Spaceships: Missile launchers and their individual mass

[vierasmarius]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

I haven't looked closely at the numbers, but missile damage grows slower than ship HP so big ships have better ability to tolerate hits.

Yeah, projectile damage and beam damage follow completely different scales. Beams increase in damage at the same rate as HP (so a Major Battery typically inflicts damage equal to 70% of the firing ship's HP). Missile damage starts out high, but doesn't increase as rapidly - an SM +5 Major Battery inflicts roughly x5 the firing ship's HP, while an SM +15 Battery inflicts about 60%. However, this just means that full-sized missiles are practically never used, instead swarming the target with as many small-sized missiles as possible. And of course, if nuclear warheads are available they will almost certainly be used instead - a 16cm missile can carry a 25kt warhead at TL7, giving almost x2.5 damage for a proximity blast, and instant death for all but the largest targets on a direct hit.

While the calibre/velocity-based damage for projectiles may be realistic, it doesn't match the "reality" seen in many science fiction stories (especially space opera). I've toyed with changing the scaling of projectile damage to roughly match the progression of beams, but haven't really come up with numbers I'm satisfied with.