Vehicle Weapons Damage Value Error?

[Dank Nyland]

Hi!

We are preparing for our first MgT (2nd Ed) campaign. While reading the rules, I came across some strange numbers
in the Vehicle Weapon Table (Core Rules p. 136).

A Cannon has a damage output of 8D. A Heavy Machinegun has a damage output of 4D, the same amount a Laser
cannon (4D) has. This seem a little bit strange in my eyes. A Light Autocannon has only a damage output of 1D. So
it is much weaker than a Heavy Machinegun.

Then I took a look into the Vehicle Handbook. There the Cannon (p.40) has a damage output of 1DD?! A Light Autocannon
(p.42) now has a damage output of 6D and a Light Laser Cannon (p.42) of 8D. So a Laser Cannon has only half the damage
output of a Light Laser Cannon...

My question is, are there some errors in the tables? Or do I simply didn't get something (which always is an option, I'm afraid. )?

Thanks for reading!

 

[Condottiere]

If the weapon statistics feel off, discuss it within your group, and adjust them as a house ruling.

 

[Fovean]

You may have found some typos left over from the old Damage Scale paradigm. There used to be three: Personal, Vehicle and Ship Scale. They dropped Vehicle scale in the final version of the rules. I don’t recall exactly but I think it was Px1, Vx5, Sx25.

IMTU I still use all three because of situations like you point out, and also because there feels to be very little difference between Heavy Weapons and Personal ones, to me at least.

But yeah, best thing to do when you find something that bothers you is make the change that fits for you and your group.

 

[whulorigan]

There the Cannon (p.40) has a damage output of 1DD?

I seem to recall that in MgT a "DD" notation is for weapons that deal massive damage, and should be considered as [# of dice listed] x 10 for person-scale targets.

 

[Fovean]

I seem to recall that in MgT a "DD" notation is for weapons that deal massive damage, and should be considered as [# of dice listed] x 10 for person-scale targets.

Yes, that’s correct. Unfortunately it seems inconsistent at times. Hence my comment on typos.

 

[infojunky]

The long and short of it vehicles only kinda work. Lots of neat with very little common sense.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

From core rule book page 74

Destructive Weapons

Some weapons are so powerful, they are capable of
blasting apart small vehicles with a single shot. Such
weapons are referred to as being Destructive.

A Destructive weapon is noted in its Damage score with two
Ds (for example, if a weapon was listed as having Damage
3DD, it would be Destructive, rolling three dice for damage).

A Destructive weapon multiplies the total rolled for
Damage by 10. Effect is never added to the damage of a
Destructive weapon.



I'm guessing the Vehicle rules over-ride the Core rules. And I'm guessing the Vehicle rules were not edited by anyone.

 

[kilemall]

Would it be Traveller if there was editorial and explanatory consistency?

Just think of it as a subconsciously introduced goad to make house rulings....

 

[Dank Nyland]

Thank you all for your help!

As a veteran of MegaTraveller, I'm somewhat used to errata and houseruling.

The meaning of DD is fully clear to me; I was somewhat surprised that the cannon's damage output
was changed from 8D to 1 DD. After looking into the Central Supply Catalogue I think, that there are
some errata in the the Core Rules in regard of the Vehicle Weapons.

So we are going to use the stats from the CSC, do a little bit of house ruling and start looking after the
whereabout of our starship.

Would it be Traveller if there was editorial and explanatory consistency?

This is the way.

 

[Annatar Giftbringer]

The odd weapon damage values are an artefact from when the game was in beta, but they’ve been corrected. Do you have a physical or digital copy of the rulebook?

I looked in mine, and both the printed copy and the most recent digital versions are adjusted to the correct values…

 

[Annatar Giftbringer]

This is a screenshot from the most recent digital version of the core book

 

[Dank Nyland]

Interesting. I redownloaded it at it still shows the old values.
The same values are shown in my printed rulebook.

Edit: Where did you got your pdf from and what date/version does it have?

 

[Annatar Giftbringer]

I got my pdf from drivethruRPG, latest version’s called Traveller_Core_eBook_Tablet.

My printed book has the correct values too

 

[Dank Nyland]

I bought mine via Wargame Vault. Perhaps I should knock at Mongoose door and ask for
an update.....
And it seems that there will be an update for the printed rulebook also...

Core Rules Update 2022

Thanks for your help!

 

[Annatar Giftbringer]

You should definitely check with Mongoose or Wargame Vault to get the latest updated version for now.

The updated book you linked is more than just fixed typos and errata inclusion:

Official update discussion

Sounds promising

 

[Dank Nyland]

Oha! That looks really promising.

Time to fetch a cup of coffee and do some reading.