Potential Pitfalls for a Superscience Technology

Varyon · 10-07-2013, 03:56 PM

It took some doing, but I think I've got the blades working the way I'd like. They can be used with Thrust or Swing (swing is always better, however), either way they do 4d dDamage against a Shielded target (a target that lacks an active Shield instead takes 6d; essentially, an outer "layer" of the blade is stripped off in bypassing the shield). Thrust gets armor divisor (10), swing gets armor divisor (2), down to a minimum of Cover dDR* (0.2/armor system for SM+6, scale follows SSR) for Thrust, 5x Cover dDR for Swing. Cover dDR is the limiter for Ice, Stone, and Steel armor.
The above is for an SM+5 system, the largest a Blade can get. Blades can be scaled down to SM-1 (appropriate for a human**) and follow the dDam1 progression from SS67, at -1 step against a shielded target (so a human scale blade would be 6d damage, 4d against a shielded target).

The damage type is a special case of Corrosion damage. Damage is multiplied by 30*(Cover dDR/dHP)*Density (relative to water). For spaceships (where Cover dDR=dHP/3, and density is 1/3 that of water), this is x3. For most living creatures, with Cover dDR=dHP and density equal to that of water, this is a x30 multiplier! Basic penetrating dDamage is capped at Cover dDR for Thrust, 5x Cover dDR for Swing.
This effect also applies to the target's armor, which often results in an otherwise-nonpenetrating attack damaging the vessel. Rather than force the working out of such damage, I've figured out the amount of resulting dDamage per point of dDR absorbed by the armor (after divisor). The Swing column is only really used when you fail to penetrate (it's already worked in otherwise).

Code:

Armor		Thrust	Swing
Ice		12	60
Stone		25	125
Organic		2	10
Steel		30	150
Alloy		6	30
Laminate	6	30
Advanced	4.4	22
Nanocomposite	1.2	6
Diamondoid	0.4	2

It may be appropriate to round these to the nearest value on the SSR table, for ease of use.
This disintegration effect is resisted by the matter in the way, making it resisted by Cover dDR (for thrust) and Cover dDRx5 (for swing). For speed of play, all vessels will have the Cover dDR of each facing recorded next to dDR.

Sounds really complicated, right? I suspect it won't be too bad in play, really - I'll just need the armor divisors, the x3 for penetrating, and the above chart (along with the stats for the targeted ship). For example, let's say we have a mecha attacking an SM+12 vessel. We'll have it attack a section that's armored by, say, 3 nanocomposite systems. Checking the stats of this ship, we see said section has dDR 300, Cover dDR 6. It'll be Swinging (because Thrust is kind of useless), so it's contending with dDR 150. The mecha rolls 16, which fails to penetrate. Checking the chart, we see it's producing 6 dDamage per point negated, so that's incidental dDamage of 96. This is resisted by the armor's Cover dDR 6, x5 for swinging (so dDR 30), for 66 penetrating dDamage. That's more than 10% of our vessel's dHP, so we Disable a system.

*Credit where it's due - these numbers - and indeed the concept of Cover DR as a limiter - are based on lwcamp's work with energy weapons, seen here.

**As yet, I'm still undecided on if I want Blades this small, as they will be the ultimate melee weapon. With 6d(10), most armor will be possible to penetrate with a thrust, for a one-hit kill (each point of penetrating damage is 30 injury). For armor that isn't possible to penetrate with a thrust, the incidental damage from a swing will most likely kill the target (you need DR 300 or so to be safe from being killed outright by a thrust; that's probably going to require diamondoid armor, which is only going to give you Cover DR of 4; an average swing is going to get 42 incidental damage, for 22 penetrating, possibly risking death and likely incapacitating the target).

10-07-2013, 03:56 PM	#1
Varyon Join Date: Jun 2013	Re: Potential Pitfalls for a Superscience Technology It took some doing, but I think I've got the blades working the way I'd like. They can be used with Thrust or Swing (swing is always better, however), either way they do 4d dDamage against a Shielded target (a target that lacks an active Shield instead takes 6d; essentially, an outer "layer" of the blade is stripped off in bypassing the shield). Thrust gets armor divisor (10), swing gets armor divisor (2), down to a minimum of Cover dDR* (0.2/armor system for SM+6, scale follows SSR) for Thrust, 5x Cover dDR for Swing. Cover dDR is the limiter for Ice, Stone, and Steel armor. The above is for an SM+5 system, the largest a Blade can get. Blades can be scaled down to SM-1 (appropriate for a human*) and follow the dDam1 progression from SS67, at -1 step against a shielded target (so a human scale blade would be 6d damage, 4d against a shielded target). The damage type is a special case of Corrosion damage. Damage is multiplied by 30(Cover dDR/dHP)Density (relative to water). For spaceships (where Cover dDR=dHP/3, and density is 1/3 that of water), this is x3. For most living creatures, with Cover dDR=dHP and density equal to that of water, this is a x30 multiplier! Basic penetrating dDamage is capped at Cover dDR for Thrust, 5x Cover dDR for Swing. This effect also applies to the target's armor, which often results in an otherwise-nonpenetrating attack damaging the vessel. Rather than force the working out of such damage, I've figured out the amount of resulting dDamage per point of dDR absorbed by the armor (after divisor). The Swing column is only really used when you fail to penetrate (it's already worked in otherwise). Code: Armor Thrust Swing Ice 12 60 Stone 25 125 Organic 2 10 Steel 30 150 Alloy 6 30 Laminate 6 30 Advanced 4.4 22 Nanocomposite 1.2 6 Diamondoid 0.4 2 It may be appropriate to round these to the nearest value on the SSR table, for ease of use. This disintegration effect is resisted by the matter in the way, making it resisted by Cover dDR (for thrust) and Cover dDRx5 (for swing). For speed of play, all vessels will have the Cover dDR of each facing recorded next to dDR. Sounds really complicated, right? I suspect it won't be too bad in play, really - I'll just need the armor divisors, the x3 for penetrating, and the above chart (along with the stats for the targeted ship). For example, let's say we have a mecha attacking an SM+12 vessel. We'll have it attack a section that's armored by, say, 3 nanocomposite systems. Checking the stats of this ship, we see said section has dDR 300, Cover dDR 6. It'll be Swinging (because Thrust is kind of useless), so it's contending with dDR 150. The mecha rolls 16, which fails to penetrate. Checking the chart, we see it's producing 6 dDamage per point negated, so that's incidental dDamage of 96. This is resisted by the armor's Cover dDR 6, x5 for swinging (so dDR 30), for 66 penetrating dDamage. That's more than 10% of our vessel's dHP, so we Disable a system. Credit where it's due - these numbers - and indeed the concept of Cover DR as a limiter - are based on lwcamp's work with energy weapons, seen here. **As yet, I'm still undecided on if I want Blades this small, as they will be the ultimate melee weapon. With 6d(10), most armor will be possible to penetrate with a thrust, for a one-hit kill (each point of penetrating damage is 30 injury). For armor that isn't possible to penetrate with a thrust, the incidental damage from a swing will most likely kill the target (you need DR 300 or so to be safe from being killed outright by a thrust; that's probably going to require diamondoid armor, which is only going to give you Cover DR of 4; an average swing is going to get 42 incidental damage, for 22 penetrating, possibly risking death and likely incapacitating the target).