Question about the UCP

[Cymew]

I've been looking long and hard at the MT Ref Manual and realized that apart from a vague feeling of not really liking the feel of the starship combat system, I really don't understand how they work at all!

Now, if I should someday use a starship combat system, I'd like to know how this system actually works, so I can change it.

Some have already done so, but none of those are to my satisfaction either. So without further ado; the questions.

I've read at p.88 in the Ref Manual under the heading "Off". It mentions the hardpoint weapon listing and how it works. It says:

"ParticleAccel=000, MesonGun=000
Batt 111 111
Bear 111 111"

It then tells me that the first line (the zeroes) are listing the UCP value for the weapon - spinal mounts, bays and turrents.

Fair enough.

Now, what does the ones mean? I really don't understand the part about the batteries and the bearing. I get the idea, but not the notation. What does it mean that there is a "2" in the "Batt" line?

Any help appreciated. I'm not very good at rules.

 

[Cymew]

I've been looking long and hard at the MT Ref Manual and realized that apart from a vague feeling of not really liking the feel of the starship combat system, I really don't understand how they work at all!

Now, if I should someday use a starship combat system, I'd like to know how this system actually works, so I can change it.

Some have already done so, but none of those are to my satisfaction either. So without further ado; the questions.

I've read at p.88 in the Ref Manual under the heading "Off". It mentions the hardpoint weapon listing and how it works. It says:

"ParticleAccel=000, MesonGun=000
Batt 111 111
Bear 111 111"

It then tells me that the first line (the zeroes) are listing the UCP value for the weapon - spinal mounts, bays and turrents.

Fair enough.

Now, what does the ones mean? I really don't understand the part about the batteries and the bearing. I get the idea, but not the notation. What does it mean that there is a "2" in the "Batt" line?

Any help appreciated. I'm not very good at rules.

 

[Cymew]

I've been looking long and hard at the MT Ref Manual and realized that apart from a vague feeling of not really liking the feel of the starship combat system, I really don't understand how they work at all!

Now, if I should someday use a starship combat system, I'd like to know how this system actually works, so I can change it.

Some have already done so, but none of those are to my satisfaction either. So without further ado; the questions.

I've read at p.88 in the Ref Manual under the heading "Off". It mentions the hardpoint weapon listing and how it works. It says:

"ParticleAccel=000, MesonGun=000
Batt 111 111
Bear 111 111"

It then tells me that the first line (the zeroes) are listing the UCP value for the weapon - spinal mounts, bays and turrents.

Fair enough.

Now, what does the ones mean? I really don't understand the part about the batteries and the bearing. I get the idea, but not the notation. What does it mean that there is a "2" in the "Batt" line?

Any help appreciated. I'm not very good at rules.

 

[far-trader]

From memory but pretty sure about it...

The Batt line (short for batteries) shows the total number of batteries of the type of weapon and installation.

The Bear line (short for batteries bearing) show how many of the type and installation of each weapon can fire on a target.

Very large ships cannot physically bring all batteries to bear on a target in one turn. So the numbers in the Bear line will be less than the Batt line. Smaller ships can always bring all batteries to bear and the numbers will be the same.

This is used mostly to keep track of damaged weapons since a hit taking out batteries may not reduce the combat ability as long as the batteries bearing is less than the total batteries still funcional.

So for example (with made up numbers):

</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">Meson Gun F99
Batt 14C
Bear 126</pre>[/QUOTE]This would describe a ship (a very large ship) with a Factor F Meson Spinal Mount, 4 batteries of Factor 9 Meson Bays, and 12 batteries of Factor 9 Meson Barbettes (if such exist, can't recall

)

The ship is so large that only half of its batteries can bear on any target (Spinal Mount always bears) so the Bear line notes you can make 1 attack roll for the Spinal, 2 attack rolls for the Bays, and 6 attack rolls for the Barbettes.

If in the course of combat damage reduces the Barbettes to 8 batteries you would still be limited to (but able to use*) 6 of the functional batteries iirc*.

* I think it was still done this way in MT, it's an abstraction to save figuring out which batteries are knocked out and how many of them can still bear together.

I'm sure if I've got this wrong someone will correct it. I may have a look through my old MT books to check myself later.

Hope that helps

 

[far-trader]

From memory but pretty sure about it...

The Batt line (short for batteries) shows the total number of batteries of the type of weapon and installation.

The Bear line (short for batteries bearing) show how many of the type and installation of each weapon can fire on a target.

Very large ships cannot physically bring all batteries to bear on a target in one turn. So the numbers in the Bear line will be less than the Batt line. Smaller ships can always bring all batteries to bear and the numbers will be the same.

This is used mostly to keep track of damaged weapons since a hit taking out batteries may not reduce the combat ability as long as the batteries bearing is less than the total batteries still funcional.

So for example (with made up numbers):

</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">Meson Gun F99
Batt 14C
Bear 126</pre>[/QUOTE]This would describe a ship (a very large ship) with a Factor F Meson Spinal Mount, 4 batteries of Factor 9 Meson Bays, and 12 batteries of Factor 9 Meson Barbettes (if such exist, can't recall

)

The ship is so large that only half of its batteries can bear on any target (Spinal Mount always bears) so the Bear line notes you can make 1 attack roll for the Spinal, 2 attack rolls for the Bays, and 6 attack rolls for the Barbettes.

If in the course of combat damage reduces the Barbettes to 8 batteries you would still be limited to (but able to use*) 6 of the functional batteries iirc*.

* I think it was still done this way in MT, it's an abstraction to save figuring out which batteries are knocked out and how many of them can still bear together.

I'm sure if I've got this wrong someone will correct it. I may have a look through my old MT books to check myself later.

Hope that helps

 

[far-trader]

From memory but pretty sure about it...

The Batt line (short for batteries) shows the total number of batteries of the type of weapon and installation.

The Bear line (short for batteries bearing) show how many of the type and installation of each weapon can fire on a target.

Very large ships cannot physically bring all batteries to bear on a target in one turn. So the numbers in the Bear line will be less than the Batt line. Smaller ships can always bring all batteries to bear and the numbers will be the same.

This is used mostly to keep track of damaged weapons since a hit taking out batteries may not reduce the combat ability as long as the batteries bearing is less than the total batteries still funcional.

So for example (with made up numbers):

</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">Meson Gun F99
Batt 14C
Bear 126</pre>[/QUOTE]This would describe a ship (a very large ship) with a Factor F Meson Spinal Mount, 4 batteries of Factor 9 Meson Bays, and 12 batteries of Factor 9 Meson Barbettes (if such exist, can't recall

)

The ship is so large that only half of its batteries can bear on any target (Spinal Mount always bears) so the Bear line notes you can make 1 attack roll for the Spinal, 2 attack rolls for the Bays, and 6 attack rolls for the Barbettes.

If in the course of combat damage reduces the Barbettes to 8 batteries you would still be limited to (but able to use*) 6 of the functional batteries iirc*.

* I think it was still done this way in MT, it's an abstraction to save figuring out which batteries are knocked out and how many of them can still bear together.

I'm sure if I've got this wrong someone will correct it. I may have a look through my old MT books to check myself later.

Hope that helps

 

[Cymew]

That helped a lot! Thanks Dan!

It might actually all be in the books, but somehow I couldn't "get it".

It sure would have helped if they had had a step-by-step example of building a ship, and flying it.

Now, I'll see if I understand the tables and the other details (after errata) or if there's more questions coming up...

 

[Cymew]

That helped a lot! Thanks Dan!

It might actually all be in the books, but somehow I couldn't "get it".

It sure would have helped if they had had a step-by-step example of building a ship, and flying it.

Now, I'll see if I understand the tables and the other details (after errata) or if there's more questions coming up...

 

[Cymew]

That helped a lot! Thanks Dan!

It might actually all be in the books, but somehow I couldn't "get it".

It sure would have helped if they had had a step-by-step example of building a ship, and flying it.

Now, I'll see if I understand the tables and the other details (after errata) or if there's more questions coming up...

 

[aramis]

Looks right, Dan.

 

[aramis]

Looks right, Dan.

 

[aramis]

Looks right, Dan.