Question re. Megatraveller Starship Combat

[Pierce_Inverarity]

I got me some MT on ebay recently and am loving it... but now I'm stumped with a detail in the starship combat section of the Ref's Manual (p.92):

It says that before your ship can start firing on the target you need to perform two different sensor tasks--locating, and locking-on. You get one sensor task free per round, but if you want to perform the second one in the same round, you lose one weapons "battery" for that round.

Now a Scout/Courier only HAS one battery because it's only got a single hardpoint. So, an S/C can't both locate, lock, and fire on a target in a single round, right?

This wouldn't be a big problem--it could lock-on in round 1 and fire in round 2. But the rules also state that if the target should move during ITS turn, then both sensor tasks must be performed all over again.

Ergo: All an enemy ship ever needs to do in order to evade fire from an S/C is... keep movin'.

Or am I misreading the rules here? (The errata are quiet on the matter.) And if not, do you have a good fix?

Oh, and another thing... I'm trying and failing to figure out the defense table DM for the defense penetration task.

I want to penetrate a sandblaster defense with a laser. I guess the correct table would be #4 on p.99 ("To Pen").

What does the leftmost vertical column refer to? The laser UCP factor, or the sandblaster UCP factor? The latter would make more sense in terms of the page layout... but that would mean the defense DM decreases as the sandblaster factor increases, which makes no sense in rules terms.

Thanks for any & all suggestions!

[Merchant Reaper]

I have the MT Tas that contained the errata on ships combat, as well as gave a step by step description of how to conduct small ship combat. Look for it late tomorrow.

[Pierce_Inverarity]

Originally posted by Merchant Reaper:
I have the MT Tas that contained the errata on ships combat, as well as gave a step by step description of how to conduct small ship combat. Look for it late tomorrow.

That would be just great! A friendly soul on rpg.net cleared up my question re. defense DMs, but more info on 1-on-1 combat would be really helpful--thanks for the offer!

[Merchant Reaper]

From what I read of the example given only a sensor lock need to be done again if the target moves out of its square. Location only needs to be done the first time.
Are you comfortable with all the modifiers for making the checks, both for the attacker and the one on defense?

If you want, I don't beliee it would be illegal for me to send you a photocopy .pdf of the errata they put at the end of the article. I think the article itself might violate some law, though.

You only need the errata if your books were printed in 87 or 88.

I wonder if they still have the errata available somewhere?

[Pierce_Inverarity]

Originally posted by Merchant Reaper:
From what I read of the example given only a sensor lock need to be done again if the target moves out of its square. Location only needs to be done the first time.
Are you comfortable with all the modifiers for making the checks, both for the attacker and the one on defense?

If you want, I don't beliee it would be illegal for me to send you a photocopy .pdf of the errata they put at the end of the article. I think the article itself might violate some law, though.

You only need the errata if your books were printed in 87 or 88.

I wonder if they still have the errata available somewhere?

Yes, I'm fine now with the sensor and defense DM issues, and I got hold of the errata too--my books seem to be an early edition, so they're very useful.

As for the article: My email is endymion_2001 @ hotmail. But if you're concerned about copyright violation, I'd understand. Do whatever you think is best, and thanks for your help.

[Pierce_Inverarity]

PS--It just occurred to me: If you told me the issue number, I could try tracking down a used copy. It's the MegaTraveller Journal, right?

[Ranger]

FYI, the errata is posted on line here:

http://www.downport.com/traveller/mt/mterrata.shtml

I have the printed version, and it matches, at least as far as I have checked it.

Hope it helps,

Rob

[Merchant Reaper]

Thanks a bunch Rob, kid in the candy store time!MT Journal #2, by Digest groups, Copyright 1991.
Happy hunting!