Steve Jackson Games Forums - View Single Post - [Spaceships] Fixing ballistic weapons in tactical combat

Michael Thayne · 02-01-2019, 04:17 PM

The way ballistic weapons work in tactical combat contains a number of oddities, both in terms of internal logic and in comparison to the basic space combat system:

In the basic space combat system, ballistic weapons have hard range limits. In the tactical combat system, shells and missiles can drift forever.
In the basic space combat system, fixed mount missile launchers have a limited firing arc, just like other fixed mount weapons. In the tactical combat system, they have no suck limitation and appear to get a free +2 to to the attack roll.
Some of the delta-V values given for missiles make little sense.

Some proposed fixes:

Limit the range in tactical combat too. This can represent the need for active guidance from the firing ship. Suggested range limits are 200 miles if the weapon's range in the basic system is Close; 1,000 miles if Short; 5,000 miles if Long, or 20,000 miles if Extreme. If you don't want these to be hard limits, a -3 penalty to attacks outside the weapon's effective range is probably fair.
This is simple: just limit missile firing arcs the same way beam weapons are limited. I would tend to assume this is an issue with how the guidance systems are designed, so a ship that fires missiles needs to keep its launchers pointed towards the target throughout the missile's flight. Again, if you don't want this to be a hard constraint, you could merely apply a -3 penalty to the attack roll if the target isn't in the right arc.
Halve missile thrust and delta-V below TL9. Also, don't automatically double delta-V for large missiles, however missiles can be designed with the "multistage" option, which doubles delta-V but halves effective caliber for damage purposes.

Thoughts on these fixes? Does anyone have other things in the tactical combat system they'd like to fix?

02-01-2019, 04:17 PM	#1
Michael Thayne Join Date: May 2010	[Spaceships] Fixing ballistic weapons in tactical combat The way ballistic weapons work in tactical combat contains a number of oddities, both in terms of internal logic and in comparison to the basic space combat system: In the basic space combat system, ballistic weapons have hard range limits. In the tactical combat system, shells and missiles can drift forever. In the basic space combat system, fixed mount missile launchers have a limited firing arc, just like other fixed mount weapons. In the tactical combat system, they have no suck limitation and appear to get a free +2 to to the attack roll. Some of the delta-V values given for missiles make little sense. Some proposed fixes: Limit the range in tactical combat too. This can represent the need for active guidance from the firing ship. Suggested range limits are 200 miles if the weapon's range in the basic system is Close; 1,000 miles if Short; 5,000 miles if Long, or 20,000 miles if Extreme. If you don't want these to be hard limits, a -3 penalty to attacks outside the weapon's effective range is probably fair. This is simple: just limit missile firing arcs the same way beam weapons are limited. I would tend to assume this is an issue with how the guidance systems are designed, so a ship that fires missiles needs to keep its launchers pointed towards the target throughout the missile's flight. Again, if you don't want this to be a hard constraint, you could merely apply a -3 penalty to the attack roll if the target isn't in the right arc. Halve missile thrust and delta-V below TL9. Also, don't automatically double delta-V for large missiles, however missiles can be designed with the "multistage" option, which doubles delta-V but halves effective caliber for damage purposes. Thoughts on these fixes? Does anyone have other things in the tactical combat system they'd like to fix?