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master arminas
Clan Goliath Scorpion
Star Colonel
Joined: 07-Mar-2007 16:14
Posts: 718
Location: United States
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 Posted: 24-Sep-2008 12:17 Post subject: Sub-Capital Weapons and You |
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Here is the full article that I posted over on Classic BattleTech about sub-capital weapons, and how they might be employed. Jymset mentioned it in the 3025 'Mechs review thread. Hope you enjoy it.
Good morning, everyone. This is my first attempt at writing an article for this board and I hope to be able to spur a good debate and discussion over some very interesting weapon systems—the Sub-Capital Weapons introduced in Tactical Operations.
First seen in 3073 when used by the Word of Blake, Sub-Capital Weapons are an intermediary type of weapon falling between Capital-scale Weapons and Standard-scale Weapons. Perhaps these weapons are the result of WoB discovering a Star League-era project to modernize the very first weapons every used by the Terran Alliance; or perhaps they are completely new weapons. We just don’t know for certain. Myself, I like the idea that these weapons represented the First Generation of capital guns—and since aerospace fighters were not around, the designers of the day did not recognize their viability against those types of craft after they had been replaced by ‘modern’ Capital weapons.
Now many of you are asking, why should we even bother with a new type of weapon? And it is a legitimate question that deserves an answer.
Sub-Capital Weapons combine the Capital-scale range bands with lightweight weapons that inflict—on the whole—less damage than Capital weapons, but more than Conventional weapons. They can be mounted on WarShips, Stations, DropShips, large wet-Naval vessels, and Mobile Structures. These guns are capable of orbital bombardment, but at an additional +2 to-hit modifier, and only inflict full damage to the target hex (half damage to the surrounding six).
But, most intriguingly, Sub-Capitals receive only a +3 to-hit modifier against targets of 500 tons or less compared to the standard +5 of Capital weapons. This modifier applies only to Sub-Capital Cannons and Sub-Capital Lasers. Like their Capital cousins, Sub-Capital Missiles have no penalty when fired at targets of less than 500 tons.
What does this really mean? In the naval combat described by AeroTech 2 (revised), absolute range is everything. Let’s take a look at the numbers for a moment before we get into the actual weapons (assuming a gunnery of 4 across the board).
First, let us compare Sub-Cap Cannons and Lasers against Standard-scale Weapons.
0-6 hexes: Standard Weapons 4+ Sub-Capital Weapons 7+
7-12 hexes: Standard Weapons 6+ Sub-Capital Weapons 7+
13-20 hexes: Standard Weapons 8+ Sub-Capital Weapons 9+
21-24 hexes: Standard Weapons 10+ Sub-Capital Weapons 9+
25 hexes: Standard Weapons 10+ Sub-Capital Weapons 11+
26-40 hexes: Standard Weapons N/A Sub-Capital Weapons 11+
What does this comparison tell us? Well, at point blank-range (6 hexes and below), Standard-scale weapons are much better than Sub-Cap Cannons or Sub-Cap Lasers. But that is the only range band where they have a dramatic difference in target numbers. Every other range band—out to 25 hexes, the maximum range for Standard-scale Extreme range weapons—there is a difference of only 1 in the target numbers to-hit, sometimes in favor of Standard-scale, sometimes in favor of Sub-Capitals. At 26-40 hexes, Standard-scale weapons are out of range, while Long-range Sub-Caps can still fire with fairly decent to-hit numbers.
I said earlier absolute range is everything. Having a longer absolute range—even if the other guy has more range bands—means you can get in one or two or three more shots before he ever enters his own range, per bay mount, per facing.
Now, let’s look at Sub-Cap Missiles against Standard-scale Weapons.
0-6 hexes: Standard Weapons 4+ Sub-Capital Weapons 4+
7-12 hexes: Standard Weapons 6+ Sub-Capital Weapons 4+
13-20 hexes: Standard Weapons 8+ Sub-Capital Weapons 6+
21-24 hexes: Standard Weapons 10+ Sub-Capital Weapons 6+
25 hexes: Standard Weapons 10+ Sub-Capital Weapons 8+
26-40 hexes: Standard Weapons N/A Sub-Capital Weapons 8+
What a dramatic difference that makes. At point-blank range, Sub-Capital Missiles (and, in fact, Capital Missiles) have the exact same to-hit numbers as Standard-scale weapons. After that, the numbers continue to diverge in favor of the Sub-Caps and the Capital Missiles. This does not even consider the -2 to-hit modifier of the Barracuda Capital Missile or the -1 to-hit modifier of the Piranha Sub-Capital Missile. Against those weapons, the to-hit numbers are even worse.
Now, of course, you could mount Standard-scale Pulse Lasers and gain a -2 modifier, or LB-X series autocannons and gain a -1 modifier. But Pulse Lasers tend to have a maximum range of Medium, and LB-X do less damage overall. But, against most Standard-scale weapons, Sub-Caps compare pretty well in overall to-hit numbers.
Ok, then. So Sub-Caps have pretty comparable to-hit numbers everywhere but 6 hexes and below (and better numbers for Sub-Cap missiles). Still, why should we bother? They must weigh a lot more than Standard-scale, right?
Yes, they do. The lightest Sub-Cap weighs 100 tons, the heaviest weighs 700 tons. And unlike Standard-weapons, Sub-Caps require one gunner each, instead of one gunner for every six weapons. So where’s the advantage. Absolute range. I will say it again, that one factor makes Sub-Caps viable against massed banks of Standards, especially for anti-aerospace work.
What about heat? Well, higher than Standards and less than Capital. Much less than Capital for nearly all Sub-Caps.
And damage? Here is where Sub-Caps shine. Compared to Capital Weapons, Sub-Caps do little damage. But they do Capital-scale damage. From 1 to 7 points. That’s 10 to 70 points, per gun, on the Standard scale. With the expected changes in Thresholding for aerospace squadrons (and maybe WarShips) in Strategic Operations and Interstellar Operations, and the maximum limit of six aerospace fighters per squadron, the concentrated punch of Sub-Caps virtually insures you can threshold or outright kill an aerospace fighter with a single shot.
Let’s take a look at the specific Sub-Capital Weapons now. There are three categories of Sub-Capital Weapons—Sub-Capital Cannons, Sub-Capital Lasers, and Sub-Capital Missiles. These guns can be grouped into bays with Naval Autocannons (SCC), Naval Lasers (SCL), and Capital Missiles (SCM), or they can be grouped into their own bays. Individual weapons within each category (three types of SCCs, three types of SCLs, and four types of SCMs) can be grouped together, or mounted individually in separate bays.
This gives ships designers an extremely flexible approach. Please note however, that if you group your Sub-Cap Cannons and Lasers with Naval Autocannons or Naval Lasers, you lose the +3 to-hit modifier. You are stuck with the standard +5 of Capital guns—so think hard before you decide to do this.
There are three Sub-Capital Weapons that can reach out of Long Capital range (40 hexes). These are the Light SCC, the SCL/1, and the Piranha Sub-Capital Missile. These guns are fairly light (none weigh more than 200 tons) and inflict light damage (2 capital points for the Light SCC, 1 capital point for the SCL/1, and 3 capital points for the Piranha).
What good are they, you ask? Well, look at the Light SCC from this point of view and you may see what good it is. It is basically an AC-20, but an AC-20 with a maximum range of 720 kilometers, instead of 108 kilometers. Remember those to-hit numbers from above? Would you want an AC-20 with THOSE to-hit numbers shooting at your fighters from 40 hexes away?
As a side note, the Light SCC makes the NAC-10 obsolete. A bay of five Light SCCs does the same damage, at the same range, for half the tonnage. The only penalty is more gunners and slightly more heat, and you have to allocate more tonnage for ammo for the same number of shots. If Strategic Ops or Interstellar Ops changes the Thresholding rules for Capital Weapons bays in a manner similar to what has been revealed for aerospace fighter squadrons, then a bay of five Light SCCs will only threshold at a damage of 2 compared the NAC-10s 10 point brick—which could even them out once more. But until then, the NAC-10 just fell even farther behind than it already was.
The SCL/1 is the most underwhelming of the Sub-Caps, closely followed by the SCL/2 and SCL/3 (discussed under medium range weapons below). It does the lightest damage of any Sub-Cap, but does reach out to Long Capital range. Consider it a standard PPC with over three times the range. And it is very light-weight and—compared against a Capital-scale weapon—does very little heat. In fact, it does less than two and half times the heat of a STANDARD-SCALE PPC. View it in that light, and it becomes much more interesting.
The Piranha is the quite possibly the ‘crown jewels’ of the Sub-Capital World. This Sub-Cap Missile has a maximum range of Long, no to-hit modifier against targets of 500 tons or less, has a -1 to-hit bonus against all targets, and inflicts 3 points of capital damage—the same as the much heavier White Shark, albeit at a reduced overall range. Unlike other Sub-Capital or Capital missiles, the Piranha does not get an automatic critical chance, but really, guys, does it have to do so in order to impress?
What makes the Piranha so worth-while—in fact nearly too good—is that it is the lightest of all Sub-Cap weapons in weight, and that each individual missile weighs only 10 tons. That’s right, people, TEN TONS for ONE missile. And, it does 3 points of capital damage out to Long Capital range. WOW, I say again, WOW.
On we go to the Medium Range Sub-Caps. There are five weapons in this range band—the Medium and Heavy SCC, the SCL/2 and SCL/3, and the Stingray Sub-Cap Missile.
Medium and Heavy SCC are two of the best Sub-Capital Weapons. Though they only reach out to 24 hexes (and are out-ranged by 1 hex by Extreme Range Standard-scale weapons), the Medium does 5 points of Capital damage and the Heavy does 7 points. For medium capital range anti-aerospace weapons, these guns will guarantee a crit chance due to Thresholding (how many aerospace fighters do you know have armor of 491 points on a single location?). Best of all, they are—relatively—light-weight, generate low amounts of heat, and you can pack on the ammo for very little tonnage (100 tons will get you 100 shots for the Mediums, 50 shots for the Heavies).
With their high-damage (for Sub-Caps), they can also serve well in the anti-ship role. A pair of Medium SCC can do the same damage as a NAC-10 for half the tonnage, albeit at a reduced range. A bay mounting three Heavy SCCs will do 1 more point of damage than a NAC-20, for slightly more than 80% of the tonnage, once again at a shorter range. Smaller ships—such as corvettes—that are mass limited can mount these weapons as a viable alternative to NACs and still remain combat effective. Combat DropShips can also use these guns to have a light-weight, heavy-hitting weapon with that can threshold other DropShips with ease, and present a real threat to WarShips at the same time.
The SCL/2 and SCL/3 are in an odd place. With a maximum Capital range of 24 hexes, they are out-ranged by all Capital weapons except the NAC-35 and NAC-40, but do only 2 and 3 points (respectively) of Capital-scale damage. They are not as good as the SCL/1 in the anti-aerospace because of the loss of 16 hexes of range, and their damage is far too low to serve as viable anti-ship (even anti-DropShip) weapons. The only redeeming values is their extremely low tonnage and heat, as well as not having to provide for ammunition. I doubt that many designs will use either of these guns. If they had a range of Long, then they would be fantastic; as it is, they are rather bland.
The last medium range weapon is the Stingray Sub-Cap missile. This weapon does 3.5 points of Capital-scale damage (35 points of standard) and generates an auto-crit chance on a roll of 12+. This is more damage than a White Shark, but at less than half the range. However, for 50 tons, you can get three Stingray missiles, compared to 1 missile for 40 tons for the White Shark.
[As a side note to the people who designed this weapon (and the Manta Ray, discussed below), what were you guys thinking? Do you know how hard it is to put a repeating infinite decimal into Heavy Metal Aero? If you are considering any errata for this weapon, then change the weight per missile to 15 tons and make it easier on all of us out here, ok? Sure, the 3/50 tons looks cool, but cool doesn’t always work. Rant is now over, and we go back to the discussion.]
The Stingray is a good weapon, and you can really pack on the missiles. Damage is also good, but it really shines in the anti-aerospace role, what with the auto-crit chance and the lack of a to-hit modifier.
Finally, we reach the last range-band, the Short Range Sub-Caps. There are only two, both of them Sub-Cap Missiles—the Swordfish and the Manta Ray.
The Swordfish does 4 points of capital damage and each missile weighs 20 tons. This weapon has an auto-crit chance on a roll of 11+. Damage is the same as a Killer Whale, but maximum range is a mere 12 hexes—Medium standard-scale range. The missile weight is also high enough that you can’t pack on very many. But is does serve as a solid last-ditch anti-aerospace weapon and a passable anti-DropShip weapon. But that purpose is completely superseded by the next weapon, making you ask, what were the designers thinking?
The last Sub-Cap is the Manta Ray, another Sub-Cap missile. This baby has the same range as the Swordfish, but does 5 points of capital damage and an auto-crit chance on a roll of 10+. As with the Stingray above, you get three missiles for a total tonnage of 100 tons (HATE THIS, GUYS, make a note, maybe you should change it to 30 tons in an errata, 25 would fit the theme of the Sub-Caps better, though). This weapon renders the Swordfish obsolete right out of the box, having the same range, better damage, and better auto-crit chance. The only thing that will keep the Swordfish in play is that is weighs 50 tons less than the Manta Ray, and you can get 5 missiles for the same tonnage that will get you 3 Manta Rays.
Let me talk about one final point with the Sub-Capital Missiles. None of these weapons can be fired from an AR-10, which might limit their usefulness to some designs. There are no teleoperated variants either, which makes sense considering their reduced ranges. And—as of yet, since I’m sure Herb is busy working on it—none of the Sub-Caps can carry a nuclear warhead (but Swordfish and Manta Rays carrying a Santa Anna or an Alamo could change everything). Perhaps we might see in Strategic Ops or Interstellar Ops an AR-style that can fire Sub-Cap Missiles as well as Capital Missiles—that would give these weapons a completely new flexibility, especially when combined with the light-weight of the individual missiles—or maybe just an AR-style launcher that can only handle Sub-Cap missiles, that would be cool as well.
My only complaints about the new guns are the seemingly haphazard manner in which they were put together. The Light SCC perhaps should have its range reduced to Medium—this would allow the NAC-10 to retain some superiority over massed banks of the weapon. The SCL/2 and SCL/3 present some real challenges. These guns should have had a range of Long, and maybe do 1.5 and 2.5 points of damage, respectively, so as not to encroach too much on the NL-35. The Stingray, well, if the Stingray had its range changed to long (and a missile weight of 15 tons), it would be perfect. The Swordfish should have a range of medium, leaving the Manta Ray as the only short-range weapon. The Manta Ray should have also its missile weight changed to 25 tons to fit the Sub-Cap progression better. But, those are just my own opinions on the matter.
Overall, these new weapons present some very interesting and intriguing possibilities for Naval Combat—especially in the anti-aerospace role that used to be filled by massive banks of standard-scale weapons. Now, we might finally have useful ‘dual-purpose’ secondary batteries for anti-aerospace and anti-ship duties. While the sub-caps will never completely eliminate the need for a good point-defense battery for anti-missile work, they can and will serve a new and vital role in ship design, and in game play. And for combat DropShips, these weapons can serve as the main guns, while standard-scale weapons round out their armament.
Thank you all for your time and patience, and I hope that I have provoked some thought and insightful debate on these new weapons.
Arminas tar Valantil
Grand Master of the Ebon Rose
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Vagabond
Mercenary
Mr. Referee
Joined: 04-Feb-2002 00:00
Posts: 5791
Location: United States
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| Posted: 24-Sep-2008 14:38 Post subject: Re: Sub-Capital Weapons and You |
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| master arminas wrote: | As a side note, the Light SCC makes the NAC-10 obsolete. A bay of five Light SCCs does the same damage, at the same range, for half the tonnage. The only penalty is more gunners and slightly more heat, and you have to allocate more tonnage for ammo for the same number of shots. If Strategic Ops or Interstellar Ops changes the Thresholding rules for Capital Weapons bays in a manner similar to what has been revealed for aerospace fighter squadrons, then a bay of five Light SCCs will only threshold at a damage of 2 compared the NAC-10s 10 point brick—which could even them out once more. But until then, the NAC-10 just fell even farther behind than it already was.
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Perhaps a point that was not considered, remember the 20 gun limit per Arc before you add Fire Control. If you are stacking on these weapons in limited space, the NAC/10 can get 20 to the 4 groups of LSCCs before fire control is added. Not a big point but a point non-the-less.
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