Is spaceship armor useless?

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

That missiles don't necessarily overwhelm beams easily? Frankly, I've lost the branch, and it takes number-crunching to get conclusive on the issue of overwhelming.

Yes, the number crunching is the point. I've number-crunched before, for the Basic system. I still have not number-crunched yet for the Tactical system.

EDIT: I mean, it's true that if VRF weren't an option, missiles overwhelming PD would be almost trivial, but that's why I don't see the significance of pointing it out. Anyone thinking about the subject is aware of VRF beams.

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Either you accept multiple-projectile (i.e. RoF/RF) mechanics as sensible, or not. If you don't consider them sensible, then we can't compare 300 non-RoFed missiles against 300 RoFed recoilless beams or whatever, either. If you consider them sensible, let's deal with them as-is.

I'm not sure the RoF mehanics are ever sensible, but I'm prepared to believe they're somewhat sensible (though, it is well-established, flawed) for a single automatic or shot-gun type weapon firing a single short burst. (Though attacking a salvo of missiles as one target and tagging a different missile with each hit doesn't actually fit that...but, I didn't come here to nerf beams.) For a battery of truly independent weapons, or an aggregation of bursts over time, they are obviously not.

But I am, nonetheless, dealing with them as-is. I say, use a gunner for every tube. I just note that I'm doing so under protest because I don't see any reason it should be necessary. (A gunner for every beam I'm more comfortable with, because they're all doing different things. Though the gunner being a dedicated NAI or sub-AI is reasonable.)

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Hmm. This comparison really seems to always degenerate into comparing rosters of gunners on batteries, since the choicelessness applies to beam gunners too.

Er, beam gunners don't fire 'salvos' in this sense. And, unlike missile gunners, they do want to use RoF mechanics (though they may want to exploit them to the limits). Not sure where you're going with this?

Of course it comes down to rosters of preferably virtual gunners. The rules imperatives for that are fairly obvious and very well-trod.