

Thanks again for the help.