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Old 02-29-2020, 07:05 AM   #1
Pectus Solentis
 
Join Date: Nov 2018
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Default [Spaceships] Can Spinal Battery be bundles of smaller weapons?

For example, installing 3 spinal battery that is 1 SM smaller than normal simultaneously.
In Spaceships #7 there is no explicit descriptions for that.
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Old 02-29-2020, 07:44 AM   #2
Pomphis
 
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Default Re: [Spaceships] Can Spinal Battery be bundles of smaller weapons?

What would the benefit be ? It takes 3 systems. If you buy 3 Major Batteries of the same SM you also need 3 systems and get the same weapons.
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Old 02-29-2020, 08:04 AM   #3
Fred Brackin
 
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Default Re: [Spaceships] Can Spinal Battery be bundles of smaller weapons?

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Originally Posted by Pectus Solentis View Post
For example, installing 3 spinal battery that is 1 SM smaller than normal simultaneously.
In Spaceships #7 there is no explicit descriptions for that.
A Spinal Battery that was 1 SM smaller than the ship's size would be no different from 1 Major Battery of that SM. If you mounted 3 of them they'd use spaces normally.
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Old 02-29-2020, 08:07 AM   #4
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Default Re: [Spaceships] Can Spinal Battery be bundles of smaller weapons?

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What would the benefit be ? It takes 3 systems. If you buy 3 Major Batteries of the same SM you also need 3 systems and get the same weapons.
Three forward facing weapons that take up only one forward component slot, perhaps?
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Old 02-29-2020, 08:20 AM   #5
Fred Brackin
 
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Default Re: [Spaceships] Can Spinal Battery be bundles of smaller weapons?

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Three forward facing weapons that take up only one forward component slot, perhaps?
That's called a Medium Battery.
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Old 02-29-2020, 09:39 AM   #6
AlexanderHowl
 
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Default Re: [Spaceships] Can Spinal Battery be bundles of smaller weapons?

I believe that spinal batteries wereeffectively an early attempt to represent what would eventually become the larger systems rule. A more elegant solution would be using a +1 SM front section main weapon battery. For example, a classic science fiction SM+9 gunboat may have a SM+10 main battery in the front section, a SM+10 fusion reactor in the center section, and a SM+10 reactionless drive in the rear section. The remainder of the systems may be a control room, an engine room, a fusion reactor, a habitat, a hanger bay, a tactical sensor/comm array, two main weapon battery turrets, and three armors, all at SM+9.

The crew would consist of twenty people: six bridge, six engineers/technicians, three gunners, three support staff, and two fighter crew. The hanger bay would consists of two SM+5 fighters and four SM+4 shuttles (each capable of holding ten people). The habitat would consist of one establishment, one sickbay, one minifac, four steerage cargo, four single-occupancy cabins, and eight double-occupancy cabins. With 20 tons of supplies (10 tons of provision), it would have a 250 day mission endurance.
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Old 02-29-2020, 09:58 AM   #7
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Default Re: [Spaceships] Can Spinal Battery be bundles of smaller weapons?

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Originally Posted by Fred Brackin View Post
That's called a Medium Battery.
Well, yes. But if someone wanted to make some kind of "triple barreled spinal mount" an option as a house rule, the main benefit I could see is that you'd be getting three forward facing major mount sized weapons, but still have 5 forward slots remaining (in exchange for the core and rear slots). The only other thing I can think of is maybe the Accelerator Tube Limits rule (SS7) limiting a weapon to a spinal mount.

I don't think I would allow it, myself.
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Old 02-29-2020, 01:45 PM   #8
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Default Re: [Spaceships] Can Spinal Battery be bundles of smaller weapons?

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I don't think I would allow it, myself.
I would allow it. It has a significant downside: if any one of the three spinal mount systems gets disabled, all weapons are disabled. If he had bought three major batteries instead only one would be disabled and two would still be functional.
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Old 02-29-2020, 05:00 PM   #9
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Default Re: [Spaceships] Can Spinal Battery be bundles of smaller weapons?

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I would allow it. It has a significant downside: if any one of the three spinal mount systems gets disabled, all weapons are disabled. If he had bought three major batteries instead only one would be disabled and two would still be functional.
I'd also allow it, for exactly this reason.
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Old 02-29-2020, 05:01 PM   #10
Pectus Solentis
 
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Default Re: [Spaceships] Can Spinal Battery be bundles of smaller weapons?

Quote:
Originally Posted by RyanW View Post
Well, yes. But if someone wanted to make some kind of "triple barreled spinal mount" an option as a house rule, the main benefit I could see is that you'd be getting three forward facing major mount sized weapons, but still have 5 forward slots remaining (in exchange for the core and rear slots). The only other thing I can think of is maybe the Accelerator Tube Limits rule (SS7) limiting a weapon to a spinal mount.
I thought exactly that.

Last edited by Pectus Solentis; 02-29-2020 at 05:17 PM.
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