Ok, so I was bored in biology again and here's what I came up with. I don't have numbers yet for possible Defense bonuses since all my books are at home and I'm at school still. However, I do have some interesting insights that have made me really appreciate the new d20 rules that T20 introduces. Here goes-
1. I think that since projectile weapons can fire AP rounds, it kind of leaves energy weapons in the background (except Plasma/Fusion, sort of). However, aside from potential balance issues, this also doesn't make sense. So, here is what I propose (please, give comments)-
All Type: Energy weapons (only the plasma/fusion guns in T20, but could be extended to other types of weapons) will get a "natural" or inherent Armor Piercing rating equal to 1/4 or 1/3 their TL (I'm not sure which yet). This would give a PGMP-14 a natural AP of 3-4 or 4-5 if you round up. You could slightly decrease the amount of damage each one does, but let's face it- these things are powerful and aren't likely to be detered by puny combat armor.
All Type: Laser weapons ALSO get a natural AP rating perhaps equal to 1/3 TL. Note that this bonus would not apply to Reflec. This also makes it more useful to have a laser, and in my opinion, lasers probably DO have some kind of natural AP ability.
2. With the ability of ALL weapons to effectively ignore certain amounts of armor, I'm tempted to leave the rules as they are, and simply assume (logically so) that all higher tech militaries will arm their troops with appropriate AP ammunition. I would also rule that you can't find NON-AP gauss ammunition. After all, what's the point in non-AP gauss rifles? If something is unarmored, a frickin' bolt action carbine works just as well (unless there's lots of 'em).
3. I was pondering how to make "ETC" weapons in T20. Well, if you assume that the ACR presented in T20 *is* an ETC weapon, then you can say that a longarm made with ETC technology gets +2 Damage and some amount added to range (I'd have to look). By extension, give pistols and SMG's a +1 Damage and slightly less improvement in range. Voila- Electrothermal Chemical weapons for T20. There'd be some other side effects too, like being low signature weapons (no muzzle flash, much less sharp noise, etc).
4. Given that AP rounds are really effective in this sort of setting, I'd logically say that all AP rounds do 1/2 damage on Critical Hits (ie, they still ignore armor, but still do normal damage). To me, this makes sense- AP rounds aren't going to be able to do much real damage to a living thing, as they will just punch small holes through it. Obviously, ENOUGH AP rounds is bad news, but hey, that's ultramodern warfare for ya.
5. Allow the creation of APEX (Armor Piercing Explosive) ammo at TL 12 or so (I'd have to look at T20 to get exact appropriate TL). Obviously, this kind of thing has existed since WW1 for tank rounds and stuff, but I'm talking small arm APEX ammo. There are several ways of handling this. You can just combine AP and EX ammo to make one hell of a round, or nerf them slightly and say that the maximum AP capability of an APEX round is 1/3 TL instead of 1/2 and that instead of a whole extra die of damage, the round does +2 damage (or alternately, it could do one die lower damage, so an APEX gauss rifle round would do 2d12+1d10 and have AP 4 or something at TL12). Note: these rounds would be expensive and EXTREMELY HAZARDOUS to the health of PC's.
6. Finally, on a different note- the rules really are primed to create the same level of variation in the ACR as present in Emperor's Arsenal. I'll probably go home sometime soon and write up a few entries and then post them here.
7. IF I was still interested in doing a Class-based Defense bonus, I'd be tempted to make it slightly less cinematic than say, Star War's class Defense bonus, but still make it somewhat counteract the higher and higher BAB that comes with level. I'll post these numbers with some relevent examples as soon as I can.
1. I think that since projectile weapons can fire AP rounds, it kind of leaves energy weapons in the background (except Plasma/Fusion, sort of). However, aside from potential balance issues, this also doesn't make sense. So, here is what I propose (please, give comments)-
All Type: Energy weapons (only the plasma/fusion guns in T20, but could be extended to other types of weapons) will get a "natural" or inherent Armor Piercing rating equal to 1/4 or 1/3 their TL (I'm not sure which yet). This would give a PGMP-14 a natural AP of 3-4 or 4-5 if you round up. You could slightly decrease the amount of damage each one does, but let's face it- these things are powerful and aren't likely to be detered by puny combat armor.
All Type: Laser weapons ALSO get a natural AP rating perhaps equal to 1/3 TL. Note that this bonus would not apply to Reflec. This also makes it more useful to have a laser, and in my opinion, lasers probably DO have some kind of natural AP ability.
2. With the ability of ALL weapons to effectively ignore certain amounts of armor, I'm tempted to leave the rules as they are, and simply assume (logically so) that all higher tech militaries will arm their troops with appropriate AP ammunition. I would also rule that you can't find NON-AP gauss ammunition. After all, what's the point in non-AP gauss rifles? If something is unarmored, a frickin' bolt action carbine works just as well (unless there's lots of 'em).
3. I was pondering how to make "ETC" weapons in T20. Well, if you assume that the ACR presented in T20 *is* an ETC weapon, then you can say that a longarm made with ETC technology gets +2 Damage and some amount added to range (I'd have to look). By extension, give pistols and SMG's a +1 Damage and slightly less improvement in range. Voila- Electrothermal Chemical weapons for T20. There'd be some other side effects too, like being low signature weapons (no muzzle flash, much less sharp noise, etc).
4. Given that AP rounds are really effective in this sort of setting, I'd logically say that all AP rounds do 1/2 damage on Critical Hits (ie, they still ignore armor, but still do normal damage). To me, this makes sense- AP rounds aren't going to be able to do much real damage to a living thing, as they will just punch small holes through it. Obviously, ENOUGH AP rounds is bad news, but hey, that's ultramodern warfare for ya.
5. Allow the creation of APEX (Armor Piercing Explosive) ammo at TL 12 or so (I'd have to look at T20 to get exact appropriate TL). Obviously, this kind of thing has existed since WW1 for tank rounds and stuff, but I'm talking small arm APEX ammo. There are several ways of handling this. You can just combine AP and EX ammo to make one hell of a round, or nerf them slightly and say that the maximum AP capability of an APEX round is 1/3 TL instead of 1/2 and that instead of a whole extra die of damage, the round does +2 damage (or alternately, it could do one die lower damage, so an APEX gauss rifle round would do 2d12+1d10 and have AP 4 or something at TL12). Note: these rounds would be expensive and EXTREMELY HAZARDOUS to the health of PC's.
6. Finally, on a different note- the rules really are primed to create the same level of variation in the ACR as present in Emperor's Arsenal. I'll probably go home sometime soon and write up a few entries and then post them here.
7. IF I was still interested in doing a Class-based Defense bonus, I'd be tempted to make it slightly less cinematic than say, Star War's class Defense bonus, but still make it somewhat counteract the higher and higher BAB that comes with level. I'll post these numbers with some relevent examples as soon as I can.
