Mass Combat: Advanced for its time

[Mailanka]

So, in my martial arts game, Mass Combat is coming up, and one faction is known for its particularly advanced, mass-produced, low-quality weaponry. They're your army of muskets and cannon in a world of knights and archers.

But a discussion came up: A cannon, compared to a catapult, is TL 4 vs TL 3. If we argue that it's a "prototype" cannon and rather crap compared to a real TL 4 cannon, then it counts as poor equipment, which reduces its effectiveness (but it's still better than TL 3 artillery), but it also reduces its cost (making these new-fangled cannons cheaper than catapults).

I can think of a few solutions to this:

• It's not advanced! It's just really good! The world is TL 3, therefore nobody had access to TL 4 weaponry. It's just "elite quality" TL 3 artillery, since "elite" doesn't just represent the most well-made gear, but also the most state-of-the-art.
• Sure, cannons ARE cheaper than catapults The "costs" in Mass Combat are an abstraction. Things like muskets and cannons ARE cheaper than their counterparts (after all, TL 4 cannons cost no more than TL 3 catapults) when you compare cost to firepower. Thus, the army that fields cannons is fielding more death per dollar, even if they're "poor" cannons.
• It's a prototype! There should be a new "special option" that represents using something that's more advanced than your TL, but not really up to par with what would be at that TL, sort of "TL + 0.5" This allows you to arbitrarily raise the cost of a force to represent the fact that it might be more expensive for its effect because the technology has not yet matured.

I favor the last solution because it better represents things like a TL 5 force fielding a prototype TL 6 tank ("Steam tank!") or a TL 8 force to field prototype TL 9 battlesuits: You just note the item as poor, but then increase the build and maintain cost to compensate.

But I wanted your insights. What solution do you favor, and if you like "Prototype," What cost would you apply? +25%? +100%? "Depends on the technology?"

[Dinadon]

I would say that it's TL4 equipment in a TL3 setting (or for a specific tech field that's still TL3) and that standard cost changes apply: doubling of cost for every TL higher than the standard.

[Mailanka]

Originally Posted by Dinadon

I would say that it's TL4 equipment in a TL3 setting (or for a specific tech field that's still TL3) and that standard cost changes apply: doubling of cost for every TL higher than the standard.

Hmmm, that's a good point. +100%. Do you think that should apply to maintenance costs as well?

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Mailanka

Hmmm, that's a good point. +100%. Do you think that should apply to maintenance costs as well?

Definitely, though perhaps +50% maintenance should suffice (due to it not being remarkably high-tech in nature).

[Mailanka]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Definitely, though perhaps +50% maintenance should suffice (due to it not being remarkably high-tech in nature).

That sounds perfect: Prototype: +100% raise cost, +50% maintenance cost.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Mailanka

That sounds perfect: Prototype: +100% raise cost, +50% maintenance cost.

The question remains: are they worth it? Do they have better TS per G$ and/or WT?

[vicky_molokh]

What are the death-per-dollar and death-per-kilogram ratios? If they're better than TL3 artillery, find the closest match. If they end up being SotA but no better in real warfare, there's no point in changing stats.