Gazelle Close Escort, Steps 7 and 8: Weapons and Defenses

[robject]

Weapons (p. 323; tables on p. 342)

The weapon selection process is IDENTICAL to that of sensors. The Gazelle has four hardpoints, according to page XYZ. We want two Particle Accelerators (PA) and two Beam Lasers (L). Note that the Particle Accelerators require a Barbette emplacement at a minimum, and the Lasers require at least a Turret. The PAs work at Attack Range (S=7), while the Lasers work at Very Distant range (R=7), which is fine. The Lasers serve to screen other ships from incoming missiles, while the PAs serve as an offensive element as well. We’ll put them in Dual Barbettes (B2) and Triple Turrets (T3).

We buy them all at TL14.

	Vol  Component                    MCr  Notes
	400  Hull D, Unstreamlined        14   -1 Agility
	-    Charged                      14   AV 28
	4    Landing Legs, Pads            4   Wilderness Landing OK
	-    Jump Bubble                   -   Field Strength = 120
	16   Armor                         -   AV 56 (TOTAL)
	55   Jump Drive K                 55   Jump-5
	80   Jump fuel                     -   2 parsecs
	19   M-Drive K                    38   5 Gs
	31   Power Plant K                43   P-5
	20   Power Plant fuel              -   4 weeks
	0    Std LR Surf Communicator-14  2.5
	0    Std LR Surf EMS-14           2.5
	0    Std LR Surf Visor-15         2.5
	0    Std LR Surf Jammer-14        2.5
	0    Std LR Surf Neutrino Det-14  2.5
	0    Std AR Surf Stealth Mask-14  1.5
	10   2x Std AR B2 PA-14           13
	2    2x Std Vd T3 L-14            1.5

Defenses (p. 324; tables on p. 343)

The Gazelle will benefit from a Nuclear Damper and a Meson Screen. It's not in the original, so your mileage may vary.

	Vol  Component                    MCr
	1    Bolt-in Meson Screen-14      2
	1    Bolt-in Nuclear Damper-14    2

 

[Reban]

Nope. Meson Screens are listed in lots of places as TL11.

And in looking that up I found a heap of errata


TL14 would be an Advanced Meson Screen, not sure what the effect of that is.


EDIT: Advanced Meson Screen according to p391 Ranges for Defenses Table it has a 5000km Field Effect in Absolute mode.

EDIT2: Urrgh the above must be errata because according to p394 you use Mount Size to calculate range and max range is R=7 or 50km

EDIT3: p397 A Standard Meson Screen is a half-ton device and is designed to be installed in a Mount with a volume of One Ton. Starship installations may be turrets, barbettes or larger internal comparments. A standard meson screen has a range R=5 or 1000m. Right my head hurts I'm off to bed.

 

[robject]

No worries. In fact we don't have to apply Stage Effects -- if we want a Standard Meson Screen at TL14 we can simply list it as such. Unless this is a one-off craft, the military probably will be using Standard ("certified") equipment anyhow.

(You DID read my ship design post on Sensors and Stage Effects, didn't you?)

 

[Reban]

(You DID read my ship design post on Sensors and Stage Effects, didn't you?)

Yes Teacher

More importantly now that I'm not half asleep I.ve re-read that start of How Defenses work where it says Screens and dampers for Starships use the Mounts and rules presented in ACS.

Battlefield Screens, Scramblers and Globes use the Screen Range Effects table p394

Its all a bit obtuse :nonono:

Simpler to say Screens designed for ships designed with ACS use p343 Starship Construction 15 DEFENSES. (this would include Smallcraft)

Screens designed for use with VehicleMaker, Armormaker, and Thingmaker use the information on p394 Screen Generator Mounts and Screen range Effects.

Works for the bleary eyed