[Spaceships] Combat Examples?

[vierasmarius]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

'Proximity detonation', for conventional warheads, really means the missile separating into submunitions in a rather deliberate (though probably violent) manner. It basically works like Annular Blast Fragmentation warheads, described on HT174, though the scale involved is rather larger and the speed much higher.

I'm not really clear on how the contact version manages to earn its (questionably useful) armor divisor. I've seen it described, but don't know why it adds up to a (2) rather than something else.

My pet peeve with the proximity detonation rules is that they don't seem to impact the missile's damage and penetration nearly as much as they realistically should. A +4 to hit is equivalent to x16 RoF, and based on the multiple projectile rules in High Tech firing 16 sub-munitions means each one inflicts 1/4 normal damage (and may also have a less favorable damage type, though at the spaceship scale that probably won't matter). Lacking the full projectile's (2) Armor Divisor gives the sub-munitions effectively 1/8 the armor penetration.

This doesn't address the point defense problem, but at least it means that prox det isn't a no-brainer; against maneuverable lightly-armored targets it can improve the chance of a hit, but against armored targets you need the higher penetration of a direct hit.