Spaceships 3 missiles in limited superscience TL10 setting - Page 2

Alfa · 08-19-2019, 11:25 AM

I have a question regarding spaceship missiles.

The table in Spaceships 3, page 36 gives stats for regular missiles - delta-V 10mps, acceleration 5G. This does work and seems more or less balanced, if ships are limited to non-superscience accelerations.

However, in a limited superscience setting, a ship with an High-Trust, Water-based Antimatter Plasma Torch (HTH2OAPT) drive with one fuel tank has an acceleration of 6G with 20 mps delta-V. Alternatively, 5G can be reached with five regular antimatter plasma torches, and one fuel tank providing 120mps delta-V.

In any case, a spaceship can outrun a regular missile, which seems weird. The only other RAW option are super missiles, with 500G and 500mps - somewhat extreme, in comparison with HTH2OAPT.

If one builds a missile using ship rules, with 6 HTH2OAPT, a little bit room for payload and electronics and fills the rest with fuel tanks (maybe 9) one gets 36G acceleration, and 180 Delta-V (this works regardless of size).

This seems somewhat better balanced, until you realize, that you can build a ship almost the same way, again negating missiles the advantage.

Thus, my question is, how can one stat missiles in a setting where Plasma Torch drives are common?

08-19-2019, 11:25 AM	#1
Alfa Join Date: Aug 2018	Spaceships 3 missiles in limited superscience TL10 setting I have a question regarding spaceship missiles. The table in Spaceships 3, page 36 gives stats for regular missiles - delta-V 10mps, acceleration 5G. This does work and seems more or less balanced, if ships are limited to non-superscience accelerations. However, in a limited superscience setting, a ship with an High-Trust, Water-based Antimatter Plasma Torch (HTH2OAPT) drive with one fuel tank has an acceleration of 6G with 20 mps delta-V. Alternatively, 5G can be reached with five regular antimatter plasma torches, and one fuel tank providing 120mps delta-V. In any case, a spaceship can outrun a regular missile, which seems weird. The only other RAW option are super missiles, with 500G and 500mps - somewhat extreme, in comparison with HTH2OAPT. If one builds a missile using ship rules, with 6 HTH2OAPT, a little bit room for payload and electronics and fills the rest with fuel tanks (maybe 9) one gets 36G acceleration, and 180 Delta-V (this works regardless of size). This seems somewhat better balanced, until you realize, that you can build a ship almost the same way, again negating missiles the advantage. Thus, my question is, how can one stat missiles in a setting where Plasma Torch drives are common?