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Quantum Wave Torpedoes can be armed and fired every turn. The rear/defensive Plasma-F torpedoes on the ISC ships can only be fired once every three turns.

Adding the combination of the splash damage elements and the fact that QWTs are at full strength until a particular damage threshhold is reached, and they show why they're pretty potent weapons.

Would they make for a powerful rear defensive weapon for the ISC ships? Oh yeah! Definitely!

Would they be TOO powerful?

THAT's my biggest concern with the idea.

(Personally, I think that if the Veltressai had improved the speed of their Plasma-V torpedoes from 20 to 32 withOUT increasing the warhead strength for a particular distance, they'd have proven adequate; perhaps even BETTER, from a storytelling perspective, than the Plasma-F torpedoes the ISC historically used. However, the Plasma-V wasn't a part of SFB when the ISC were first created (obviously), so that never was an option. )


BUT getting back to scary options for Orion option mounts, IMO, as frightening as the quick firing QWTs are, imagine an Orion with Particle Cannons (E17.0) and Sheild Crackers (E16.0)! Fast firing with little (or even NO) damage after dropping the shields of a freighter!

(Hey, didn't a Seltorian Sage join up with an Orion crew after a battle against the Tholians in a story in an issue of Captain's Log?)

(insert evil grin...)

By Ginger McMurray (Gingermcmurray) on Wednesday, April 01, 2020 - 09:58 am: Edit

We've played a few games with QWTs and they definitely seem on the high end of the power spectrum. Arming every turn with high damage output makes them a painful prospect against a lot of races. The ones with tons of crunch power can charge through, but the rest can be in trouble.

Then again, our three games were two in the early years and one Death Race 3000. The death race ship was found online and was definitely too strong compared to the sanctioned ones. Those situations make running from QWTs very difficult.

I'm interested to hear others' experiences outside of fleet battles.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Wednesday, April 01, 2020 - 10:58 am: Edit

If you want a pirate ship which may use shield crackers and/or particle cannons, might I refer you to the High Pirate Bands of the Tholian Home Galaxy. There are rules and SSDs (and Ship Cards) for the OGR and OGD in Captain's Log #40, as well as a Pirates of M81 Galaxy article in Captain's Log #41 which covers these pirate bands in more detail.

Speaking of weapons which are primarily oriented towards dropping shields, the Zosmans are able to make use of Chlorophon energy howitzers, which score equal damage against three adjacent shield facings at once.

To go back to QWTs, I tend to think that in the Alpha Octant, Orion and Paravian ships might have more of a relative advantage in the Middle Years, when going against Gorn and ISC ships armed with nothing stronger than a plasma-G. How well they can keep up once the plasma-S, the PPD, and tricks like enveloping, shotgun, and sabot plasma are made available is another matter - but perhaps less of an issue for QWT-armed Orions, as there are few of their preferred targets (freighters and other civilian transports) which scale up in terms of firepower the way that the warships protecting them might do.

By Gregory S Flusche (Vandar) on Wednesday, April 01, 2020 - 03:04 pm: Edit

QWTs on Pirates sounds like a good plan. Fast firing and do not miss. Can overload them and hold them. You know how much damage they will do at what range. A pair of overloads may force a small escort to turn off.

A FS or FL will not out run a QWT. Yes as a Pirate I would take QWTs

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Thursday, April 02, 2020 - 04:54 pm: Edit

You will not get away with this very often, but if you can pull it off, it can be amusing to see the expression on your opponents face.

I was running the OPC Heavnsent in the "The First Round" scenario that was the cover scenario in Captain's Log #3.

The Captain of the Exeter and I "exchanged scatter-packs." Six drones each. As he knew I would have to turn away, he was quite willing to use his phasers to shoot down my drones.

He was shocked when I tractored all six of his drones and continued my battle run to Range Zero of his ship.

Often opponents fail to really think about how many tractors a given ship actually has, and generally that more than two is a waste.