Weapon Arcs

[Scooter]

I just have a gripe about the lack of weapon arcs. I am not really upset about he issue but I just want some of your opinions.

The Enterprise D is listed with 6 phaser banks and 2 torp launchers. We know that the Galaxy has atleast one rear facing torp launcher and a phaser arrays on the under side of the star drive section.

Can you imagine the contortions the ship would have to do to bring all these arcs into a fight with a single ship in a single weapons volley

It might complicate things but I guess you could break down the penetration values into the different weapon arcs (this might also help with the Defiant vs. the Constitution mock battle that was being discussed on this page)

Thanks for your time

Scooter

[PGoodman13]

Originally posted by Scooter
It might complicate things but I guess you could break down the penetration values into the different weapon arcs (this might also help with the Defiant vs. the Constitution mock battle that was being discussed on this page)

*le sigh grande*

Guys, has it occurred to you that one of the reasons the penetration values seem lower than you think they should is because the lack of firing arcs was already taken into consideration? The starship combat system in the game is a role-playing tool, not a tactical simulation; if this were a tac-sim, the stats would, I'm sure, be radically different.

The system simulates passing the target ship from one array to another during combat. This is not the penetration value of every phaser hitting at once; it's the penetration value of all the phasers hitting the thing in turn as the target maneuvers to get the hell out of the way. Don't try to make the system something that it's not; you'll break it, I can almost guarantee that.

[Capt Daniel Hunter]

Originally posted by Scooter


Can you imagine the contortions the ship would have to do to bring all these arcs into a fight with a single ship in a single weapons volley

The thing is, the system is intenionally rather abstract. The weapons are, I believe, supposed to represent the amount of firepower the vessel can bring to bear in a single volley. As Don has mentioned elsewhere, the weapons are roughly halved (though in the Intrepid's case they are quartered).

It's a solid and simple system, but that said I personally want something a little more complex. It's no reflection on the system, but it just doesn't do quite what I want it to. Which is why I'm going to sort of merge it with FASA's system.

That said, ship combat is something we very rarely do in our game, so it's not exactly a burning issue for me either.

[calguard66]

A ship's firepower in this system is an abstract represenation.

For example, Defiant probably has the highest foreward-arc firepower in Starfleet... but almost nothing to the sides and rear. Her firepower in the game takes into account the fact that she often will not have a target upon which any of her weapons bear.

Excelsior's weapons are individually not as powerful, but she can fire her phasers more-or-less equally well at a target anywere in range. Larger and/ or military vessels also likely carry greater amounts of expendable ordinance, and presumably are more generous in it's expendature... AFAIKR I've only seen Defiant fire two Q-torps at one time... Enterprise-D has fired spreads of up to five P-torps, and we know that Voyager started with only 28 P-torps (IIRC).

I'm actually thinking of using CODA Starship combat with GURPS:PD rules for the RP part...