How many Missiles can I fire?

[Reban]

Just a quick question, I want to make sure I've got this right.

Missile has Turret as minimum mount. I assume it can fire one missile per turn?

So if I upgrade to Quad Turret, that could fire four missiles per turn, right?

That seems common sense..... but:

The KK Missile has Bay as minimum mount. I'd assume that it can fire one KK Missle per turn.

If I use a Large Bay, it's double the size, so does that mean two missiles?

Salvo Rack is a Bay and fires Size 3 missiles, but how many of them? And how many would a Large Bay fire?

Puzzled because I've read through the relevent chapters and it never mentions numbers per mount.

 

[robject]

There are a couple pages that describe the size ranges of various missile types. That's a place to start.

Instead of quantity, you could also come at it from a "total tonnage" point of view. That might get you a little more information.

Alternately, you could take the pages that describe the sorts of damage missiles can do, then divide that by the damage rating of an emplacement, and you get your missile count.

Or, you can figure the number of missiles that might fit in an emplacement, then guesstimate the number of launches that may represent. Similarly, you can figure the number of missiles that fit into a "Magazine" from ACS and do some guesstimation there as well.

 

[Reban]

Thanks for the input Rob.

I've thought about the Size of the missiles before when trying to figure out the total number of missiles on a mount. Take the Size 5 missile that is described as "man sized". we can easily call that 100 liters and work from there, but thats not the angle I'm coming from.

It just struck me that no where in the rules does it say how many missiles can be fired.

The governing factor should be the type of mount.

 

[Reban]

Lets see how the damage rating works as guide for numbers launched.

A Turret does 1D Hits

The standard Missile-5X that the turret fires can do up to 5D Hits

Eh I don't think that works, because the destructive power of the missile hasn't got anything to do with the mount in the way it has with other weapons.


Combat assumes unlimited magazines...but it also fails to say how many missiles a mount can fire per round.

I can figure this by common sense as I set out in the original post but.... common sense isn't that common.

Whats to stop someone saying: "I launch all the missiles".

 

[robject]

Yeah, good catch on missiles not being the same as other weapons! That was my brain mis-firing.

You know, back in the days of Classic Traveller, it seems that one missile attack from a turret consisted of a small swarm of maybe 6 missiles. But, maybe that depended on the rules being used.

Still, you bring up good and interesting questions, especially your last one about the "all in" salvo.

 

[Reban]

The Common Sense Approach

Lets look at the mounts and assign them reasonable limits.

Single Turret = One Size 5 Missile per Round
Dual Turret = Two Size 5 Missiles per Round
Triple Turret = Three Size 5 Missiles per Round
Quad Turret = Four Size 5 Missiles per Round

All that is common sense, but you can also upgrade to a barbette which is three times the size of a turret. The Barbette is 3tons compared to the turret which is 1ton, so you might assume that if you can fit four launchers in a 1ton Quad Turret you could fit 12 launchers in a Barbette. A Dual Barbette is 5tons so perhaps 20 launchers? On the other hand 12 to 20 missiles seems excessive so perhaps something more linear:

Barbette = Six Size 5 Missiles per Round
Dual Barbette Twelve Size 5 Missiles per Round

But I'd like to hear other views on barbettes because I'm not convincing myself. :coffeesip:


Now here's the interesting thing: there is no good reason to apply Weapon Range Effects to missile mounts.

Missile range is not a function of the mount, and if the number of launchers is not a function of the volume of the mount there is no reason to make it bigger or smaller.

Unless we come up with a rule for launcher volume which would make it useful to have bigger or smaller mounts.

 

[robject]

Excellent, you're thinking about the problem.

Now here's the interesting thing: there is no good reason to apply Weapon Range Effects to missile mounts.

Missile range is not a function of the mount, and if the number of launchers is not a function of the volume of the mount there is no reason to make it bigger or smaller.

Missile range, presumably, is a function of the missile itself. However, I would hope that the emplacement for missiles of a certain range must meet a minimum size requirement. Otherwise we have huge clusters of itty bitty firmpoints for launching our swarms of Deep Space-Ranged missiles.

 

[Reban]

Missile range, presumably, is a function of the missile itself. However, I would hope that the emplacement for missiles of a certain range must meet a minimum size requirement. Otherwise we have huge clusters of itty bitty firmpoints for launching our swarms of Deep Space-Ranged missiles.

Almost all Missiles can be launched before the start of the battle, to attack in the turn equal to their Space Range.

So a Missile-5X launched at Space Range 6, attacks in turn six. Or a KKM launched at SR12 attacks in turn 12.

Effectively missiles have unlimited range (whether thats powered or coasting isn't detailed). Otherwise, missiles fired during the battle resolve in the next turn.

The exceptions to the above are Salvo Missiles which are small and limited to SR5, and slug throwers.

So yes you might be able to have a hulk covered in firmpoints flushing innumerable missiles from SR12 which attack in round twelve. Its a bit like Harrington and her missile pods.

You can probaly see now why I'm interested in the limits for these weapons systems.

EDIT: Missile-5X is the standard turret launched missile with an explosive warhead.